On Writing & Storytelling, or: Despite a Late Start and Some Angsty Moments, I Made Some Progress with the Manuscript

Late Afternoon/Early Evening, Monday, July 24, 2023. Lithia, Florida

Hi, again, folks. I’m here to give you a quick update on the novel’s progress; I did write all-new material for Chapter 10, Scene Two instead of going back to stuff I’ve written before to make edits and revisions. It did take me quite a while to get started despite taking an hour-long rest break between the publication of On Writing & Storytelling: Quickie Reviews for ‘Reunion,’ and Hopes and Aspirations for My Workday and getting started on what I consider writing for work.

I had hoped to get off to a running start between 12:30 and 1 PM, partly because the later I actually begin to write without pausing too often, the harder it is to come up with good bits of scene setting, character development, action, or dialogue. Especially dialogue. Coming up with conversations between two or more characters is still my biggest challenge – well, that, and coming up with interesting situations that are believable, relatable, and with as few hoary cliches as possible in a genre that, unfortunately, is full of cliches – so I tend to fret a great deal when I know I have a “dialogue heavy” scene on my “to do” list.

Well, I started much later than I planned – I don’t remember the exact time, it was almost 3 when I fired up my Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 app – and began writing a phone conversation between my “Present Day” protagonist and his love interest.

Wait..what? I hear you thinking. Why are you using Movie Magic Screenwriter 6.0  instead of Microsoft Word? I thought you’re writing a novel, not a screenplay!

Yeah, well…

I was stuck and getting nowhere quickly, so I decided to get unstuck by writing the scene – which, as I’ve mentioned earlier, is dialogue heavy – in screenplay format (minimal screenplay format at that) just to get the characters’ lines down “on paper” – so to speak – before going to Word and rewriting the scene in novelized form.

Laugh if you will, Dear Reader, but I did at least get something done, even though I did not write the complete scene’s speaking parts. Starting late always results in less “all-new material” unless I’m feeling energetic, happy (or at least unperturbed), and – most important of all – inspired.

Here’s a short sample of what I managed to get done today:

INT. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR JAMES GARRATY’S OFFICE – NIGHT

We see JIM GARRATY, a young (35-year-old) professor of history, in his office on the main campus of Columbia University in New York City.  The bookcases are full of books about military history, some of which delve into WWI, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and other 20th Century conflicts, but most of them are about Jim’s specialty, World War II.

Jim’s desk sits at the far end of the room, just in front of the office’s window.  We can see it’s way past sunset by the darkness visible through the half-open Venetian blinds, and the room is illuminated by the cold sterile light of fluorescent lights on the ceiling, a lamp on Jim’s desk, and, of course, the bluish glow from the computer monitor on that same desk.

Jim has been working on “college professor stuff” for over two hours, so he’s tired, hungry, and anxious to finish his tasks (grading papers, reading and replying to work-related emails, initialing interdepartmental memos, etc.). He is also eager to leave campus and go home.

ANGLE ON

JIM as he sits at his desk.

His NOKIA cell phone (of late 1990s/early 2000s vintage) sits not far from his computer keyboard.  It RINGS…and its tiny screen lights up as it does.

INSERT: CLOSE UP OF NOKIA CELL PHONE

We see a 212-area code number “212 555 5121” and the name MADDIE blinking on and off on the phone’s small squarish screen.

Jim picks up the handset and pushes the small key with a green phone icon to answer the call.

JIM

(delighted, even ecstatic)

Hey, hi!  What a nice surprise!

MADDIE

(laughing cheerfully)

Well, hello back.  I take it you’re happy I called.

JIM

That goes without saying.  How are you doing?

MADDIE

I’m okay.  Busy.  Between practicing with the Phil, running errands, and all that, there aren’t enough hours in a day.

There is, of course, more than just that, but I still must add more of the conversation to complete the scene. After that, I’ll have to rewrite the entire section, so it matches with the rest of the novel. It means extra work and some duplication of effort, but at least it will get the job done.

Again, it’s stuff like this that gets me angry with non-writers who think I have it “pretty easy” because all I do is sit in my room and write stories as if writing wasn’t a “real job.”

I can’t stand close-minded “criticism” like that, you know? I’m doing the best I can with the cards I’ve been dealt with in life. Writing is a legitimate career, after all, and it takes a lot of persistence and self-discipline to sit at a desk for hours on end and craft a story that is worth buying and reading.

Anyway, that’s all I have to report tonight, so I’ll close for now. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.