mike[space] dot net

Several months ago, I came up with the wonderful idea of writing a short story every couple of weeks to post on this here site. I then of course came up with the idea for Out of Office (or untitled web series, as it was known then) and the plans flew out of the window. I am still learning about my abilities (or lack thereof) when it comes to writing, but it does seem that I need a bit of space to be able to come up with new ideas to work on. I am currently also attending a screenplay writing course for which I am supposed to be writing a short film, and providing the outline of a feature film. So by way of an excuse, when I have been finding time to be creative, it has been pushing in the direction of the course requirements.

For the feature film project, I've been developing the outline for ForeNight, which is my longest gestating film project. Unfortunately I am not so happy with the direction this has taken at the moment; it's become quite complex, and I don't think the balance of the telling is even close right now. It's due in tomorrow, so naturally instead of concentrating on it, I am just writing about concentrating on it instead ;-)

The short film has been bouncing around in the back of my head for a few weeks, with no opportunity to write it down. Sadly, all I had was the beginning and end scenes of the film in my head, and nothing to fill it in with. I spent Monday kicking some ideas around, and getting absolutely nowhere, but Tuesday morning worked out a lot better. I generated a bunch of ideas, before settling on one that had absolutely bugger all to do with my original idea (that will go on the back burner for now). I churned out the first draft yesterday, and was pretty pleased with getting something out so quickly. I am in the midst of a review of it, and have made a bunch of tweaks already, but I think it's a fun premise, and only just over the target length of 10 pages (13.5). There is an explosion in it, but I reckon that could be cut round if necessary ;-)

And so that's where I am at the moment. I think I will try and come up with a new short story soon, but editing on Out Of Office will have to take precedence. But generally speaking, watch this space ...