Music I Write To


Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Joy, Pure & Simple

Last night was one of my rare nights out, rarer still since my husband is out of town. Instead of doing what we usually do, going out to the local dance/bar scene (we have nothing that could even be referred to as something resembling a club here on the Outer Banks), we decided to just relax and hang out and enjoy drinking mimosas while watching the funniest YouTube video's ever.

It was so wonderful! Hanging out with my best friend is like the best kind of therapy there is. And I have to get it all in now since it's looking like I'll be in Georgia in a month tops! Man, I'm going to MISS HER!! She understands me, and she's the best person I've ever met. Her soul is good. I feel lucky to count her as a friend.

While I was drinking my mimosa (BTW: whoever said those are only for breakfast was crazy!) I was filling her in on my writing progress.

(Tangent: I will now refer to my writing progress as "litterforts", thanks to the wonderful Patricia McKillip and her book The Bell at Sealy Head, which I am currently reading and completely charmed with.)

I told her that I was working on Story 1, but that I wanted to write this other one, Story 2. I started telling her about plot and a little tiny bit about the characters. Just so you know, I am a very passionate talker, I get very into the story I'm telling if I feel strongly about it. So I'm totally getting all wrapped up in this story I'm telling her about and she interrupts me and says,

"That sounds like a screenplay Ali."

And I swear, I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to jump up and down and yell "YES!" as loud as I could while pumping my fist in the air maniacally.

Because here's the thing about Story 2: I see it in my head as a movie. I see the actors and their characteristics, I see the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, and why they are who they are. I see backgrounds, scenery, and hear a soundtrack in my head. And I'm having a hard time writing it in the form I'm used to because I keep seeing this movie playing over and over in my head. That's never happened to me before; neither seeing a movie, nor writing a story out of my head onto paper. And I've very secretly, very far deep down in my brain thought about attempting to write a screenplay.

I cannot believe I even just typed it; the idea is that daunting to me. I'm a high school drop out, a wife, a mother of two, a lazy bones, a poet, a wannabe novelist. I am not a screenwriter, I know nothing about it at all.

But I can't get the damn idea out of my head. It's like this little splinter in my brain and I have to pick at it all the time, but it never comes out. Except it's not a painful splinter, it's a happy one! :)

Also a splinter with a huge amount of possible failure, the biggest handicap I have, in my opinion. Fear of failure will ruin your life. I'm doing my best to overcome, and so far most of the battles have been in my favor.

And the fact that my totally awesome bestie just listened to me talk about this story I saw in my head and pulled out my secret wish into the open to be examined in the light...I don't even know what to say but wow. Moments like those are what life is made of.

So, now, here I am, with an idea and a fantastic dream, and not the slightest inkling of how to turn the one into the other....

2 comments:

Jen said...

I have the exact same problem. I am trying to write a book out of sheer boredom but it is coming out more like a script. Ugh! I see the characters, hear their words, see their lives but can't translate that to my laptop. Well good luck!

Sweet Caroline said...

I can't believe I missed this post. I feel like a failure as a friend! Well, what kept coming to my mind is the power you have. Do you realize EVERYTHING you write is a movie in my head? Especially the teacher who would whip out his golf club and bang it on the sleeping student's desk. You are amazing at explaining yourself so clearly. For example, I "saw" you and your friend at the bar...talking...with your fist going up in the air. I saw what she looked like. I saw what you were wearing. And, the weird thing is you didn't even describe it. But, you created the scene so clearly, that I was watching your movie. So, I guess you need to get some personalized Georgia plates that say Screenwriter. Or, "picwrtr." (That is all I could do for 7 characters.)

Oh, I am also sorry about leaving your girl--I can only imagine the heartache she must feel, too.