In Rainbows

he second act of my first screenplay came rather easily. The tension and action rose with each page between the characters culminating in a third act finish that I'm proud of. The second act of my second screenplay, 86ed, has stymied me for over a month.

During that time I've had a general idea how the story needed to end, but I didn't know how to get there. That is, till tonight. Tonight I decided to work backwards. If I could decide where I needed the characters and the story to end, I could then draw character and story arcs from the first act to the third.

Knowing where and how everything needs to end also helps me know what I need to establish early on and how to color each rainbow-like arc from first to third act.

Everything But the Oink

here are two skills I wish to have as a cook; first, I want to open any fridge and see what I can make with what's there (similarly, I'd like to dance with any woman I meet, but that's for another post) and second, I'd like to make a meal with as little waste as possible.

Till then, I may as well get it right on paper. There's no reason to have an idea and to make it solely into a novel or a screenplay. That's like buying a pig only to make bacon. Why not develop ideas in length and depth through different forms? Start as a log line. Sprout into a poem. Grow to a song. Develop into a screenplay. Fill out as a novel. Not a bad way to flesh out a thought and expand one's works simultaneously.