Writing meme

Been memed by Mr Andrew regarding the writing process.

I'm a bit of a splurger initially - I get an idea and make myself write a few notes down. I do this quite a lot, but it's only a few of those ideas which 'stick' and end up whizzing around my head whilst I'm getting on with everyday things. This is generally a GOOD SIGN, as it means that they have SOMETHING - as yet unexplored but something.

In the old undisciplined days, pre-MA, I would just start writing and writing and writing, and end up with an unwieldy mass of anything between 50-120 pages which was almost impossible to edit or structure. THEN I'd worry about trying to ascertain what kind of monster I'd created. NOW, I've learned to do a bit of a splurge initially to get the ideas and energy out on to paper (or screen), but then to pull back and work out a loose structure and plan for where I think it will go. This plan often changes, but at least gives me a way of working through my brain-stormings, to get something that's a hopeful first draft.

Something I have also learned, is that it is imperative you work out what way of working suits YOU. I've learned that if I try to over-structure something and plot it out minutely, I kill my writing stone dead - it takes all the momentum out, and leaves me feeling lethargic, and like I've nothing left to explore. So I have to try to hit a balance of part-splurge, part-plan.

THEN I spend days hopping about, cleaning the fridge and eating too many biscuits while I curse my protagonist and pretend I never wanted to be a writer anyway. Today is one of those days, except..... I have a part-plan so all is not lost!

I have 3 new ideas all of whom won't leave me alone - that's annoying because I HAVE to finish this project first! Damn you all!

Trouble Sleeping

A friend and fellow classmate of mine, Lucy Kaya is one of the writers of 'Trouble Sleeping', a feature which was presented at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. It's now due to be screened on BBC 2 Scotland on 25th August at 10pm - hurrah! Set in Edinburgh, it's based on the real-life stories of asylum seekers, and is about a group of refugees doing what they need to do, just to survive. Directed by Robert Rae, and produced by Eddie Dick - it's the first feature from Edinburgh's Theatre Workshop – a company which collaborates with community groups, and addresses the issues that affect them. It was also awarded a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award 2008 for best new work - fiction.....

Watch it if you can!

A little ultra-violence

Friday saw my final workshop with Miss Read at Uni - practical, useful and well-organised, and quite good fun really - will miss them!

Afterwards, ended up seeing 'Wall-e' which just hadn't appealed to me, but oh how wrong I was. What a great little (and I use that in the complimentary sense as it was beautifully short) film. There were lots of small (under 5) children in the audience and other than toilet-breaks, all of them stayed the course of the film - that's pretty extraordinary in my experience. I could ramble on for pages about the things I liked but really, you should see it, even if you don't think it's your sort of film. Sure it's mainstream, but if I want to be purely entertained then it's mainstream I want, and it's delightfully spare, warm, sentimental, thoughtful, funny, deep and entertaining. And, it will leave you knowing that you've been manipulated, but with the knowledge that you actually, don't really mind about that. I dare you to watch it and not want to say 'Eveeeeeeeeeeee-a' out loud in a gooshy voice.

In almost direct opposition was my experience of 'The Dark Knight'. Messy, massively too violent for its 12A rating, and oddly and unexpectedly disappointing. The last 30 minutes seem to come from an entirely different film, many of the performances border on the pantomime, the plot is confusing (too many villains for starters), much of the dialogue is exposition-heavy and cheesy, Maggie Gyllenhaal is criminally underused and badly lit, and it's incredibly unsatisfying. Small things in such an expensive film rile me as they smack of carelessness - like one character's wiggling eyelid when he was supposed to be dead - DON'T THINK WE WON'T NOTICE. Even the violence which aims for gritty wince-ability, just becomes inappropriate very, very quickly - I frequently wanted to shout at the screen 'ok we GET IT, The Joker (Heath Ledger) is handy and a bit of a psycho with a knife so we don't need to see him keep squishing it into peoples faces'. Ledger's performance is malevolent and grounded in a place of mental illness and chaos, and he's probably the most entertaining thing in it, but it's Gary Oldman's acting chops which keep the film from flying off into laughability. I left knowing I'd been toyed with, and this time, I really didn't like it.

Virgin has helpfully decided to break my email, so I can't view or send anything - haven't been able to since yesterday early evening. Called their 'helpful' contact number, and it has an annoyingly chirpy message that basically says it'll be fixed when it's fixed. At least I could reason with a human, but a recording gives NO satisfaction whatsoever. I had to go kick something in the garden instead - in between downpours. This rain is relentless, soon we will grow gills and giant fish heads (and potentially prominent bosoms by the looks of that poster) like in 'The City Under The Sea' (1965).

*Edited : having withdrawal as the email system is STILL NOT WORKING, so went outside to bash some concrete off a pole (there's a reason for this but I won't bore you). I now have gravel in my bra and a slug stuck to the bottom of my flip-flop, thank-you*

PS - It seems to be true, they really are remaking 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' - IS NOTHING SACRED!

The truth isn't out there always... sometimes it's JUST a strawberry

1) What the hell is going on with 'Bonekickers'?

2) If it's half a treatment but with a little bit more dialogue than it should have, is it a 'scriptment'? Or is that just a wee bit naff?

3) Is an MFA worth the time, money and effort? You tell me. I've got my own ideas, but I'm keen to hear your opinions, negative or otherwise.

4) Anyone seen the X-Files film?


Don't look for a connection because there isn't one .... it's just a strawberry, from the garden, move along.