It’s Week 8 and I finally have a story that I like – and it has actually stuck with me.
For the past few weeks, I have come up with short stories and individual scenes here and there from the writing exercises we’ve had in class and some I’ve written in my own time. But regardless of these numerous ideas that I can choose from, none of them have left me with a desire to continue writing them.
But, I finally have one because the phrase, ‘write what you know’, kept floating in my head and I finally listened. So now I’m writing what I know. However, I must note first and foremost, that what I am writing is not a depiction or based on my life. Rather it’s inspired by what I’ve gone through and am still going through, and I’ve used that to bounce ideas from to create this story. (I believe that there is a difference between ‘inspired by’ and ‘based on’ stories, but that’s for another time.)
So ladies and gents, here’s a short plot summary:
Two women. One in her twenties and one in her eighties. Both are restless people and have lost something precious – themselves. Together, they help each other learn to live again and to live shamelessly with their anxieties.
At the very end of this post are the first two pages of my first draft. There is definitely a lot more big print than dialogue because that is something I wanted to explore from the beginning. I did consider writing a screenplay of just scenes put together without dialogue because that Up (2009) montage excerpt really made an impact on me in terms of how to write montages in screenplays. However, after writing the opening sequence below, I found myself stuck.
While I think it’s a solid piece in setting the scene for one main character, and her living situation being a metaphor for her current state internally, I found it hard to move on without her speaking. Especially since the two characters are meant to interact with each other, I know I’m not well versed in screenwriting to execute this without the two conversing to begin their interactions. And I also don’t have the time to challenge myself to write their relationship (or this entire screenplay) without dialogue since this whole screenwriting thing is already a challenge for me in itself.
Something else that I’ve had to really think about during the writing process is how I can insert audiovisual storytelling techniques. Thinking about sound and how to incorporate that into my writing has also been challenging.
The part above is for one character having a moment and gathering herself after being in a situation that has sparked her anxiety. What makes this hard for me is how I can show on the outside what they’re feeling on the inside. So I’ve tried making note of certain sounds that we might hear if we were to watch this on screen. In my excerpt above, I’ve made notice on her heart beating being audible and her breathing loudly.
So while I don’t have that much dialogue yet, these sounds are things that I have had to keep in mind moving while I’m writing. What I’ve written so far shows how the characters act rather interact. Right now, I’m just focusing on setting the stage for the two characters and figuring out ways to depict their behaviours in writing, particularly their coping mechanisms, without them having to vocally expressing themselves.
And that’s what I have for now. (See you after the presentation.)