There’s a great podcast with Jane Espenson (scriptwriter on Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, Dollhouse and many more) at Storywonk. If you’re interested in script writing, do yourself a favour and go listen.
Geekery
Yoda knows best
I spent last weekend with two people who have an enviable ‘just do it’ attitude to… Well, to everything, really. Personally, I have hours like that – sometimes even a whole day – and then I slip back to my default mode. A mode which is described so beautifully in this video from Tales of Mere Existence.
However, every time I say “I’m going to try to write today” or “I’m trying to finish the book” I think of Yoda teaching Luke Skywalker: “Do or do not, there is no ‘try’.”
So, right now I’m going to ‘do’. Care to join me?
Book News: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Eep! I couldn’t be more excited about this book.
I first discovered Laini in her capacity as a visual artist via a Cloth Paper Scissors profile of her covetable Laini’s Ladies line.
Next, I read the rather wonderful Blackbringer (which my daughter loved, too) and began reading her gorgeous and inspiring blog.
Her forthcoming book Daughter of Smoke and Bone sounds so up my street, it’s like Laini wrote it especially for me…
Here’s the back-cover blurb:
Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.
Whee! Yes, please!
It’s out in the UK at the end of Septemenber, but you can pre-order it now.
50,000 words
Despite a weekend filled with work, butter cream icing, and a trip to the cinema to see Paul*, I managed to pass the 50,000 word mark on my WIP.
I *love* passing the 50,000 word mark. Not because it is over half way through the draft (because that, of course, is nowhere near the halfway point of the actual work needed), but because it is something substantial. The book is now a tangible thing and I’ve spent enough time with my characters to believe they’re real and alive (in a completely sane way, honest).
Ultimately, I now know that, for better or worse, I will finish the damn book.
Hurrah.
* No, it doesn’t approach the brilliance of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz or Spaced and yes, the humour is broader (and cruder) than the usual Frost/Pegg outings, but it’s still a fun way to spend a couple of hours.
Geekery
I expected to love Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. I mean, it’s directed by Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Spaced) and stars Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Juno), how could I not? Right?
So. Very. Right.
It’s stuffed full of comic book and gaming references (and references make my geeky heart beat faster), has great dialogue, characterisation, and humour, and a genuinely sweet romantic story at its centre.
I loved Kieran Culkin’s character, too. They managed ‘the gay best friend’ trope without being cutesy or resorting to stereotypes.
Anyhoo. Just in case you’re as much of a geek as me. Here’s a brilliant reproduction of the bag that Ramona Flowers carries in the film. I think it’s rather lovely – whether you’re a fan or not.