Not Quite Paperless

I honestly can’t remember the last time I used pen and paper in my writing process. If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably 1997(ish) when I was working on a spec script for Star Trek: Voyager, and that was somewhere around Favorite Son. Stop laughing, Paramount was impressed, and almost bought it.

But I digress.

I guess there just came a point where using a computer and keeping everything in an insanely complicated series of nested folders made more sense. I was paperless, and once I developed a backup system that would impress the CIA, I never had to worry about misplacing a hastily scribbled note.

This was all before I tried to write a novel. There’s something simple and straightforward about a screenplay. You just plow through it until you get everything worked out and in its proper place. A novel is slightly more complicated. No, check that, it’s much more complicated, and there came a point yesterday when I realized the only way I hope could wrangle it was to return to the papered world.

So, I went out and bought a printer, paper, a binder, ruled notebook paper, red ink pens, tabbed separators, and a fresh pack of post-it notes.

Something tells me Ed Begley Jr. would not be pleased.

By David · February 25, 2012 · Writing

Getting this Far

As a novelist (er, potential novelist) I’ve never gotten this far before. Sure, I’ve dabbled with prose in the past, but it’s an exercise that always seemed to end before it ever got started. I’d come up with some idea for a novel that I thought sounded interesting, I’d tinker with it for a while before eventually losing interest and walking away.

I just kept expecting this to happen with my most recent attempt.

Still, I plugged away at my outline, using the same technique I’ve always used for film treatments, and before I knew it, I was looking at an outline that clocked in at just under 20,000 words. Trust me, no one was more surprised than I.

I feel pretty good about this.

By David · February 22, 2012 · Writing