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Happy New Year

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Happy new year. Regular programming will return to this site in the very near future. šŸ™‚

Seriously, thatā€™s the plan.

Writing wise, 2018 was a bust. The ITFS and Whiteworms Work Week were great and definitely personal highlights, and I wrote some decent blogposts but other than that, total bust. I Tried to write a few things but nothing besides a few pages here and there, nothing finished, nothing polished, thing worth showing.

Personally 2018 wasnā€™t that much better. I gained some weight again and I think that all these things are kind of connected. I need to get back on track with everything. I need to do more sports, more writing, more reading and Iā€™m confident that 2019 is going to be the year I get my shit together.

So do I have new years resolutions? Yes, I do.

  1. More sports: I started with 10-15 minutes on my home trainer and once the snow is gone, itā€™s running season. Iā€™ll also try to eat less. Wish me luck.
  2. More reading: I reactivated my audible account and Iā€™m ending everyday with some audiobook time. So far, great way to fall asleep.
  3. More writing: This one speaks for itself. I need to get going with Alaska. The plan is to get something done by easter. Iā€™ll also try to update the blog regularly. I donā€™t know whether Iā€™ll do progress reports or something but regular programming should resume.
  4. More D&D: Yeah, I just want to play more D&D, as a DM and as a player. Itā€™s fun, you should try it.

I think this should be manageable and I hope that I wonā€™t disappoint myself.

This is it for today. Take care and stay tuned.

 

Dear 2018 Fuck off already Thank you

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#Momentum – 6th Sense

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I stopped numbering weeks, Iā€™m back to numbering posts. šŸ™‚

So, love was really busy but there’s light at the end of the tunnel and I started writing ā€œAlaskaā€ yesterday. Well, I typed “FADE IN:ā€ and thought of some character names but I felt the excitement building. Thereā€™s still a lot of work to do and Iā€™m already preparing for some heavy rewriting but I just felt that I needed to stop outlining and start writing. Hence this short post.

I need to get back to Alaska, I want to get at least another page done today maybe even two, remember, I need to get the #Momentum going. šŸ™‚

Iditarod Dog Sled Race Global Warming

No Spoilers!

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#Momentum – Week 5 (?) – November

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ā€¦ I hate November.

Itā€™s not that November is a bad month or anything, but for some reason everything has too happen in November. I don’t know who decided that everything has to happen in November. Itā€™s probably the busiest month in the year and there are so many things I have to do, that I donā€™t have time to spend them on anything else.

Iā€™m correcting exams, rehearsing for a concert, doing teacher training, a lot of meetings, matura preparations, ā€¦. I canā€™t even name al the things Iā€™ have to do. I obviously enjoy some of these activities but Iā€™m looking forward to a time where I actually have time to focus on other things, like writing.

I came around, and Iā€™m now trying to implement Orlindoā€™s idea for Alaska. Iā€™m not totally sure that he was right but the fact that I have new ideas is a good sign. I’m confident that I can tell the story I want to tell with these adjustments. I obviously wonā€™t go into details, you have to wait a couple of month for those, but I hope that I write a first draft, or at least part of one around christmas time, once crazy busy November is over.

Iā€™m actually so busy, that I donā€™t even have time to blog. Iā€™m basically stealing myself away from schoolwork. So many exams and meetings but I want to offer a quick update on Red Dead Redemption 2. I finished the main story. I like the game but I donā€™t love it. The game is a tremendous achievement, very immersive and the story is fantastic but Iā€™m still yearning for better fast travel. There were instances of a “long journey” that made perfect sense and had purpose but sometimes it felt like a chore to ride across the map. Unlike some other people I don’t have issues with the gameplay or the controls, hey I love Witcher 3, but I still, prefer to play Spider-Man, maybe itā€™s just because I prefer web-slinging to horseback-riding. šŸ™‚

Red Dead Redemption Detailed Game Map

Damn, that map is big. Really big.

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#Momentum – 2 – This is not a review

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Greetings my friends. Itā€™s about to be November and even though Iā€™m not starting to write a novel, I decided to use NaNoWriMoĀ to get me writing again. I need some kind of reason to start writing again until the momentum sets in and I get excited again. Iā€™m just a bit rusty, but if I remember correctly, thatā€™s what #Momentum and NaNoWriMo is for.

So I hope to give you some good news on that front and Iā€™m confident that Alaska will make some progress in the following month. I won’t finish the script but some words on a page is a start.

Meanwhileā€¦ I played some games during the last couple of weeks, research… who am I kidding…..so I decided to write about that. Full disclosure, Iā€™m not a game reviewer but I want so share some thoughtā€™s on three games I played recently.

Spider Man PS4 cover

…does whatever a spider can.

Spider-Man

What a game. So much fun. Spider-Man has always been one of my favorites and this game showed me why. The character is spot on and very likable and the story and the gameplay is just a blast. Itā€™s just awesome to swing through New York, probably the most fun I had playing a game in years.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

ACOdysseyCoverArt

This is Sparta!!

Is the Assassinā€™s Creed series perfect? No, is it fun? Yes.

Black Flag is still my favorite but I had a blast playing this game, up to a point though, and then it got a bit tedious. Not that the gameplay or the story was at fault, I just didnā€™t progress fast enough to get to the things I wanted to get to. My biggest complaint ist that the game is too big or too long. I love the world they created but I donā€™t have 100 hours to see everything which makes me sad because I want to. So plus points for the amazing world (Athens looks stunning) and the gameplay, some deductions for the grindy parts of the game.

Red Dead Redemption II

Hi-yo, Silver!

Red Dead Redemption 2

Iā€™m in Chapter 5 and I donā€™t know if I like this game.

Part of me obviously does, I mean Iā€™m in chapter 5 but for everything the game does right, there are just some really annoying things. Itā€™s a slow burn and I donā€™t know if itā€™s too slow or just very deliberate. The game is definitely highly immersive but sometimes I yearn(ed) for have Witcher 3 like fast-travel (the signposts). I spent hours riding out and back to camp and I just feel that I’d enjoy the game more if the made some of the mechanics less realistic.

Don’t get me wring, the game’s momentous achievement but sometimes, less is more. I’ll continue playing the game but so far there were only a couple of missions that really captured me. There should be more (successful) heist missions.

So, all that being said, what’s the one take away from my gaming experience I’ll apply to my writing? Easy; less is more.Ā 

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#Momentum – Week whatever – Do I really care anymore?

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I lost count, well losing count would imply that I actually counted but letā€™s just say that I have definite proof now, that I donā€™t do well without pressure. I have absolutely no excuse for not blogging and not writing. None, zero, nadaā€¦ I was just too lazy and I basically had too much time on my hand. I literally postponed everything to tomorrowā€¦ yes, hat magical place where all the things happen and get madeā€¦.too bad that tomorrow is always one day away. I have no-one to blame but myself, well there was a bike accident I was involved in, but I didnā€™t get much done before that as well, so I canā€™t really put blame on that.

Itā€™s not that I didnā€™t do anything. I worked a bit on ā€œAlaskaā€, thatā€™s the working title of the new project and Iā€™m quite happy with how the story is evolving but I need to get off the brakes and go full throttle with my writing and my life again. It sounds strange, but Iā€™m feeling a bit too content right now. Most of the things in my life are going well and I donā€™t or didnā€™t feel the urge to change too much, so I fell back into old habits. I gained a few pounds and I have to admit that Iā€™m probably a bit too comfortable in my own shoes.

I think I have to change my ways again. I need to get my shit together and start ā€œadulting” again. I need to take better care of myself and I need to focus on the things I want. Iā€™m not giving a timetable right now, and I think the change has to be a bit slower than last time. I strongly feel though, that I need to start logging my activities and my calorie intake again. I hope that this blogpost is a first step in that direction. So, I guess I need to get the #Momentum going again.

Orlindo just gave me new idea for ā€œAlaskaā€ that I have to think about. Iā€™m not totally against the new idea but I need some time the get used to it. Maybe that can be first foray into writing again. Iā€™ll keep you posted.

On another note: Skyscraper finally has (some sort of) a poster. Lisa, Orlindoā€™s girlfriend designed as a title page for a treatment we sent in to a competition. I totally love it and not just because it might be the closest I ever get to a movie spotter of one of my ideas. Please enjoy.

Skscraper Cover3 Title

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#Momentum – Week 2 and 3 – WWW

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Iā€™m back and Iā€™m not even pretend to be sorry because of my broken promise. I really wanted to blog last week but WWW (Whiteworms Work Week) was a success. We worked hard on some new projects and old projects and I think itā€™s fair to say, that I feel energised and motivated to hit the keyboard again. But what I liked most about last week wasnā€™t the actual writing it was the way to get there. We had some heated discussions and I think our new project is the better for it. I donā€™t want to spoil too much but I just finished a new draft of the new projectā€™s first act and I have a pretty good feeling. It is so much better than it was a week ago. I now where the characters need to go, I have a pretty good idea about their journey all I need now are some interesting set pieces which force them to change and become betterā€¦ I donā€™t want to spoil anything.

All Iā€™m saying is, itā€™s not a sequel to ā€œSkyscraperā€ but in a way it is. Itā€™s set in a different part of world, a different time and everything is different but thereā€™s a similarity in tone and theme to ā€œSkyscraperā€ that seems to be the thing we/I aspire to when writing. If I write something I need to say something, it actually doesnā€™t matter that much whether or not the audience gets it, I just need the story to mean something to me and both ā€œSkyscraperā€ and our new animated feature have something to say that is very personal.

In fact, the new project is probably one of the most personal things1 I ever attempted to write, but not in the sense of an actual story, more in an emotional way. Itā€™s not that I lived through these events, itā€™s more that similar events and experiences made me think a certain way and this story is a way to share these ideas and feelings. I think itā€™s probably my version of Finding Nemo’s Andrew Stanton realisation that he was an overprotective father that led him to write Finding Nemo.

Finding Nemoā€˜s roots back to a 1992 visit to Six Flags Marine WorldĀ  and started Andrew thinking about the amazing possibilities of capturing an undersea world in computer animation. The film was inspired by a fleeting moment of realization in which Stanton observed that his overprotective fatherly instincts were preventing him from properly bonding with his son. It tells the tale of a young clown fish who is whisked from the ocean to a dentist-office aquarium and his fatherā€™s quest to bring his son back home safely. As with Stantonā€™s other writing efforts, Finding Nemo focused on character development and provided an emotional resonance and heart rarely seem in animation. –Ā http://www.pixartalk.com

Iā€™m not saying that my story is as good as Finding Nemo but I think the fact that I the idea had a similar way of coming into existence is probably a good sign. As I say before, writing is not just for entertainment, itā€™s also about ideas and communicating those ideas. Even blockbuster movies, actually especially blockbuster movies need something to connect them to an audience and it usually helps if the writer or the director or preferably everyone who works on the movie has a personal, emotional connection to the core theme or message of the story.

I actually think thatā€™s what good writing is really about, finding that emotional center, and it actually doesnā€™t matter if everyone in the audience gets it. Maybe someone takes something different away from the movie, who am I to judge. Iā€™m not going to explain to anyone what he or she should feel after reading or (hopefully) watching one of my stories. Iā€™m going to share with you what it means to me but if it means something different to you, be my guest.

IMG 0040

No Spoilers!

  1. Well, the most personal is it probably “The Passion of the Geek” but let’s not go there, it’s a silly place. ↩
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Writing is Rewriting

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So, I finished the first draft of the outline of my new yet untitled project this week. Obviously I was quite pleased with myself, itā€™s the first important step in a long journey but every journey starts that way, problem is, apparently the first draft is really bad. šŸ˜©

But no worries, that was to be expected. First drafts are rarely good but as I said, they are an important step and I think itā€™s really important to write stuff (even stuff thatā€™s not gold yet) down. Rewriting is so much easier than writing. I really like editing and improving my work and I usually need this first version to help me find the story and the characters. I have a pretty good idea about what I want to say but the problem is the how.

How am I going to let my characters express my ideas and my themes, how are they going to react to each other in order to convey their differences and similarities and how will I be able to get them to change? I love finding the answers to these questions even though it is probably the hardest thing about writing.

So what am I going to do about this. Well, I have my work cut out for this weekend. After this blogpost and Iā€™m going to start rewriting the shit out of the first draft. Iā€™m even considering switching languages to make me really rewrite it but I have to check that with Orlindo. Next week is the first (of hopefully many) Whiteworms Work Week, WWW if you will. I visit him in Berlin, I havenā€™t been there in a while and we are going to work on our projects with the goal of developing some new ideas and polishing and/or improving on our existing material. We definitely have our work cut out for us and Iā€™m sure itā€™s going to be an interesting but also exhausting week.

Iā€™m planing on keeping you updated, who knows there might be more than just some writing insights coming your way next week.šŸ˜‰

IMG 0032

Wise words.

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#Momentum – Week 1 – Breaking the Research

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The 1st week of #Momentum is almost over and Iā€™m happy to report, that even though I didnā€™t meet all my guidelines, I consider week one rather successful. I spent most of the week thinking about the follow-up to ā€œSkyscraperā€ and Iā€™m happy to report that I made some progress. Iā€™m far from finished and I donā€™t have a story yet but I have a feeling about the characters and their journey. But let me tell you bit about how I approached this project.

Usually, I have a story I want to tell but this time I decided to force myself to approach the script from a character perspective. For the last couple weeks I had an idea about the kind of story I want to tell and what the theme, the message should be. So all I had to do is come up with characters who could experience this emotional journey I planed for them. I narrowed down the theme and suddenly I knew what characters I had to pick and how their journey looked like. Itā€™s obviously not polished yet and there will be many things that will change but looking at the character breakdowns, I get a feeling for them and I think I want to get to know them better (which is really important when you decide to write 70 to 80 pages about someone).

Ok, so now that I have some ideas for the characters and a sense of what I want to say itā€™s time for my favourite part, research. Where do I set the story? Do I use animals or humans or both? What kind of animals, what kind of humans? What external forces play a role? etc.

I love this part, the possibilities are endless but as soon as you hit on the idea, it just clicks, and yesterday it did. Iā€™m not going into details but I had an epiphany yesterday and I could feel how the pieces started to fit together. Itā€™s a nice feeling and probably one that every writer cherishes. It doesnā€™t feel like work yet but Itā€™s a huge leap forward. The only downside, now the real work starts.

Now I have to distill all my ideas and all possibilities into a treatment that Orlindo and I can (hopefully) develop into our new project. Ok, back to writing now, I never said these updates have to be long. šŸ™‚

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Football’s (not) coming home

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I promised you some content so here we go. But first, this happened:

Three Lions on the Shirt.

Three Lions on the Shirt!

It might come as a surprise to most of you, but Iā€™m not the biggest fan of organised sports. I rarely watch sports on TV or anywhere else and I donā€™t really follow a team, I have sympathies though andĀ there are a few exceptions to the rule, a ski race, mostly the big downhill races, and the World Cup and the Euro.

It sounds a bit silly but I get quite emotional during the World Cup and especially when England plays. Being an England supporter is obviously a bad idea but Iā€™m happy that I turned out that way and Iā€™m pretty sure that England is the only team I can get this emotional about and Iā€™m going to the you why. I think it has something to with their history or maybe even myth and in some sense, their lack of success.

Thereā€™s 1966, the only Championship England has ever won and I think that the biggest part of being an England supporter is the fact that weā€™re waiting for that moment again, itā€™s almost biblical, waiting for the messiah, the second coming and in a way thatā€™s what being an England fan is all about. Weā€™re waiting for it to happen again, every time we start to hope again, every time we get this feeling only to get disappointed again.

I said that I donā€™t like sports but I love sports movies and being an England supporter is probably the closest you can get to a sports movie story in real life. You have the drama, you have hope only to have that hope crushed all over againā€¦ but no, we donā€™t learn. Itā€™s a feeling probably best described in one of the best sports songs ever:

It’s coming home
It’s coming home
It’s coming
Football’s coming home
Everyone seems to know the score
They’ve seen it all before
They just know
They’re so sure
That England’s gonna throw it away
Gonna blow it away
But I know they can play
‘Cause I remember
Three Lions on a shirt
Jules Rimet still gleaming
Thirty years of hurt
Never stopped me dreaming
So many jokes, so many sneers
But all those oh-so-nears
Wear you down
Through the years
But I still see that tackle by Moore
And when Linekar scored
Bobby belting the ball
And Nobby Dancing
Three Lions on a shirt

Itā€™s not fun being an England supporter, especially when you consider tat were now at more than 50 years of hurt but every two years the feeling returns and you start to hope again until that moment where against all odds the underdog, yeah England, where football was invented is the underdog now, wins the championship. Isnā€™t that how the movie is supposed to play out? But on the other hand, not winning is what the myth is all about. England fans are used to supported their team no matter what in good and letā€™s be honest especially the bad times. Obviously, reaching the semi-final was a big feat but nobody cares about third place and the dream is to get the Cup. This is real life and not Cool Runnings or Eddie the EagleĀ but it sure feels like these two movies at the moment.

So, what am I actually trying to say here. Well, Iā€™m disappointed but I support my team and I know that there will be a happy end at some point, it might take some time but ā€œFootball will come home one dayā€.

 

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#Momentum – The Second Coming

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Ok, no more (time for) excuses. It might come as a big surprise to some of you, but Iā€™ve lost the momentumā€¦.who am I kiddingā€¦ we all know I lost it a while ago. I managed to hang on to some aspects of it but my writing output has been abysmal and itā€™s time to change that.

img-alternative-text

The last couple of month have been quite emotional and there’s still that other thing that doesnt seem to go away but I’ve definitely made my peace with it/her1 and its time to move on to other, more positive things. As you know I had to say goodbye to some my students last weekend and with all these different and even contradicting feelings and emotions I feel the time is right to relaunch #ProjectMomentum but this time I’m just calling it #Momentum.

The idea of it was always to focus on something that matters and I feel that I need that right now. So I decided to get the #Momentum going againā€¦ but this time Im serious (again). Im going to focus on my writing and my mental and physical health.

So, here are the rules and guidelines:

  1. At least 5000 words each week. Blogging counts as well, schoolwork doesn’t.
  2. 2-3 blogposts each week. One is going to be an update on #Momentum, one post is going to be writing related and one post is going to be personal, maybe about school or something random.
  3. 20k or 3 hours of exercise each week. Cycling to school doesnā€™t count.
  4. One day each week without meat.
  5. One good deed each week. Donā€™t know how thatā€™s going to work and what I will count but letā€™s see how that goes.

Iā€™m sure that I will read and watch movies as well but these five things seemed appropriate, managable and goal oriented.

I have obviously no idea how this will turn out but Iā€™m confident that I can get the momentum going again.
So, how are my summer plans going to influence #Momentum. I obviously donā€™t know yet but I don’t have a big trip planned so at least theoretically I should get more writing done.

In late July Iā€™m going to visit Orlindo in Berlin, getting to those 5ā€™000 words should not be too much of an issue that week, we might also have a meeting that week but more on that later. I donā€™t want to jinx anything but Iā€™m positively optimistic that this summer could be a good one.

So, Iā€™m off to writing then. I have many good ideas and the goal is to get at least one new project going this summer. Starting tomnorrow Iā€™ll put the ideas to paper and who knows, it might be the one.

  1. Unfortunately it’s not mutual. ↩