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Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 353
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Time for an open thread. Haven't done one of these in forever.
TAWK AMONGST YERSELVES!
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 279
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Must we be talkin' like pirates? Arrrrr?
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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Don't we already do that on here, or does that just happen on the threads I get involved in?
So who here doesn't write on a computer? I'm just curious.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Arrg. Avast me hearties, September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day (http://www.talklikeapirate.com/). 
I think we're safe 'til then.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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LeeAnna - Before I purchased a laptop and a netbook, I used to do quite a bit of writing with pen and paper (especially when I was away from home), then would park myself in front of my PC (which is in my home office on the second floor) for hours and type away. Now, it seems I'm almost exclusively writing on a computer. I still do take a notebook (paper notebook, that is) with me when I travel (never take a computer with me; don't want to deal with airport security). And I usually have paper and pen handy for when an idea strikes and I need to jot it down quickly.
I will admit, however, that I do miss the feel of a pen gliding over a piece of paper.
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<Sits down w/a box of popcorn to watch *this* thread>
Woot!
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Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 353
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LeeAnna & Angela -
I have to write everything on paper, and then I transfer to the computer. Not just stories, but to-do lists, grocery lists, brainstorming notes. If I don't put it on paper, it doesn't get fixed in my brain, if that makes any sense.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Colleen, I'm with you - to-do lists, grocery lists, meeting notes at work - all get put onto paper. I have magnetized tablets and one of those white boards all over my refrigerator at home for jotting down notes to myself. At work, I write notes to myself on small Post-its and stick them on my photo ID badge, in my wallet, in my pocket - anywhere where I think I'll remember to look at them. And when I finish with the tasks on the little note paper (even the tiny Post-its), it gets tossed into my recycle bin. Writing it down definitely imprints it into my brain - always has, always will.
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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Colleen: I write everything down on paper too for the same reason. It just clicks better. The mechanical act of writing also makes me think better for some reason. I have recently started to us a typewriter, and that seems to work too. It must have something to do with the fact that it makes me slow down when I type.
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 26
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That's cool that you use a typewriter LeeAnna! My mom has an old typwriter that belonged to my great-grandfather who was a really influential jounalist here in Albuquerque back in the day. I've been toying with the idea of giving it a whirl, but my spelling is so atrocious I loath the thought of giving up spell check.
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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AJ: The point of using the typewriter today is to get distraction free writing without the internet. I sat down and wrote a slew of pages yesterday on my typewriter. I almost never get over two pages on my computer without drifting off somewhere. I'm very happy I gave it a try. I have a friend who wrote an entire book of short stories on his typewriter. (That's actually one of its selling points.) That is why I decided to give it a whirl. And it works! I get more done faster than by freehand too. My spelling is atrocious as well, but I don't care when I'm in the zone.
The major mechanical feedback is also quite satisfying. I'm quite the tactile person, and sometimes I get bored sitting at a computer all day. I need something to keep me engaged physically, and the typewriter is perfect for that.
Do you know what kind of typewrite he has?
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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I've been following this discussion with interest. I write by longhand in a cheap composition notebook when I'm out in public, but on an old-style, no-nonsense IBM keyboard when in front of my computer.
But like LeeAnna above, I've got to have some tactile feedback and concrete sense of accomplishment when I work. So what I do is (feel free to mock!) dump out my "Dice for the Day." Each 6-sided die represents a new sentence written (or excised from the manuscript). Since I work full-time—and am a very, very slow writer to boot—my current daily writing quota stands at about forty dice/sentences. I hold fist-fulls of dice in my hand as I type, rolling and rattling them around as I think. When I've wrenched a sentence out of myself I don't immediately loathe and obliterate I drop one of the dice into the wooden octogonal cup beside my mousepad—ONE DOWN! 39 more to go. . . .
As the weeks go on, I keep adding more dice to the cup. When I can't get through a dice cup in a day: dump some out; halve the quota! Keeping writing and slowly start adding dice again. . . .
I know I'm going to regret posting this.
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WoW LeeAnna! A typewriter? I love that idea. I would happily replace my computer with a typewriter or even -no, especially with- a fountain pen. I have tried both. Alas, only the computer lets me paint a story, adding words anywhere in it as I go. Too bad really, I don't like computers. The high point of my year is the annual Computer Shoot at the local gun range. But that's another topic.
How do you handle corrections and rewrites on a typewriter?
Oh, and Carl, thank you for sharing that
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Love your post, Carl! Hey, whatever works as your muse. . .
I can't go back to a typewriter. Simply can't. When I turned 21, my mother asked me what I wanted for my birthday. Do you know what I asked for? AN ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER. Up until then, I was typing out all my college papers on a manual typewriter. When I went to graduate school, my adviser introduced me to WORD PROCESSING. I was hooked (once I figured out how to use the stupid software!).
With the laptop and a wireless network at home, I have the freedom to sit just about anywhere in my house (and even in my backyard) and write. I admit it, surfing the Internet can be a bit of a distraction at times, but I always seem to be multitasking. . .
I don't need tactile feedback so much. Depending on what I'm writing, I either like to have music playing or just peace and quiet, with birdsong, if possible (city kid - so I enjoy the birds when they're hanging out in my backyard at the feeder). I often find myself, when I'm stuck or in need of inspiration, staring at the tree right outside my living room window or looking at the paintings on the walls. I do usually have one of the cats or the Big Red Doofus dog curled up next to me that I'll reach over and pet or scratch under the chin. So I guess that's the tactile feedback .
Speaking of muses - I'm curious, what do other people use to inspire them?
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Angela! Start that discussion: "Name Your Muse!"
(or however y'want to title it.)
That could be a fun thread.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Hi, GD - Just searched through the threads. There is one called "Writing rituals, or offerings to the Muse" that was started in May, but no real activity. Perhaps, we can all jump into that one?
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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I read for an hour before I sit down to write. Could be anything, really: fiction or non-fiction, from one of the current stacks of books I'm working my way through.
But there's something about reading other writers before sitting down to do your own work that I find very heartening: Look, he (or she) did it! He (or she) sat down and strung together all these words that you're enjoying so much. Go now, and do thou likewise! (I say to myself after the hour is up and I close the book to walk down the hall to my library/writing room to clench fist-fulls of dice while sweating blood and glaring at the idiot computer screen that refuses to auto-fill the writing area with paragraphs of lyrical brilliance.)
PS. And OMG did I really write "keeping writing" in that earlier post?! Heh-heh! Idiot.
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OKAY Danielle, LeeAnna, Angela, Colleen, AJ Hart & Carl, head on over to
"Writing Rituals, or Offerings to the Muse"
http://www.bookcountry.com/Community/Discussions/Default.aspx?id=112706
and tell us about your muse
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Okay, GD, I followed you to the other thread on muses
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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Wow, so many responses just because I say I use a typewriter!
Let me introduce you to my writing ritual so that you can see why I might have adopted such an antiquated machine (at least compared to a computer). I write everything by hand first because that is how I get the wheels turning. I can be quite prolific if given a notebook and a pen. I just have one problem. Due to an extra joint in my right hand, yes, extra joint, clenching my pen for hours can give me painful cramps. Typing doesn't do that for me so much, so I like to try and type things up, but something about computers bore me. Its not fun. Sure, I uses word processing to type up my rough draft so I can edit it repeatedly, but I can't use it during the "creative" portion of the writing process. My mind just halts.
This is where the brand-spanking used typewriter comes in. Because it gives me tactile feedback, I can pound out some serious word count like when I hand write, only without the cramping. Yay! The machine hasn't replaced my notebook entirely since I'm pretty sure I can't bring my typewriter to work (where I get a lot of writing done) due to the noise it makes. I love that I invested in one. I have so much fun using it!
As for the revisions: I type it out in double space so I can do my first round of revisions and edits, then I punch it into the computer with the changes. I do the rest of my revisions using word processing software, a printer, and a pencil just like before. Editing is the work portion after all.
If you're interested in what I use, I use a Smith & Corona Skyriter. It's a small portable, so it uses the 1.5 inch diameter spools compared to the 2 like the standard size uses. The whole thing can't be bigger than a two inch binder. I like it because I have tiny hands.
@Carl: I dig the dice. Something about it fits you.
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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Re: LeeAnna: ". . . something about it fits you."
Well, it works for me. Gives me a physical outlet for the pent-up nervous energy that builds up over time from just sitting and thinking, typing and re-typing . . .
By the way: I just realized I'd typed "fist-fulls"--twice!--in those earlier posts instead of the proper "fistfuls" (as my MS shpell-Czechker solemnly assures me is the correct shuspellink.)
Anyone else have an idiosyncratic way of spelling a particular word that strikes them as someone more apt or logical than the correct spelling?
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 26
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Well LeeAnna, you have given me the courage to try it out, if I can get my mom to retract the claws she has sunk into the relic, unfortunaltly I dont know what kind of typewriter it is.
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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AJ: Find out. I know people and web sites to hit to help you out with the machine. It's also good to know just so you can buy the right ribbon.
Carl: I've got a word that has sunk into our very culture. Alright. The correct spelling is "all right." Even dictionary.com will tell you. I had my creative writing professor beat it into my skull. You'll notice I use the correct spelling in my writing, not "alright."
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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Yep, I still struggle with that one all the time!.
By the way: I meant to type: "Anyone else have an idiosyncratic way of spelling a particular word that strikes them as somehow [not someone!] more apt or logical than the correct spelling?"
But you figured it out.
Here's another one I struggle with: "on to" vs. "onto."
Grrrr . . .
And don't even get me started on lie/lay, lay/laid, lain/laid. (She laid on the ground with a lie in her eye; I stopped for awhile [there's another one! "A while" or "awhile" Madness!] and laid on a smile; she neighed for a Lei; I wiled by guile . . ." Think I'll stop right there. . . . It is waay past my bedtime. . . .
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Carl and LeeAnna Some words just beg to be altered, to add nuance to their meaning.
The word, "everything" is a good example. You can refer to "everything plastic" or add an "s" and say, "plastic everythings." That jumps out at the reader and emphasizes that you mean "every-thing made of plastic."
You can hyphenate "realize" to turn awareness into an act of creation occurring in-the-moment that something is "real-ized."
Any body have an other word play example?
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 279
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Here's a random thought for everyone. Did you ever notice that the & symbol looks like a guy dragging his butt on the ground?
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Happy Saturday!
I love the Internet: The ampersand originally was a melding of the letters “e” and “t” in the Latin word “et” for “and” (the Ancient Romans [and I did not know this!] had a shorthand system that involved combining letters – ligatures). The modern-day "&" is based on the cursive scripts used during the Renaissance. But, yeh, it looks like a guy dragging his butt on the ground.
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lmao Danielle! You have discovered the true spirit of this discussion.
& be nice & give Angela's scholarly reply a thumb's up She loves detritus
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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I give Angela a thumbs up, actually two. She's awesome like that.
It does look like a guy dragging his butt on the ground. Guess he's been watching too many dogs.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Aw, shucks, folks, you're embarrassing me
Watching the BBC version of "Being Human" - new season started last week. Just wondering, what genre (sci/fi, horror, fantasy, mystery) TV shows, if any, do folks enjoy? My current favorites are "Doctor Who" (love Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor) and the BBC version of "Being Human."
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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I'm Old School: original season(s) Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits. But especially The Twilight Zone.
When I see Rod Serling scowling from my computer screen (I don't own a TV), cigarette smoldering in one hand while his glittering black eyes squint across the vanished years from beneath lowered brows and that biting, barking baritone snarls from the speakers: "Imagine, if you will, a town . . ."—that's all I need. All I'll ever need. A coldness congeals in my gut and the short hairs on the back of my neck prickle and I am completely riveted by the intensity, concentrated moral focus (how often those old shows threw into stark black-&-white relief the bigotry, capacity for mindless violence and hysterical irrationality of the human animal) and seething anger of this latter-day prophet, philosopher and teacher. …………………………. From his last interview (in 1975): ………………………….. Brevelle: Who do you write for? Serling: Myself. If I enjoy it. Brevelle: What do you enjoy about writing? Serling: I don't enjoy any of the process of writing. I enjoy it when it goes on if it zings and it has great warmth and import and it's successful. Yeah, that's when I enjoy it. But during the desperate, tough time of creating it, there's not much I enjoy about it. It tires me and lays me out, which is sort of the way I feel now. Tired. Brevelle: So it's a suffering process for you... Serling: It is. Giving birth, you know. Waiting. Should we call the doctor? You know, for the caesarean. It's obviously not going to come out normally . . . ………………………. Brevelle: How much time do you spend actually writing? Serling: I would guess three full hours a day, and in terms of the pre-writing activity, God, that's endless, it's constant, almost constant. Brevelle: Can you write when you're angry or depressed? Serling: Yes, I think so, except very frequently—and I'm not alone in this—your depression and your anger find their way onto the page, and if you're writing a comedy that can be very damaging. Brevelle: What makes you angry? Serling: Interesting question...Some petty things, really. But bias and prejudice make me angry...more than anything. Somebody sent me a copy of the American Nazi newspaper the other day—published in, I guess, Arlington, Virginia—there were words in it like "coon" and "kike" and things like that, and I was very distraught. That made me terribly angry. Viciously angry. Even to creating daydreams about how I could go there and bump off some of these pricks. But it's short-lived. I'm much too logical for that. That ticks me off. I can't think of anything else that really makes me angry. Brevelle: What was the lowest point of your life? Emotionally. Serling: Emotionally? I think that was during the war. I was convinced I wasn't going to come back. ………………………….. The complete interview is here: http://www.rodserling.com/brevelleint.htm">http://www.rodserling.com/brevelleint.htm" target="_blank">http://www.rodserling.com/brevelleint.htm
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Joined: 6/7/2011
Posts: 467
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Submitted for your approval: one Carl Reed, writer. Shaking his fist full of six-sided sentences, playing dice with his own tiny universe, just another refugee from...the Twilight Zone.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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Oh dear. I'm afraid I watch way more TV than I rightfully ought. But, here's the list for all to mock.
Castle
Alcatraz
NCIS
NCIS:LA
American Idol
Bones
Project Runway All-Stars
Undercover Boss
Who do You Think You Are?
A Gifted Man
CSI:NY
Haven
Covert Affairs
Necessary Roughness
Warehouse 13
I think that about covers it. Old favorites, that aren't in production any more include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Star Trek Voyager (quite enjoyed it in original run but don't watch the reruns, really), and that's about it.
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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Re: Atthys: ROFL!!! LMAO!!!
Thank you for that, sir! I want that on my tombstone!
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Twilight Zone used to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid. But we still watched it.
Other no longer produced favorites (in no particular order):
Star Trek (Can't be The Trouble with Tribbles!)
Star Trek: Next Generation (Picard - what's not to love?)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Worf, Worf, and more Worf)
Lost in Space (Danger, danger, Will Robinson!)
Murder She Wrote (she solved crime AND used a typewriter)
Columbo (unkempt, gruff but always solved the case)
Remington Steele (well-dressed, suave, and easy on the eyes)
Magnum PI (Tom Sellect, Hawaii)
MacGyver (some unfortunate hair cuts, but I've never looked at a paperclip or a gum wrapper the same way since)
Currently produced fiction shows that I watch:
Being Human (BBC)
Being Human (SyFy)
Adventures of Merlin
Doctor Who
Torchwood
There are some non-fiction favorites, too:
Ghost Hunters
Destination Truth
And any of the baking shows on various networks when the mood strikes.
But, my all-time, guilty-pleasure, I-can't-believe-how-long-I've-been-watching-this-show is BBC's Eastenders. Been watching it since PBS first started airing it (probably something like 25 years ago).
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Joined: 6/7/2011
Posts: 467
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Carl: Glad you enjoyed it. I couldn't resist. Now you're a character in your own story. I'm waiting for the clever, gut-wrenching twist at the end...
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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I'm not going to sit down and list all the TV shows I watch, because then we would be here a while. I'll just give you my recent favorites that I nag my husband to watch with me the moment we have it DVRed.
Grimm (even though the world is filled with fairy tale adaptations, this one gets pretty creative. Vegetarian Big Bad Wolf anyone?)
Castle (because Nathan Fillion is made of awesome, and plays a writer.)
Big Bang Theory (the nerd in me must)
Warehouse 13
Haven
Alphas (mostly because I miss Heroes. Yes, it had terrible moments, but I loved it.)
Face Off (non-fiction)
Top Shot (non-fiction)
Top Gear (US and UK, non-fiction)
Burn Notice, Psych, Necessary Roughness, White Collar, Royal Pains (okay, USA)
2 Broke Girls
... and now I need to look at my DVR list, so I'll stop there.
Of course, I grew up on every Star Trek incarnation because I have a Trekkie mother. Then there is Serenity, Farscape, and a whole slew of other Sci Fi shows that I watched and can't remember the name of. Also, any anime that my husband throws in front of me and The Walking Dead. (Honey, thanks for torturing me through the 2nd season. Someone needs to learn how to edit.)
Then there is Netflix... I really don't watch that much TV. I swear. Please believe me.
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 279
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I don't have a TV, but I stream stuff off Netflix and Hulu. Shows I always tune into are:
Bones
Castle
The Walking Dead
Game of Thrones
True Blood
Shows that were canceled that I adore:
Survivors (UK)
Kings- Amazing writing on this one. It didn't survive the writer's strike. The characters and cinematography on this show was amazing.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Forgot about Game of Thrones - maybe because I've been torturing myself by reading all of the books at one time. I'm on the last one at the moment.
I confess, I had decided to watch that show because Sean Bean was in it. I'll probably watch the second season, mostly to see how the show differs/matches the books.
Which leads me to another question to throw out there (I like this thread, Colleen!) - What do you think has been the worst adaptation/the best adaptation of a book into either a TV series, movie, Broadway production, etc?
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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The worst, IMO, was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I realize you can't put everything into the movie from the books. But they really cheated on the reveal of...well, if you've seen it you know. One second Harry goes from wanting to turn one person over to the dementors, and a half-second later he is on that person's side and ready to turn in someone else. It honestly would have taken another two minutes, maybe, to at least explain to Harry what was going on. They (all the people who made the movie) assumed their audience would all have read the books. If you hadn't, you're left scratching your head at that scene wondering where the leap came from.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Sometimes I wonder what ends up on the editing room floor (not that I think they actually physically cut film nowadays). But something like that, where, as you said, a couple of minutes more would have made the scene clearer, makes me wonder if there was extra footage, but it was deleted for some reason or another.
As much as a I loved the Lord of the Rings movies, I found the director's cut versions much better, both with respect to capturing some parts of the books and appendices that I thought were pivotal and basic continuity. Continuity is especially problematic in the Return of the King, where there are several scenes where I found myself asking questions like, "Wait? What happened to Gandalf's staff?" And "Why does Aragorn's sword have blood on it already?" - Then I saw the extended versions and - ta-da! - those questions were answered in the deleted scenes.
One adaptation that has me torn, however, is the Broadway musical Wicked. Before I went to see the show, I decided to the read the book - which I absolutely loved. It's so dark and so twisted. The musical, while definitely entertaining and magical, didn't convey the darkness of the book at all. In fact, Elphaba isn't really all that wicked in the musical. And I won't comment on the differences in the ending in case people are planning on either reading the book or seeing the show.
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 26
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One of the most slaughtered books I've seen is Ella Enchanted. I grew up loving Gail Carson Levine and Ella Enchanted was my favorite book, I think the movie reduced me to tears in the middle of a crowded theater. The only thing from the book they kept the same was the characters names and the fact the MC had a magical curse. To see one of your childhood literary heros work mangled by Hollywood. Awful.
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We don't have a working television connection. That's not to say we don't watch stuff. We stream whatever we can at work and watch movies at home. Sunday night is family movie night.
Angela
I loved Twilight Zone as a child, but haven't been able to get back into it like some of the other shows I remember.
I recently re-watched all the original Star Trek. (I didn't care for the incarnations)
I loved Lost in Space as a child. I haven't seen it recently.
Loved Columbo, but not so much the others.
Will have to try Being Human.
Love Doctor Who. I re-watched the original and have, probably, over watched Eccleston and Tennant. Not too fond of Smith. (My favorite Doctors are Baker and Tennant. Although I do enjoy watching the 2nd and 3rd Doctors as well.)
Love Torchwood, Primeval, Dowton Abbey, and Farscape.
Enjoyed Roswell.
Anyway, I know I watch too much. Sometimes to the point of not getting work done.
As far as movies from books. Looking back at the history, I know they're going to ruin it, so if I really like the book, I'm not likely to see it in the theatre. I'll wait until it's out on DVD. I try really to look at it from the perspective of a movie rather than the book, but fail most of the time. At home, I can turn it off and move on, whereas at the theatre, I'd have to get up and walk out.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Well, here's a question (actually, multiple questions): If your book is published and becomes a mega hit and you're approached by a producer or a director who wants to turn your baby into a film, once the giddiness wears off and you're done pinching yourself, would you want to write the script? Have final say on the script written by someone else? Would you want to be on the set? Have a say in casting? Basically, how much creative control and input would you want to have?
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Angela (re "...would you want to write the script?")
Writing a novel has taught me a lot about what I don't know about writing a novel. Not sure I'd want to take on the professional task of turning it into a movie script. I'd be inclined sell those rights.
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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Exactly zero. Given the experiences of writers like Dean Koontz, Cordwainer Bird (Harlan Ellison) and Dashiell Hammett—amongst others—I would take the money and run. Run, run, run! Have the director and his team of writers amuse themselves howsoever they wish by "adapting" your work to the big screen while you start work on another project. Just make sure the opening credits say, "Based on a work by . . ."
Otherwise, if you attempt to exert any meaningful artistic control you're going to get kicked in the teeth and stabbed in the heart—again and again and again.
"Writer, babe, you know the page but I know film. I know the studio system; I know the casting agents and the venture capitalists and the directors and the studio watchdogs and the marketers so let me and my people do our thing, huh babe? Luvs ya! There's a good writer!
Now here's the thing: white whales are so last century, see? What I'm envisioning is a white alien. A white alien with a Russian accent and Islamic religion. This monstrous Russian-Islamic albino sucker-footed creature crashes to earth and cuts off the leg of a New York homicide cop when his saucer slices into the hard-muscled calf of our tricycle-mounted hero making a pot bust in Central Park. So he's got a thing against the alien, see? The alien escapes and wreaks all kinds of mayhem and the cop—we'll call him Captain Savage, Ahab is far too ethnic for Ohio—gets together a posse of his old war buddies to hunt down Glowby Trick. This alien has a phosphorescent glow and limited Psionic power. After a series of car crashes, fist-to-tentacle fights, fireballs and foot-long muzzle flashes Capt. Savage corners Glowby Trick in downtown Manhattan. But Glowby runs up the Empire State building after first snatching the cop's main squeeze, eh? Yeah! We’ll make her a hot ethnic chick, see? Cover all the bases. We end with Glowby Trick trapped on top of the Empire State building as wave after wave of jet fighters scream in and fire off different hijacked monsters at our roaring alien: a great white shark, Mothra, the wolfman, Frankenstein, Roseanne Barr. Each monster battles Glowby up there and dies, but with each battle Glowby grows increasing weary until eventually . . .”
Save yourself.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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I would want script approval, just to make sure (especially if it was the first of a series of books, not all of which are yet published), they don't paint themselves into a corner in the adaptation. And that they don't absolutely slaughter anything. I'd want to be able to visit the set once, just to experience it. But the people making the movie are the experts on their medium.
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Joined: 8/21/2011
Posts: 394
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Carl, I have to ask - just how much coffee do you drink?
Part of me would want to just take the money and run and put as much distance between myself and the project as possible (then proclaim very loudly to folks, if the project stinks, that I had nothing to do with it).
But then another part of me - the part that sweated blood over every sentence - would want to have some say; maybe even the opportunity to co-author the script, or at least have the right to give the script final approval. I think it would be quite a writing challenge to take one of my WIPs and try to produce a script. If I remember correctly from my scriptwriting class (taken a hundred years ago), one page of script is equivalent to roughly 1 minute of film. Maybe, some day, when I find myself with tons of free time on my hands (chuckle, chuckle, snicker), I'll give it a whirl.
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Joined: 6/7/2011
Posts: 467
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Get all the money you can (up front - percentage points are an illusion) then walk away.
Cattily complain about how they trashed your vision. Swear you'll never allow such a thing again.
And don't.
Until the next time.
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Joined: 4/27/2011
Posts: 608
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Re: Angela: far, far too much coffee! 
I stand by my advice, though. Because for every Ridley Scott adapting PKD into Bladerunner or Kubrick adapting Stephen King into (the film version of) The Shining you've got hundreds and hundreds of horror stories about what happens to naive, star-struck writers caught up in the machinations of lesser (albeit ego-maniacal and hopelessly tone-deaf) talent.
I recall Dean Koontz telling a story about how he was invited by this director (the exact details are hazy; the incident is reported in his biography) to a private screening of the director's just-completed film based on one of Koontz's novels. The lights go down and the film begins. Blood, screaming, murder and mass mayhem esnues. All of Dean's deft characterization, the heroism and decency of everyday folk, any beauty or poetry or stunning psychological/sociological insights and commentary: gone. Zapped out of existence. Dean couldn't recognize his own book. He stalked from the theater w/o a word, visibly shaking. What enraged Koontz most was the thought that this director was actually proud of what he had done to his work.
And don't even get me started on Harlan's stories. Yes, Ellison may very well be the most contentious, combative writer ever to set foot in Hollywood but that's the point--if he gets routinely shit on, talked down to and patronized--what hope for us mere mortals?
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