Returning to Past Projects

Hello, everyone! I am back!



First of all, I wanted to apologise to those who left comments and didn't get any responses. I'm not quite sure how to make this blog notify me when someone comments, and I was quite surprised to see that I had a few comments for a couple of the days. So apologies and thank yous to those who commented! It's nice to know that people are reading.


I've decided to keep this blog going, however irregularly it might be updated. I began to look over the two projects I mentioned in my last entry and I was both pleased and disappointed by what I found.


The first thing was the period screenplay, which I tend to refer to in my mind as "the Caroline Project". I began to write this my senior year of high school and stopped around early 2008. I have a good memory, so this was a good amount of time to help me forget what I had written and return to it with fresh eyes.
One of my writing strengths is character development, and I think I've done a fair job in this one, as well. I really like all of the characters and enjoy hearing what they have to say.
I've edited a bunch of the lines because they sounded unnatural- repeated words, etc. I like to read things I write out loud, whether it be a screenplay or a story, to hear how it sounds when spoken. With this screenplay, lines will obviously sound a little different because it takes place in the early 1900s, but they still need to sound like they could be spoken.


Something that is irking me about this screenplay is the way I begin it. I started it originally by having a college student, a journalism major named Audrey, visiting the title character in a nursing home and asking her some questions about her childhood and what it was like to grow up in that time period. There are a few problems with my beginning that can only have come from my not ever having been in a college at that point: Audrey is nineteen and working on her thesis. Um... no. I'm nineteen right now and nowhere near that stage! Also, it would probably be more accurate if she were a sociology/psychology major; if I want to keep her as a journalism major, I need to figure out what on earth she's writing about that would constitute these interviews.
I'm also not so sure I want to begin it in more modern times (the '80s, in this case, because that was the most recent I could begin it without having Caroline be, like, 105 years old). While I like the dialogue I have between Audrey and Caroline, I just don't think Audrey has enough significance in the story. The only way I can think of making her part worthy enough to keep in the story is to draw some sort of parallel between her and Caroline's story. Caroline's story is all about lost love quiet young, so perhaps Audrey could be choosing some sort of relationship frivolously or carelessly? I don't know... I can write the story without Audrey, but I'm not sure how to begin it without her.


As for Q/Quarantined, I've only gotten a few chapters into my re-read; hopefully I can finish tonight or tomorrow. So far, though, I'm still very excited to continue the story. It's a really cool idea (which I got from the NaNo boards' "Adopt a Plot" section) and I am ready to work on it again. I would be working on it right now, while I'm backstage at my Dance Recital Night #1, but I want to hav completely read the first draft before I add anything on to it.



Storyboarding is definitely not for me. I went through my NaNo prep stuff while I was cleaning up my dorm last night and found my storyboard from both Q and Remembrance... sure, it's great to have it, but I never added anything to it because I knew what I wanted... and then it allchanged so rapidly that I didn't want to stop in the middle of an exciting scene to write what was happening on a Post-It. I wish I could storyboard, but I don't think it will ever happen.


I suppose I should stop writing and focus on what I need to do right now- tap dance to Kelly Clarkson and Michael Jackson mixes... I hate tap dancing, and I'm not sure why I continue to force myself to do it. But whether I hate it or not, I'm here, and the show must go on!