Second Act Blues...

clockwork · Aug 6, 2006

Second act blues...
Oh mama, don't you know I got those...
Second act blues.
I'm so lost and hurt and so confused,
By all'a those second act blues.

I gotta get through this,
I gotta renew this,
I'm drowning, I'm dying, I hate this rewritin'
Oh Lord can't you save a' me...
Pleeeeeaaaasssse.....

(8 minute jazz instrumental)

Second act blues,
I'm getting choked by the grip of those...
Second act blues.
Gonna swallow a shotgun barrel, those...
Second act blues.

Quit makin' a fool out of...
Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

(Please ignore this. I needed to vent in a creative way. When that didn't work I came here.)

dpaterso · Aug 6, 2006

Shoot someone. Always works for me. Or put a horse in the bathtub, it's an old trick but it gets results too.

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
It wasn't until about the fifth draft that I really began to figure it out. It was then that I realized he's dead. It took me five more drafts to execute it right. ~M. Night Shyamalan

whistlelock · Aug 6, 2006

have a fight and or sex scene. worked for me.

Debboggy · Aug 6, 2006

So, still have the blues or have you moved on to the pinks and greens?

clockwork · Aug 7, 2006

I think I've moved on. I hit on something last night which may help. See, I had a great first act, a great third act but nothing for the characters to do in the second. Everything I gave them to do was noticeably forced and functional but I think I've nailed it now. It's just a treatment at this stage so I'll write it out and see how it goes.

dpaterso said:
Or put a horse in the bathtub, it's an old trick but it gets results too.

Yeah, I've heard of that one too but he had a bath over the weekend and I'm not interested in another case of 'hoof-jaw.'

writerly · Aug 12, 2006

Follow Chandler's advice:

have a guy come into the room with a gun.

dpaterso · Aug 13, 2006

Follow Chandler's advice:
have a guy come into the room with a gun.

I think he also said "naked, on a horse." That Chandler feller knew his stuff, he should have tried writing for films!

A belly dancer with a diamond in her navel works great too. Tho' I'm loathe to give you all my secrets.

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
The practice of art isn't to make a living. It's to make your soul grow. ~The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (Kurt Vonnegut)

clockwork · Aug 13, 2006

Or...

"What about an dog?"
"An dog on an skateboard."
"An dog on an skateboard that accidentally hangs itself and then catches fire!"

Rep point for the first to name the source...

dpaterso · Aug 13, 2006

Yeah right, like screenwriters watch films and, and remember this stuff!

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
My mother was a pure woman from a noble family. And I, at least, know who my father is, you pig-eating son of a whore!

clockwork · Aug 13, 2006

You could cheat.

dpaterso · Aug 13, 2006

Cheatin' is for cheats, an' we shoot cheats around here, mister.

If I had to guess at your quote I'd say it was from the director's cut of Good Will Hunting when the spycam sneaked up on Ben and Matt brainstorming.

And your location info is taken from a Rammstein track, give me a minute... it's that video with Snow White, isn't it?

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
Who are you?
No one of consequence.
I must know!
Get used to disappointment.

clockwork · Aug 13, 2006

I just said you could cheat. Depends on how badly you want my approval in the form of a rep point that largely means nothing.

I remain confident someone will know the quote but to ward off the cheaters, there will be a follow-up question that you won't be able to answer by pasting words into Google.

(my location info changed because I received a sponsorship from Spee Apelfrische!)

dpaterso · Aug 13, 2006

Weeeeellll... its kinda doubtful our transAtlantic cousins will get it... I don't think BBC America was broadcasting back when...

Ahem.

Possibly the most violent TV show Britain has ever produced. Makes A Clockwork Orange look like a girl guide's jambouree.

What the heck is Spee Apelfrische when it's at home? And why...?

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
A superlative suggestion sir, with just two minor flaws. One, we don't have any defensive shields, and two, we don't have any defensive shields. Now I realize that technically speaking that's only one flaw, but it's such a big one I thought it was worth mentioning twice.

clockwork · Aug 13, 2006

I don't know, you'd be surprised how many Americans watch our cult stuff. Especially through discovering them on DVD. For a long time, you could only buy the DVDs of this particular show from the US. It's absolutely one of my favourite shows - pure fantasy but a wonderful use of language/writing.

This is Spee...

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38122

dpaterso · Aug 13, 2006

Typical, that's the kind of sponsorship every screenwriter dreams of having, and I blink and miss it!

So what might your follow-up question have been, you know, if I remembered your previous sigline and somehow figured it was Richie and Eddie?

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
Last time you spoke to me like this you were 10 years old and you'd just stolen father's horse. What have you done now?

clockwork · Aug 13, 2006

I don't know, something you'd only know from watching the thing. Maybe like... what's unusual about the closing credits of the show? I make people work for their rep points, you know.

But I'll give it to you because you got it and by now it's clear everybody else could give a sh*t.

My previous sigline? You mean the one about "prime minister's perving about time"?

dpaterso · Aug 13, 2006

You're well into fundamentalist geek territory there mate.

Yeah the prime minister one, I looked it up when you had it, which gave me a starter for 10 in the guess dept.

Anyways, aren't you supposed to be writing something? You know, writing, that thing where you think up words and your fingers move so letters appear on your display.

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
In times long past, this planet was the home of a mighty, noble race of beings who called themselves the Krell. Ethically and technologically they were a million years ahead of humankind, for in unlocking the meaning of nature they had conquered even their baser selves, and when in the course of eons they had abolished sickness and insanity, crime and all injustice, they turned, still in high benevolence, upwards towards space. Then, having reached the heights, this all-but-divine race disappeared in a single night, and nothing was preserved above ground.

clockwork · Aug 13, 2006

I didn't think anyone really read the siglines. How come yours is different in every post? I am currently going with the "fish underwater" motif so I have something calming to look at.

dpaterso said:
Anyways, aren't you supposed to be writing something? You know, writing, that thing where you think up words and your fingers move so letters appear on your display.

Oh, I am believe me. I've done nothing but write these past four days from uptime to bedtime. Posting here and at the OP is part of my "write half a page, make a drink, check the boards" routine. But this treatment is absolutely, positively, 100% Kicking. My. A$$. I have quite literally just (like this hour gone) started to get it to a place where it's coming together.

The problem? Too complicated. Too much, too ambitious. I took out an entire subplot and mercifully it has smoothed things out. I had planned to send it off to agent-dude tomorrow but I only have a first draft which is in absolute tatters so I think it'll be Tuesday now. Don't worry, you'll get yours soon enough.

(I didn't mean that to sound as sabre-rattling as it did)

Second Act Blues...

clockwork

In the zone...

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

whistlelock

Whiskey Rebel

Debboggy

clockwork

In the zone...

writerly

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

clockwork

In the zone...

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

clockwork

In the zone...

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

clockwork

In the zone...

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

clockwork

In the zone...

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

clockwork

In the zone...

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

clockwork

In the zone...