In Moonset, I am indulging in something that I've wanted to do for a long time but have never had the patience or courage to try. I am starting each chapter with a quote from Shakespeare- and naming the chapter from that quote. It's actually amazingly fun, and as a Lit major, gives me enormous satisfaction.
So for Equinox (which is my solitary endevor at a sequal) I have decided to do something similar. There's a differance, however. With Moonset, Shakespeare worked well because he covers so many of our themes...creation, beginnings, right and wrong, passions, danger, adventure...pretty much anything I need I can find in Shakespeare.
Equinox is more focused in scope, however. Whereas Moonset deals with all sorts of loves (brother/sister, romantic, friendship), Equinox is much more of a romance. So in honor of this, I have picked four classic female writers who are known for dealing with the subject of romance. I thought I'd share with you some of the gems I found...
Chapter Quotes
“My beauty you had early withstood…Now be sincere. Did you admire me for my impertinence?”
“For the liveliness of your mind, I did.”
~Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Where so many hours have been spent in convincing myself that I am right, is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong?
Jane Austen
The enthusiasm of a woman's love is even beyond the biographer's.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”
Emma
“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;-- it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”
Jane Austen quote
“Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then.”
Jane Austen quote (Pride and Prejudice)
“All the privilege I claim for my own sex . . . is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone.”
Jane Austen quote
One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.
Persuasion (1817)
Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.
Mansfield Park (1814)
Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly is not always folly.—It depends upon the character of those who handle it. (Emma)
Charlotte Bronte quotes
“Reader, I married him.”
~Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre.
It seemed as if my tongue pronounced words without my will consenting to their utterance: something spoke out of me over which I had no control.
Jane Eyre(Ch. 4)
If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends. (Jane Eyre)
And then my mind made its first earnest effort to comprehend what had been infused into it concerning heaven and hell: and for the first it recoiled baffled; and for the first time glancing behind, on each side, and before it, it saw all round an unfathomed gulf: it felt the one point where it stood — the present; all the rest was formless cloud and vacant depth: and it shuddered at the thought of tottering, and plunging amid that chaos. (Jane Eyre)
I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously arrived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me. (Jane Eyre)
My bride is here... because my equal is here, and my likeness. (Jane Eyre)
Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt? May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonized as in that hour left my lips; for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love. (Jane Eyre)
I can but die... and I believe in God. Let me try and wait His will in silence. (Jane Eyre)
The following are Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights)
I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind.
…he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same
Any relic of the dead is precious, if they were valued living.
Should there be danger of such an event — should he be the cause of adding a single more trouble to her existence — Why, I think, I shall be justified in going to extremes!
Be with me always — take any form — drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!
And lastly, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (whom my character is actually *named after*)
Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers,Ere the sorrow comes with years?They are leaning their young heads against their mothers—And that cannot stop their tears.
The Cry of the Children, st. 1 (1844)
"Yes," I answered you last night;
"No," this morning, Sir, I say.
Colours seen by candlelight,
Will not look the same by day.
The Lady's Yes, st. 1 (1844)
Unless you can muse in a crowd all day
On the absent face that fixed you;
Unless you can love, as the angels may,
With the breadth of heaven betwixt you;
Unless you can dream that his faith is fast,
Through behoving and unbehoving;
Unless you can die when the dream is past -
Oh, never call it loving!
A Woman's Shortcomings, st. 5 (1850)
When our two souls stand up erect and strong,
Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher,
Until the lengthening wings break into fire
At either curvèd point,--what bitter wrong
Can the earth do to us, that we should not long
Be here contented?
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. (Sonnets from the Portuguese)
God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers,
And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face,
A gauntlet with a gift in't. (Aurora Leigh)
Grief may be joy misunderstood;
Only the Good discerns the good.
I trust Thee while my days go on. (De Profundis)
Who knows what will end up in the final book? But I'm having fun compiling them...
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Moonset- Climax
I've started experimenting with digital coloring...I find it quite satisfying, actually, now that I have a technique figured out. Here is my second project- which doesn't have a title yet but is once again from Moonset. Somewhere around the climax, of course.
Monday, September 8, 2008
More Sketches
From the fanfic, which I will admit is called "Moonset." The first one I title..
"Don't be foolish"
The second "Brother and Sister"
The third "Friends"
Introduction to Filmmaking
Working on SOTB, (which already is much more than just screenwriting) has reminded me how much I actually do know about film- but once again, just how much I have to learn. I've had a lot more hands on experiance than most newcomers- having been making hour+ long films for over four years now. However, simply picking up a good filmmaking book can be invaluable. So can getting advice from others.
So over the next few months...or year, really, since SOTB will certainly not be done until NEXT Christmas, if even then...expect to see posts from me on a variety of filmmaking subjects. I've decided to post them here instead of at the SOTB blog, because I want to keep the blog for strictly SOTB news. My personal blog will deal with more of my personal journey of filmmaking.
For this first post, I'm going to pull up some notes for a talk I gave the last semester at college. It was a class I had taken before, and the final project involves a short film. My advisor (who taught the class) had been extremely encouraging of my film efforts, and knowing that I had a good deal of practical experiance, asked me to come speak to the class and give them a brief talk on making films. Just hitting the high points...
Now strangly enough, those notes are contained in the back of the notebook that I am now using to write the first half of the SOTB screenplay, coinicidence, no? So, anyhow...with some additions now...
First of all, I have to say that I love film. It is a satisfying because it allows you to have a finished product at the end- something that you can feel has been worthwhile, and something that you can show to others. Hopefully, of course, you're making a film for more than just a chance to say you did something cool! You should really be making a film because you want to tell a story, or a truth. (But not to preach a message. Preachy films almost never work.)
I also love filming because it's such a great way to form lasting friendships. Part of this, of course, is because filmmaking can also be a very stressful process. The friends who are willing to stick through a film with you and not hate you afterwards are truely the ones who will be with you for life.
On that note...if you're going to put together a film...you first of all need a cast and crew that you can trust and that are really enthusiastic about the project. People that you have to beg and plead with to get them to do it- they're going to be more of a liability than an asset. Why? Because when you're not paying people, you don't want ANYONE on your set who can or will threaten to walk off if you don't do something their way. It's stressful, it's dangerous, and it's just not healthy to the production.
Start small, but don't be afraid to dream big. You are capable of more than you think you are. So often I hear people say "Oh I could never make a film like that!" Well, maybe you couldn't. Maybe that's not what God has planned for you. But have you ever thought about trying? Sure, your first product probably won't be as good as my third...and it certainly won't be a Hollywood Blockbuster...but you should have seen what I started out doing! (Someday I'll do a post chronicling all of my film projects...that should be amusing!)
But by starting small, I don't necessarily mean in length. Sometimes you do have a story that refuses to be told in anything under an hour. But you have to be practical. Dont' start out with a huge epic war movie...always be mindful of your resources. Sometimes things like filming at a local airport will work because of your contacts. Othertimes, building a medieval Scottish villiage won't fly because you just don't have the money or crew to do so.
Film is challenging. You have to be prepared to meet those challenges without giving up. It will be worth it. Be creative...keep asking...what could we use instead? Is there another way we could tell this scene? You'd be surprised what solutions you can come up with.
It helps, of course- no wait, it's essential- to learn as much as you can. There are many, many ways to do this. The first way is to watch as many films as you possibly can...in all differant styles. (I can do a post on what films are good to watch, if you'd like). Pay attention to everything...story, characters, editing, camera angles, lighting, colors...they are ALL important! (A great book to understanding all of these things is "Understanding Movies" by Louis Giannetti) Then start watching behind the scenes documentries and featurettes. We learned almost everything for our first full-length film by watching the behind-the-scene features for Peter Jackson's Special Extended Editions of the LOTR trilogy.
And then there are books...tons of books...go to your library or amazon and just start looking. You'd be surprised how much you can learn from a book. Believe me. I'll be talking more about that later.
I also went on to give a few practical technical tips...but that almost deserves its own post here, so I'm going to wrap this one up.
If you have any questions that you'd like me to address in upcoming posts...please leave them in the comment box below!
So over the next few months...or year, really, since SOTB will certainly not be done until NEXT Christmas, if even then...expect to see posts from me on a variety of filmmaking subjects. I've decided to post them here instead of at the SOTB blog, because I want to keep the blog for strictly SOTB news. My personal blog will deal with more of my personal journey of filmmaking.
For this first post, I'm going to pull up some notes for a talk I gave the last semester at college. It was a class I had taken before, and the final project involves a short film. My advisor (who taught the class) had been extremely encouraging of my film efforts, and knowing that I had a good deal of practical experiance, asked me to come speak to the class and give them a brief talk on making films. Just hitting the high points...
Now strangly enough, those notes are contained in the back of the notebook that I am now using to write the first half of the SOTB screenplay, coinicidence, no? So, anyhow...with some additions now...
First of all, I have to say that I love film. It is a satisfying because it allows you to have a finished product at the end- something that you can feel has been worthwhile, and something that you can show to others. Hopefully, of course, you're making a film for more than just a chance to say you did something cool! You should really be making a film because you want to tell a story, or a truth. (But not to preach a message. Preachy films almost never work.)
I also love filming because it's such a great way to form lasting friendships. Part of this, of course, is because filmmaking can also be a very stressful process. The friends who are willing to stick through a film with you and not hate you afterwards are truely the ones who will be with you for life.
On that note...if you're going to put together a film...you first of all need a cast and crew that you can trust and that are really enthusiastic about the project. People that you have to beg and plead with to get them to do it- they're going to be more of a liability than an asset. Why? Because when you're not paying people, you don't want ANYONE on your set who can or will threaten to walk off if you don't do something their way. It's stressful, it's dangerous, and it's just not healthy to the production.
Start small, but don't be afraid to dream big. You are capable of more than you think you are. So often I hear people say "Oh I could never make a film like that!" Well, maybe you couldn't. Maybe that's not what God has planned for you. But have you ever thought about trying? Sure, your first product probably won't be as good as my third...and it certainly won't be a Hollywood Blockbuster...but you should have seen what I started out doing! (Someday I'll do a post chronicling all of my film projects...that should be amusing!)
But by starting small, I don't necessarily mean in length. Sometimes you do have a story that refuses to be told in anything under an hour. But you have to be practical. Dont' start out with a huge epic war movie...always be mindful of your resources. Sometimes things like filming at a local airport will work because of your contacts. Othertimes, building a medieval Scottish villiage won't fly because you just don't have the money or crew to do so.
Film is challenging. You have to be prepared to meet those challenges without giving up. It will be worth it. Be creative...keep asking...what could we use instead? Is there another way we could tell this scene? You'd be surprised what solutions you can come up with.
It helps, of course- no wait, it's essential- to learn as much as you can. There are many, many ways to do this. The first way is to watch as many films as you possibly can...in all differant styles. (I can do a post on what films are good to watch, if you'd like). Pay attention to everything...story, characters, editing, camera angles, lighting, colors...they are ALL important! (A great book to understanding all of these things is "Understanding Movies" by Louis Giannetti) Then start watching behind the scenes documentries and featurettes. We learned almost everything for our first full-length film by watching the behind-the-scene features for Peter Jackson's Special Extended Editions of the LOTR trilogy.
And then there are books...tons of books...go to your library or amazon and just start looking. You'd be surprised how much you can learn from a book. Believe me. I'll be talking more about that later.
I also went on to give a few practical technical tips...but that almost deserves its own post here, so I'm going to wrap this one up.
If you have any questions that you'd like me to address in upcoming posts...please leave them in the comment box below!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
A Tool for Group Writing
As I think I've mentioned before, the fan fiction I've been working on for the last month has two other co-authors. When we first started writing, we realized that the most efficiant way to keep track of what we were all writing (since we usually wrote at the same time) was to create a blog.
The benefits of a blog- (vs. e-mailing or fanfiction.net)
1) It is online and therefore accessible from any computer, yet the privacy level can be controlled so that only the authors can read it.
2) All of the authors can be created moderators and have control over what happens on the site, but each still retaining their own accounts.
3) The story exists in one complete form, not several e-mails. Furthermore, an author can go back and edit their chapters without having to re-send it to the other participants.
4) The draft-in-progress for any given chapter can be read by the other authors. Therefore if one of the authors is writing, the other authors can stop in and get the latest version of what they've written, giving feedback, critique and correction as the chapter is being written.
5) When the story is finished the privacy levels can easily be adjusted to allow in certain readers.
6) The links function on the side of the blog makes it easy to list a table of contents, and catagorize other posts such as pictures or plot sketches.
All this goes to say that I'm a huge fan of using a blog for group writing. It's been a great tool for our project and I would definetely use it again.
The benefits of a blog- (vs. e-mailing or fanfiction.net)
1) It is online and therefore accessible from any computer, yet the privacy level can be controlled so that only the authors can read it.
2) All of the authors can be created moderators and have control over what happens on the site, but each still retaining their own accounts.
3) The story exists in one complete form, not several e-mails. Furthermore, an author can go back and edit their chapters without having to re-send it to the other participants.
4) The draft-in-progress for any given chapter can be read by the other authors. Therefore if one of the authors is writing, the other authors can stop in and get the latest version of what they've written, giving feedback, critique and correction as the chapter is being written.
5) When the story is finished the privacy levels can easily be adjusted to allow in certain readers.
6) The links function on the side of the blog makes it easy to list a table of contents, and catagorize other posts such as pictures or plot sketches.
All this goes to say that I'm a huge fan of using a blog for group writing. It's been a great tool for our project and I would definetely use it again.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
My life...SOTB...writing...work...friends.
Which is why I haven't written much here. However, I have been updating the SOTB blog, which I think most of you are checking anyhow. Our actors were confirmed by the author yesterday, which was majorly exciting for me.
I've also been doing a lot of drawing, as I think is evidenced in my previous posts. Every now and then I get into a drawing mode and dash off quite a few sketches. Then I go two or three months without drawing anything. It's rather interesting. I'm hoping to use my grandmother's scanner tomorrow, so I should be able to get some decent scans to show you, as opposed to the slightly blurry versions I've been taking with my camera.
I've also been doing a lot of drawing, as I think is evidenced in my previous posts. Every now and then I get into a drawing mode and dash off quite a few sketches. Then I go two or three months without drawing anything. It's rather interesting. I'm hoping to use my grandmother's scanner tomorrow, so I should be able to get some decent scans to show you, as opposed to the slightly blurry versions I've been taking with my camera.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Sketches
Since I have done three differant sketches in the last 24 hours, I thought I might as well share the others with you (in addition to the Fish sketch I posted earlier). The following are three differant characters from the mysterious fan fic I mentioned in a previous post. No, I'm not going to say more about it, except that I am very happy with the way the faces turned out. I don't always manage to get the right faces, but I feel that these pictures really captured the feeling of the characters. (Click for more detail- though neither will be as clear as the actual drawing)
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