Seventy-six pages. Fade out, end credits. Continue reading →

For the most part, I’ve only been able to write for ten minutes here, twenty minutes there, never enough to build up some steam. Finally, I was able to actually sit down, disconnect the internet (and reconnect every now and then), and churn out a good chunk of pages. Continue reading →

It’s officially a monster movie! Tonight I wrote the phrase “…we hear a slurping gurgle as the Monster eats the farmer.”

My parents must be so proud.

Seventeen pages written, plus a little more that got put aside once I realized that particular scene shouldn’t arrive until later in the story. (Yeah, yeah, only seventeen pages. I warned you about my procrastination. Deal with it.) Continue reading →

A dirty secret: I’m terrible at creating character names. I freeze up and overthink it, trying to come up with something that avoids the trappings of cheap symbolism (oh, Cast Away and your “Chuck Noland”) and doesn’t use the names of friends, family, or past acquaintances (I’m terrified of this, even though I know nobody will ever ask “hey, was that character supposed to be me?”) I freak out over every syllable, preventing me from moving forward whenever I have a scene where a new character enters. Continue reading →