Category Archives: Writing

Santa Fe Film Festival 2012 DREAM AWAKE

12 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Creating, Entertainemt, Movies, Places, Writing

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Last Friday, I flew to New Mexico with a friend to the SANTA FE Film Festival (SFFF).

The theme was : Dream awake. What a good motto, what a wonderful idea.

Santa Fe and the SFFF : Such a marvelously energetic city, such a great event. Films, shorts, Q&A with directors, actors, producers, composers. Meeting passionate people, sharing their work and their art and their thoughts about it  with a genuine simplicity. It sounds obvious, of course. And yet, the authenticity feels so unspoilt in a festival like that one,  that you leave the event boosted, and fulfilled, especially if you are  an oddjobber like those who flocked in there.

SFFFpass

Being in Santa Fe again, in (almost) Winter time, with cold air filling the bright blue sky saturated with sun beams, it felt so good.

This city has really something about itself and in itself that you just can’t miss to experiment. The air seems to be rustling with extra positive vibrations.

The nearby mountains (visible from nearly every corner, unlike Houston, flat as my palm) anchor your looks into that beautiful Nature. You can’t escape beauty : architecture, settings, landscapes, buildings, the most creative human activity (painters, writers, potters, craftsmen, filmmakers, even  festivals to celebrate all that!!), a true osmosis between our natural environment and our humanity.

Georgia O’Keeffe sensed that earthy energy and savage beauty as she transcripted on the canvas or on the paper those vibes. Her paintings are as peaceful and quietness inducing as the vision of the surrounding scenery.

No wonder a film festival set in this city would attract talented and tactful professionals.

Our stay was blessed and punctuated with the most exquisite and nice encounters, some probable, others completely impromtu, absolutely unexpected. Saturday early morning, we came in the CCA to retrieve my friend’s ticket, and we ended up in the nearby venue, chatting with the person in charge that day, and visiting the Military Museum of the NM National Guard. very interesting.

 

DSC_0074

Then we went downtown Old Santa Fe, for a visit before the screening of the film that lay at the core of this trip. We visited the Georgia O’Keeffe museum.  We chatted with I can’t remember how many persons. (It is me or it this city is triggering people into conversations?).

And then, the FILM. “NOTHING WITHOUT YOU”. Just as it was about to begin, we met the director, Xackery Irving whom we greeted and he was so kind as to take some time to talk to us, and thanked us for coming from so far, Houston.

The film deserves the prize it won at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year.

Emily Fradenburgh is a lovely actress, impossibly talented and natural in her way of playing,  and her character is so appealing. We adhere to her motivation without the slightest reluctance. And we are thrilled, of course, because her life is at stake.

The script is well balanced, with drama and humour, thrilling moments and suspense.

And it has what most of us revere  : a twist end. But not a sloppy one, a well constructed, well defined and precisely chiseled one.

All in all the film is extremely good, finely crafted and structured. And the music is a pure moment of happiness.

The Q&A was a great moment, with The score composer, the producer, the director, the actress and another actor. The Qs showed that the audience is mainly composed of professional (talking about angles in shooting and stuff of the kind). And it was pleasant to learn as much by listening carefully to the As as we did for the Qs.

We went to the party held for the fest. And it was a blast, again, because you meet there all the people who make the fest! I talked with some of the crew of NWY, and they were forgiving to the enthusiast that I am. It felt like I was a child with a sugar tooth locked in a candy store! I also talked with the producer and the scriptwriter of the short we would watch the next day, “Brightwood”, winner of several prizes too. Amazing short, gorgeous sets, lovely child actress, the director of photography did an amazing job and it deserves its awards.

I feel so blessed and lucky to have been able to go to Santa Fe. And I wish all those talented people success, luck, and more creativity and extremely good connections to craft other good works and masterpieces for their audience to enjoy.

Thanks Emily, Victoria, Dorie, Xackery, Gabriel, Rick, Jacob, Keith, Ruth, Nani, Scott, and all of you who make all that possible.

I came back in Texas full of energy, a will to quickly achieve my writing projects – and particularly this road movie script. I am boosted, energized, more balanced, and I know that even ZERO budget films get shot. So, all is possible, you see.

It took a decade for the director Xackery Irving to achieve his script (it went through many re-writings and editings, as he told the audience), but at last, he made it. It must have been though, and depressing maybe sometimes, but it has a shape, a name and a prize to acknowledge its quality. Think hard and confidently enough that you can do it, and you’ll do it, and even better that you originally thought.

SO….

more caffeine and ….

FADE IN….

Good night, fellow oddjobbers.

Floreva, still enjoying  the light of Santa Fe….

 

“Nothing without you”, written & directed  by Xackery Irving, 95 min, genre : Psychological Thriller, Narrative feature

nothingwithoutyoufilm.com

facebook.com/nothingwithoutyoufilm

“Brightwood”, written by LaDora Sella, directed by L.Gabriel Gonda, 18min.

Brightwoodmovie.com

 

 

How the Santa Fe Film Festival can boost the writing of a road movie.

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Movies, Places, Writing

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Dear readers, fellow oddjobbers , sharers of a glimpse of your thoughts about this world, providers of happiness,

This week end  a major event takes place, the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Many events take place  in the cinema field each week. But this one has a particular taste for me. because it’s Santa Fe (3 times in my life I have felt that good in a city, like you belong, ya know? : in London, in Darjeeling and in Santa Fe, I have no explanation).

And parallel to that, I was writing a script for a submission to the London Film Festival. A road movie. the two ideas merged eventually: why not setting the road movie in TX and NM? I mean, the story was already set, constructed, the characters have their back stories,  I already had written a good deal, the city of departure and the city of arrival had just not been chosen. So, why not a trip from Houston to Santa Fe?

A crazy idea cropped up : why not going up there with my car? You know, driving all the way, enjoy the scenery and the fabulous  landscapes, music blasting, in good company, chatting and laughing, sharing anecdotes, enjoying a rapid meal, before entering this wonderfully energetic city for a big event? And getting free, instant, real-life, consistent impressions for the script? Material readily available!

I very much enjoy a good road movie. The unity of time and space, the journeys, both internal and physical, the grandiose scenery, the confinement leading to confrontation before the resolution and the pacification can occur, has always been profoundly appealing to me.

At a party with friends, the subject of Santa Fe and the Film Festival hosted there came up, as they said they’d drive around New Year’ Eve to White Sands. Conversation drifted then to New Mexico. I didn’t remember the date of the festival, since I only took my subscription to WITHOUTABOX last September,  I only knew there is major Festival taking place there, and for instance, that “Brokeback Mountain” was presented there, among others. We all reckoned that Santa Fe has special vibes. It’s a magical city, and some of us agreed that it  had a relevant impact on our mind, or souls.

Parties like that boost one’s (that’s me, yes) energy & will to work harder, and to write more!!!

Anyway.

In November I received an alert via WITHOUTABOX (the interface I use for script submission for various contests) about the SFFF. I twitted about it. Got a RT from a director (thanks). And I thought i’d love to  see that. And I’ll drive. Houston-Santa Fe. I only needed a friend to share the road, the wheel, the fantastic Week End lying ahead, and a pure cinephilic moment. Plus this director presents his movie there. In Santa Fe. And he wished me safe travels to SFFF. (twitter, you do a great job).

Was I looking for another sign  to go there, to stop telling myself it was crazy to even think of going there, 15s hours, etc? There was the sign, bold, unmistakable.

And another thing : the hero in my script (begun 5 weeks previously) bears the same name as this director, only the spelling is slightly different. 

The film festival takes place just before my birthday. Festival is Dec 6-9; my b-day is the 10th.

So, I told myself : “that would be the most perfect and accurate B’day present, to go there, see amazing movies and shorts, feel the powerful energy of creativity bursting everywhere, meet interesting people, in the field I want to work more and more with and for…Big Spirit of the World, clear the path and make it happen!”

Yeah, really. Sometimes you got to manifest what your want, loudly and you must be convinced that it will happen. I was confident. I trusted myself to make the right choices and to be strong-willed.

It boosted my writing, I can tell you! I locate their stops and their venues on the map and with Google satellite photos, I feel I travel along with them.

I checked the feasibility, and bingo! Greenlight at every level.

In the meantime, the friend’s availability had been invalidated. Car trip seriously unmanageable.  So I checked flights, found one, booked a room and a car in Albuquerque. Bought my tix.

And so be it!

While doing so, I wished I could decide someone to join in at the last minute. Like : you go to a party, and  you say  : “I’ll go to Santa Fe tomorrow. – How nice? how lucky you are, I wish I could …- Interested? Join me! -OK!!!!”

Driving up there will be for another time, because, come on, it’s 15 hours’ drive. I’ll do it next time, with a car packed with friends as crazy as me for cinema. As it was also a bit short to organise it “impromptu”, (although I just love last-minute crazy ideas for a weekend).

The room I booked, for the SAME price could be either : one-queen-size bed (with kitchenette, easier for meals, you know) OR TWO king-size beds (with kitchenette).

Guess what I chose?

I was very much in the mood of sharing that moment with a good friend.

And I made that wish again : to go there with someone.

And it was granted. Impromtu. Last minute. Last Sunday, at lunch with wonderful friends.

You know that wonderful and terrifying moment when you say : “I go there, it’s crazy stuff to do, but… I’m doing it…Would you like to join me?”. And there goes the answer : “I’d love too! Let’s grab a ticket and …just.do.it”

You think your dream can come true, so  you set your mind on a particular frequency, your energy vibrates and bam! it happens. I have a sense that I am on the threshold of a new episode in my life, and I dedicate all my forces, my energy, my focus, my resources, my thoughts, to this achievement, this goal, this new path of fulfillment and of a deeper sense of happiness…

Guess what is the theme of this year’s SANTA FE FILM FESTIVAL?

DREAM AWAKE.

It could never have  been more suited.

Discipline your will, harness your dream and live the life you’re meant to live.

Keep your dream alive, but don’t let it slip through your hands, dear reader/writer.

Floreva, sending you positive energy AMAP (as much as possible)

I’ll post on SFFF later .

http://www.santafefilmfestival.com/

Parallel worlds

13 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Enchanting world, This world we live in, Writing

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Have you ever experienced it?

You write a scene with your fictional characters and bam! it happens in your life? Even when the two events occur one year apart? I mean, the scenes described occurred and everything fell exactly into place, what they do, or say (or say not). Or someone reads what you’ve written 18 months ago and just say : “Hey, I know that”, and you’ve just met them 3 months ago? (because we need to be read, right? it fuels our need to explain why we write, the reason of our being here, and makes sense when everything else just makes no sense at all).

Or you just put a certain set of information and details about some characters and they show up  for real? You meet people with those details in their life and they share it with you, things about them, things they do or have done, places they’ ve gone to, loooong after you created your fictional characters (like, 3 and 2 years ago….), and you think you’re trapped into the rewind thing of your dvd…

And it feels as if two parallels worlds have converged by chance (or is it?) into one event before continuing their own path, still parallel but bound to intertwine again…because you just happen to know it, deep down… see what I mean? Like, when you walk into a place and it feels just so familiar? You KNOW details about that place, even if it’s the first time you are here. As if your eyes and your body recognize it. This deja-vu impression may be quite disturbing or puzzling, I must say. Ever experienced it?

Weird, right?

Or is it just me?

Or is it normal, because the oddjobbers might have that “special” sensitivity/sensitiveness that makes them feel things long before they happen?

I am puzzled and baffled altogether, I must say.

Something of the kind just took place some days ago. And I had forgotten a good deal about what I had written in the 1st part of this drama, because I’ve edited it over a year now,and I am involved in other projects and in the second part of the drama…

Weeeiird.

Or is it because , having started to meditate, I see more clearly some aspects that were so buried inside me that, I kept stumbling upon, without even noticing there was recurring pattern?

 

I must find the samuraï within me and stop letting myself being troubled by such things, it’s ridiculous.

I must go back to my writings. No time to feel lightheaded.

I promise the next post will be more grounded and down to earth.

Happy day to you, dear readers, before this world ends in flames and chaos.

Floreva

On being a writer who learns and writes.

06 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in Books, Entertainemt, Movies, TV Series, Writing

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Time for reflection about being a writer.

When I was 14, I wrote a novel, not very long.  And then, I destroyed it. It was too personal, too raw, too me and I was too vulnerable, or so I thought…I wrote dozens and dozens of poems and texts. I wanted  two things : to be a writer AND to play on stage. I was an amateur theater actress and wrote in the school newspapers.

At 16, I wrote down a list of titles for the books I would wrote and a corresponding list of names, the character’s names.This list I still have with me, by my side as I write all that now, for your eyes. I kept on writing, although I had to change my professional choices. Eventually, deeply buried in those marketing jobs, I forgot about my self essential and my real life . Then one night, in August 2010, around 3 in the morning…

…I woke up. I mean, I WOKE UP to my past aspirations.  I was in the kitchen, sleep escaping me. My mind is racing.  For various reasons, over various subjects. And a thin fragile thread, long forgotten, attached to the very essential part of my soul is hit by a light I thought I had lost years ago. It was given back to me.

The energy of the writing spirit.

Now, at this hour of night, that day, I wanted to fight for that. This was the fighting spirit meeting the writing spirit. Good! Let’s go on!

So, in the heart of the night, I let the sun rise. I wrote  for 4 hours on my laptop. Characters knocked on the door of my mind, allowing themselves in, story unfolding neatly and energy increasingly awaking my creativity and my imagination…

Since then I have kept writing.

Now, I feel that I need to write more, to publish frenetically. I feel miserable taht I have not been able to give complete work to my publisher. I am affected by the virus of perfectionism. I rewrite, again and again, and again.  I got stuck on sentences for days, to achieve the ultimate construction. Letting go is difficult, and reaching a satisfying level is complexly hard. Sometimes, I think I have not done much in those past months. So I decided to summarize it.

What have I done in those past months, then? (Apart from my daily duties, of course). I did my homework and my work. And I ‘m still on it.

Firstly, I have prepared myself to properly tackle the writing of a script (because I am also a film lover since an early age) so I have :

  • read about 15/ + books on the subject ( The little red writing book, The golden book on writing –what’s this fantasy about colours??-, How to write a damn good thriller, How to write a damn good mystery, The art & craft of storytelling, A writer’s guide to fiction, The Bible of screenwriting, Crafty screenwriting, Writing screenplays that sell, Writing is a verb –oh?, The writer’s book of wisdom, See Jane write : a girl’s guide to writing chick lit, How not to write a screenplay –appealing/disturbing title, hence brilliant,  How to write what you want & sell what you write – long title, didn’t like the book, and 2 or 3 others.
  • shelled, analysed and studied about 40 scripts (and I am far from those 2/week I need to read!), among which  Eve (Mankiewicz), Body Heat (for that subtext), The big easy, Ocean’s 11 & Ocean’s 12, The electric Horseman, Howards End, Being John Malkovich, 3 Days of the Condor, Sherlock TV ep, Luther TV ep, The Prisoner TV ep, The Mentalist 4 TV ep, Scrubs  TV ep, West Wing 2 TV ep,   Amadeus, The Godfather, Donnie Brasco, Maltese Falcon, Pulp Fiction, Heat, Barton Fink, Sleepy Hollow, O Brother, Stagecoach, Night of the Hunter, The big Lebowski, The Big Sleep,  When Harry met Sally (yeah, for THAT scene, and see how it’s written), Some like it hot, etc…
  • read 7 modern plays (The Odd Couple  -his and hers- , Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf, The importance of being earnest, Ginger ale boy and Electric ballroom by Enda Walsh, one Shakespeeare…)
  •   read 6 novels , including the wonderful War Horse,  to relax

Secondly, I have written for myself (all)  and my publisher (a very small part) and you, -soon to be mine agent  (some):

  •  a 433p techno-thriller , with 2nd and 3rd  (same hero) in the synopsis -ripening room)
  • a 2x 150p drama novel (considering compiling to make one 300p book)
  • 2 short-stories
  • a long-feature radioplay (53min)
  • a short film screenplay
  • another short film screenplay
  • a synopsis for another short film
  • an article about a painting exhibition
  • 10 songs out of 12 for a musical project (with a music composer)
  • 20 poems (some are 2 or 3p long)
  • 4 detailed synopses for novels
  • 2 detailed synopses for short-story
  • 9 detailed synopses for a TV series
  • a synopsis for a noir feature film
  • 1 fan fiction TV ep
  • a 1st draft for a 3-act play in need of rewriting, editing, finishing and trimming
  • bits and pieces to be assembled into projects
  • 10 loglines /ideas for novel/Shortstory/script.
  • posts in a blog & tweets in a twitter account

I have relaxed in watching :

  •  300 ( or more) films and TV Series episodes, of various genres. (Next thing, I must try Doctor Who) [I can watch Sherlock AND read the script in the same time while sipping coffee. I’m like Windows, I am multitask) [[Sometimes, I watch the entire series in a row until it’s über-too late]]

In the meantime, when I have an insomnia, I also have observed & studied my targets (thanks Writer’s Market and magazines and blogs and news) and prepared my business and marketing plans, established the communication plan, established a list of other  contests I want to participate to. I have a new idea for a short…

I need a coffee, now. Strong, black, ultra caffeinated. Maybe I can just chew some coffee beans… It’s faster and a lot less fussier than brewing a mug ‘o joe…

It’s going to be a short night.

So long, Folks.

Coffee and films, what could go wrong?

What if…?

05 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in Books, Entertainemt, Movies, Writing

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The oddjobbers (writers, screenwriters and the kind) know that some of the best stories (apart from adaptations of literature pieces, remakes, documentaries, mockumentaries, historic and period dramas) started with a  seemingly übersimple child’s game : “let’s make believe that…. (I am a princess in a pea pod shaped mattress; I am a dragon slayer; Ramses, King of Egyptian people;  this mud is our chocolate pie and Mum is the Big laundrymatic Chief Lady;  I have a hammer, I am a pop singer and I smash all my toys; MY name is Han Solo and  YOU are Chewbacca; etc).”

The only difference is in the formulation : What if….?

And starting with this “what if…” postulate can lead you pretty far and produce some of the finest stories, provided your ideas are decently fueled with a good imagination. Forget narrow-minded or clichés  things, unless you twist them enough to turn them into an interesting pattern.

 

Results can be good or… not so good.

Let’s have a closer look: (remember I  talk fiction here, not historical facts nor period dramas).

Sometimes the results are just astonishing and we are being provided with great literature and films. (I leave the scientific or engineering part of this aside, its not my field).

For instance :

  • What if …a scientist wanted so bad to compete with God and created his own creature? Results : Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) and James Whale (1931) [+ numerous adaptations TV, films, theater and countless spoofs & cartoons.]
  • What if…an evil man, feeding only on human blood, could transform into a bat and contaminate each person he bites? Results : Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) and Tod Browning (1931) [+ numerous adaptations TV, films, theater and countless spoofs & cartoons.]
  • What if…aliens invaded the Earth? Results : The War of the worlds by HG Wells (1898), radioplay by Orson Welles (*wink*) 1938 and all the Alien Invasion literature & films influenced/induced by those geniuses [from The day the Earth stood still (1951) to Mars Attacks (1996) & Men in Black 3 (2012)]
  • What if …a priest wanted to protect his religious community from persecution and created an protector which later turns destructive? Results : The Golem (first writtten by Rabbi Eliyahu of Chelm (16th Century), then by Rabbi Yaakov Emden (1748), by  Franz Klutschak (1841) and film by Paul Wegener (1921)
  • What if…a school director’s wife and his mistress teamed up to murder him to get rid of him? What if he DID not actually dies and sought revenge? Result : Les Diaboliques  (The devils) by HG Clouzot (1955), (forget the remake w. Sharon Stone , it’s pathetic)
  • What if…pets and animals could talk and tell their adventures to a young Victorian aquarelist woman? Results : all Beatrix Potter’s books and Miss Potter (2006)?
  • What if…a zillionaire paid paleontologists to revive some defunct Dinosaurs species on an island, the team escaping a funest fate just in time? Results: Jurassic Park by M. Crichton (1990) and by S. Spielberg (1993) [and sequels, and spoofs and various others Jurassic monsters]
  • What if…a rejected secretary decided to turn love down, wrote a best-selling book about it- thus allowing other women to take control over their feelings, love and ensuing pain- to finally win the object of her thoughts turned true love? Result : Down with love (2003).
  • What if…a widowed woman who discovered that her husband left her broke, had an affair, eventually befriended the lover while developing a marijuana business to erase her debts and found love? Result : Saving Grace (2000).
  • What if…There was a secret passage to enter a famous actor’s mind for some minutes, allowing to control his mind and body? Result :  Being John Malkovich (1999)
  • So many others.

Yet, sometimes the results are, well, you know…so so, to put it kindly.

For instance :

  • What if…we followed the life of several teenagers on their campus and recorded their  abyssal stupidity and their gastric problems? (American pie*)
  • What if…we stuffed in so much SFX on screen, everyone will think it’s a GREAT movie? (Matrix, Thor, Iron Man 2, Spider man, Star Wars the Phantom Menace and the updated episodes, Titanic)
  • What if…we made any sequel of a any Blockbuster in the attempt to make as much money, based on the notoriety of the 1st film, hey? (Bad, bad, baaaaad idea, seldom good sequels, Jaws, Highlander, Rocky, Rambo…)
  • What if…we had NO viable idea but tried ANYWAY?  The March of the Yellow giant Raspberry (it’s a joke), Sex lives of the Potato men* (it’s not a joke), Gigli (now really, a lesbian who sleeps with men?),  Jersey girl (now really, again, a music rep in a BIG company who does not how to change his daughter’s diapers, chooses to lose his temper and trash his client Will Smith, ending in solo pleasures and a crazy Liv Tyler?), Cowboys and Aliens* –no comment- (2011).
  • What if…Abraham Lincoln was (secretly) a VAMPIRE HUNTER?….(Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter * 2012)
  • And, what if…. IN THE SAME TIME, Abe Lincoln chased Zombies*?  (2012)(I think he might have had a seizure, if not already dead, and certainly had turned in his tumb)
  • What if…there is no proper script or plotholes or unsatisfying endings? 2001 : space odyssey (yeah, I know, you hate when I say that, but have a second look), Indy and the last Crusade( I know, I know, yet, plotholes around), Barton  Fink (sorry, ending’s weak)

* Oh God, someone REALLY greenlighted that, you know, and put MONEY into it, and INFLICTED it to the world!

So long, folks, I have to find a greenlighter for my 15 min-script in which :

the protagonist gets a tip from a spaceship alien commander that his mother is the reincarnation of the American Pie (eaten by Lincoln in a theater) made of Potato slices found in the Tumb of Bigfoot, rescued by Indy while en route to the dentist for his pet Shark JAWSY the 6th, and that’s disturbing fact, because he tries to to fight his growing inner apetite (haha) for fame  in participating in the “Yukon contest of the tough guys of the Woods” :  being able to eat 999 fries in one mouthful (haha, again). Being connected with/to a potato mother presumably still alive in the stomach of someone (brought back to life per thunderstorm), the stakes are high and the obstacles, numerous. Will he burn out? (hahaha) .Good idea, hu?

Floreva

PS : For science cum-what if… : http://what-if.xkcd.com/13/ (ANSWERING YOUR HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS WITH PHYSICS, EVERY TUESDAY)

 

 

 

Sherlock and me

03 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Creating, TV Series, Writing

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Sherlock.

 What? (now, really…)

It’s obvious. Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock and you. Sherlock and us. Sherlock and the industry. Sherlock and me. We like Sherlock & the industry LOVES him.

As for me, I confess, I am a fan. I am a great fan, though I never enrolled in any Holmesian club (maybe one day?).

In 2010 BBC produced a new theme on an old classic. The modern take on the  TV series,  conceived by Steven  Moffat and Mark Gatiss on a train while en route to a filming location in Cardiff, was bound to gain the affection of fans as well as neophytes. Sherlock, the much beloved sleuth that popped out of Sir Arthur Connan Doyle’s industrious mind got a dab of freshness and a makeover that left the audience astounded by the quality achieved.

The narrative is not news, of course (I refer to Moffat’s 2007 previous piece of art, “Jekyll” which I recommend you watch), the construction is rigorous, the script is perfectly written (I read one, it’s just what we oddjobbers dream to write), and the style is as immortal as Conan Doyle’s. Narrative finds please the modern watcher who has already experienced high photography quality, graphic novelties and inlays of modernity in the screen (remember, for instance, how Matrix had opened the path to perfectly trimmed slow motioned scenes). And the actors’ performances please our sense of comparison as they are as equally good/perfect/wonderful/impossibly amazing (choose) as Jeremy Brett and David Burke & later Edward Hardwicke. Benedict Cumberbatch is a unique & definitive Modern Sherlock, just as Brett was the ultimate period Sherlock. And Martin Freeman is just above all the Dr Watsons we’ve seen . Rupert Graves is this admiring Lestrade Sir Arthur described  in the books and Andrew Scott is good news as Moriarty, pleasantly mad.

Netflix uploaded the Sherlock Season 2 recently, and last week I indulged in watching the 3 episodes in a single row. You think I am addicted? Well, ahem…

You see the show and you tell me if the whole thing isn’t anything but brilliant.

(Who else can say : “Uh. Breathing. Breathing’s boring.”, and makes you feel he really thinks it? Sherlock cum – Berbatch)

I’m hooked, I’ve turned the last scene in my mind hundred of times (in my sleep, thank whoever is to be thanked, because I have no time in daytime for such amusement, pages need to be inked and written, job must get done , contests participated in and publisher provided publishing with material!). I WANT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!!

The script writers have fulfilled their duties. The cliffhanger is teasing, audience skyrocketed, and we crave for more episodes.

This is currently one of the best shows to learn from, when you are a screenwriter, a director of the photography, a credits designer, and SFX creator (unless you care for BIG, BOLD, UNNECESSARY, or UNSUBTLE SFX). Not in order to duplicate, of course. To fuel creation and align to such excellency standards.

I had to divert my attention from Sherlock to reinvest my own projects and current works.

Sunday evening, I discovered Miranda Hart’s show ( I had a good laugh), and I liked it so much I ordered the DVD on the spot. (now, talk of a British TV series addiction). Very visual and known slapsticks, but who cares? Old tricks, you know… etc…etc…Have a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTf17cmPl0I

Pleasant day to you, dear readers. The 1st page of that short-film script awaits me…

Floreva

That’s entertainment.

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Movies, Writing

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This morning, I went for a walk with some friends and the subject of movies came up. Tonight, I reflect on our conversation…

I’ll try to explain a little more what we talk about when we talk about the satisfaction induced by a good movie.

 

TV series,  Movies,  Plays… That’s entertainment and we love that. Why? Why do we love going into a dark room filled with strangers to watch people we are not even acquainted to, make their show for us? And why are we pleased afterwards? (I talk here only of good quality time, ok?)

We are especially pleased when our expectations -most of which we are not fully aware as they generally lie in our unconscious- are met.

We are satisfied and content when the characters are consistent, clearly established for what they are (Hero, Romance, Nemesis -stands between the hero and his goal achievement-, reflection -supportive  to the outer motivation) and the plot carefully built and conducted.

We are satisfied and happy when we can anticipate what’s next, but not too much. We love surprises (well, good ones only).

We are satisfied when action is moving at a pace we can follow (not too fast and not sloppy).

We are satisfied when the dialogues are intelligent, funny, or memorable. (We, silverscreen and telly nerds, LOVE to quote our favourite heroes)

We are satisfied when we can adhere to the inner or outer motivations or the hero and  when the stakes seem plausible and rise until becoming unbearable. (and better, when the situation we once experimented, or someone we know has, obviously not the case when the world needs to be saved by Superman)

We are satisfied when we can adhere to the means the protagonists  choose to resolve their conflict(s) -driven by outer/inner motivation- and finally achieve their goals (even if it’s a little dirty secrets, look at the success of Dirty Harry or Dexter, he is a SK & mental, for Christ’s sake!).

We are satisfied to allow ourselves to grieve upon the difficulties they encounter and being  upset to see them almost (almost) ready to let go of the fight/quest/willing-to-change. We are satisfied when we see them being THAT close to drift from  their love/ goal/personal growth/saving of the world and  finally kick bottom to be up again & to regain the stamina to continue STRONGER.

We are satisfied when they WIN. Or justice is done, conflict is resolved, truth revealed, and happiness or healing on the way. Unless it is the thing to understand that is – AT LAST- understood.

We are supersatisfied when the twist ending (when there is one) is strong, astonishing and brilliant, (exactly the opposite of what we expect).

Because that’s how we, humans, are built. And that’s what we need.

All we need is hope. And all we hope for is that our needs are fulfilled. Magically, we have a powerful tool to obtain the results: we can pick a movie and be fulfilled with whatever we need to keep us going on with our life and our responsibilities ad duties : joy, happiness, motivation, beauty, motive for thinking, determination, hope, courage, passion, understanding, knowledge, a break in our daily routine, a brain-spa, a good laugh, a good thrill, a good fright…in 3 words : a good moment.

As we go to the theaters to make that magic possible, for most of us, what we crave above all is a damn good screenplay.

What is a screenplay? It’s the body of the movie (or of the TV series episode), the structure, the rules organising the whole thing and keeping from falling apart, or ending with that awkward feeling of discontent, frustration or anger, because your need or your expectation has not been fulfilled…

Yes, a story follows rules, it’s not just -so-stories (;-p Rudy K.)

Long story short:

The HERO has a CONFLICT to resolve (INNER or OUTER).

(Example : in Walk the Line, Johnny Cash has INNER CONFLICTS (lack of self-confidence and struggle to become himself/ his growing love for June/destructive behavior) and OUTER CONFLICTS (an abusive father who prefers his eldest son and despises his son JR (Johnny Cash) & big bro loves his lil’ bro JR/ Mother says nothing/ his wife and children vs. his touring the country and his affairs/ his dealer tracking him down) to overcome.)

He has a MOTIVATION :  INNER  and OUTER (tangible) to change the situation 

(Example : Walk the Line. INNER MOTIVATION : getting married/ then to win June’s love/ deal with his past/become himself, OUTER MOTIVATION : to break free from addictions/ come to terms with his father’s rejection/record songs.)

The HERO has GOALS to achieve and they sustain his MOTIVATION :

(Example : Walk the Line. Johnny Cash’s GOALS are  : to overcome his addictions/become a singer/tour with June, Elvis and Jerry Lee.)

The HERO must deal with an OPPONENT (NEMESIS character) or ADVERSITY, preventing him potentially to achieve his GOALS. ADVERSITY must be visible and identified (The CIA, the terrorists, the police, a disease : does not work , even if a collective danger/obstacle,  they must have a face, a name and they must confront the HERO individually in the end, disease can be personified by a disillusioned nurse or physician, or patient).

(Example : Walk the Line. MULTIPLE NEMESIS : Johnny Cash has to divorce his wife in order to be with June, his father must learn to respect him, the dealer must be well… dealt with, authorities must be convinced to let him play in prison)

The HERO can find help or support along his journey (REFLECTION character), even love (ROMANCE character).

(Example : Walk the Line. REFLECTION : Jerry lee, Perkins & Elvis. ROMANCE : his wife and then June)

In the end, the CONFLICT is pacified, the MOTIVATION is resolved (the hero has failed or succeeded at achieving his goal(s) , in every case, the HERO has gained personal growth, his journey is complete.

The end. That’s all folks! 

What movie is your favourite and why?

DNA for dummies or Genetics and the screenwriter.

14 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in Entertainemt, Movies, TV Series, Writing

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Is it just me? Or are you, dear reader,  bothered too,  when a nice piece -TV series or movie- does not play DNA by the rules?

Namely, the color eyes chart. Especially, when it’s clearly said/showed/brought to our knowledge that NO foul actions or adultery/messing around have EVER occurred in the life of Madam since she’s married*? So?

So how come that THIS happens :

“(Recessive*) Blue eyes father + (Recessive) Blue eyes mother = Dominant** Brown eyes child “? The off-springs should have (Recessive) blue eyes.

Unless… The father has transmitted one (Dominant) Brown to the bundle of joy to, UNBEKNOWNST to the screenwriter. Or props were not properly stocked and the person in charge lacked those colored eye lenses. Too bad…

Maybe it’s just me. I probably shouldn’t have been so much attentive as a student in 8th grade, I suppose. Or is it only because I was just better in genetics than in geology, and the knowledge has sunk in deeper and is still there? [I confess : I took my (sweet) revenge in excelling at genetics whereas I sucked at geology, AND I was being taunted by my biology teacher because my father IS a geologist. No kidding,”why my cousin has blue eyes and mine are only hazel ?” bore much more appeal than “feldspars KAlSi3O8 – NaAlSi3O8 – CaAl2Si2O8″. And honestly, the sole interest I have in stones is when they are square-shaped, small, sparkling, red or blue, mounted on a golden ring]

*(in “Downton Abbey”, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, his wife  Cora, Countess both blue-eyed produce two brown-eyed daughters -Lady Mary and Lady Laura, or in the episode “The Hide”  of the series “Foyle’s War” the boy is also affected of the same heritage; and some others I do not recall right now). 

**Recessive means it takes two of them lads to be strong, dominant means it is stronger, even on its own. It’s not me, it’s the law of Genetics. It’s possible to have blue inherited eyes if one of your parents is brown-eyed and the other blue-eyed, provided at the upper level (grand-parents) one of them had blue eyes too and had transmitted the Recessive gene to the younger generation. It means that the recessive (i.e. non-dominant) is stored in the genetic patrimony and express itself oddly and randomly with another recessive gene. 

Just as the script (and therefore, the show) must not bear historical inaccuracies, nor errors (such as  continuity, plot holes, factual, visible crew, revealing, characters, police cars plates changing every other episodes…),  it must get the DNA heritage done properly, don’t you think?

Super Screenwriter explains it better than me :

Super Screenwriter is a genius ©Floreva 2012

How to feel guilty for the way you treat your characters and what to do about it

12 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Creating, Writing

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Today’s subject may be a little unusual, but still, it makes sense to reflect upon when one is involved in the subject of writing, be it novel, drama, short-story, poetry, thriller (especially thriller!).

I’m writing about guilt. Author’s guilt. The experience of guilt about how the characters are lead through or thrown into various ventures by their author.  I mean, when the events are unpleasant or morally ticklish, of course.  If it was pleasant or virtuous,  there would be no sense of guilt afterwards. Nor during the writing itself, as the story unfolds and develops.

 

It sounds probably strange.

I remember when I was engulfed in this thriller, and a character had to die, because otherwise the story could not evolve. As the nice young policeman went on with his duty, he had to meet his fate. Because the sending of those Interpol agents depended on his being killed, and his murder being disguised as a car accident.  The visit of the Interpol agents in that seemingly falling-apart Russian plant would not take place and the whole story would just vanish into a non-existing world, a world where policemen never die, corruption never takes place, and everyone is playing by the rules, a world where pollution is just a word on a paper and not a palpable, quantifiable, ugly reality, a world where guns are not invented yet, where kids are never abandoned or cancer-stricken, a world where virtue is the golden rule governing every relationship, and where love is not a rogue reality but still a concept worth hoping for.

Such a world, alas, does not exist.

So the nice friendly policeman Sergueï had to go. I felt so bad about that. I considered : he might be just wounded… maybe? Although only a fictional character, I took interest in him, his shyness, his quietness, his willing to be more audacious to ask the bold Katrina out, his care to carry out his duty clean and sharp.

And I knew (synopsis, thank you), that his mate the Interpol agent had to disappear too. And the second Interpol agent had to remain prisoner until he got rescued.

And…I lost my sleep. Yep, for fictional characters I knew nothing about 3 month prior.

Why was that?

I tell you  what : it was guilt. I felt guilty to create characters only to trap them in a story they could never escape from. Mr Synopsis told me so : “Crush their hopes, weaken their fighting spirit, and throw them into the iron clad of an untouchable villain with high connections and protections.”

I talked about this feeling around me, with close persons. Turned out, I was too virtuous, I cared a great deal too much about non-existent things. And it’s right.

So, I stopped making knots in my brain and proceeded with further creation. And the development held a good surprise with the members of the forensics team sent to examine the shambled apartment of the hero (yes, a bomb exploded there).

So, for that guilt feeling, you know what to do? Here’s an advice.

Take it with you for a drink…

 

Listen to its plea carefully…

Then, drown it into a nice Irish coffee and confess your sin. Your absolution lies in your writing something worth reading.

 

Don’t feel guilty about the author’s guilt. You know the best part ?

Guilt, like sorrow, can swim, and therefore, never drowns. Never. You’re built with the feature or not. But more likely, with. (And it gets stickier with age).

 

 

Hey Guilt!

Yeah… you, Nasty  Guilt of the Author…

….Get lost.

 

Tea and Thor, the though guy who changed.

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Entertainemt, Movies, Writing

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It’s 4 pm, and at this moment, I need a cup of tea.

Coffee is more a morning affair, a routine to fuel my lack of energy to sit at my table (my desk, or an anonymous table in a coffee house or at the library), get to what I have to do, figure out how the things must develop onstage (for the musical project I am currently working on), finish the work, retrieve the scene where I left it (for the techno-thriller), having allowed  the hero to breathe a little more before throwing him into an unbearable dilemma, when I switched the laptop the night before.

The perfect cuppa is better enjoyed with an episode of a great TV series, after 8 pm, when I am not out.

I am addicted to tea and telly paired together (well, not the telly, rather the TV series on the telly). While busy with my favorite vice,  I can’t help but analyse the product I am served.

I suppose it’s what everyone suffering from the same disorder does : We shell the tricks of the screenplay, anticipating moves of the action or of some characters, expecting them to react in a particular way. I like it when I have a right guess, I feel the screenwriter has done his job properly, by having followed the rules and that the director has done a good job too with the clues, letting the audience to recall them on time and find the path to enlightenment.  I like when the series is so cleverly crafted that if leaves me puzzled or amazed. It’s highly enjoyable when this feeling lasts a bit more and makes one smile. It’s always better when the trick/twist end/resolution is cleverly chiseled and not set on a short fuse.

For instance, I felt quite disappointed with “Thor”. But not with “Pirates, band of misfits” that I saw last Sunday.

Ok, so…Thor.

Thor is a nice guy. He is about the become king of Asgard.Check. Strong, big, handsome, chiseled 6-pack, charming smile, his father is proud of him. He is the hero. The hero is a though guy (with loads of special FX, too much), he wants war. Check. Special FX. Check. Special FX again. Cheeeeeeck.

Thor has a jealous brother, Loki (Nemesis character), conspiring against him. Check. But he is shot-tempered (Thor, not Loki. well, Loki too). This is his main drawback (coupled with an unquenchable thirst for revenge upon the people of Frost Giants). The Frost Giants interrupt and try to steal a casket, followed by Thor and his friends (reflection characters). Battle takes place.

(Special effects,I, II, III, IV)

Odin is terribly disappointed. His father, the king of Gods (all this is inspired by Norske tales and the marvel comics) banishes him from the Scandinavian Olympus and the brother is seeking to seize the throne after this banishment. Check.

Special effects.

Thor is a shallow, smooth character inside, a little guilty on the edges (well not that much) when he learns that his father is dying. Loki has layers that add depth to his dilemma (his is the adopted son of Odin, an offspring of a killed Frost Giant Chef).

Special effects.

Later, Thor faces the dilemma : inner motivation : striking back, showing he is not that short-tempered and he can change and become king . Outer motivation : to regain his father’s esteem and redeem his right to the throne (and regain his immortality and his powers). Check. Check. Check. Special FX.

On Earth, he meets Natalie Portman, the pretty scientist (she embodies both (a little) the reflection character and the romance character). She lives and work in a RV, with her assistant and a tutelary personification of the father (= authority, credibility, etc).

Special effects.Special effects.Special effects.Special effects.

Thor is accustomed to be served by servants, right? He does not know how to clean a table, cook an egg (furthermore in a kitchen on our planet, he is a God from Above the Clouds), or understand why it’s important to be polite to others, right? (Special effeeeeeeects)

He must face a dilemma : he must understand that making war is bad bad bad. He should be torn between his blossoming attraction for Natalie and his duty and his anger to show his father that he has all rights to seek revenge over the people from the icy world, right? Especially when his brother comes down to whisper the song of  war and brute force to crush them and regain his throne, right?  His brother wants to use those feelings to destroy Thor forever, and seeks to excite his appetite for blood and fight. The audience expects to see the dilemma plastered all over his blond face, his hands twisted with remorse and regret and duty and courage and anger…

It must, it should, it needs to last some minutes, and could be shown in several micro-scenes, inserted in the flow of the linear construction of the timeline, even in parallel actions, to add tension and thrill and build the suspense.

But not Thor. He does not give a toss to our expectation of tension, thrill, or supense.  He has his magic hammer (well, ok, ok, it is still stuck in a mud bed, with all the FBI, CIA, whatever agency agents all around sent to observe the unknown device, and the rain is pouring, and it’s night and it’s thunderstrom everywhere, and Thor escapes the security to retrieve his hammer and he  meets Natalie again and….), his blond suntan skin and his surfer hair, he is tough (remember?) AND he has changed.

We know that because he said so, while piling the eggs sunny-side-up into Natalie’s plate, a tea towel thrown over his shoulder, with a nice apron and a perfectly peaceful gaze at his bro, Loki, who just can’t believe his ears (just as the audience, BTW, this was dumbfounding, I daresay).

“WHAT? No war? what about your anger, and your will for revenge? And regaining your hammer and its power and your powers? Those people are our ENNEMY from the beginning of time, blablabla…” (he tries really hard to shake the king-to-be-banished-but-not-really-and-already-forgiven-by-Daddy). Special effects.

But no. It’s written in the script, so there goes Thor  : “I HAVE C-H-A-N-G-E-D, nanana… No war. Peace and love, bro. “

Can you believe that? What happened to the screenwriter? Why frustrating the audience like that? There are rules, in the good book of screenwriting rules.

See? Special effects can’t be all. And I need a tea. Tea and Thor, the guy who changed. Not the perfect match. Too bad, it was promising, even the second seeing is frustrating.

So long, though guy.

Floreva, TVseries addict forever.

Ordinary week ?

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in This world we live in, Writing

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It’s been an ordinary week. For me, for friends. For most. Work, entertainment, family, gatherings, thoughts on our western way of living, news from far away, recycling,  harvesting tomatoes in the garden, switching on green power as much as possible…. Ordinary week of an ordinary citizen of the world in an ordinary city of the western world.

Saturday : wedding day (not mine).

At the Arboretum, in the woods. Reception took place in a residential district of town. 

Sunday : writing, misc., gardening and later, dinner with friends.

I gave to the host a poem I had written for him, inspired by a precise fact of his family history, and the hostess (his beautiful girlfriend) was given a bouquet of roses.

The cocktail Planteur I was served was one of the best I have ever tasted, made with old Rum from Martinique and honey from the grandfather’s beehives. Wonderful evening.

Monday : Memorial Day in the USA. Some rare places open, otherwise everything is closed.

A day to honor all American soldiers who have died in service.

(Gettysburg American Civil War Memorial).

My Flag stood outside the house. There is Remembrance day, or the 11th of November. Another occasion to honor the the simple soldier does not seem redundant, so hereby I pay my respects to all those beings, men and women who lost their lives in service, or as casualties of war.

The same cemetery before the Second World War

(Neuville St Vaast, German cemetery WWI. Photo ante WWII) Photo: Zinsel

I remember the war cemeteries I visited in Normandy and in the Somme.  I remember them in Besançon, Bretteville-sur-Laize, Saint-Avold, Colleville-sur-Mer, Bayeux, La Cambe, St Mihiel, Vimy, Loos, Douaumont, Ypres and Vladslo, Gettysburg, Ayette, Bapaume, Bray -sur-Somme,  Florence, Delville, Fricourt, Thiépval, Neuville-Saint-Vaast …

I remember the battlefields in Scotland, England, France, Belgium, America, Germany, Poland, Italy, India… There are so many I have not seen yet.

Recycling and gardening most of the day. A stroll on the bayou, fresh air.

Tuesday : working on the musical project .

My proof-reader came over for lunch and chat about our work (my writing , her reading my prose).

Wednesday : can’t remember.

Working on some corrected material probably. Oh, yes. Saw one ep. of “Damage”, a series with Glen Close. Liked it. Took steps in going more green, tried (again) the raw cooking.

Thursday : Alert for dangerous storms and lightening.

Water was pouring. Good for the plants and the water reservoirs. Had to cancel an appointment.  I read comments on the newly elected  French President in the papers. Skyped with my family members. Took a shot of caffeine with my fave Dinosaur (he’s on a diet, no sugar for him).

While sipping my coffee, I remembered a sentence I read on a sticker on a car : “Fight stupidization”. Nice quote. Then I felt cynical : Ok, but how? By educating people? And who wants to fight stupidization? That’s an odd job. Don’t we all want to be educated, not in the perspective to change mentalities, but to get a higher-paid job, to be able to buy stuff ? More and more stuff to stuff our closets and our shallow conversations and our empty minds and brain and hearts?

Friday :

I worked on corrections again on the techno-thrilller, wrote a poem about some oddities of life.

Later in the afternoon, met a friend at the “Beach” (a pool that looks like a resort, with sand and a lake), enjoyed the sun, a nice chat, a nice friendship, before welcoming friends for a typical Jura (French with wine) meal. Uber wonderful evening with great people.

Over that period of time, naturally, extraordinary things happened too, don’t get me wrong.

The constant flow of bad news brings the world closer. And frustrating enough, the impossibility to escape the role of dismayed witness. The Houla massacre, the crash of the plane in Lagos, the news (not new yet, dated April 19th) of another discovery of a little girl (hours old) under a tree in Gurgaon, abandoned after the  birth because she is a girl. Such a behavior is epidemic in Asia. Sex-ratio birth is unbalanced there, in India and in China. And because this violence against women and girls  has not come to an end YET (I am above anger, although this is more than revolting) , the gap deepens between number of boy birth and number of girl birth. They are lacking 10 millions girls. The deficit of girls in Asia leads now to raids in the neighboring countries to kidnap baby girls.

You read correctly.

Is is still possible that we are witnessing such stupidity and deshumanization of  mankind, in the 21st  century? After all the atrocities or proven stupidities of the past decades? After the Red Khmers, multiple wars, deadly diseases provoked/spread by stupid behaviours, uber-liberalism and reign of finance, communism, various dictatorships, hazardous childbirth policies, genetic modification of plants, overexploitation of natural resources, pollution of water, soils and air? After all those systems or concepts that have proven their limits and their inaccuracy for the sake of Earthbound livings?

 Along with Cicero, I ask thy, Earthling : Cui bono? (For whose benefit is it?)

When will “influent” people realise that money is not edible? That our brains need to be used  with intelligence? What are we waiting for? Is mankind waiting for the last leaf to drop from the last tree to start changing its behaviour?

Who said we live in a safer world? (Have you noticed? The cynical in me is back, and is seeking to become a permanent lodger).

Let’s hope HOPE HOPE that humans have not ENTIRELY lost their common sense.

But still, is there any reason why we should not think  massive stupidization of humanity is not knocking at the door?

Is the artist now still in charge of denouncing the system and the perversion of the soul by materialism and absence of ethics? Or has he also chosen money over purity?

Let’s nurture our minds, and our common sense. Let’s read Plato, Socrates, Kant, Lévi-Strauss (the anthropologist and ethnologist, not the founder of a pants company), Jankelevitch, Proust, the Good Book and more poetry…

And let’s have another bar of emergency chocolate.

Another ordinary week  awaits us…Full of surprises, fears, stupidity, intelligence maybe, act of generosity, virtues not yet defunct, and so much more. Whose side are you on?

Wishing mankind all the best not to speed up its decadence…

Floreva, very disappointed and cynical tonight, but still full of HOPE. 

The process of creation

27 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in Creating, Writing

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What makes us humans want to create things? Why do we create? And how does the process grow in the mind and spirit, to be later translated into piece of work, art, music, film, poetry, sculpture, architecture, DIY, crafts, theater, and so forth?

These questions are not news, naturally, and still, have we got an answer?

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As for why? It may be to find an aim to life on earth, provided one  has  not founhd it yet (maybe). Or is it the eternal desire for eternity. (or, at its worst, desire for immortality, perhaps?).

How? can be split into to parts: the how on a materialistic P.O.V., an how on a more spiritual, disembodied P.O.V.

Whereas the latter is tricky to give an answer to, the former is easily stated : we no longer each day have to get in our gardens (or a field, to harvest it) to crop our veggies for food.

How? on a spiritual P.O.V : Remember Henri-Georges Clouzot (“Les diaboliques”, among other master pieces)  filming Picasso in 1955 in Nice?  The painter was “drown” into intense concentration developed by the  inspiration, painting on a glass, as the camera rolled on on the other side and completely focused on the right gesture.The film was called “The Picasso Mystery”. Picasso was so focused, he ended tired and tensed. Many agree that Clouzot demonstrated the creative process of the artist in that film. Yet one cannnot show the electrical impulses in the brain, from the idea to create something, until its final completion through the hands  (drawing, engraving, writing, sculpting, constructing, painting, playing, screenwriting, shaping, manufacture -meaning “fait à la main”, made by the hand, literally translated from Latin-…) or the body (choreography, dance, acting, singing…).

What is the motivation? The desire to surround ourselves with beauty? To leave an immortal chef-d’oeuvre to our fellow inhabitants of the earth? Deliver a message? Induce other to reflect on the civilization and the contemporary society? Find one’s true self through creation, to be shared by other people with a similar sensibility or inclination?

Or just to have fun while doing what one loves and is breathing for? Could it be for the only sake of the beauty of the gesture? The perfect mastery of an art, put into the inner self (as a gift from above) to educate and bring joy to others, as another gift (to be passed on or taught)?

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Better still, it’s always nice to think that we, humans, are the result of the  process of creation of Mother Nature…

Creatively processed… not bad, as a starter in life…

Keep calm and create, my fellow bloggers or readers, friends and you people I do not know, on the other side of the laptop screen,  and the world will be a better place.

Creatively yours,

Floreva

PS : P.O.V. : Point of view.

Writer’s Block

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Books, Writing

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Aha. The writer’s block…

The BIG bad wolf of everyone dealing with writing, be it screenplay, novella, novel, poem, article for a specific field, PhD thesis, internship report, memoir, fiction contest (250 words), plays….

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Different prominent masters on the subject of writing have settled down their opinion and the clivage is very easy, as black and white, cold and hot, rain and sun…

For  half of them, writer’s block is just a view of mind, namely a concept created by those suffering from it, and they erase the struggle to arrive to the idea that one can easily overcome that state of mind : just sit down and write. Discipline as the strongest fighter, and you, the writer, as the general in charge of organizing and winning the battle… not bad an idea.

The will to write seems to be just the perfect answer.

And, on the other hand, we are offered a more psychological explanation and an emotional meditative approach : writer’s block really exists. And you have to wait until it’s over, and deal with it gently.

You can try to fight it, put yourself at war against it, the best thing will always to let go of that ugly anxiety creeping in your mind that you are not able to produce a single meaningful and/or satisfying sentence. Then… leave it, turn to something else, refresh your mind, do something else, maybe write something else. Find help. Read books on the subjects. Or just do something that has absolutely nothing to do with the subject you are sweating on.

Like many fellow authors, I have experienced THE writer’s block. It is a dark corner where you do not want to be stuck after sun has set or dawned, because it will eat you rest away, make your night all white and your day crappy, burn down the self-confidence you have so patiently pieced together -from various positive comments and solid bricks that construct your path to become an acknowledged author- and that inner feeling in your guts that you must write, because you are born to do so.

As I urged myself on the mindset of sitting behind the white sheet, my fountain pen point resting still on the paper, making a larger stain of black ink, I thought there was no way I could draw a single line nor write more than a sentence.

It lasted for weeks. And it was utterly self deprecating.

First, I thought I should fight it. Again and again, and more, and stronger, and sit there day after day after day, slightly breathing as time escaped me coupled with the fact that I had not done any other thing than waiting for the dark veil to be carried away by my patience. But since I am not a person who likes to waste time and waits for the silence to murmur the words of the Muse’s inspiration, I embraced another conviction.  I was willing to write, but  not like it was an obligation, and I did not want to let it aside.

So I moved on and did other things and wrote other things. I watched movies and series, to nurture my mind, jog my ability to shell the screenplays of the films I was examining, and exercise the skills I had learned regarding screenwriting and writing.

I wrote poetry and a novella, instead of returning to the main task. But the core of my work remained untouched. In the same time, I stuck on a discipline, although not as harsh nor as iron-willed as advocated in some manuals.

In those moments, I came to think that no one is entitled to allow my writingself to be tucked in a box or another. Between the white idea of fighting like a warrior of the Writing Light and the black pool of letting the block eating one up untiI one would emerge pure and strong again, there is a infinity of greys. (Yeah very cliché, I know, but common sense and clichés are so often easily forgotten in favour of brighter new half-empty concepts, that sometimes one loses touch with what is obvious ..)

And one has to deal with their subtle nuances until one frees oneself from the block.

Writer’s blocks do exist, no need to pretend it is something one chooses to escape their duties, and that the will solely can break it down. It can be highly destructive, creativity-speaking . But writer’s block needs also to be fueled with fresh ideas and dealt with humourously.

Some white and some black, to create one’s very own shade of grey-ish writer’s block.

And being able to overcome it.

Best of luck to you, if you are stuck with that unpleasant companion. Take courage, the journey may be long, but there is always an end station…

Floreva, Writer’sblockfighter, too…

Café littéraire

18 Friday May 2012

Posted by in Cafés, Caffeine, Writing

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As the day begins, this is what I am given, while driving towards the city. It is 6.55 am. A pinkish mist coats the hedges and the lawns I pass by. Sky promises to be bright blue. There is little traffic before I hit the feeder leading to the centre of the Metropolis. The ideas and whereabouts regarding the writing I am battered in start to roll in my mind. I am making corrections and adjustments already, in the quietness of my car.

I enjoy the rising of the sun. Anywhere I can. It feeds my need for beauty and aesthetics in the simplest possible way. Like a token of joy. I think of the characters I must deal with today. Their motivations, their interactions with others, their conflicts, their nature, the drama, the laugh…

Then, moments later, I sit in front of a freshly brewed coffee. With my laptop, I can carry my work office everywhere. I connect through WI-FI and voilà.

A glance around me, and I dive into the thoughts nurtured by the latest movies or series I watched, or the current piece I am working on, and that I have sorted out during  my earlier driving.

The day develops while I keep writing, proofing, correcting, changing, cutting scenes…My brain races. So much to do, so little time. I take a second coffee, then a third. My heart beat quickens a bit. I begin to be very caffeinated. I drink water. I gaze at the walls when they are decorated. When I am stuck in a scene in the screenplay, it is utterly helpful to let fresh air (metaphorically speaking) rippling on the ocean of the codes and conventions one follows to build characterization or inner conflicts.

When Nemesis escapes you, close your eyes and smell the coffee.

It sometimes induces a loop in the field of the work I have to do, like a breath of fresh air.

Writing in a café is highly pleasurable.  It makes a daily task blissful. Cafés littéraires, as they are called in France. Cafés or coffee houses where one writes or discuss literature (or politics).

It connects us with all those beloved authors, and allows a spiritual communion to the magnificent prodigy of human nature : crafting sentences and words to craft and explain our lives and the future.

Coffee and writing, seemingly so intimately bound to speak of our human conditions. The best could be found in the cafés in Vienna, the coffee hours held in the Salons in Paris, London, St Petersburg in the past centuries, where ideas for better everything where sketched and refined.

The warmth of the anonymous company of fellow beings. The observation of nature.

A microcosm accommodated within 4 walls and processed by a coffee machine.

Long live the cafés and coffee houses, where we can seek and find matter for writing, fuel for our thoughts, and nicely light ephemeral connections through a smile or a inconsequential gaze.

On writing. My manifesto

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Writing

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I like coffee and I love movies and series and…

…I write.

I am a writer.  I just rediscovered that unexpectedly. I reconnected with that part of me only two years ago, just before moving to the USA. An acquaintance of mine  who turned out to be a coach approached me (she’s a friend now).  In exchange of me being one of her clients to practice her skills and tools on (so that she could get her certification), she would give me a whole session (7 hours) of free coaching .

I have long adopted the  motto : “when life hands you lemons, do not regret those are not oranges, and make a good lemonade out of them”.

So, here I was, presented with a crazy opportunity. A “win/win” opportunity.

So I accepted and made my lemonade. I had no clue I needed a coach. But I needed one. In the first place,  it helped me assume this identity, my writer identity. The working identity, this social cloth you have to wear when people ask what you do in /of your life, and that everyone can translate into chunks of perception of your person. Not that they will really understand your being, your (personality/soul,…you name it), or simply you. It just helps them in creating a shape in which you can fit. Easily identifiable.

Now, 5 months after the session has ended, I am proofing a book I already wrote in 2010. I have been working on the corrections for too long now, and I need (soooo badly) to have that one finished and sent to find its path to publication… Paradoxically, to gather forces from other fields and make a mind change, I also wrote a novel,  have half-written a second, produced a novella, dozens of poems and I am involved in a scenic project (a friend proposed we produce something together, she’s working on it on her side, me on mine, and we meet, acknowledge things, meet again, see the progress, it’s wonderful).

I am in the state where I need to think of the future of those writings and their making into books. First will come this proofed book. Considering the subtle arcane of such an adventure, a business plan is needed (I come from marketing, y’know), in order to market the product (the book) and the brand (pen name/author and maybe what stands behind).

I suppose that a literary agent will ask : “so, you write… and do you have a blog?”.

How very embarrassing it must be to confess that, well….lack of  audaciousness…and time, hum….busybusybusy….

No this cannot be an acceptable anwser

One  wants to write, one writes since childhood, there’s no other work in the whole world that brings more joy. It makes one’s guts on fire when one answers people’s questions about the subject.

So I started a blog. I must confess that it’s been a while (ahem, nearly 4 years…) that I wanted to experiment the blogging thing.

And it is hard. And demanding. And one wants to change subjects, or the tagline. All the time. Until one finds on’es songline. ( it’s a clumsy reference to Bruce Chatwin for you, but utterly meaningful to me).

As I need entire jugs of caffeine to force my eyes to stay open (life is short, and things must be done, the Big Sleep will provide plenty of time to rest), as I am a cinema fan from an early age (I started to read the upscale TV magazine received at home, with cinema review, critics and intelligent comments, very “Cahiers du Cinéma”-ish, if that rings a bell,  @ 9years old, and had begun to watch the Midnight Club cinema, when I was 14 and never stopped since), I knew I had to blog about those subjects. And occasionally about  myself (like I just did), but do not be afraid, it won’t happen often ;-).

I’ll do my best to produce decent posts, and please my readers, who are so kind to spend a moment with me. Do not be harsh on judging me or my style, English is not my mother-tongue, nor am I an experienced blogger. Let me experiment your benevolence, fellow bloggers. We have so much to learn.

Stay tuned.