Yet More ScriptFrenzy! Thoughts (warning: highly caffinated)

[capri0mni]

brassfire and barbarafett have both said they're interested in doing this... Anyone else from my f'list? There doesn't seem to be as much enthusiasm as there is around NaNo, but then again, it is the first year... and it's also in June, when people are more likely to want to be outside than sitting hunched over their keyboards, frantically counting out words (though the actual winning word count is less than half of NaNo's).

Whether you're joining in, or not, there's an interesting little intro to the structure of screenplays here, where Nathan Marshall, tries to tell us that all screenplays are really divided into 3 acts, with 5 key turning points (and it totally makes me want to check out every movie at 17 minutes in).

But as a Shakesperaphile (yes, I did just make up that word), and giving him perhaps more credit than he's due in shaping our modern theatrical norms, my personal theory is that movies, like the plays Shakespeare wrote, can actually be divided into 5 acts. The author does say that Acts 2 and 3 each kinda, sorta, have two parts... Which sounds to me like 5 acts...

I also noted that everything he says about film plots are all the same stuff I learned years ago about novel and short story plots, which leads me to think that modern, Western, fiction is basically the same, no matter what form it takes (I don't know if the cultural expectations we have for stories would apply equally to the stories of the Innuit, or Malagasi cultures... But that might be an interesting Doctoral thesis for someone to look into).

Anyway, there are two weeks before it starts, and, unlike NaNo, folks are being encouraged to do a little more planning ahead... I may try outlining it both as a three-act thing, and a five-act thing... or I may not...

Oh, and I also decided to include a scene at a witch's hut, and have the two heroines use their wits to escape again, but in a very different way from how they escape from the thieves, and earn the loyalty of the witch's familiar. I'm envisioning the familiar as a flying pig, because it amuses me, and it's not quite as cliche as a cat or a toad, or a unicorn or dragon. I have not decided, however, whether the pig should fly with a pair of wings, or just sort of levitate like a helium balloon, paddling through the air as he goes, as if he were swimming, or whether it should be a cute pig, like in Babe or Charlette's Web, or bristly and rough like a wild boar. Any ideas?

I'm also kind of concerned about how I'll make the characters of the two heroines different from each other, and yet, still make it clear to the audience about why they're such close friends -- two often, in movies and tv, the "sidekick" is so goofy or quirky or nerdy compared to the intelligent and dashing hero/ine, that if you ever met the pair irl, you'd never be able to figure out how they became friends in the first place... I think the very term "sidekick" kind of says it all, doesn't it?

:::Looks back at the post::: My. I did ramble a bit, didn't I? I think I made that last cup of coffee just a bit too strong...

Comments

[brassfire.livejournal.com]

I'm just going to try to go for 5 key points I think.

Problem is, my main story idea kinda doesn't have anything near an ending. I think.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, I bet you'll figure out an ending when you get closer to it... Sometimes, it happens that way.

[brassfire.livejournal.com]

It's heavily fictionalized from my own life. And there's something I won't know until next year unless I do something I really would rather not do.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, since it's fiction, have you considered making up the ending you want to happen?

Or, if you're writing a tragedy, what you fear will happen?

Either way, the process may helpful. The first option might be helpful visualizing the outcome you want. And the second option may help you exorcise demons...

Just a thought...

Flying Pigs

[barbarafett.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of using a flying pig. I'm thinking about how it should fly, and I'm wondering: What sort of magic would this particular witch prefer to experiment with? Would she be more likely to create magical animals by attaching parts of one animal to another, or to make animals/things fly on their own?

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

When I think of "familiar" I think of a wild creature (or creature-spirit) that the witch has ensnared, rather than "made" with her magic. But, yeah. Considering how she uses her familiar is a good puzzle, and one I've been thinking about today...

I think I've also decided on wild & grizzled looking -- the kind of animal that would be frightening and/or strange to see, where the heroines are not quite sure whether it's friend or foe (Also, I don't do "cutesy").

[barbarafett.livejournal.com]

Glad I got you thinking. :-) I like the creature-spirit idea; it's a good way to explain how there can be a flying pig in your world.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a casual student of historical ideas about witchcraft, and that's what "familiar" originally meant -- they were thought to be demons or spirits that just took on animal form. ... In reality, they were probably just a weird old lady's pets.

One picture of a witch and her familiars (from the 1600's, iirc) had the animals' names printed above them in the picture; she had a cat named "Pywhackit" and a rabbit named "Sugar-sack." I think that's the best name for a pet rabbit, anywhere.