Since this is primarily a blog from a writer to readers (and not yet another “How to be a writer” blog), I thought I’d explain a little about the PROCESS of writing.
Like the guys at Pixar, I write to movie soundtracks. Since I don’t write light stuff that will make you smile, my music has to be more dramatic. Sometimes its Classical. There’s nothing more dramatic than Bach. Mozart has the right feel for light, quirky passages. If you’re writing a novel about a guy who wears a leather jacket and carries a single, small pistol, then Paganini would be your man.
Movie soundtracks like “the rock”, like “dune”, anything epic and powerful. Unfortunately, MANY epic movie soundtracks tend to have a lot of melancholy feel to it. So sometimes if I set my music player (Media Monkey) to shuffle, I can end up a little depressed by the time I head to bed, sniffling a little.
I’ve also got a bunch of Akira Ifukube, the composer for Toho Studios – most famous for Godzilla. But I listen to the works he did for… well… godzilla. godzilla is cool. Yup. Spent many an hour watching godzilla movies.
You have to have a good working memory when you’re a writer. I have to open Scrivener (for novels) and be ready to start typing SOMETHING right away. I’ve got 1667 words to get in. Where did I leave off?
This is where you learn the concept of poking at a novel or screenplay. I have to know:
- Where I’m at
- What is next
- what was before
- And… I have to know the entire flow of the movie or book.
If I DON’T know the flow of the movie or book – I very quickly stop writing. It affects me to the point where even if I know what the next two scenes are, but I don’t know what’s next in the scenes after that – I get bogged down right there. I have one script where I PRETTY MUCH know what when where. I know how and why for the entire movie. And I’m having troubles banging out more than 4 pages a day. Indeed, I’m almost frozen right now.
BEFORE I begin writing, I mentally poke at the story. motivation? Frustration? Needs? Character? Plot? Structure? I’ve got to have that resolved. Growth? Character arc? to me, if you set up your character just right, and your plot just right, all of that is automatic.
Examples tomorrow!
