Word games
August is a mean month. You’ve either had enough of the heat like I have or if you’re lucky you are luxuriating in long cool swims. Then there’s other parts of the world where you are feeling the same thing, but about the cold. When will it end! And that other thing…yes, that other thing…when will IT end? Slam-dunk-thud-crash-flop-breathe-hope-frustration-alone-patience-staring-boredom, when will it end? And added to the virus, in this country we have the November election. Need I say more?
But the sun does come up in the morning and the moon at night and we have to push away the walls both real or imagined. As writers we walk a thin line between being procrastinating dreamers and disciplined and focused producers. Truth is, we are both. We spend a lot of time alone and when the walls start pushing in and you are out there, finger to the wind, you might find yourself in a stale spot. A scene or a character that is stubborn as heck and you feel stuck in the mud. It’s happened to me often recently.
So to snap out of it I think of random words. Not literary words, just words. Words that prompt a feeling or an image in my mind, a sensation, words that act like a springboard, like bouncing a tennis ball or a basketball…
Lean and mean.
Squat and earthbound.
Out of tune.
Sludge. Shudder and shake.
Purring. Oil slick.
Cuddle. Pulling teeth.
Yellow paint.
Buttoned up. Fling.
Words are evocative. They are like a drink of fresh water, or opening a window in a warm stuffy room. It’s a quick fix and I go back to work. While here I can also share that at the end of the day I read poetry, it both calms me and feeds me, and a well written book or article is like balm. Both take me out of myself, which is the state in which we all find rest and are restored.
With life in isolation everyone I know has been watching something online every day. I have watched films from South Africa, from Pakistan, from the UK, Japan, a bunch of good series some American, and each and every one of them have had one thing in common - they could not be made under Covid-!9 protocols. So I have been thinking about how to rethink - STORY. Have you?
Our contribution to film as screenwriters is in how we use of words. Words in dialogue that ring true to our characters, words in a description that evoke a response in a director or a scenic designer, or in the dynamic that guides the actor. All of this within the constraints of the craft of screenwriting. Dialogue, description and the dynamic. No explanation. With my current project I have had to rethink so many scenes. What can I move to a scene outside and have it work just as well as it does inside? Do I really need this particular character? Diversity is a factor too, and about time. One thing I do know; if I did not have a dependable process to work from it would be like swimming in a deep ocean miles from shore without a life vest.
The work of writing is often tedious and demanding. This project has been particularly so for me. But I know I must write while the pulse of the story is strong, take the needle jabs, and keep writing. As Toni Morrison said, “I don’t know and I won’t know until I write it.”
Before I leave you I want to mention and congratulate former student Donata Carelli from Italy, who has been invited to the 77th Venice Film Festival, to present her, about to be published book, on the Italian screenwriter Ugo Pirro. Ugo Pirro is known for such wonderful screenplays as, “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis” and “Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion.” The Festival will be held live in person from Sept 2nd to Sept 12th with all Covid required restrictions in place. Brava Donata!
Thank you all for reading my blog and as always I look forward to hearing from you, so please write a Comment in the box below and click Post. If you are not already subscribed you can receive my blogs by clicking on the Subscribe via e-mail link below. Note: next month I will be in LA for meetings and will not be writing a blog.
Stay well, stay safe… bounce the ball and keep writing.
See you in October!