BANG BANG...You're freaking dead! You are so dead in the water, your body will eventually sink down and possibly re-emerge, bloated and with a sublime blue hue.
How the hell do you write that? Just as it is, de facto or do you make it a bit more beautiful to read. Put a bit of feeling into the writing...But I try to remember it is a screenplay I am writing now, not a short story. There are no real feeling I can write and tell my readers. They must see it plain and simple. A corpse is a corpse. Nothing poetic about it other than how he/she possibly died. That is again, if one could write about the beauty and grace the character died with.
How the hell do you write then? What the hell is this style, that voice, everyone seems to want me to sing with?
I got a style in short stories, I know it, I feel it and I certainly hear and read about it so what gives? I've been working and reworking, seeing and visualizing my script. Scene after scene and then some. I want it to flow perfect. I want the readers to turn that page and wonder what will happen next. There's no illustrations other than the ones popping into the reader's mind. Got to make sure he can see enough without guiding him/her to long descriptions. It's not a novel. It's not a short story and God knows, it ain't some poetry. Right?
RIGHT?
WRONG. I've been writing for so long, my way of writing pulls over again. The long descriptions have gone much shorter and I do hope to push some of my presence, my written voice in there. How do I simmer my style into a script? I think I got my own ideas and hope it does make some sense. I can't push it either, I need to take my time and without typing/flying through pages, I make mental note to stop and back away. I pull from my chair and walk out of the room so I can breathe. I can let the images float into my head. It would work but I am visual. I need to feel my stories and so I write in another format. I write again, in novel form, about those characters and events I am portraying through the script. They feel alive, there, reaching for me to talk to them.
My previous readers were often glad to know I was sending them a short story I've finished. There was some pride in that sense and I've always appreciated the time they took to read and analyze what I've brought to them. I've gone through people hating my stories and loving my style and vice versa to people waiting to read something I could give them. Now, I got to make sure all of them can appreciate where I am going with my writing. Of course, it's after fame and money...I'm no flake. This doesn't make me a flake. I need to live, eat and sleep as anyone else and right now, I got nothing really. So what do I have to lose other than some times I could have written stories that would lead only to more hopes of being read by some directors and/or producers. I can't wait for them to fall into my stories. I got to make it myself and make sure they can feel my passion for storytelling.
Did I lose it?
Well, for some, I might just have. It's a process I have gone through and through...I play with photoshop and I need to places faces onto the characters I write about. Sure, in HW, I have no say in who could be cast for the role of so and so but it does help me. I can talk to my characters. I can let them live for each time I type something that pulls them back into my mind. At that point, I am no longer in my world, I am in theirs. It's a difference for me, I tend to tell myself I am writing about their stories, their lives and struggles. They might cry or laugh and I need to describe what happens. It's a beautiful thing, this writing and I shall continue step by step. As a new scribe, I need to impress not only myself but others because it is business. Not just art.
Heard my process might even be a joke to others but hey, to each his/her own. I don't go gag and joke about what a fellow writer do it. In the end, it's a race to make sure you are still afloat and not sinking. Ah yes, that water thing again...How can anyone write about characters if they don't know and feel them? I couldn't let my characters be just another few lines. Each of the characters brings out something fresh to the script. I must do them justice. It must be done because, in my own little opinion, I will need to sell those characters and these stories out to someone else who must care.
And yes, business in HW...A salesman's pitch to the unknown and to those who could just roll their eyes before closing the door/hanging up the phone. The dread of that moment for so many of us make us choke in fear. At the very beginning, I thought I could just email a few prod-cos and be done with it. They like it? They ask for the script. They don't, then probably I will never hear from them again. Who knows? And yet, I know I am good at selling stuff. After all, we sell everyday to someone. Could be for a place to eat or chosing a movie. It's just a matter of looking with that perspective that you will do fine. I will do fine and yet, I know the first few minutes are the ones that are important. I can roll with most subjects, yet, passing those dreadful first minutes seem to be the hardest thing my mind has to adjust itself to.
"Hey hi, this is Nevada Yim...I'm a screenwriter and would love to talk to Mister or Missus whoever about a great script I have...Hello?"
I fear those moments of silence. They know nothing of me. They hear billions of writers gagging their ways into a conversation without a great story. So AGAIN, I must believe in my story. This is my strong point. I have that passion. I have that feeling for what I do. I will succeed not because I write absolute marvel that even Spielberg or Scott would beg to direct. No, it's more, it has to be more than just the beauty of a script, it has to do with passion and to stand when people left and right might just laugh or slap their way pass me. It's what I wanted to do after all. If I wanted to go on with short stories and novels, I could have continued to do so and hope that Stuart or Goyer pick a read and call me for the copyrights of my manuscript.
I heard that a great concept will topple over an average writing. I don't care for average. I don't care for less than what I can achieve. People keep on smiling to me when they hear I write screenplays now. It's that kind of smile that makes me angry because they might not believe in me. So there I have it, feeling, writing, living into my characters' world. Make sure I can hear their voices and see their smiles and tears.
Hey! A pic? Right now, on "Spirited Hearts", I want to give a couple of my characters a big hug. They've gone through so much, it is impossible for me not to smile when something good happens to them. It's more than just a cool factor. When I finish telling their stories, they must make sure I am still eager enough to sell it out.
I want credits I can read on the big screen and if for nothing more, I want to smile back at those that helped me along the way. See? It's genuine and honest. It's no time for sugar coating but at the very least, I am being diplomatic about things. Snobs, Lovers and all those who have no clue I exist...It's for them I am writing since, really, who would a storyteller be without some audience?
I wanted to share these little fun things I did. Gives me a little bit of a smile when I write and although I'm no pro at PS7, I do hope you will also like them. These are not for sale and just something I use for my own personal enjoyment.
"Dark Glimmer" is a supernatural actioneer and my first complete screenplay. Deals with the matter of parenthood and redemption with a background pulled from demons and angels. No, not Brown's book either.
"Forgotten Masquerade" is a (again) supernatural actioneer I am playing with right now. Of course, Natalie Portman was my muse for the idea. I'm playing with the ideas of sins and forgiveness along with some matters from the Bible.
Oh yeah, I just freaking hate the sun on my screen. Shitty blinds won't pull down anymore...And the formatting of my blog seems off and can't seem to correct it. My apologies for the off-look.
