word artist Christina Irene

lazy fingers

2010-09-29T22:02:00.002-04:00

I've misbehaved terribly in the past few weeks and have done very little writing. Tonight, given time to write, I was actually going to watch a movie instead. Turns out the movie I'm most interested in experiencing is the one I'm writing. That's a very good thing.

I'll at least get Jeff out of the elevator tonight.

Are writers masochists?

2010-08-19T15:20:00.002-04:00

Ugh! I just want this first draft over with. I know, I know, I'm supposed to enjoy the process, but this one is killing me. I'm headed in the wrong direction AGAIN. I was going to plow through and finished the damned thing anyway and try to fix it a year from now after it collects a purifying layer of dust, but I can't live with myself doing that. Time to delete more hours worth of work. Fortunately, it won't be 80% of the script this time, and I have made it further this time than before, too. Because, yes, I should be enjoying the process, and if I'm bored, that means this movie is boring.

Oh, and I actually have an idea of how to fix the problem. I just hope THIS idea gets me through to the end.

Here's to wearing the "DEL" off of the delete key.

Discovering My Own Story

2010-08-12T15:34:00.001-04:00

I had this project so carefully planned, every moment, and every twist. That was the plan I threw out when I has halfway done and then deleted most of my pages.

Every day I sit down to write, I solve my own mystery a little more. I ask myself, why did they stop construction on that building? Why is an apartment building in a warehouse district? I put it there because I needed an abandoned apartment overlooking a warehouse, but now that it’s there, I have to figure out why it is there, and this leads me deeper into the mystery … and out of it. I reworked some interesting details of my plot by forcing myself to answer these questions. It’s great fun when even the writer doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.

The characters have certainly evolved before my eyes. Corynn was supposed to be a vague love interest for my protagonist, providing him with asylum and a moral dilemma as a married man attracted to a prostitute. She was supposed to break down and finally give him important information after he rescues her. None of this is actually going to happen. Corynn will ultimately be in minimal scenes and it’s her mere existence, not anything that she does, that will be important for the plot. My protagonist, Jeffreys, was supposed to be a strong, handsome action-hero cop. Insert favorite sexy movie star here. But it turns out he’s round around the edges rather than rough. He’s too out of shape to catch the criminal he’s running after. And his adherence to the rules isn’t just a simple noble trait. It makes him a bit of an ass sometimes. Finally, Grayson, his cop friend, was supposed to be a slimy dude who turns out to be a pretty evil son of a bitch who ruins Jeffreys’ life. Well, that won’t work. Jeffreys is, if anything, smart, and he’s not friends with slimeballs. Grayson bends the rules and breaks them when he should only bend them and he does turn on Jeffreys, but it is Jeffreys who brings about his own downfall, and Grayson is just a corrupt man in a corrupt world trying to do what’s best for his family. Too bad Jeffreys won’t do the same.

I’m better than halfway through this beast, and it’s still a wild beast that needs lot of taming, and my time at the keyboard is like time running up a mountain in hundred-degree weather. Barefoot. Carrying an elephant. But really I can’t wait to see how this story will end.

The real bitch of screenwriting is it all has to fit in 110 pages.

High Point, Midpoint

2010-07-15T23:57:00.002-04:00

Whew, I'm actually getting Outside the Gate to work! I just reached the midpoint this evening, and I'm still battling with having way to much to tell with the time remaining, BUT the pace thus far is good, what now sits on page 54 is pretty good for a midpoint, and so now I'll just have to make some decisions about what grand visions I'm going to have to leave out. I had so many ideas for where this thing will go, but I'll have to pretty much start from scratch (or the midpoint) in planning where I'm going to end up. Basically, this means I can't write any more pages until I figure out what the hell I'm going to do next.

The most important thing to report is that I feel good about this script, and I've clocked many hours in the past couple days with little to no agony. That's right, I'm having fun with the work! Which is what it's supposed to be. Gotta keep that feeling going.

Projects & Projections

2010-07-09T00:50:00.002-04:00

I did well today. I'm moving forward with Outside the Gate (and I'm kicking around other title options). I wrote ten pages, which is actually good in the life of a screenwriter. Of course I'm seeing that I'll probably be deleting 35 to 40 of the first 50 pages I wrote before I halted the disaster. But that's okay. Sometimes the process is that kind of ugly.

Following that, I turned out a couple more paragraphs of my "G Girl" short story. G Girl is a television pilot I co-wrote a couple years ago. I originally had the idea of it as a novel, but a friend suggested TV and offered to help. Nothing may ever come of that script, but it did educate and start me on screenwriting (or restart if that course in college counts), which led to Peoria and the Pit of Demons and now Outside the Gate. Anywho, my recent epiphany is that G Girl must be a novel after all, and I have big plans. I'm determined to write a brilliant bit of popular series fiction and profit well enough to travel the world and support my 100+ pound dog with the best possible lifestyle (which she may already have, as she's stretched out on my bed this very moment).

So Operation: G Girl starts with a short story that I'll get published (such confidence, right? but I believe in the power of persistence), and then I'll use that credit and confidence boost to help land an agent for a novel manuscript. I could be completely nuts, but I've learned the hard way before, and at least I'll be learning.

And that's how I'm wrapping up my day as a writer. I researched some markets for short stories, mainly to get a feel for page length. First and foremost, I have to make sure "G Girl" is the right length for the market I'm going for (consumer magazines). The final wrap-up of my day will be a little reading. (Then I'll be fighting the dog for a corner of my bed.)

This blog can either turn into a how-to for getting published, or a what-not-to-do. Let's hope it's the former -- wish me luck!!!

Outside the Gate ... status

2010-06-23T21:10:00.002-04:00

So I've been sluggishly pushing myself through the first draft of Outside the Gate, and the reason it's been so tough for me to write is no longer deniable: the pacing is completely flawed. I really have a tough time sitting down and working on this project because I know the first draft is going to suck. The biggest flaw I've seen in it is that I'm rushing the scenes. I feared I planned too much and will be unable to write the script as I had plotted it out, and I see tonight that the fear is a reality. I'm barely into what I need to accomplish in Act 2 (which should start around page 25 ... a page equals a minute of screen time), and I'm already on page 49. The midpoint should be on page 55, and I'm not even close to writing that scene yet! My prior plan was to just write a shoddy first draft and go back and fix the thing (as should be done), but I'm not about to write a 300-page (think 300-minute!) script that I'll have to hack down to 110 pages! So it's literally back to the drawing board. I have good stuff. Usable stuff. And this is a project I really care about. So I'll have to lay out the note cards and redesign the script. Hopefully I can pull it off. My math brain should enjoy the challenge. I think meanwhile, I'm going to stop for the night and take in some already-produced cinematic literature.

Dig revisited

2010-04-28T14:12:00.003-04:00

I just submitted Dig to the Nicholl Fellowship competition again. It's a completely new script than it was when I entered it a year ago. Four rewrites and a lot of learning. I gave it a different title for the competition: Peoria and the Pit of Demons. I think I might like the new title better! I also wrote a new logline, which I also think I like better. The old one was: "Killer con men, a runaway child, an introverted cop, abused trailer trash, a cartoon dog, and an old Indian woman all battle real demons while unwittingly collaborating on a quest to discover a higher power." The new one is: "The cop is after the brothers, the brothers just want money, the old woman is looking for God, their hostage is seeking something to seek, and Seamus McKinney wants everyone dead."

Jason, I'm thinking you keep up with my blog -- thanks for the notes! I went through them all on Monday when I spent the day revising. And Julie if you ever read this thing, your thoughts shared over sandwiches were very useful as well. If fact, it was your thoughts on Anna, and the tweaking of her character that I did because of them, that led me to the new logline.

I'm glad I just did this process. I've been disappointed with how Outside the Gate is coming along, and as I read over Dig on Monday, I realized how far that script came in all the rewrites. So Outside the Gate can be a total mess in its first draft and can still ultimately be an awesome script as. Good to know.

just a new post

2010-04-09T12:50:00.002-04:00

I am 30 years old now. Just returned from my big celebratory Eurotrip. I don't make resolutions at New Year's, but this is a new decade of my life, so I've made a resolution. It includes writing every day. That's not on the actual resolution paperwork - the form merely reads "self-discipline," but it's critical to my being the person I want to be. So I'm 15 pages into Outside the Gate. I must work the job job tonight and I have a long to-do list for before I go, but I will stare at my Final Draft document for 30 minutes today. I might even do some typing.

working

2010-01-29T13:04:00.002-05:00

Outside the Gate is coming along. I've got a general outline for the whole script, and I've got scene notes for half of Act I done. About to get to work finishing off Act I. I've got to figure out some specifics about how my cop character encounters the main crime of the film.

By the way, my working log line at the moment is:
In this future of fair tax, black market, and a gruesome disparity between rich and poor, the last uncorrupted cop must decide what price he’ll pay to save his son.

Sound like a movie you want to see?

I'm also working a bit harder towards getting my website caught up with many long-promised photos. The process has begun with an overall reorganizing and tidying of my photo archive. Yeah, I know; sounds a lot like procrastinating.

I have writing to do now.

Post-Cali Project Update

2010-01-21T01:18:00.002-05:00

I just got back from visiting my peeps out in Cali. Delicious taste of the LA lifestyle. I had great adventures ... chillin' with VFX folk, wandering the back lot at Universal Studios, watching some work being done on SyFy's new Battlestar spin-off, Caprica, texting friends to make them jealous, playing tourist, shopping, drinking beer, and drinking beer. My friends Daniel and Heather sure know how to show a girl a good time.

Just before I headed west, I finally finished a rewrite of Dig. I learned a lot on this one, changed a lot, and I'm really happy with the results. One of the fine results is that I have gotten truly excited about writing again. I've been making time for it, and it's become a drive ... like, I can't wait to get to my keyboard and to work! I've already begun my next project, a dark future-set political thriller called Outside the Gate. Something like the genre of Children of Men. It was either that or a romantic comedy, but this seems to be a better companion piece for Dig. In case someone important ever wants to see my scripts.

Christina Irene still exists!

2009-12-17T22:40:00.002-05:00

Hello 2 fans. I once again remembered that I do attempt to have a "web presence." I've been busy lately working evenings and spending time with / taking care of Grandma during the days. I've even done some comedy! I've done 7 shows since my last blog post. Overall, outstanding fun! But don't expect me back out on the road full time. I'm a writer, damn it. Speaking of which, I'm working on Dig tonight. Finally started actually rewriting (and rearranging) scenes. I feel so much better when I'm getting some REAL work done.

Dig, etc.

2009-09-16T14:06:00.003-04:00

I just started reading a great screenwriting book called Save the Cat. Great stuff. It has me reconsidering the title for Dig (hard, because I love the title), and it's definitely got me reworking the log line. I've now got my brain generally trained on Dig and what improvements I might make. I spent this afternoon fixing a major story problem: my bad guy was not nearly bad enough!

I've got my mind back on Shakespeare, too. Had some good discussion within my playwright group last Sunday about what to do about Et Two Be and my favorite suggestion was to write another one-hour play that combines two of Shakespeare's plays. Duh. So I've got some fun thinking going on regarding that.

Meanwhile, I've got to quit neglecting Impact. I think I need to get a draft of that done before I play with Shakespeare any more.

I haven't made enough time for my writing in the last week. I need to do better about that. But first, I have a trip to Alaska this weekend ....

A Writer's Status Report

2009-09-10T13:00:00.003-04:00

Thursday morning, and I just did some more site updates - photos. I did it the quickest easiest (laziest) way I could, yet it's still a tedious process.

Motivation is hard in these morning/afternoon times when I have to work in the evening. I'm doing a waitress thing right now because it'll be some time yet before the writing pays the bills. I just never feel like I can fully relax and focus when I know I need to be somewhere ... I just keep watching the clock. When it comes to writing, I work better in the evenings. But I must use whatever time I have, so I'll be doing some work on Impact this afternoon. Impact is a science fiction (outer space) two-hour pilot I'm writing on spec. I intend to make it so it can stand alone or be the pilot of a series. Interesting challenge. I'm wrapping up Act I, and yesterday when there were zero customers for me at work, I did some really good planning for the rest.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping the publisher I sent Portia's Contest to likes what they see. I'm having my playwright group read Et Two Be. I'm waiting on feedback from an acquaintance in Hollywood about my latest draft of Dig. So while I work on Impact, it's also time to get to revisions on Halva's Secrets.

And still I tinker on the website.

2009-09-09T11:18:00.000-04:00

I've decided to do a REAL blog. This is to replace the faux blog created directly in my website. I'm doing a bit of web work today, including updating my "writing" page on my website.