Grace Notes @ Snarkattack

Finally, the whole reading like hell thing is paying off. Now that I’m feeling much better (though the insomnia persists, will talk to my doctor about that) I’ve decided to give a project I tried a few years ago another shot.

I’m adapting a verse novel into a screenplay.

Initial thoughts…
- it’s fucking hard (I have no experience whatsoever)
- it actually feels good to not be obsessing over every single damn syllable, like I do in my poetry
- it’s a slow process to write/adapt
- there is not much info online about screenwriting for dummies (though I guess I could buy the book ‘Screenwriting For Dummies’.
- I shall need to do research (already, it’s come up that I have to read a massive anthropological tome as ‘research’. More like torture [Robert Graves' The White Goddess])
- research is slow

Therefore leading to conclusion: the writing will be slowed down.

I can’t seem to do much more than a page at a time. Though, this is only for the prologue of the verse novel, which is very long, and very image-ridden. Once I get past that, it will be easier to write.

I’ve also worked out a brief modus operandi - as I have no experience in this field, it could be a tad…botched.
1. read verse novel cursorily, then make (detailed) notes
2. read through entire verse novel
3. start research
4. start writing thing that will hopefully resemble script/screenplay

I spoke to a friend who told me lots of filmic stuff that will be of use…much later on. I also spoke to another friend who recommended a book - Which Lie Did I Tell? by William Goldman (of The Princess Bride fame, I believe?).

Sigh. Research. Hard to believe I was once an arts student who tended to over-research and loved it. Now I just want to do the damn thing.

As a result of writing lots, I’ve been listening to lots of music and I got Last.fm working again - you can check my tunes here. I’m soooo tempted to friend Neil Gaiman but too shy, even though he’s now accepting friend requests (initially, he wasn’t…but he caved! Who ever thought the world would produce a NICE artist?!?!).

Sorry, back to writing and screenplay.

It’s been ages since I’ve had so much fun writing. Starting new projects are always so fun.