Monday 30 May 2011

Cheese!

Finally, I've managed to sit my arse down in front of my PC and start writing again. It feels weird. I've not done much, and what I have done is probably going to change. I've got a feeling that this project is going to be another tough slog. But it has begun, and that's the important thing.

Brevity is the key word this time around, and I'm shooting for 40 pages, so if it does run over slightly it'll still be within the page count. My tendency to gibber in my scripts being what it is, I'm doing a scene at a time, and not moving on from one to the next until it's as concise as possible. I'm getting the protagonists's character established on page 1, and I'm not taking another step forward until that happens.

It's not going to be anywhere near finished in time for the Comics Launchpad in June, but at least I can now say it's officially in progress. I've even managed to find a working title for it amongst my notes. I'm currently calling it "Broken Smile." Smiles and what are behind them is the central theme of its current incarnation as it slumbers in my head.

Time will tell if that's how it ends up.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Settling Down

After a month or two of tension and rigorous house hunting, I'm finally set up in my new pad. It's nice, my new housemates seem like good people, and I'm keen to get stuck into this script for Accent now that things have settled down a bit. I'm hoping that this weekend I can finally get it started after so many delays. I have a nice dramatic opening in mind, and I'm looking forward to writing it.

Looking forward to just writing, really. These last few months I've been letting myself go and feeling increasingly out of the loop regarding the whole comic book thing. I'm missing Bristol (the relocation expenses ate my Bristol money...) but I'm going to the Comics Launchpad next month, which I'm hoping will revitalise me to some extent.

All this time away from writing has given me a good opportunity to take a step back to reflect on my current plans. I'm now a good couple of months behind schedule this year, so I've made the decision to postpone the comic book project with which I was originally planning to follow the current script. Instead, once the Accent script is finished I'm going to hammer straight into my novel. I've been putting off writing it for years, and I figure with two full-length comic scripts I'll have enough to keep myself busy with on that front while I spend my time on that wee beastie.

I'm trying not to think too much about writing it, as I want to give the Accent script all the attention it deserves while I've got that on the go. Also, I'm feeling rather ambivalent about the idea so I'm trying not to dwell on it too much. It's been ages since I wrote anything that wasn't a comic script so the very thought makes me a bit nervous, but on the other hand it really is a bloody good idea and I've been desperate to get stuck into it for years.

So after the current script is done I'm diving in. The comic book stuff will still be going on - I'll still be shilling Hudson Falls to whoever's around, and I might even find time for another few short stories here and there. But mostly, I'll be working sans-artist in the world of text.

I'm quite excited. But one step at a time, eh?