Monday, April 30, 2012

Losing Battles, Winning Wars

Well, I only got to sixty-six pages for Script Frenzy this year.  However, the project looks like it will be over one hundred and fifty pages of script in two volumes, at least.
But with over two thirds of this volume written, I am now committed to finishing Bedlam.  Which is just as well, because I’ve really enjoyed it.  Thinking much more visually and considering layout as a narrative tool has been really interesting.
I can slacken off somewhat now, reducing my aim to only a page a day for as long as it takes to get done.  Then it’s a matter of finding an artist.  I have a distinct idea of how I’d like Bedlam to look and, if I find an artist that is interested in the project and has the right style, I can trust the rest to them.
And start the next volume…

Right back at the beginning of April, I did a short interview with Chris Kelworth for his blog.  It’s worth noting that not only has Chris managed to make over two dozen blog posts, but he’s only a page away from “winning” this year, with hours to go.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Radius of Action

After having a fairly rotten cold for two weeks, I’ve not been able to get nearly the page count down I’ve wanted for ScriptFrenzy.

This means that I’m not going to “win” this year.

Which, by extension, means that I’m going out fighting.

I’m sixty-three pages into the script and the die has been cast.  I am going to finish this - most likely in the middle of May- and it has resolved itself into a much clearer project.

What I’m writing now is only going to be volume one of the Knights of Bedlam’s story.  And when that arc is resolved, there is the possibility of looking at what happens with the Knights down the ages.  And a character has appeared who has only so far been lurking in background of notes for other projects and they deserve their own story.

I have the luxury of setting my own deadlines, so nothing is lost on this project.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Ice That Melts The Tips

Bedlam is really underway now.  By tomorrow night, I’ll be a third of the way through.  This bank holiday weekend has really placed me ahead of the curve.

There’s a lot that is not going in to this story now.  I’ve been able to maintain the feeling of an ensemble piece, but it’s really the story of one man.  I’m also beginning to wonder how much of what I’ve got planned will fit in one hundred pages.

This volume will probably end in the Holy Land and I’ll continue on with their journey across Europe in another story.  There are two fairly powerful enemies that they (so far) don’t know that they have who can provide the conflict for that.  And we know for a fact that at least one character is still around in modern times…

Saturday, April 7, 2012

A Rational Quotient

The first working week of Script Frenzy is now over.  I’m one fifth of the way into the script and one quarter of the way through my allotted time.  This would bother me more if I didn’t have two whole Mondays allocated to the project later in the month.
As it currently stands, I’ve just played the inciting incident, introduced one (possibly two, depending on your point of view) of the antagonists and started fleshing out the characters.  There are two I want to do more work with, but they’re just about to reach prominence.
Now the story is to begin in earnest…

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Wasting another night on planning my revenge

Eight pages in, and almost one tenth of Bedlam has been written.

I wasn’t feeling especially confident last night as it opens with a big single page introducing the main character and a double page spread which introduces everyone else.  I think I got about three pages done.

However, tonight I hit the earmarked “five-a-day” I’ll need to complete the one hundred pages by the 30th of April.  And with two Bank Holidays and a day off work for my birthday, I’m much happier about being able to finish the whole thing in a month.