Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Taking steps

I've taken a good, hard look at what my strengths and weaknesses are as a writer, be it for film or narrative fiction, and what's positive about my work is the character depth. I don't...no, I can't write cyphers to be in my stories. Some may not be as deep as others, but none of them are one-note icons meant only to prop up the moment. Doesn't matter if they're gay or straight, male or female or even child, they have to have layers of some sort to matter to me and the story.

I think that's why so many actors reacted well to my writing; they could see I'm giving them a lot to play with.

I write good action scenes...that are based in reality. Nothing ludicrous like an actor jamming a syringe into his own heart and then walking away as if it was nothing. And I just saw a trailer for "The Expendables 2", I think...where there's a plane crashing into a cave that...well, if they're planning to have it wind up like I think they are, it defies every law of physics there is.

Of course, even Hitchcock played with reality -- like a passenger plane that's been shot down in "Foreign Correspondent", where the passengers rush to the back of the cabin in order to be better protected against the impact...and never mind as soon as it hit the water they'd all be slung back to the front and killed or injured; they wind up safe.

My main weakness is comedy (not humor or quick, clever dialogue; I can do that). So I've signed myself up for a class in writing comedy for scripts to see if I can find some way of strengthening that part of my work. I tried really hard with "The Lyons' Den" but I don't seem to be getting any real feedback on it, so I don't know if it worked.

So I'm using FRT as the guinea pig for this class. I want it to be as funny as possible while also thrilling and action-oriented, and showing Damon's character arc from being a guy en route to becoming a selfish prick to a man who knows who he is and cares about others.

Doesn't start till the 21st and it's online, so who knows if this will work. But I'm taking steps to do something about it.

No comments: