Category > Writing

Of plots and mindmaps

A new feature project appears to be starting out well. This maybe in part because it’s pretty much an adaptation and that means it’s fully formed. It’s by no means a strict adaptation because the original material is a) set nearly 100 years ago and I want to bring it up to date and [...]

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…he said, wryly.

Have you ever read a screenplay where, at the beginning of a piece of dialogue, just under the characters name, there’s a bracketed phrase like, for example, “(under his breath)” or “(fear-induced autopilot)”¹? These parantheticals are often known as “wrylys” (or wrylies – not sure what the plural is) because, apparently, it’s very common [...]

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A Novel Idea

I woke up this morning¹ with a thought rampaging around my head. Being quite alone, it made quite a lot of noise in there and try as I might, I couldn’t get it to shut up and I really really did need it to both shut up and get the fuck out of my [...]

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Sticking with Jim: Exposition in 28 Days Later

Idle thoughts (and associated spoilers) about 28 Days Later.
Just about all of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s not-a-zombie film is told from the point of view of the protagonist Jim (Cillian Murphy). The only part that isn’t is the prologue where we see some animal rights activists break into a primate research laboratory and [...]

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Dead Inside

(Click to embiggen – full text after the jump)

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What’s Your Story?

After what can only be described as a fuckawful day, starting with discovering that some cockstabbing, shiteating scrotes had stolen my bicycle leaving me in a mood that bordered on genocidal, I’ve just finished writing an entry for the Waterstone’s What’s Your Story competitionally challenging type eventuality. Although I was aware of this charidee [...]

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Plots and plans

I’d like to say that I’m as giddy as a schoolboy with his first top-shelf magazine.
My floor is currently covered in index cards. Lots of index cards. 60 of them to be more or less precise. All but seven of them represent a scene in the third iteration of the second draft [...]

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This is the end (my only friend)

In terms of structure, the screenplay¹ for Revelation currently resembles the business plan put forward by the underpant gnomes:
1. Beginning (Act 1)
2. Middle (Act 2)
3. ?
4. Profit!
To be accurate, it’s probably more along the lines of
1. The Setup (Act 1)
2. ?
3. ??
4. Profit!
Even though I’ve changed a lot of the story minutiae and have [...]

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Occupation and Motivation

Pop quiz, hotshot: name a film where the protagonist is a lawyer. Easy, huh! Name a film where the protagonist is a lawyer and the film isn’t a legal drama and has nothing to do with being in court or people going to trial. Can still do that?
Okay, so name [...]

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Familiarity Breeds Contempt

I have a guilty secret – well, one of many. This one regards my occassional habit of watching Eastenders – not compulsively but enough to know who’s who and what’s going on. I can’t call it a guilty pleasure like, for example, shooting up with crystal meth might be although it’s probably just [...]

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