Okay, it's no secret that on the late shift, I sleep during my lunch, but I rarely dream.
And so i was dreaming a little dream, can't really remember it, when the music that was playing in my head went quite, not silent, it was more like the volume was turned down a bit, and I was back on the couch on the first floor at work, I could feel it under me, I could feel my arms cross over my chest, and I could hear a voice, "wake up" it was quite, i thought it was Charles, the guy i work with, he sounded like I had something on my ears suppressing the voice, "wake up there coming" he said again, I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't, in fact I couldn't move at all, I was paralyzed.
I tried again to open my eyes, I could feel the strain on my eye lids, then again, more urgent this time and still Dulled by my paralysis, "wake up there almost here" I tried to speak, nothing, all the while still trying to open my eyes, I felt my mouth struggle open slightly but no speech came forth,
My eyes still unable to open, a grown came from my mouth, the voice again "wake up", I tried again to speak, I laboured "hi mmmee" I tried again "hit me" it sounded better this time, again "hit me".
I figured that if he hit me I'd wake up.
Then, my eyes opened, I was laying on the couch up on the first floor where I had first laid down, nobody was standing over me and nobody was coming, however the lights were on, There motion activated,
I looked around, a little discombobulated then remembered where I was, I put my head back down, the lights Switched off, darkness, again,
I tried to go back to sleep but every little noise kept me awake, and then an uneasiness came over me this is the power of the mind, and how a simple dream can effect you in a more psychological way then events in our waking lives.
There was something more primal about this dream, it played on my instinct to survive, I thourght I was awake, paralyzed and in danger but I don't remember being paniced, what does this say about me?
Monday, 29 December 2008
I love writing, BUT, I need help.
Hi Bloggerheads,
Where do i start,
Okay, about 5 years ago i decided that i wanted to write screenplays and short stories.
I was unemployed, having been made redundant and out of pure laziness i didn't even look for another job right away, actually i didn't start working again until the following year, literally, i was made redundant on July 11 2004 and i started working again on 19 July 2005, I'm a lazy bastard i know,
Anyway, near the end of my stint of unemployment i made the discussion that i wanted to be a film maker, the film i helped a friend make a few years before (Asylum) was such a great experience that i wanted to do it as a profession, to write, direct and produce, and so i started writing down some new ideas, i say new ideas because i had been coming up with film ideas for years, being a film buff and collector, at the time, it was all i could think about most of the time, i'd think about films more then i would about girls.
On my journey to work, i'd walk for about a mile down a motor-way, and i'd think up car chases and stunts involving motor-bikes, cars, lorries, and trucks, i would listen to movie soundtracks and think up movie trailers for my ideas, based on the tempo and tone of the soundtrack i was listening to at the time, this actually lead to many movie ideas, and while at work i'd think up Die Hard scenarios, you know, terrorists would force there way into the building and i'd be the only one who could stop them,
And so i downloaded this software called Screenplay, which was a cheap (£50) script writing app that used MS Word as a basis, and with this software i wrote my first properly formatted script, and it was terrible, i think i still have it, somewhere, but it hasn't seen day light since i read it, the digital copy is buried in my drive and the printed copy is in a deep dark place where it will stay for all time,
It was around this time that i started to really write down ideas in a sentence just to remind me later on of that idea, within a few weeks i had about 25 script and story ideas, many have been deleted and replaced with new ideas, i'd hate to think of the number of film ideas i've had over the years, many of which just didn't work when i tried to write a treatment and some i just got bored of, but as it stands right now i have 36 ideas some are trilogies others just shorts,
I have action movies, horror, action adventure, thriller and drama, (I can't write comedy) i try to pin a genre down to it essence and write archetypal characters based on that type of genre, and for this purpose i started to read books like 'Hero with a Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell and 'The Writer's Journey' by Christopher Vogler, both of these book deal with characters, archetypes that appear in almost all types of stories, Campbell uses Myths, legends, folk tales and fairy tales as his reference and Vogler uses the movies, (which i better understand), both of these books have helped me greatly,
Of course i have tons of books about the film industry, books on writing, directing, producing and even books like 'Rebel without a Crew' by Robert Rodriguez, (Desporado, Spy Kids, Sin City) this book depicts the making of his first feature film, El Mariachi, from selling his body to medical science to raise money, using one super 16mm camera and i length of wood as a tripod or monopod, through to winning awards at various film festivals, this is a book i've read a few times, i read it when i need to feel inspired, the career of this particular film maker is interesting and it inspires me to continue, so to Robert Rodriguez, thank you brother.
Most of the scripts i've written over the years i've hated, either once i've read it or as i'm writing it and these ideas have been ditched or shelved because i think i might be able to rethink it later, once my writing improves.
A script that i'm working on right now, which happens to stem from one of my very first ideas, has evolved over the years and is now nothing like its original idea, i actually came very close to finishing it, i had like 20 pages of the third act left to write when, i sat thinking about the finale and decided that it just didn't work, i thought about shelving it and moving on to something else, but i really liked the character a fella name Josh Randall (named after Steve McQueen's character in his TV show Wanted: Dead or Alive, 1958-1961) the name was changed to Josh Randall in the page one rewrite i decided i had to do, so i read the two books i mentioned above and rewrote all the characters again, this time as archetypes, this helped me to shape the final idea, i then planed out every scene and all three acts, and seeing as the film is set in the city of London i was able to write the two chase scenes with great detail, by walking the routes of the chases and taking notes, I'm still trying to finish this script, i'm on the final act and i have to get it right so i'm taking my time with it.
My obsession with this is pretty bad, i have three films that take place in or around this small Fictional town called Gracefield, which i decided to write the history of one afternoon while bored at work, it was brief but i have been expanding on it since, and when i say the history i mean everything, from the reason why this fictional town was founded to the types of people that started its community, to the people they became, and the subsequent "act of God" that devastated it,
I know that this is a very long blog and its kinda all over the place but i really wanted you to understand my obsession with film and writing, i love writing, but i get distracted easily and find it hard to get back in the mood to write,
Yea i know i just said i love writing, once i start i can't stop but its just that, getting started,
So what i'm trying to say is, are there any writers out there, and can you help me, what do you do to get in the mood, how often do you write, how much time do you spend writing, daily, weekly, monthly.
Thanks for reading to the end
~GrifterSixOne~
Where do i start,
Okay, about 5 years ago i decided that i wanted to write screenplays and short stories.
I was unemployed, having been made redundant and out of pure laziness i didn't even look for another job right away, actually i didn't start working again until the following year, literally, i was made redundant on July 11 2004 and i started working again on 19 July 2005, I'm a lazy bastard i know,
Anyway, near the end of my stint of unemployment i made the discussion that i wanted to be a film maker, the film i helped a friend make a few years before (Asylum) was such a great experience that i wanted to do it as a profession, to write, direct and produce, and so i started writing down some new ideas, i say new ideas because i had been coming up with film ideas for years, being a film buff and collector, at the time, it was all i could think about most of the time, i'd think about films more then i would about girls.
On my journey to work, i'd walk for about a mile down a motor-way, and i'd think up car chases and stunts involving motor-bikes, cars, lorries, and trucks, i would listen to movie soundtracks and think up movie trailers for my ideas, based on the tempo and tone of the soundtrack i was listening to at the time, this actually lead to many movie ideas, and while at work i'd think up Die Hard scenarios, you know, terrorists would force there way into the building and i'd be the only one who could stop them,
And so i downloaded this software called Screenplay, which was a cheap (£50) script writing app that used MS Word as a basis, and with this software i wrote my first properly formatted script, and it was terrible, i think i still have it, somewhere, but it hasn't seen day light since i read it, the digital copy is buried in my drive and the printed copy is in a deep dark place where it will stay for all time,
It was around this time that i started to really write down ideas in a sentence just to remind me later on of that idea, within a few weeks i had about 25 script and story ideas, many have been deleted and replaced with new ideas, i'd hate to think of the number of film ideas i've had over the years, many of which just didn't work when i tried to write a treatment and some i just got bored of, but as it stands right now i have 36 ideas some are trilogies others just shorts,
I have action movies, horror, action adventure, thriller and drama, (I can't write comedy) i try to pin a genre down to it essence and write archetypal characters based on that type of genre, and for this purpose i started to read books like 'Hero with a Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell and 'The Writer's Journey' by Christopher Vogler, both of these book deal with characters, archetypes that appear in almost all types of stories, Campbell uses Myths, legends, folk tales and fairy tales as his reference and Vogler uses the movies, (which i better understand), both of these books have helped me greatly,
Of course i have tons of books about the film industry, books on writing, directing, producing and even books like 'Rebel without a Crew' by Robert Rodriguez, (Desporado, Spy Kids, Sin City) this book depicts the making of his first feature film, El Mariachi, from selling his body to medical science to raise money, using one super 16mm camera and i length of wood as a tripod or monopod, through to winning awards at various film festivals, this is a book i've read a few times, i read it when i need to feel inspired, the career of this particular film maker is interesting and it inspires me to continue, so to Robert Rodriguez, thank you brother.
Most of the scripts i've written over the years i've hated, either once i've read it or as i'm writing it and these ideas have been ditched or shelved because i think i might be able to rethink it later, once my writing improves.
A script that i'm working on right now, which happens to stem from one of my very first ideas, has evolved over the years and is now nothing like its original idea, i actually came very close to finishing it, i had like 20 pages of the third act left to write when, i sat thinking about the finale and decided that it just didn't work, i thought about shelving it and moving on to something else, but i really liked the character a fella name Josh Randall (named after Steve McQueen's character in his TV show Wanted: Dead or Alive, 1958-1961) the name was changed to Josh Randall in the page one rewrite i decided i had to do, so i read the two books i mentioned above and rewrote all the characters again, this time as archetypes, this helped me to shape the final idea, i then planed out every scene and all three acts, and seeing as the film is set in the city of London i was able to write the two chase scenes with great detail, by walking the routes of the chases and taking notes, I'm still trying to finish this script, i'm on the final act and i have to get it right so i'm taking my time with it.
My obsession with this is pretty bad, i have three films that take place in or around this small Fictional town called Gracefield, which i decided to write the history of one afternoon while bored at work, it was brief but i have been expanding on it since, and when i say the history i mean everything, from the reason why this fictional town was founded to the types of people that started its community, to the people they became, and the subsequent "act of God" that devastated it,
I know that this is a very long blog and its kinda all over the place but i really wanted you to understand my obsession with film and writing, i love writing, but i get distracted easily and find it hard to get back in the mood to write,
Yea i know i just said i love writing, once i start i can't stop but its just that, getting started,
So what i'm trying to say is, are there any writers out there, and can you help me, what do you do to get in the mood, how often do you write, how much time do you spend writing, daily, weekly, monthly.
Thanks for reading to the end
~GrifterSixOne~
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