Pat Griffith's Blog, page 7

Fast Drafts - Good or Bad?

My second book, Linchpin, was written during NaNoWriMo 2012, and I think it is the better book of the two I’ve written so far. That first draft went through some major revisions, whole sections and ideas scrapped. But a shitty first draft, as Anne Lamott puts it, is better than no draft at all. You can’t edit something that doesn’t exist.

My first novel took over ten years to finish. Now I really do believe that it’s possible a book needs to take ten years, or twenty- five or whatever, only the writer can decide that. Books may seem static on the outside but they are living things and as the author, maybe you need to go through some stuff to finish it. That is totally legit. But what I can say for sure is that between my two experiences the second one, the 30 day draft, started off better than its predecessor and is a stronger story.

It doesn’t have to be a month. Give yourself up to six months but anything longer than that and you’re going to run into issues. The biggest of which is continuity. I know for sure I absorb everything I see and hear and after ten years that stuff is leaking out onto the page. I changed characters sex, country of origin, and most certainly their personalities. Now I had to go back and fix all of that, not so bad, but once you make one change you have to follow that ripple to the end to make sure none of the old version remains.

The other continuity issue is plot. After that long I had forgotten what I had written. Similar to the absorbing and assimilating characters to add to your own, was forgetting why I was going in a certain direction. And a person changes a lot in ten years and so had my syntax, sentence structure, vocabulary, and even style. Your narrator voice will change over a long period of time. So by the time I had a completed story is was much more of mess. I was a different person from the one who had started the story. All well and good for my inner life, bad news for my editor who had to slosh through all of that to create the consistency.

Ray Bradbury said that quantity leads to quality. Another reason why I believe that Book Two is the better book, I had had way more practice by that time. I don’t know if I’ve gotten to my 10,000 hours in yet or not, but all writing is practice. I’m a big believer in RE- writing, mostly because I don’t do outlines, but seriously, re- writing is where you get to dig deeper into this thing you’ve discovered in the first draft. Re- writing is opportunity to enrich your world and characters. Which is what also makes that lightning fast first draft so awesome. Perfection not required. Just let her rip. No holds barred, get as crazy as you want. Use the first draft to explore the characters and their space. Have things happen that you as the rational god of that world would never allow otherwise and just see what happens. You can have loose ends, dead ends, and Inception like loops, it doesn’t matter. What does matters is that the draft exists which means you can now hone into the story it really wants or needs to be.

So whether you do NaNo or not, or even make it to 50k or not, being a writer doesn’t end on Dec 1st. If you’re ever going to finish that draft there is only one way to do it and it’s best to get it done sooner rather than later.

Whatever you decide to do and however long it takes, happy writing!

A Tale of Two Psyches (repost)

In the movie The Fall there are two stories going on at once. In the real world, Roy and Alexandria are patients in a hospital. What happens there is story one. Roy begins to tell Alexandria a story of adventure and revenge, this is the second world of the story. We hear Roy’s voice narrating the story but what we see is in Alexandria’s imagination.

SPOILER ALERT
If you have not seen the movie and want to, do not go any further. I give away some important plot points and if that’s going to bug you, come back after you’ve seen it. In the real world, Roy has become paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident. Seeing his life as essentially over he is depressed and looking for a way to commit suicide. In the adventure story he is confident and fearless. 

Remember what we see in the story world is what Alexandria imagines. Children have a talent for truth and because of that I believe what she is imagining is Roy’s true self. The person he is capable of being if he would face his pain and deal with it.

Real Roy being suicidal is fact. Red Bandit Roy is his true self buried under the disappointment and pain.

Pretty quickly what is happening in the real world seeps into the fabric of the story world but by the end they are so tightly intertwined with each other there is a reverse flow. What is happening to Red Bandit Roy starts to affect the real world, specifically what is happening with Real Roy emotionally.

And it is in that finally moment, as with all pivotal moments, he has to make a choice and that choice is critical to the survival of Red Bandit Roy and thereby his truest self.

It's a choice we all have. I can let the stupid things that happen in this life wear me down. If I wanted to, I could be filled with anger, bitterness, and venomous criticism, but I have worked really hard to not become that. Even now, I have to make decisions on at least weekly to not let other peoples crap change the person I want to be. It’s too easy to take part of other people’s anger and bad attitudes. And sure, I’m not immune to a bad attitude. I curse under my breath and I think things I would never say out loud but then I move on. I choose the higher road and I try to do the mature thing, the adult thing. The two Roys is really a struggle we all have to deal with. 

I choose to believe Red Bandit Roy triumphs over the Real Roy outside the scope of the movie because Red Bandit Roy is his true self. I have to believe for myself as well as the people I love that change on the deepest levels is possible and permanent.

Fan Art

I am not a fan of social media. I think it's a time suck that takes away from spending time with actual people. There are some good things about it too, but that is for another time. I am on Facebook because of my friends. I am on Twitter because it's expected of writers but that is where I drew the line for a long time.  

Then one day I was searching Google Images for something and the object of my desire could only be seen on Pinterest and only if I signed up. So I did. The next four hours disappeared down the rabbit hole that is this site. But now that I have my boards up and filled I have to say it is my new favorite place to go. And here's why. 

I love fan art. I love that people use their mad skills to express their love for something in the most creative ways. If I could draw I would do the same thing, but I can't. I'm a writer so I could do fan fiction but I have enough trouble keeping my own worlds spinning, much less those of others. Besides, the immediate gratification of a visual art is so satisfying. 

So what's a fan girl to do? 

I can't draw, but I can pretend. That is a game I have always excelled at. So I am taking it to the next level in a new blog.
As you may have read, Red Vs. Blue is currently my favorite show and Michael J. Caboose is my favorite character. This blog will be a pictorial account of his adventures which will most often coincide with my own, because we are best friends after all.

See! It's up in the menu if you want to take look. Scroll back to the top, you'll see. Stop by! This is going to be so much fun!

Enjoy the Moment

Last week I was house sitting for a friend in another neighborhood and I took a morning walk. Being Sunday morning none of the businesses were open and only a few people around. As I came up to Haight Street there were bubbles floating in the air.

I stopped to find the source. After a couple of minutes I found that the small orbs originated from a balcony that was above and behind me. A person was up there with a machine churning them out. 

I love bubbles, so this small incident made me smile. It added some much needed wonder to my day so I tried to capture the moment, the result of which is to the right here. As you can see, or not see, as is the case, the bubbles are not visible. 

While disappointing, it serves to remind me that life is best enjoyed as it happens and not after the fact. If I had not been focused on getting the shot I could have enjoyed the moment for a little bit longer. In our age of social media I think sometimes we forget to appreciate what is happening in the here and now for the sake of the perfect picture to post.

I am a big advocate of looking up, turning off , and actually participating in the things going on around us. There is adventure to be had if your're looking for it.

Recycle/Reuse Rant

I guess I shouldn't be surprised but of all the new shows on TV this fall, eight of them are based of off movies and at least two others are based off of shows from other countries. People have been saying it for years, Hollywood is out of original ideas. 

As an independent author trying to get my voice heard, I know a lot of amazing writers in the same boat but no one is listening to us, because we don't have a fan base all ready to go. I realize it's an idealist's dream to wish Hollywood was more open to new ideas, they are in this for the money not the art. So their choices match their goals, but I still need to vent about this. 

It's sad to me that producers of movies or TV shows, and large publishing houses for that matter, are unwilling to take risks of any kind. As a writer looking for an agent you have to have a Twitter following and provide website traffic info as part of your submission package. I know it's a new era in the publishing industry but I have read more than one blog to break the news, just because it's good doesn't mean it will get noticed.

ASIDE: For the record, having a fan base doesn't mean it's good. Popularity is not a guarantee of quality. 

But what about Buffy, Bates Motel, or even Highlander? There are a lot, I mean A LOT of shows based off of movies (and yes, movies based off of books) and many of them are awesome, but when I know so many creative people with really awesome ideas, it's a tragedy and a travesty that the powers the be are too cowardly to explore these new worlds and ideas.

Okay, rant over. I write for me, not them, so let's move on shall we.


In case you were wondering which shows, here is the Wiki list.
See Fall TV list from EW.com here.

Del Toro Does it Right

I just watched Pacific Rim again the other day. And once again I am so impressed by how unpretentious the movie is. I already have an affinity for giant robots and dinosaurs so this is the perfect cross over film. But it is unabashedly just giant robots beating up giant monsters and del Toro does it so well. Even so, it doesn't beat a dead horse in this area, unlike some other giant robot movies that shall remain nameless.

The other nice element is that the relationship between the male and female lead doesn't ever degenerate into romance. I only say degenerate because if I'm going to a movie about giant robots I don't want to watch humans flirting or kissing or being forced into any other completely unnecessary situations. Unlike some other giant robot movies that shall remain nameless.

I was reading the Wiki page on the movie and learned how del Toro structured the plot around the character arcs between each set of charcater relationships. It made me realize why he is such a great director and why his movies are so good. There is a thoughtfulness to the cause and effect of each scene. There are not arbitrary scenes for sake of some ridiculous need to blow shit up, unlike some other giant robot movies that shall remain nameless.

I'm not saying it's an academy award winner but, unlike some other giant robot movies that shall remain nameless, it is worth your time and your money.

You can read my review here.

It Keeps Me Up at Night

Wallpaper by jbn0s0rus via Pinterest. My first obsession was (and still is) Transformers G1. I love Optimus and his Autobots. I'm also a sucker for classic good versus evil showdowns that were so prevalent in cartoons of the 80s: Justice League vs. Legion of Doom, Thudercats vs Mumra, G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, X-Men vs. Brotherhood of Mutants, He-man/She-Ra vs. the Horde, et al. 

But what good are Prime and his noble Auotobts without Megatron and the Decepticons? You can't have one without the other. I'm not an advocate of wars or violence but there is always a fight to be won. It could be in your own head, a co-worker you don't get along with, whatever the obstacle(s), life is a series of battles. And the thing about those battles is the people that see you through, that fight along side you in those things, you never forget. Sometimes they are the people you fight and you realize you've picked the wrong battle and now you're best friends. 

Which brings us to my newest obsession. Red vs. Blue. A certain streaming service that shall remain names, has been recommending it to me for a while now and I finally decided to give it a try. That was two months ago and a day hasn't gone by that I haven't spent sometime watching the show. In two short months I have probably watched every episode five or six times. 

I had this vague notion that it was based off of the Halo universe. I'm not a gamer but I have played Halo 3 at a friends house so I had a little background on things. But then when I ran out of shows I needed more. Suffice it to say You Tube has been scoured for in game videos and I am almost done with the 3rd book of the series. (Master Chief is the Optimus Prime of the Halo universe. But this is a great topic for another time.)

Now when I get hooked on something like this I like to stop and ask my self, why? What is it about this thing that has gotten a hold of me? It didn't take long to realize it was the Transformer affect all over again. What that means for me, is characters, it always come down to character for me. But it's the chemistry of all of them together. The interplay between the factions and even within the factions. The relationships. I don't know if the writers of the original TF had that in mind and I don't know if the writers of RVB do either, but it's there. 

The best part about RVB is that it started out so organically and the creators have really upped their game as their fan base has grown and they take all of intertwining relationships as seriously as the fans do. Season 13 is currently underway and it's still great character building with the humor and heart that it started with. RVB has really nailed that camaraderie that comes with fighting along side and often against other people but coming out of the fray all the more wiser for it. 

That is the other thing about the sim soldiers in red and blue. Everyone is exactly who they are and are totally accepting of who they are within themselves. The integrity of the characters never waivers and I personally really appreciate that. To be honest, do not judge the series on the the first four seasons. You may like the humor, but I recognize it is not for everyone. My favorite season so far is 10, but the stories and animation start getting really sophisticated in season 6.

My deepest appreciation to Rooster Teeth for giving me my newest obsession and the other fans who have just as much fun with and love for it.

Letter from Camp

Hey You,

Camp NaNoWriMo has been rough. Like really rough. Never in my life have I ever had so much trouble getting a story out. By all appearances I would say I am not alone in this. I really liked my cabin, lots of encouragement offered at the start but by the middle of the second week it seems like everyone has cleared the area. Words counts started off strong and dwindled after the first ten days. All of us lowered our word count goal. And now just silence. I was the last person to post anything on the bulletin board and here is what I said:

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -Jack London

This sums up pretty much what I have been doing all month. I decided a while ago that if writing stopped being fun, then what is the point. And it has NOT been fun at all. But I am determined. I decided that no matter what I would do 30 minutes or 500 words, which ever came last. And it is a struggle every time. I am nowhere near my word count but at this point it is the principle of the matter. I am a writer and I will write, even if I am the only one who will ever read it. I will keep writing even if it’s only a few paragraphs a day until I get out of this. I will beat this story (or stories) with that club until there is nothing left but conjunctions and adverbs but I will not give up. I am a writer, hear me type!

Okay not as intimating on the page as it was in my head, and no, this blog does not count as my daily “come hell or high water” goal, thanks for asking. So there it is. The honest truth. I hope you are doing well and your summer is going a lot better than mine.

Cheers!
     -PG

Keep Moving Forward

Image courtesy of Soul Pancake Every time I feel like giving up I stumble onto something that gives me the strength to keep going. Below are a few things you need to know as an artist of any kind. The 4 Ps – Practical, Proactive, Professional and Patient.

Practical – what is your current standard? Are you better off trying to attract a studio to a blockbuster treatment, or attract student film-makers to produce one of your short films? Do you have the craft to handle a feature film? Being practical about your position, you are better placed to take the right strategic step, which will payoff and build your career, rather than frustrate and ultimately perturb you.

Proactive – take your success into your own hands. Write as much as you can, attend networking events, enter competitions, call producers, take on internships, put together your own short films.

Professional – even if you are not yet a professional, always handle yourself in a way befitting a professional. Punctual, delivering what you’ve promised, communicative and clear.

Patient – success very rarely comes overnight. If you quit your job to write a screenplay, convinced it well sell within a few months, then you’re likely going to be in for a rude awakening. Success can take years in this industry – though smaller measures of success can occur daily, weekly and monthly. Set yourself short-term, mid-term and long-term goals – weeks, months and years – and plan for sustained growth.
This is from Lesson 23 of Industrial Scripts screenwriting course. 

And if all else fails I turn to Ray Bradbury who said:

To fail is to give up. But you are in the midst of  a moving process. Nothing fails then. All goes on. Work is done. If good, you learn from it. If bad, you learn even more.Work done and behind you is a lesson to be studied. There is no failure unless one stops.

Keep moving forward.

Audience Participation

One of the best things about going to the movies on opening weekend is the audience interaction. In the case of Jurassic World there were gasps, squeals, cheering, and clapping. 

I LOVE THAT!

Sometimes I go see old movies at Castro Theater. When you are in a room full of people who have just paid $10 plus dollars for a movie that is 10-30 years old you know those people are fans and they show it.

The craziest audience I have sat in was for Breaking Dawn. I do not like those movies but the fans are amazing. In the final fight scene I was astounded and the cheers and booing that went on with each decapitation. It was a spectacle to be sure. 

Doctor Who fans at the 50th anniversary showing were the best. They are all so loyal and fun. Getting people to pay to watch TV in a movie theater is a pretty impressive feat. 

My favorite is when they did the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy. Again, people paying full price for something they've seen dozens, if not hundreds or times. Luke telling the emperor that he was a Jedi, like his father before him, filled the room with cheers. It was awesome. I suspect that Star Wars VII will be an enthusiastic showing.

In case you missed my official Twitter review of Jurassic World it was: Jurassic World was AAAAAAAHHHHHsome! Not for the faint of heart.