Yeah... yeah.

I suck.

A blog post once a month? I can do better than that. So to you fearless reader(s) I promise to do at least two posts a month. Baby steps.

So… Classified Prime. A story I’ve been tossing around for awhile. A retired military man seeks some peace and quiet in a rural town but I DON”T THINK SO! Of course his past is going to come back to haunt him and threaten to destroy everything. But wait! Is there a glimpse of redemption somewhere in the impending doom? We will see!

I am doing some research for this story. Reading a book on several special forces branches as well as a book on the psychological and physiological effects of combat on soldiers. This should give you a hint as to what is about to go down in the tiny, peaceful, but way out of the ordinary town of Red Ridge.

My next story (After C:P) in the queue is a awesome. I can’t wait to get into it. Again it’s going to be a lot of research but I love that shit. Lets just say the human race is in deep shit. Ever the underdog, us scrappy humans are going have to bring our A game to get out of this mess. Awesomeness.

I might have to sneak in a another run on Air Bears at my wife’s request. She likes the story but as with all newb writing it needs a lot of work.

Met some awesome people at a screening of The Machinist followed by an interview of the director Brad Anderson by Warren Etheredge. The networking is really starting to pick up. All it takes is a hello and a handshake. Easier for some than others.

That is all.

-Jim

How being a finalist crushed me.

I learned a valuable lesson after placing in TheFilmSchool’s short screenplay contest. Everything that is wrong with my stories suddenly slapped me in the face.

I submitted three stores. Click the download link on the right to check them out. Of those three, the one I liked the least placed. “No Such Things.”

After mulling it over for a few weeks and conversing with my wife it suddenly dawned on me why that one was special. Then my other stories started trickling into my mind, and everything that is wrong with them became glaringly obvious.

They are a series of events. Damn cool events but just the same. They are gauntlets that I am running my characters through. That’s fine. But it’s not good enough. It needs to be about the character themselves before we give a shit that they are even going through the gauntlet in the first place.

Yeah, yeah, I could link a hundred books telling me this very thing. But until you see it, and realize it, and live it, and do it, it makes no sense and you don’t really get it.

When someone asks you what your story is about, how do you answer? Is the story about a boy and his car that’s not really a car? Or is about giant transforming robots? Which story do you want to see? Transformers rocked. Transformers II was polished turd.

The good news. I get it now.

The bad news. Holy shit do I have a lot of work to do.

I just finished my second rewrite of I.F.O. I was hoping that it would be done so I could turn it into the guild. Wrong. Last month if someone were to ask me what I.F.O. is about I would have something like; “It’s about a boy who becomes trapped on a UFO.” Today I would answer that question with; “It’s a story about a strained father-son relationship. It just so happens it’s set aboard an alien spacecraft under siege.” That’s not a polished description but it’s a damn sight better than the first sentence.

What is Air Bears about? The dawn of the age of the flying car? Or a comic book geek living a dream only to see it come crashing down…pun intended?

Is Rebooting Andy about a gamer who games to much or a young married couple being driven apart by his gaming descend into a tit for tat game of extremes? I need to work on this one.

Bottom line, I couldn’t be happier. Above that line, I am pissed that I spent hours building those stories only to have them be flawed at the core.

Silver lining, I would not be where I am today had I not written that shit.

That is all.

-Jim

Contest shorts are away!

I uploaded three short screenplays for the contest. They are in the mail with the check.

Click on the link under Projects to download them.

Wish me luck!

-Jim

Long Weekend

I trust everyone had a great Memorial Weekend!

Other than the rain mine was good. Aiden and I snuck out during a sunny break and did some bike riding. He was very bummed I couldn’t take him skateboarding.

I also taught him how to play Monopoly at which he crushed me. So that was awesome.

My writing weekend consisted of:

A rewrite of Solo. After a lot of discussion with my readers I went back and added some elements that are intended to clear up some confusion. I also changed the title from Solo, which had some readers thinking something entirely different than what the story was, to The Promise, which hopefully makes sense once you read it.

I edited the final 40 pages of I.F.O. Yes, you read that right, forty fricken pages. I then plowed through 20 pages of the page one rewrite.

Needless to say I am very happy about my writing weekend.

Heading to Seattle tonight for The Film School first Tuesday meeting.

That is all.

-Jim

What's next?

Two consecutive sci-fi adventures. I think its time to change gears a bit.

Next in the queue will be my geek comedy. Been tossing around the idea for a few years now. It’s time to get it written.

I owe IFO and Air Bears two edits and rewrites each. I will complete those first so that I have some fodder for contests.

My last candidate for The Film School’s short screenplay contest is written. It’s waiting for feedback from readers. Nothing leaves the house until my wife has read it. Unfortunately she is busy with schooling and hasn’t gotten to it. DAMN IT WOMAN!

I’ve added the shorts to the projects list. I’ve also created a MediaFire account and will be posting the complete works once they are ready for human consumption.

That is all.

-Jim