In Need of a Proverbial (or Actual) Kick in the Backside

Posted in Posts by Rachael C Marek

This Discrepant Writer

Yesterday I started a blog post that was a little on the bitter side. Quick version: Bad job = poor wages = self-imposed restrictions = bored. After writing it, I thought on it for a while and decided to wait on publishing it. That was a good decision, I think. I don’t want to put that out into the world, and I know you don’t want to read it. As creatives, we have to keep hope alive, against insurmountable odds, and often times without the support of those who truly understand what our lives are like. When I was still living in Los Angeles, I had my writer’s group, but since moving back to Las Vegas, I have lost my writer friends, those who “know”. I miss them.

Work has got me down, and unfortunately, that’s affecting my creative life, which is usually where I escape. I’ve been skirting the start of the pilot, but I don’t know why. I have pages upon pages of notes and ideas, and now they just need to be organized and fluffed, but I’ve lost steam. Hence, the proverbial kick.

I read this quote today, something about people who are optimistic all the time are delusional. It made me giggle, because although I try to be as optimistic as I can, especially in this space, as writers we are constantly afflicted with a variety of emotional states and the stress of the balancing act of our multiple lives, so it’s okay to not be happy and perky all the time.

I know this attitude shift is mostly because I’m looking for a new job, again. There is also a teensy bit of regret that I have so few skills other than food and beverage service. I feel as if I’ve been perpetually looking for a job for the past 5 years. I’m ever so tired. I don’t have high expectations, I just want to make decent money to support The Sis while she finishes school, and I’d kind of like to look forward to it. That should not be asking too much.

I would love to hear from you, my friends. How do you survive the daily grind in order to maintain your creative life? How do you maintain your sanity?

Tips, tricks, and inspiration welcome!

Have a great weekend!

*So, this post isn’t that negative, right?

9Oct2015

Fun(ish) Fact Friday

Posted in Posts, Tips by Rachael C Marek

I discovered this wonderful infographic in my email and had to share with all my writer friends! Originally posted on Global English Editing’s blog The I Love Writing Blog, it offers 8 reasons why writers make great, excuse me, incredible friends. I suppose we could use some of these tidbits in the way of a personal résumé when trying to make new friends, or to help us feel better about all those random things we know, or how OCD we may be. 🙂

Do you agree? Are there other reasons missing?

Have a great weekend!

30Sep2015

A Little Shameless Self-Promotion

Posted in Posts, Tips, Websites by Rachael C Marek

AllAboutMeBunny Happy Wednesday!

I’m breaking from the norm because it’s technically my Saturday and I’m feeling a little lazy after a hard week, and because I received my final rejection from this year’s round of submissions, ((sigh)) so I’m moping, just a bit.

I was going to post a Writing Prompt, but nothing quite struck me today, so instead, I thought I’d do a little self-promotion and hopefully find new ways to connect with all of you and find interesting new sites, creative resources, etc. I’m also hoping it will make me seek more things out in order to be useful and resourceful myself.

The following is a list of social media sites and the like and how I currently use them. I’m open to suggestions on how to utilize them better or any others you would like to recommend.

I use Facebook as a means of sharing quotes (y’all know how I love me a quote) and any helpful writing tips, submission deadlines, or other writing related info I come across.

I started out using Twitter as a means of connecting with other screenwriters and people in the industry, but at the moment, I really use it to just geek out. I share Dragon Age and other gaming related topics of interest, Captain America, Doctor Who, Star Wars, etc. and the occasional screenwriting tidbit.

By now I’m sure you’re all aware of my Pinterest fixation. I currently have 34 boards (and counting) that include everything from writing to cosplay to castles to fandoms and so much more.

For screenwriters and industry people, Stage 32 is an organization for networking, promotion, and employment I’m a part of, although I haven’t utilized it to its fullest.

I recently joined Wattpad, but am unsure of how I want to utilize it so far. I was thinking about uploading my fanfic(s) and maybe my flash fiction pieces to get a little feedback…are any of you using this site? Do you have any tips? Do you like it?

I’m planning on updating my YouTube channel to offer more/better playlists you can write to, so stay tuned for that.

If you decide to connect with me on any of these, please send me a message that you’re a fellow blogger, and I’ll be sure to follow you as well!

Wishing you all the best in your endeavors!

22Sep2015

Developing Your Characters

Posted in Posts, Tips by Rachael C Marek

In Sunday’s post, I mentioned how I’ve been struggling to get to know the protagonist of my space odyssey pilot. I have nearly every other character worked out, backstories in place, and even a number of future episode ideas plotted, but this one character, the main character, still sort of eludes me.

I decided to find ways of getting to know my character better and found two useful tools. The first is a list of personality traits ranging from positive to negative from MIT. The second is a list of questions to answer that will help you create a fully fleshed out person, not just a character. I found two separate sources:

1) Gotham Writers has two lists.

2) Is a link to a page entitled, The 100 Most Important Things to Know About Your Character. This page incorporates many of the questions from Gotham and then added on.

I have found both tools rather useful. I went through each character and assigned them all a handful of positive, neutral, and negative traits each to encourage diversity and to better understand them individually. Not all characters are all good or bad (I’ve written a bit on this before. Click here.), and this helped me to learn more about them and how they might respond in a given situation.

The questionnaire is a bit more daunting, at 100+ questions, but even just looking over the list allowed me to take other facets of my character’s life into consideration. There are big things to consider, such as what were her biggest fears or her dreams before arriving in this new world? And there are trifling matters, such as did she secretly have a crush on someone? Will she be upset that she’ll never know how Game of Thrones ended? I know I would. Okay, I threw that one in just for giggles, but you can see my train of thought and how these questions will shape your character.

Novel writing and screenwriting vary in a great many aspects, but knowing your characters is not one of them. Although many of those personal aspects will not find themselves on the page of your screenplay or even on the screen, and some of those topics may never be visited within the pages of a novel, but as the writer, understanding your characters will help you determine their actions, their feelings, and their responses – and sometimes it’s with this understanding that they help us write the story. If we know how they will react to a certain situation, it makes the writing that much easier, because we are writing what is in their nature, and not trying to force a situation to work a specific way because it’s what we want.

I hope you find these tools useful, and if you have any other sources or tips, please share!

Happy Writing!

21Sep2015

Quote Monday-ish

Posted in Posts, Quotes by Rachael C Marek

I was scrolling through my quote board on Pinterest and came upon the following. Not exactly a quote, but as writers, it is something we should have prominently displayed, pretty much everywhere.

Have you ever been in the midst of a conversation and suddenly had an idea of how to fix a story problem? Did you overhear people talking and think, “I am so stealing that line!” Yeah, we all have. 🙂

Have a wonderful and productive week!

20Sep2015

Writing in Character (Even If They Aren’t Your Own)

Posted in Posts, Tips by Rachael C Marek

I’ve been struggling to get into the head of my protagonist for the pilot I’ve been working on. I have a few big decisions to make, but have yet to settle on anything definitive. As the story is about sisters who have been separated – set against a space odyssey backdrop – I had this idea to begin or end each episode with the elder writing letters to the younger. I thought of it as an exercise, in the hopes it might give me more perspective on these characters as a whole.

While I’m at work, I often find I have large blocks of time to make notes, write scenes, story ideas, etc. and it was my plan to utilize this time for this specific purpose, instead I have begun to write letters from Dragon Age characters to each other.

Yes, yes, I know.

I’m currently on my second play-through of Inquisition, so I suppose it was just a matter of time. I had this random idea of what some of the current characters might say to their old friends from the first game, specifically, the hero, who is referenced in each game, but has yet to make another appearance. A number of other characters make appearances throughout the series, a few becoming major characters in Inquisition (game three, and the most recent).

My first letter is from Leliana. In Inquisition she is one of your advisors, but she was previously a companion, and possible love interest, and her growth as a character has been noted throughout the series. Her letter is a companion piece to the fanfiction I’ve been writing, so the letter is addressed to the mage of that tale. The second letter I’ve been writing is from Cullen, a Templar who, although has had only small parts in the previous two games, has become an advisor and love interest in the current game. As my protagonist of the fanfiction knows Cullen from their time together early on in the first game, I developed a story in my head that they have remained friends all these years.

I’ve written quite a bit in just a few days, and although it’s not truly relevant to my own portfolio, it’s a fun exercise to get me out of my head, and it helps to break up the monotony at work. I may post them, I haven’t decided yet.

As writers we have dozens of characters roaming around in our heads at any given time, and sometimes it’s difficult to know them all intimately. We have to figure out techniques to bring all their traits and quirks to light. In regards to my pilot, I’ve discovered I know some of the characters I wasn’t even focused on entirely much better than I thought. As I’ve been concentrating on figuring out the protagonist, I found a couple of interesting sites and tips to help understand our characters better and will share those in the next few days.

In the mean time, if you are struggling with character development, try having them write a letter. They could write to an old friend, someone they admire, a teacher they’ve always meant to thank, or maybe a letter to their past/future self. Who knows what you’ll discover.

Good luck and happy writing!

4Sep2015

Fun(ish) Fact Friday

Posted in Posts, Tips by Rachael C Marek

Once again, upon clearing out my email, I discovered this wonderful series of infographics from Good in a Room entitled “Screenplay Writing Explained in 7 Infographics. I really need to be better about checking my email. This was an interesting look at the world of screenwriting as a whole and a bit eye opening. Take a look! There’s not only great information and tips, but some stats that show what one reader saw within 300 scripts.

And then there was this…

A couple of days ago while scrolling through Twitter, I found this article from Screencraft entitled “How to Survive the Screenwriter Grind“. I was left with a sort of “ugh” feeling. I don’t think that was its intended purpose.

*Disclaimer: I did not intend for Fun Fact Friday to be defeating in anyway. I just wanted to share what I read. Okay, with that being said…this is my train of thought.

In the first article and the first infographic, of those 300 scripts, it does not say how many are by first time writers. I think the first story we, as writers, put out in the world, should be one we are passionate about. I, personally, am not passionate about the horror genre. I’m not a fan in general. Horror was the most submitted genre – 49 scripts. I find this surprising, especially in light of Spielberg’s comments recently about superhero movies going the way of the western. I nearly roll my eyes every time I see yet another advert for a horror film/sequel.

Now, I did not see Ant-man, and that is in part because I don’t really care for the character of Hank Pym. Now his girlfriend, Jan, I do like, and she’s not even in the film. Then I discovered, it really wasn’t about them anyway, and we can’t get a Wonder Woman movie?! Yes, I am just like the rest of the geek girl squad calling out for a female driven superhero film. Lynda Carter already portrayed the Amazon goddess and she deserves a return to the big screen! Because seriously, did we need another Fantastic Four movie? Or a whole new series of Spiderman? ((sigh))

But I digress.

Screenwriting is a business. I understand this. All screenwriters understand this. And it is a tough business to get in and stay in. But what I learned is that until we make things happen, we need to live our lives. This is something that needs to be reiterated. We may have jobs we don’t really care for while waiting for the “big break”, but we don’t have to be unhappy in the interim.

I want to be a working screenwriter, so I’ve been taking jobs that maybe aren’t the best to allow me some extra free time to work on my writing, but, and this is a big BUT, I need to be satisfied in my daily life in order to write the kind of stories I want to tell. At the moment I’m going to a very unfulfilling job and finding escape in my writing. Now yes, I write fantasy and sci-fi so it’s easy to escape into those stories, but I’m not sure it should be a refuge from the outside world.

Finding balance, maybe that’s how I’ll survive the screenwriter grind.

What are your thoughts on surviving the writer’s life?

28Aug2015

The Dangers of Casting Your Movie in Your Head

Posted in Posts by Rachael C Marek

A couple of nights ago, The Sis and I were randomly discussing the actors I would like to see cast in my first screenplay, Fate(s). You can click the link for a quick overview. It really is brief. This story has a personal history, the male lead and some of the story are inspired by my own life, so deciding who should play “him” is a little hard to narrow down. This is of course fine, because in reality, when this film is made, who I imagine or hope for will of course not be the actor chosen.

RosamundPike So there we were, imagining all the people who would fill these roles, when I started to laugh. What if the powers-that-be decide they want Jennifer Lawrence for the lead when I envision Rosamund Pike. Huge difference. This would in turn change the whole perspective of the film. It goes from adult to YA.

Fate(s) involves a great deal of Greek mythology, and the character of Ares, in particular, is based on the Ares from the television show Hercules. I loved him. Kevin Smith played the role wonderfully, and to have someone fill his shoes, you need the snark of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki with the looks of a Joe Manganiello or Jason Momoa.

Do you see the slippery slope I am on?

In my head I know what the characters look like, in general. I have some more specifically envisioned than others, but my fear is that where I am looking for women and men (and I mean “women” and “men”), I will suddenly have a teenage rom-com where the role of Ares is played by Zac Efron. Super adorable. Wrong. So wrong.

It is one of the first lessons you learn in your film school screenwriting class. Don’t cast your film. I’ve been told it’s good to have an idea of a few actors you’d like to see in choice roles, to give the execs an idea of your “vision”, but it’s all a matter of chance and fate. See what I did there? Who has an available schedule? Who’s even interested? So many little things that may hinder the right choice. Although, sometimes a different (let’s not say wrong) choice really comes out on top.

Tom Selleck was originally cast to play Indiana Jones. Eric Stoltz was cast to be Marty McFly and actually shot quite a lot of footage. Thinking back, can we think of anyone else who could’ve filled those roles better than Harrison Ford and Michael J. Fox?

So we cast my entire film, although I’m still uncertain about a few choices, then recast it according to the actors that would most likely prevail. Obviously, I want to be a part of the Hollywood system, but when put into this perspective, I had to cringe, laugh, and try not to cry. We’re pretty sure Meryl Streep will be Hera, in any casting choice, because as it was once stated on Modern Family, “she could play Batman and be the right choice”.

It was a fun exercise, but not one I’ll be repeating again any time soon if I can help it. It was just a little too real and painful.

How about you, my fellow creatives? Do you cast your stories? Does it help or hinder your vision?

24Aug2015

Writing Prompt Challenge Accepted #13 and It’s My Anniversary

Posted in Posts, Writing Prompt by Rachael C Marek

In addition to finally doing some writing, I’m also celebrating an anniversary, according to WordPress. I’ve been blogging (on and off) for two years! I can’t believe I got off my buttocks and started this blog two years ago…?!?! Wow. How the time has flown. Thank you so much for your support, my friends!

And now on to the WPC…

I had a very specific idea when I posted the image of Venice on Wednesday. Honestly, I don’t know where it came from. Actually, I could probably guess – smutty fanfiction and one of my favorite films, Dangerous Beauty. I decided to go a different route, as it was a bit NSFW and not generally what I write. Venice was once known for its courtesans, and I planned to write something in regards to that. Maybe I still will. As for the angel, I sort of had an idea for that too right off the bat, but this one I didn’t fight. I hope you like them, and if you’d like to share how you were inspired, please link your work in the comments, and I’ll be sure to share it on my page as well.

Honeymoon

She woke up to the golden dawn gently rolling through the window, setting everything on fire in its warm glow. With the morning came the realization, the reminder of the previous night. The faintest hint of a satisfied smile crept to the corners of her mouth that she tried to bite back. She stretched languidly, her bare flesh exposed to the golden glow; her peaks and valleys casting shadows on the figure beside her.

Sliding from the inviting warmth of the bed, her impression lingering, she moves silently to the window to take in the view. It’s almost as if she’s seeing it for the first time, it’s slightly different. Maybe it’s the early morning light…maybe it’s her frame of mind. She’d never thought to be satisfied with one person, to find happiness by saying two little words and gaining the world with a new one. She turned to take in the full form of her lover tangled in the sheets, a blush spreading from head to toe, and not from the warmth of the rising sun.

The Fall

I had fallen hard. Through a roof of a suburban house. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths. It was sort of charming except for the fact that it looked just like every other one on the street. Everything hurt. I hadn’t experienced pain like this in a millennia. Not since the Great Battle of ’02, B.C. The light flicked on behind a closed door at the end of the hall, and the sliver of light grew wider with its opening. A small child holding her cat appeared in the doorway with large eyes. On a second look, no, not a cat.

I walked towards her, hoping to assuage her fears when I had to catch myself from sliding on the hardwood. Looking down, I discovered what had cushioned my fall. Despite my entire existence as a warrior, a vessel of reckoning, I grimaced at the sight. An involuntary shudder caused the loss of a few feathers, heavy in a blood not my own, nor the demon I had been fighting. Kneeling down, I reassured the small human that all would be well. In an instant, I restored all to right. The young woman had her life returned to her, and the memory of the angel in the hallway would be nothing but a bad dream.

Happy writing and have a great week!

17Aug2015

Quote Monday and a Big Thank You!

Posted in Posts, Quotes by Rachael C Marek

Happy Monday!

I had another rejection for advancement in a screenwriting competition. I didn’t take it nearly as hard as I did the first time, although it has caused a bit of introspection on my part, especially while I drive to a dead-end waiting job that has caused irreparable damage to a few body parts.

I’m not going to rant, much, but I’d like to be at least a little happy (not even excited) about going to work until things start happening in the writing department. The introspection was in regards to the same thing it always is – Am I a good writer? When I asked a professional writer-friend to read my first script last year, he suggested I make it more of a romantic comedy and completely change the format and timeline. I gave it some thought, but that was not at all the route I was taking with the story. I wanted it to be different, and yes, while it is chocked full of romance, it’s a drama, and I liked the format I had specifically chosen for this story.

So I stuck with my choices, rewrote the third act completely, and submitted it. And the rejections started rolling in. Should I doubt myself because a few readers didn’t respond to my story? The answer is a big whopping “NO!”. I am passionate about this story, and eventually someone will take notice and feel the same way. So for the quote of the week, in case you’re feeling like you’re in the same boat, I offer you this:

Posted @ QUOTEZ.CO

If you’re confident in your storytelling, don’t let anyone sway you to think otherwise. Advice does not need to be taken verbatim. It’s meant to be helpful, to help you find holes and mistakes, but if you love your story then follow your heart! Your passion will find itself onto the page.

As to my BIG Thank You, I have reached 300 followers, and I would like to thank each and everyone of you for your support. I have loved this space as an outlet to share my obsessions, geek out moments, and passions, while finding so much inspiration and creativity through your work. Thank you for making me want to be a part of this circle; to send out positivity and get some in return. *I couldn’t resist using this image. 😉