Monday Meme

From here: What kind of lunchbox did you have as a kid?

Roy Rogers. And I remember bonking some kid over the head with it, which broke the thermos inside, and the nun in charge of the 2nd grade set the entire lunchbox outside the classroom as if it now contained unrestrained nuclear material instead of a metal jar full of broken glass.

No lunch for me.

Two More Movies

Over The Hedge - Cute, funny. Steve Carell as the squirrel is a riot. I LIKE A COOKIE.

Boondock Saints - This has been out for a while, but last week was released in an unrated version on DVD. There's some art in this craft that works, and that's NICE to see when so often it doesn't.

Told You So

Italian tempers flare amid "Da Vinci Code" controversy

"Two members of Italian town council lit the pages of the controversial novel by Dan Brown, as an outraged crowd yelled "buffoons" and "Taliban" and threw rotten tomatoes.

In the Italian town of Ceccano, two members of the town council burnt a copy of the book "The Da Vinci Code" on Saturday one (day) after the movie opened in cinemas." (MORE)

Rest of the Story

Five On Friday

From this link I found this list and I offer this meme to the world. Or, at least the small part of the world that scrolls past my blog.



1. What was the last book you read?

Dead Run by P. J. Tracy

2. What book(s) are you reading now?

The Thieves of Heaven by Richard Doetsch
The Shooting Script by Laurence Klavan

3. Do you have a library card? Do you use it?

Yes and yes.

4. How do you choose a new book to read?

Read the back cover synopsis. If it's not about serial killers, I'll take it.

5. We all had to read books in school. Which was your favorite? Your least favorite? Do you think you would feel differently about them if you read them now?

Favorite - Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Wasn't that everyone's favorite?

Least favorite - Mill on the Floss by George Elliot and Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

Would I feel differently? I think not since I can still remember that classroom, teacher and the strong desire to bang my head on the desk so I could pass out before another chapter was forced upon me.

Mill put me off English novels for a really long time. I'm just now reading Pride and Prejudice - one chapter before bed. That's when I read those books I should have read in school but managed, with child wit and wicked deliverance, not to.

So, there's my first meme. I tag anyone so inclined.

Epiphanies and Other Disasters

A New York literary agent told me, if you can get some attention with your writing but still don’t sell, you’re doing 80% right and need to figure out what the 20% is you’re doing wrong.

I’ve been trying to do that ever since. I bought “The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need,” and two more after that. I even bought a grammar book. Another one. Not that I think I need help with grammar. (Except for those stupid hads.)

So, I hadn’t looked at last script I finished for six weeks. This is very hard for me to do.

1. Because I can’t look at it without rewriting.
   
2. Because I don’t like to wait.

Conventional screenwriting wisdom says finish a script, put it away for a while, and you’ll come back to the rewrite with a fresh outlook. Like I said, I hate to wait, so I have never, NEVER, done this.

One of the improvements in my work fostered by SAVE THE CAT is that I moved more quickly on to the next script. I fell in love with new characters. Got enmeshed in a new story, and moved out of the previous script’s world. Voila. Didn’t feel like waiting anymore.

Yesterday, I was preparing to send my WESTERN THAT IS ACTUALLY A FAMILY DRAMA to two more contests, so I’m reading it and it’s been a nice long while and it occurs to me –

WHAT I DO WELL is character development. Yeah, that’s what I’ve been told. I write people, readers love to love. Arc, please, I can make them arc like that thing in St. Louis.

And dialog. Yep. Each one sounds different from the other.

WHAT I’M NOT DOING WELL is well, I noticed these well-defined, loveable characters seem to be milling around talking to each other a lot. What!?! How’d that happen?

I’m reading and thinking is anything ever going to happen in this story? Oh wait, there it is in Act 3. Jeez Louise. This can’t be happening, I say to myself.

Self says back, It’s a character drama.

Oy.

I check with First Reader and he says, there’s stuff happening. They’re figuring this out and that. Learning about this other.

Oy.

So, maybe I should take my loveable characters and send them on a scavenger hunt around Europe to uncover an ancient conspiracy. Except that’s been done. Maybe my recent DaVinci Code viewing is why my story seems quiet in comparison. Maybe it’s because I noticed when they stopped to talk, the film slowed down, even though they were talking about interesting stuff.

Who knows? Apparently, not me.

Oh well, I’m progressing along the learning curve like a tortoise walking backward. At least I’m still having fun, I say to myself.

Self says back, This is fun?

Just shut-up and open your hymnal to #190 Mishandled Elliptical Constructions.