Chapter four. The main body of the chapter is done, I just have to work it. I can't even imagine finishing this project, but it feels good to be 40 pages in. I feel like it's a real start.

That's exciting, about your short stories!

And comic books...I've always wished I could draw well enough to do comics.

[ 15 May 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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Originally posted by Michelle:
Oh, fiction, definitely. I don't know enough about anything to write a non-fiction book.

That's exciting, about your short stories!

And comic books...I've always wished I could draw well enough to do comics.

[ 15 May 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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That's why you need to find an artist! My last few attempts at comics were very crudely drawn humour sketches about a Mac SE with a mechanical arm attachment that becomes sentient and tries to destroy Toronto. Unfortunately, my skills as an artist led to most of the characters being stick figures or cut outs from magazines, the backgrounds being pictures of Toronto streets, and the computer being a really, really bad pencil sketch that I would cut out and paste onto this horrible collage. I thought it sounded cool at first, but the effect was less than satisfactory. Needless to say, I'm still working on it and going to start muddling around in Photoshop to make it a reality.

Also, writer, short story collection? Groovin'! What are they like?

And Michelle, I trust this is the Great Canadian Novel that I've been waiting for? What's it about?

Working on a "bible" for a comedy series I'd like to develop (like, actuall funded development!), which includes character development and a rough arc for the first 13 episodes; beginning some heavy-duty research for a large documentary project and trying to craft what that would look like; a treatment for a feature film screenplay.

And lots and lots of pitch documents for the projects above and others I'd like to pursue, in time for a tv market I'll be attending next month. I don't consider these to be great works or anything, but it's writing all the same.

It sounds like too much at once. It is too much at once and my head's kind of full, but I was the nitwit who chose this line of work...

[ 15 May 2008: Message edited by: Timebandit ]

It is disheartening -- but not surprising -- to read these columns, some of them written 15 years ago, and find that they are as relevant today as they were then.

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Originally posted by Michelle:
It definitely counts! Screenplays, books, articles, whatever!

That sounds incredibly busy. Makes my scribbling kind of pale in comparison. Exciting about the comedy series though!

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No, not at all! I do this for my full time job, so I am devoting more time to it. What is the true rarity in my case is seeing a project through to the finish. There are a lot of ideas that never make it all the way to the screen.

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Originally posted by Sharon:
I am working on compiling them and in some cases, updating the information while not disguising the fact that they weren't written yesterday!

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Are you thinking you'll get them published as an anthology?

Timebandit, I don't think I COULD write as my full time job. I started this project in the fall of 2004. I was gung-ho about it for about a month or two, and got the first two chapters plus a scene from chapter three written. Then my life just got crazy and I kept meaning to get back to it, and I wasn't all that clear on the plot and how I was going to research it, etc.

So I just never got back to it. Then, a few months ago, after thinking about the plot on and off for a few years, I somehow just felt kind of inspired. So I came back with fresh eyes and cleaned up chapter one and two a bit, built around the chapter three scene and wrote the rest of chapter three.

And then there it sat for a few months until the last couple of weeks, and now I have the rough draft of chapter four perhaps done, perhaps not if I need to add stuff. Because I'm thinking about a couple of things I forgot to include, and I'm wondering if I need another bit of a scene (or better closer) at the end, etc. But it feels good to get it blatted out on paper so that I have something to work with.

The key is not to take another break for several months between chapter four and chapter five, I think!

I'm still not completely clear on how I'm going to make the plot work, and I don't know whether that's a problem or not. Am I supposed to have it all mapped out, chapter by chapter, completely outlined? Or do I go loosey-goosey and just run with my ideas as they come?

I have no idea. I've never written anything like this before. I've got a general idea, but it's hard for me to think about where chapter 18 is going to be, you know? And that's what paralyzed me for years the last time. I'm trying not to let it do that to me this time.

[ 15 May 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

I found Phillip Pullman's website awhile back and read some of his thoughts on the creative process and found it really inspiring. A link about his writing.

Pullman's "Isis speech", about writing, education and creativity. Found both these pages really motivational.

[ 15 May 2008: Message edited by: Timebandit ]

However, I do have fiction writers among family and friends. I find their methods of writing are as different as they are from each other. There are some who are very precise and scrupulously follow an outline. Others -- and this always mystifies me -- claim that their characters dictate where the story will go and it's pretty much out of their hands. The characters take over and are in charge. (This doesn't seem to be uncommon among fiction writers.)

PapaBull, I adore comics and would love to read yours when you get done.

I've been jotting down notes for a screenplay I want to write. I have already shopped the idea to some of my director friends in the indie movie business and they really liked the idea.

The only problem is, as I was taking my time, out comes Lars and the Real Girl, which deals with the same context - isolation, loss and love wherever it can be found.

What I've been doing lately is taking a little notebook on the bus/subway and writing on the way to and from work (did chapter 4 that way) and then typing it out into my draft when I get home from work that day.

But I couldn't figure out what I was going to do next and that's because while I have an overall idea for where I might go, the actual plotlines have been very fuzzy.

So I didn't pressure myself to write anything yesterday. I told myself, I'm just going to sit on the bus and subway and think about where the story can go, and what the characters I have up until now can do, and how it can sort of come together.

And then it came to me on the streetcar ride home - a resolution, a direction, kind of a plot shape, although I still have to work out the details. And I was so thrilled!

But now I'm kind of overwhelmed by it and am having a hard time getting down to details. So on the way to work today, I tried a writing exercise where I'm going to be the main character, recalling at some point in the future a brief synopsis of what happened.

Then even that was daunting, so I'm doing kind of a "timeline" where I'm sticking in events as I think of them, and leaving room to shift them around so I can add stuff in as I think of it, etc.

I was reading some more from those Pullman links that Timebandit posted above. I found it interesting that he sets the goal of writing three pages per day. I was thinking, "Only three pages a day!? How does he get novels done?"

Then I thought about it. That's 15 pages a week if you take weekends off. 15 pages could make a chapter. In twenty weeks, that's 20 chapters and 300 pages and that's a book.

Whoa.

[ 16 May 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

He also writes by hand and then edits as he types it into his computer, which I find interesting, before going on to second draft. I may have to try that some time.

I'll get a good chunk written by hand, then type it out (editing as I go along too), and then continue typing until I'm worn out.

Michelle, I love writing by hand, although I do a lot of composition on computer because of the speed. Which reminds me that I need to find a way to swing a new screenplay program.

I got a fountain pen as a gift a little over a year ago -- I'd had one years ago and the blond guy thought I should have one again. It's fascinating how the mechanics of writing change both the hand it's written in and the shape of the thought -- even ballpoint to fountain makes a difference.

While standard economics is the core of my message 90% of the book is about people’s reaction to the backsliding of the economy since the 1960s. I have made notes on this for the last 24 years. Part of this reaction has been some quiet civil disobedience, leaking what is Private and Confidential. This would be a major problem for the federal government if there ever was an investigation.

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Originally posted by Farmpunk:
I'm in the process of getting my latest short story rejected.

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In my dreams last night I was writing an esaay for a course I forgot I was enrolled in at Carleton.

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See what you have to look ahead to jrose

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Lovely, just lovely!

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Journalism can be a tough sell (unless you like working for free).

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Originally posted by Michelle:
Not a eulogy, but an obituary for the printed program for my grandfather's funeral.

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Originally posted by jrose:
BUMP!

I am currently writing a eulogy. Let's just say it's hardly what I want to be doing on a Wednesday morning. Have any babblers had experience writing one (not that I want to cause everyone to think of bad memories)? I must say, it's oddly thereputic.

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My condolences to you, too, jrose.

I wrote and delivered a eulogy at my father’s funeral many years ago. I found it very helpful in dealing with my grief. But I sure it would be just the opposite for others.

I added some touches of humor to his eulogy—both to lighten the mood but also to better reflect the man.

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Originally posted by Sven:

My condolences to you, too, jrose.

I wrote and delivered a eulogy at my father’s funeral many years ago. I found it very helpful in dealing with my grief. But I sure it would be just the opposite for others.

I added some touches of humor to his eulogy—both to lighten the mood but also to better reflect the man.

I remember telling my dad that I wanted to give his eulogy at his funeral (he was dying of cancer—he died three months after being diagnosed). His response was, “Well, I’m not dead yet!!”

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Thanks, Sven. You're right. It is very helpful to write, though difficult. On the night after she died, the entire family gathered to go through boxes and boxes of 91 years worth of photos and we laughed and told stories and drank wine, and it was a wonderful celebration. I'm sure seeing those photos tonight as part of the funeral home's (horribly overpriced) slideshow will be helpful to a number of guests — at least I hope so!

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Originally posted by Sven:
I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, Michelle. My sincere condolences.

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Originally posted by jrose:
Besides that, I'm writing a book review for rabble (shameless self-promotion time).

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Me too. Stay tuned!

To get my own writing kick-started again, a few women I met a few years ago in a writing course at the women's bookstore are now meeting every Monday this summer to write for 2 hours, and to bring stuff and have the others critique it. We know each other well, and work well together. It's tons of fun and really gets the creativity going.

Maybe on this thread we can share writing exercises if that's helpful to people. The group and I have a few stock ones that we love, but anything to get the pen flowing is good. In the group I bring a pen and notepad, but I also write directly onto the computer. I find I write way faster on the computer now, and the typos and spellos are easier to decipher than my, at times, very bad handwriting.

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Originally posted by bigcitygal:
And I'm working on a non-fiction book, one guess as to the topic!

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