So I'm now plotting my new Romcom. Don't want to say too much about that at this stage except to say I'm working from two paradigms (yeah - how Hollywood is that?) so it's not as simple as usual. I'm taking my time about it because I really want to get a feel for this story before I write a word. Tone is very important in comedy, you can't just sling in few one liners and hope something will stick. The little kid inside me is impatient to get it written. Some of the scenes are already starting to play in my head so I'm feeling the stirrings of giddy excitement but it's best to keep a lid on it until everything's planned.
I saw this very good blog post today, singing the praises of a Mac programme called Scrivener which you may remember me going on about before. It also touches on the benefits of plotting before starting a project. Scrivener certainly helps with the process and it's the best programme I've found for storing your research and indexing and rearranging material.
The great thing about this stage - in some ways I love it better than writing - is nothing is set in stone. You can brainstorm to your heart's content. Of course that has to end eventually or you'd never write it, and that's a pitfall to watch out for. But at the plotting stage the Author is King of the Universe - anything can happen. Imagine the power! And it doesn't matter because I can change my mind in the cold light of day or once I've sobered up. I won't have written 1200 words of a scene that goes nowhere so nothing is wasted.
But I have to be clear about the shape of the story from start to finish. Clear and satisfied. There should be no niggly little doubts. These must be sorted before I start writing, because the problem could be deeper than just a nip and tuck - I may need to change something fundamental that alters the entire course of the story. Better to know that at the outset. So I'm prepared for this process to take a while. I mean months. What's the hurry? I'd rather get it right now than condemn myself to endless rewrites later.
5 comments:
This program looks great, but bugger, it's not available for windows! :(
Sophie I went out and bought a Mac just to get it! And I haven't regretted it. But I'm sure I heard a rumour they were developing a Windows version. You could check the Literature and Latte forum, I may have just dreamt it.
I'm regretting buying my £550 laptop instead of spashing out on a Mac Book. The price of the Mac just put me off though :( I'll keep an eye out for the windows version! Thanks!
Ah yes, the power of creating new worlds, new characters and then forcing them to do what you want. It's better than real life sometimes, isn't it? :D
Always! :-)
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