I wouldn't say work has begun on the new project yet. I'm officially referring to this as my 'preliminary research' stage, which is to say that as I'm going to be writing something of a twisty-turny-mystery type thing, I'm watching a fat pile of DVDs that run along similar lines.
That Sherlock Holmes box set I bought recently - the version starring the legendary Jeremy Brett - will come in handy, along with a bunch of Christopher Nolan films and the like for inspiration regarding unconventional story structure. Lots of quality stuff, but I guess this means I won't be playing too many video games in the next few weeks.
I've pretty much decided the story is going to begin in medias res, but beyond that I have only the basic story in my head and not a lot else. So far. I should have the full story plotted out - maybe even structured in the correct narrative sequence - by the end of February, to begin the first draft in March.
I'll be keeping the sequence of events very economical - I don't want to run over the page count this time. This should be a much more compact story than Hudson Falls. Good thing too. I don't quite feel up to another 130 page titan just yet.
Darren Ellis writes, except when he doesn't.
When he doesn't he's more than likely doing something sedentary and fun, like playing video games or reading a book. Or procrastinating over what he's supposed to be writing.
Oh yes. He does that last one quite a bit.
Monday 31 January 2011
Sunday 23 January 2011
Finally Fallen
Finally, all my work on Hudson Falls is complete. Character bios, script, everything. I can draw a line under that, stick a fork in it, and rest easy. It's done.
Onto the next project! My posts from now on will detail the growing work on that one, which is so preliminary right now it doesn't have a name.
I tend to come up with the names quite late in the development of a script. Normally they tie in thematically with the content of the story, and as I sometimes don't know exactly what shape that will take when I originally come up with an idea, and writing being a spontaneous, fluid thing that can go in directions you don't expect, it's premature to constrict yourself with a name so early in the development of an idea.
Needless to say, as soon as I have a name for it, it'll be up on the blog.
Onto the next project! My posts from now on will detail the growing work on that one, which is so preliminary right now it doesn't have a name.
I tend to come up with the names quite late in the development of a script. Normally they tie in thematically with the content of the story, and as I sometimes don't know exactly what shape that will take when I originally come up with an idea, and writing being a spontaneous, fluid thing that can go in directions you don't expect, it's premature to constrict yourself with a name so early in the development of an idea.
Needless to say, as soon as I have a name for it, it'll be up on the blog.
Saturday 22 January 2011
Done and Done
Just a quick update - this evening I finished the rewrite of Hudson Falls. It's done. Forever. Just got the character bios to do this weekend and it'll be onto the next project.
I usually get a bit weird and slightly depressed after finishing something, so tonight has been a surreal experience. I think because it's been such a big job to write, finally finishing HF has had a much bigger impact on me than I'm used to.
But I shall be strong. Like a lion. Raaaar.
I usually get a bit weird and slightly depressed after finishing something, so tonight has been a surreal experience. I think because it's been such a big job to write, finally finishing HF has had a much bigger impact on me than I'm used to.
But I shall be strong. Like a lion. Raaaar.
Thursday 20 January 2011
Nearly There
Progress update!
I've now finished the last, final and remaining rewrite of Hudson Falls - on paper. The weekend stretches away in front of me as does the task of typing it all up, but that shouldn't take long. After that and the character bios, I can finally call this particular project done.
And not a moment too soon. It's been a monumental job. Sometimes it's felt like such a tough slog to get through and I'm glad I'm nearing the end of it, but I'm incredibly proud of the end result, and I hope that I have some luck when I start shopping it around to publishers.
So, starting next week (fingers crossed) I'll be making preparations for the next project, which is the 40/50 pager for Accent. That'll be a toughie, too. It's a bit of a detectivey, mystery type story, so the first thing I'm going to have to do is put a spreadsheet together so I can structure the chronology of each character. This should mean the events of the story still make perfect sense when they get broken up and told out of sequence. Should help me flesh out the characters as well.
This is going to be one project where my OCD is going to come in handy.
I've now finished the last, final and remaining rewrite of Hudson Falls - on paper. The weekend stretches away in front of me as does the task of typing it all up, but that shouldn't take long. After that and the character bios, I can finally call this particular project done.
And not a moment too soon. It's been a monumental job. Sometimes it's felt like such a tough slog to get through and I'm glad I'm nearing the end of it, but I'm incredibly proud of the end result, and I hope that I have some luck when I start shopping it around to publishers.
So, starting next week (fingers crossed) I'll be making preparations for the next project, which is the 40/50 pager for Accent. That'll be a toughie, too. It's a bit of a detectivey, mystery type story, so the first thing I'm going to have to do is put a spreadsheet together so I can structure the chronology of each character. This should mean the events of the story still make perfect sense when they get broken up and told out of sequence. Should help me flesh out the characters as well.
This is going to be one project where my OCD is going to come in handy.
Monday 10 January 2011
Horizontal Frolics
As I'm currently incapacitated and stuck in my bedroom as I recover from some minor surgery, I've been trying to remain as active as possible while not actually moving. This has, I'm pleased to report, involved doing a bit of work on the rewrite of Hudson Falls. Thankfully I had the forward thinking to print off a copy of the script a couple of months ago, so I haven't even had to get out of bed while I do it. A perfect activity to occupy someone barely capable of walking to the bathroom and back.
Progress is being slightly laborious, but fulfilling. It's remarkable how many more spelling and grammatical errors you notice when you're reading words on a page rather than on a screen. I'm coming up for three quarters of my way through it now, so not long to go - hopefully later on in the week I will be able to sit at my PC for more than 20 minutes without needing a lie down, and I can type it all up and finally call it done, for real this time. Then I can spend my time thinking about this new idea for Accent and get the ball rolling on that one.
It's good - I feel the cogs turning in my head again. Maybe this means that even though I'm not particularly mobile I'm starting to shake off the Christmas and new year funk and will be feeling like myself again before I know it. I'd certainly like to get this year's activities under way with a flurry of work. Right now it only feels like a light drizzle.
Progress is being slightly laborious, but fulfilling. It's remarkable how many more spelling and grammatical errors you notice when you're reading words on a page rather than on a screen. I'm coming up for three quarters of my way through it now, so not long to go - hopefully later on in the week I will be able to sit at my PC for more than 20 minutes without needing a lie down, and I can type it all up and finally call it done, for real this time. Then I can spend my time thinking about this new idea for Accent and get the ball rolling on that one.
It's good - I feel the cogs turning in my head again. Maybe this means that even though I'm not particularly mobile I'm starting to shake off the Christmas and new year funk and will be feeling like myself again before I know it. I'd certainly like to get this year's activities under way with a flurry of work. Right now it only feels like a light drizzle.
Friday 7 January 2011
Twitter is odd
I'm now on Twitter.
Apparently it's all modern and stuff. To be honest, I'm currently a bit baffled by it. Nevertheless, it's apparently a legal requirement that we all must have a Twitter account, so there I am. Dunno how it works yet, but you can do a search on DarrenEllisOCD and there I'll be.
Feel free to tweet me, or whatever the terminology is.
If I'm coming across as a bit of a curmudgeon about it, then that's because it's made me grumpy. It's new technology and I'm over 30. Douglas Adams was right. Twitter is against the natural order of things.
Apparently it's all modern and stuff. To be honest, I'm currently a bit baffled by it. Nevertheless, it's apparently a legal requirement that we all must have a Twitter account, so there I am. Dunno how it works yet, but you can do a search on DarrenEllisOCD and there I'll be.
Feel free to tweet me, or whatever the terminology is.
If I'm coming across as a bit of a curmudgeon about it, then that's because it's made me grumpy. It's new technology and I'm over 30. Douglas Adams was right. Twitter is against the natural order of things.
Wednesday 5 January 2011
The year ahead
Greetings once again! It's been a little longer than I foresaw between blog posts over Christmas, mostly because there's been nothing new to report - I've generally just spent the last month blobbing around like a fat tub of lard, eating choccies, drinking beer and watching telly. It's been bliss, but it's not been particularly noteworthy in a writerly way.
So, onwards, then. I've formulated a schedule of work for the next 12 months, although like most of my self-imposed deadlines, it's pretty loose and is subject to change, depending on what comes up.
Firstly, I'm going through Hudson Falls one final time, just cleaning up a few spelling and grammatical errors. This is turning out to be a slightly bigger job that I had anticipated, and once that's done I'll be putting together some character bios for the new submission pack I'm working on. I could have a bit of good news regarding an artist coming soon, but don't want to count my chickens.
After that, it'll be another script for Accent UK. After they passed on Hudson Falls due to its length I got to thinking about alternative ideas for them, and I have one that's absolutely kick ass and will come in with a much shorter page count. Fingers crossed they like this one when it's done.
After that, I'm going to write another script - no publisher attached, no artist on board, no nothing right now. This is going to be for future investment, as the plan is to have three full length scripts finished and at various stages of production by July.
The rest of the year will be taken up by Empty, my horror novel for younger readers. I'm determined to get at least a partial first draft done by the end of this year - I keep putting this off due to comic book projects, so I really need to stop procrastinating and get stuck in once the other projects are done.
So there we have it. A bit of an ambitious target for a 12-month period, and I'll probably get distracted by umpteen other possibilities along the way and not get it all done, but it's important to have goals, even if you're constantly shifting them.
So, onwards, then. I've formulated a schedule of work for the next 12 months, although like most of my self-imposed deadlines, it's pretty loose and is subject to change, depending on what comes up.
Firstly, I'm going through Hudson Falls one final time, just cleaning up a few spelling and grammatical errors. This is turning out to be a slightly bigger job that I had anticipated, and once that's done I'll be putting together some character bios for the new submission pack I'm working on. I could have a bit of good news regarding an artist coming soon, but don't want to count my chickens.
After that, it'll be another script for Accent UK. After they passed on Hudson Falls due to its length I got to thinking about alternative ideas for them, and I have one that's absolutely kick ass and will come in with a much shorter page count. Fingers crossed they like this one when it's done.
After that, I'm going to write another script - no publisher attached, no artist on board, no nothing right now. This is going to be for future investment, as the plan is to have three full length scripts finished and at various stages of production by July.
The rest of the year will be taken up by Empty, my horror novel for younger readers. I'm determined to get at least a partial first draft done by the end of this year - I keep putting this off due to comic book projects, so I really need to stop procrastinating and get stuck in once the other projects are done.
So there we have it. A bit of an ambitious target for a 12-month period, and I'll probably get distracted by umpteen other possibilities along the way and not get it all done, but it's important to have goals, even if you're constantly shifting them.
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