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Deadlines...
Dec. 26th, 2003 02:33 pmUgh. I hate deadlines. Particularly when I'm having a struggle to get things done. Why do I set myself them? Because they give me something to aim for. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that I then feel completely obligated to make my deadlines, which can lead to nervous exhaustion, tension headaches and frustration when I just physically can't.
Episode six of Time Lost is a case in point. I'm still a good five scenes from being done; I've already moved the deadline twice on this one (the first move was dictated by a migrane - I cut myself some slack with that one), and yet I still can't really focus on the story enough to get it done. I have a feeling that when I look back on this story, Time Lost is NOT going to be one of my favourites. Too much talking and not enough action - unfortunately, that's very much the nature of the beast. It's the middle section of a three part story arc, so while it works when viewed over the whole three parts, it doesn't work so great on its lonesome. It also doesn't help that I've got this vague suspicion that I'm contradicting myself...
I know I WILL manage to get it done - if nothing else, I can give it my full attention this afternoon - but gawd is it ever a pain, and I've more or less got to keep the momentum up once I DO get it finished because I need to write a minimum of two scenes for episode seven (mercifully, Gamine writes the rest of that 'un!) and then probably about half of episode eight (again, Gamine will be writing the rest). Not sure what's going to be needed for episode nine yet.
Ironically enough, though, episode ten should be fairly straight forward. I've more or less got that one blocked out in my mind - I know that there needs to be a big scene between Wes and Eric, I know that I need to return to 2013 to show what's happening there [I'm sort of wondering if anyone's twigged that the entirety of Time Lost has taken place in the space of 36 hours!] and I know what my ending is going to be. (Nope I know this is going to have spoilers, but I'm NOT wrecking the impact of that one!)
As far as what episode six still requires, I've just about got the kids done - just need two or three scenes more to tie that off. After that, it's back filling to put in a scene between Eric and Kimberly, which is more or less going to be Eric's goodbye. I need a scene with Ven - though that's a very short scenelet rather than full scene - to get across her breakthrough. I need a scene between Al, Rob and Carmen - which again, will probably be fairly short; I can get into THAT side of things as one of my scenes for episode seven. Lastly, I need Lucas, Kerin and Hawking to have a scene (or possibly two) to get the main plot thread (Wes and Katie's abduction) to start wrapping up. It sounds like quite a lot, written down like that, but considering that I've probably got three or four times the number of scenes already written, AND given there's two scenes from Gamine I need to slot in, it's not so much.
It's just a pita to write.
As if all that wasn't enough on my plate, I've also got Jingle All The Way to finish. That should be a little more straight forward - though I will have to concentrate on that for a day, probably on Sunday - it's sufficiently well plotted and planned in my head that with a day's work, it ought to just come straight out. (Which is not to say that Time Lost hasn't been planned; just that Jingle All The Way is a complete story in itself whereas Time Lost has to be written bearing Five by Five in mind.)
It will all get done.
Eventually.
Though if I'm still writing it at midnight, that's not a good sign...
Episode six of Time Lost is a case in point. I'm still a good five scenes from being done; I've already moved the deadline twice on this one (the first move was dictated by a migrane - I cut myself some slack with that one), and yet I still can't really focus on the story enough to get it done. I have a feeling that when I look back on this story, Time Lost is NOT going to be one of my favourites. Too much talking and not enough action - unfortunately, that's very much the nature of the beast. It's the middle section of a three part story arc, so while it works when viewed over the whole three parts, it doesn't work so great on its lonesome. It also doesn't help that I've got this vague suspicion that I'm contradicting myself...
I know I WILL manage to get it done - if nothing else, I can give it my full attention this afternoon - but gawd is it ever a pain, and I've more or less got to keep the momentum up once I DO get it finished because I need to write a minimum of two scenes for episode seven (mercifully, Gamine writes the rest of that 'un!) and then probably about half of episode eight (again, Gamine will be writing the rest). Not sure what's going to be needed for episode nine yet.
Ironically enough, though, episode ten should be fairly straight forward. I've more or less got that one blocked out in my mind - I know that there needs to be a big scene between Wes and Eric, I know that I need to return to 2013 to show what's happening there [I'm sort of wondering if anyone's twigged that the entirety of Time Lost has taken place in the space of 36 hours!] and I know what my ending is going to be. (Nope I know this is going to have spoilers, but I'm NOT wrecking the impact of that one!)
As far as what episode six still requires, I've just about got the kids done - just need two or three scenes more to tie that off. After that, it's back filling to put in a scene between Eric and Kimberly, which is more or less going to be Eric's goodbye. I need a scene with Ven - though that's a very short scenelet rather than full scene - to get across her breakthrough. I need a scene between Al, Rob and Carmen - which again, will probably be fairly short; I can get into THAT side of things as one of my scenes for episode seven. Lastly, I need Lucas, Kerin and Hawking to have a scene (or possibly two) to get the main plot thread (Wes and Katie's abduction) to start wrapping up. It sounds like quite a lot, written down like that, but considering that I've probably got three or four times the number of scenes already written, AND given there's two scenes from Gamine I need to slot in, it's not so much.
It's just a pita to write.
As if all that wasn't enough on my plate, I've also got Jingle All The Way to finish. That should be a little more straight forward - though I will have to concentrate on that for a day, probably on Sunday - it's sufficiently well plotted and planned in my head that with a day's work, it ought to just come straight out. (Which is not to say that Time Lost hasn't been planned; just that Jingle All The Way is a complete story in itself whereas Time Lost has to be written bearing Five by Five in mind.)
It will all get done.
Eventually.
Though if I'm still writing it at midnight, that's not a good sign...
