Monday, September 28, 2009

Writing...

I have had something I needed to finish for quite some time. A draft of a screenplay that some people are waiting on. Actually, that's not quite true. It's not that I needed to finish it. I needed to start it. I'm so far away from finishing it that there's no point in worrying about that bit yet.

So I locked myself away at the weekend to attempt to get some momentum going. It took my at least a day before I got back into it and knew who my characters were. It doesn't surprise me how difficult I was finding it. It's not something you can just jump into.

It almost requires a journey even to begin. Me, in my own world, walking slowly step by step into the world of the story. There's no train. No quicker route. It just takes time.

But I got there eventually and have finally managed to make a start. That's good.

I don't have this difficulty with children's shows. I can just jump in and, withing an hour, I'm there. Characters and stories are living for me. The mind of a child comes more naturally to me.

But to pretend I ever really made it to adulthood and try to get inside the heads of adults? Well, that's just hard work.

Being an adult must be rough.

9 comments:

Red Pill Junkie said...

Being an adult must be rough.

Yeah, so I've heard —although I wouldn't know about it either ;-)

susan said...

Why is it ok for men to be Peter Pan- but there is no female equivalent? Wendy is all grown up, and Tinkerbell- well it would be real kewl to fly.

Red Pill Junkie said...

It's always been like this, Susan.

Girls are always rushed to adulthood. What's the typical gift for a girl? A doll, of course —so she can be properly prepared to motherhood.

Used to be the same with boys —given them toy tools or even toy guns —but not anymore.

Bitter Animator said...

I was always reminded growing up that girls mature faster than boys. It was usually used as an insult.

Well, who's laughing now?

susan said...

Umm, i think it's girls are sexually mature at an earlier age (able to have babies) than boys- (fathering babies). But the last generation or so growing up much earlier due to food habits and what not- who knows anymore.

I do wish I was Tinkerbell. I would love to fly wings on my back. Only in blue instead of green- ya think?And yes, i still sleep with stuffed animals, watch cartoons on TV on Saturday am in flannel pj's and eat sugary cereal while doing.0 ;-)

Andy Latham said...

Is it any wonder all of the books I have bought recently have been children's picture books?!

Have you seen "My Name is Doug", a book based on the dog from Pixar's "Up"? That's one lovely book.

Red Pill Junkie said...

"But the last generation or so growing up much earlier due to food habits and what not- who knows anymore."

I always thought it was because of all the growth hormones fed to chickens;but now I think the precocious puberty is due to all the plastic we live with. Plastic can affect the metabolism of an organism in very disturbing ways —they can simulate estrogen, for example.

Bitter Animator said...

I haven't seen that book, Andy. I'll check it out. I'm bound to love it.

Brian Sibley said...

Your post reminded me of something A A Milne wrote after he had finished with his Christopher Robin & Pooh books: he pointed out that having said "goodbye to all that" in 70,000 words (the average word length - then - of a novel) everything he wrote subsequently (plays, novels, essays, verse, etc) was viewed as being by a 'children's writer'.

One critic even went so far as to describe a character in one of his plays as "Christopher Robin grown up"!

Milne's response: "Even when I stop writing about children, I can't stop writing about people who were children once! What an obsession children have become for me!"

I don't think this helps you, except that everyone - male and female - watching whatever you write were all, once upon a time, a child...