An entry with a side of salt.

How many projects is too many?  You can address this in your blog, if you want.

   -Brian

To be absolutely honest, I'm not sure.  Remember I'm not a published or esteemed author in any means, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.  Actually, more than a grain.  A ocean's worth, probably.

I personally try not to wrap my head around too many projects/assignments at once in the fear that I'll burn myself out.  As previously mentioned, I usually save other ideas to start writing after the current story I'm working on, but everyone's different.  I'm sure people can and have pulled off many simultaneous assignments before to much success.

Usually what I try to do is have one large and one short project in the works.  For my last script I took a small break and wrote a short story to keep things fresh.  I found it worked really well for me and revitalized me for going back to work on the script.  This time I'm working on two stories once again: Magic In Dogtown and the collaboration.  Presently I'm psyched, but I feel like if I'd hesitate before agreeing to start work on a third project.

Again, though, everyone's different.  If you want to take on a lot of projects, do so.  If you find that it becomes overwhelming, take a short break and scale back to a level that's more comfortable.

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The AC's installed once again.  It seemed like winter wasn't ready to let go until summer came along to the party and surprised everyone.  The high today is supposed to be 80, and lemme tell you, it does feel pretty darn warm outside.  Boston gets extremely humid in the summer, much to my discontent.  I find it difficult to function, much less write, in oppressing humidity.  On the bright side I find that Boston residents, in most cases, seem much more at ease and carefree once the sun decides to finally peek out of the clouds.  The great thing about being around a bunch of positive people is that you find out how contagious it really is.

Zombies, Marathons, and the usual.

As I write this, the view out my window is steadily filling up with folks from all over the continent -- most of them already happily intoxicated -- who are here to watch the Boston Marathon.  The same Boston Marathon that happens to weave right past my building.  Thus, with thousands of runners darting past the front of my building and dozens of people relieving themselves in the alley out back, I'll probably be confined to my apartment for most of the day.  If you haven't had the fortune of watching the Boston Marathon before, try to do so one of these years.  My dad ran it a few years back, and it's one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen.  Practically the whole city shuts down (which is why I'm presently at home instead of at work), and fans happily cheer on everybody.  No matter how awful your running form or how slow your time is, the roar of the crowd is thunderous for every runner.  For some reason it brings to mind stories I've heard about the free-loving 60's, but I could be wrong.

This week has been pretty good for writing.  I worked past a descriptive problem on a certain scene and after that the floodgates opened.  Inspiration is everywhere if one has the time to go out and see it.  Most of the things I saw in the past week are so silly that no one would believe them if I inserted them into a story.  For example, I was fortunate enough to witness a zombie outbreak last Tuesday.  Yes, a zombie outbreak.

One of my good friends from college has recently returned to Massachusetts for an internship at one of the city's hospitals, so I met up with her and another friend for some Thai food.  After work I rushed to get to the place on time, only to find that my other two friends were running a bit behind.  Deciding to take a short walk down Mass. Ave. and enjoy the weather, I was awaken from a daydream by blood.

A crowd of people, of twenty to thirty, were covered in blood and gashes.  Clothes torn and tattered, they shambled down the street, groaning with otherworldly agony.  I stopped in my tracks, immediately realizing the whole thing was staged but extremely amused nonetheless, and watched them shuffle past me.  Faces grey, eyes glazed, they barely paid me any heed.  One particularly tall zombie held up a cardboard sign that read "Uhhhh," which immediately caused me to burst into laughter.  They came upon a Wendy's fast food restaurant, and threw themselves against the storefront windows, moaning and mock-clawing at the glass.  People eating inside, still chewing on their meals, calmly snapped photos on their phones of this unique display.  The zombies quickly grew bored of terrorizing the Wendy's and continued on their way south down Mass. Ave.

When I told my friends this at dinner, they didn't believe me at first.  Oh well.  As a zombie fanboy, I was thrilled for days afterward.

I have been told numerous times recently by friends and family to start looking for an agent.  Y'know, what Jeremy Piven plays on "Entourage".  Despite my horrendous grammar, spelling, and punctuation, I'm much more familiar with the act of writing than I am with the world of publishing, agents, and self-advertising.  I've read and heard a lot of advice on the subject, but it's all so varied in content that it's difficult to retrieve any solid consistencies or plans of action.  I want to do some more research on the subjects so that I hopefully will have a better idea of what to do after Magic in Dogtown is completed.  Either way, you'll have a front seat and get to laugh at me floundering moronically about or see what actually works.  I'm hoping for the latter, but who knows?

Peace all, and again happy Marathon Monday.

CURRENT PROJECT

When I finished "Death's Horizon" (I still need to change that title), a few people asked me what the next project I would be working on next.  Truthfully, I was working on the next project while I was completing "Death's Horizon", so I don't really consider it the next project.  I always try to think one or two stories ahead of what I'm writing, partially so that I can be ready to start on it right away as soon as I've completed the previous story, but mainly so I can avoid writer's block or getting stuck.  This way, if an element of the plot line stumps me, it's no bother because I'm still writing the current work.  Since the best cure for writer's block is writing, it's a pretty good system for me.

That being said, when an idea is mostly finalized in my brain, I try to let a few people know about what I'm developing.  It helps build excitement (mostly in me), and more crucially it adds and element of expectancy, as in when I know people are expecting me to finish something, the less likely I am to quit halfway through and let it vanish into oblivion.  This worked during a halt in the last script's creation when my cousin kept on messaging me: "WHEN AM I GOING TO GET TO READ YOUR SCRIPT!!??"  Thank heavens he did that, because otherwise I don't know if I would have completed it.

SO, unless something elementally wrong develops with my current work-in-progress, in the effect that the story begins to offend me or transforms into something I cannot recover, positing about it on this online journal is a good assurance that it will definitely be completed.

Anyway, here goes...

I've taken a short break from the screenplay world and have re-entered the novel universe after a long hiatus from the form; it's been six years since I've written a novel -- way too long.  It centers around a love story amongst the homeless community in a large city.  The working title is Magic in Dogtown, and I've been working hard trying to complete it in as short of a time frame as possible.

I'm not writing it as a form of documentation about homelessness (which in itself is a very important subject that I hope more people do investigate properly), but rather a completely fictional story about a group of people struggling to survive an altered lifestyle that most of us simply can't imagine.  In any case, I hope it will be something you will enjoy reading.

Remember the ending of Sid & Nancy?  How, despite the grisly subject matter, it still managed to make you smile?  Whether or not that quality was useful for a true-life story of Sid Vicious, I really enjoy stories that surprise the audience or readers with a sense of warmth, even if it is tinged with sadness.  Whether or not Magic in Dogtown will achieve similar reactions in readers is to be determined, but it's something I definitely think about when writing it.

A Story's Sound

Sometimes, when I was in a screenwriting or English class, a classmate would ask me if I wrote the material while listening to music. To which I would reply, "Nope." But does music help me write? Absolutely.

Many people I know write to music, whether it be reports, labs, or short stories. I've heard it helps calm and focus some, which is great. For me, it usually tends to be distracting while I'm in the actual process of typing/writing. For my high school senior project I wrote a novel, and mostly wrote it during study halls in the computer lab, so people noise doesn't bother me one bit; however, when I put headphones on I usually start thinking about how cool the song is instead of what I'm working on.

So what do I use music for in regards to writing? Preparation.

You know how sometimes you'll be going about your business until a particular scent hits you and WHAM! You're ripped out of whatever you were doing and transported back to a section of your life with incredible clarity? Some things have that power, and that's kind of the way I utilize sound or music. Sometimes a certain song will impact me in a way that gets my imagination running. Sometimes it isn't even a song that I like! My computer is filled with such songs, some that I'm embarrassed to have (so please, no peeking at my itunes!). If you're interested in what songs I've used, here are two examples:

For my script Chemical Love, I one of the songs I listened to was Cake's "Frank Sinatra."

For the story I'm working on now, I've found John Frusciante's "Omission" has helped a great deal.

Oh, and as for my current project? Coming up pretty soon, I'll reveal the working title and a brief teaser synopsis/blurb.

TEAMING UP

So, I shall be teaming up to work with another writer on an uber-secret project. Aside from class assignments/exercises, I have never co-written a fictional piece with another author. Usually I hesitate at the idea of co-writing (Like how do the writers come up with a unified voice through the story? Who writes what? Etc, etc), but the person I shall be working with is talented beyond comprehension and I've wanted to work with this particular writer for a long time, so I agreed immediately. Since the entertainment realm is a collaborative world -- or supposed to be, at least -- this project should give the both of us great experiences to draw from.

Right now we're in the process of brainstorming. I'll update with what I can when I can, but just keep in mind I'll have to be vague until it's done so as not to spoil the surprise.

I'm definitely excited about it, which is something I can absolutely reveal!

A Scary Thought

A few months ago, I peered over the cliff-edge of the afterlife... and was weirded out.

I should back track. One morning I awoke in dire straits, either as a reaction to something I ate or drank, or some super-fast-hitting-super-duper-virus I'd never heard of before. I awoke to delights like projectile vomiting, intense head and stomach pain, nausea, and hallucinations. Whenever I'd try to drink fluids or take medicine, I'd immediately throw them back up within 60 seconds of the attempt. Eventually I collapsed on my bed and hoped for the best, shadows darting across my vision, feeling my body fade.

The shadows focused into images. First I saw ribbons. Red. They slid out of a human hand, like a magic trick, spiraling into space as if pulled by an underwater current. The ribbons became the size of highways, stretching farther than I could gauge, and then blurred out of focus. Slowly, in that sludgy dream way, my gaze fell to the ground. Sickening, fleshy crunching noises followed every footstep that I heard nearing behind me.

Not seeing the body, but only the legs, I noticed that, to my horror, instead of human feet two wrinkled chicken heads were attached to the bottom of stick-like legs. The chicken heads cawed as bloody sores appeared on the top of their scalps (or the bottom of who or whatever's feet) from the journey. Like the ribbons, the legs receded into the distance.

I raised my head again, in time to sense, rather than directly see, a large face floating towards me from the darkness. To this day, I cannot recall what the face looked like, or even if it were really there at all, because by then my body started regaining control and a few hours later I was okay enough to drink water and recuperate somewhat.

My first thought was, "Man, if that was death, then it's no wonder why ghosts do all sorts of random, fucked-up stuff like levitating chairs and flailing around abandoned houses. They're probably all tripping out from these things!"

My second thought was concerning the hollow, scooped out feeling in my head. Where I usually "see" stories, felt like a dull, dead glob. This freaked me out even more. Had I lost the ability to make up stories? My previous script had involved a character who's occupation, memories, and even thoughts were taken from him. Had the same happened to me?

Eventually, after a few days and a little practice, I was able to return to normal. The few days it took to recover, though, I worried the whole time about not being able to write anymore. Were my concerns legitimate or paranoid, do you think?

To me, this was much scarier than the freaky hallucinations and death mirages. Losing the ability to write stories was terrifying for me. I've had a lot of people ask me why on Earth I'd want to pursue screenwriting and novel writing.

The answer is simple: because the thought of not doing those things is frightening to me.