I find it hard to write in a messy place.
That‘s probably why I don‘t seem to get much writing done at home. I have too much stuff and hardly any space.
So in an effort to actually write something I went to a coffee house downtown and did the cliché thing, I drank coffee and wrote, I don‘t have a Mac so I guess I‘m safe on the cliché part, but I still felt weird.
It helped me though, I got around 10 pages down bringing my total to 55 pages.
I need to add more to the story, it’s unclear what exactly is happening. I‘ve put virtual post-it notes in pretty much every scene detailing how to make everything better, I don‘t want to go back and change everything now. So I‘m going to keep writing until I‘m done with this first draft.
If it‘s only 75 pages by then, so be it. I can add more later. I have to finish this, I need to finish this.
Important details are to come later, right now it’s important for me to finish.
I tried outlining before I started, and I used the Blake Snyder‘s beat sheet. I guess I didn‘t outline well enough, but that‘s a mistake I won‘t repeat, and I find it at times incredibly fun to wing-it. My characters are being unexpected, other plots are developing etc.
I don‘t care that much about winning Script Frenzy anymore. I tried to rush it, but things got in the way and I guess I just kind of realized that writing everyday is a good thing, but writing pure bullshit to get to 100 pages isn‘t quite the route I want to take.
I’m doing better now than I did with National Novel Writing month, but Novel writing just isn’t my thing anymore, I don’t enjoy it as much. I’m going to finish the novel I’m working on, just to see if my attitude towards it changes.
Last night I started brainstorming an idea that I’m probably going to work on during the summer (When Crossing lines is for the most part done) Rough outlines etc. I’m excited for it.
Well, that's it for today, dinner and Battlestar Galactica awaits.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Elves, Zombies and Trolls, Oh my!
I wrote this for shits and giggles mainly and for a LJ-Community that I'm a part of called Ontd Creepy. It's an awesome community, check it out.
I‘m from Iceland, and Icelanders are known for a lot of things, one of those things is our folklore. I've written a little bit about our mythical creatures.
The first creature I‘m going to talk about is Huldufólk (Hidden people)
The hidden people are quite important to our culture, at least in the olden days. They would appear often in significant or prophetic dreams, they‘re described wearing 19th century Icelandic clothing or green.
The hidden people are like humans, tall and handsome while Elves are little stranger looking with big ears and skinny legs. It’s also said that the Hidden People are better looking and more charming than humans.
Our holidays used to evolve around these people, they don‘t do it as much anymore which I think is a pity since it‘s a really cool folklore. In total there are 4 holidays that are related to the ‘Hidden people’
New Year‘s eve, twelfth night of Christmas (January 6th), Midsummer night and Christmas night.
On the twelfth night in every town there‘s a Bonfire known as Álfabrennur or Elf Bonfire (in English). There‘s also stories of Elves and Hidden people invading farmhouses and holding wild parties.
It‘s also customary to clean the house before Christmas and to leave food for the hidden people.
Recent surveys have shown that not many Icelanders believe in the elves or hidden people, but there‘s plenty of interesting stories out there about sightings and such. About 54% of people openly do not believe in Hidden People or elves, while the rest either say they do or don’t deny that they believe.
It‘s also believed that there are certain spots called ‘Álagablettur’ or ‘Enchanted spots’ which is where they live. Only 2-5% of Icelanders claim to have experienced these spots.
Most of the recent stories about the Hidden People and Elves happened when people are trying to construct something, a mall or a road.
When they were making a tunnel underneath Hvalfjörð (Around 1997) Construction equipment was continuously breaking down as they approached a boulder that was meant to be moved, this is a tell-tale sign of the Hidden People. They’d then take the broken equipment to be fixed but there was never anything wrong with it in the first place, it got so bad that in the end they called a woman who supposedly could talk to the hidden people, she told the construction guys that the spirits were vacating and needed more time, so they gave them more time, after a while she came back and told them that they had moved. Construction carried on without incident.
A lot of the stories are quite similar. The area around my college is known for Hidden people, a road behind my school is quite normal then BAM rock, they tried moving it but as usual things would break. They tried selling it the property that the rock was on, so someone would build a house there but no one wanted to buy it. They’ve often had to change the layout of buildings so they wouldn’t make the hidden people angry, because that can end in things like huge costs overrun on construction sites to accidents to even death. They’re usually quite nice though. Just don’t anger them.
The hidden people also quite enjoy human company from time to time. Sometimes they appear in times of need, one trade union leader claims that when he was younger he fell down a cliff face and was saved by a hidden person, a maiden and he says that he will never forget her haunting beauty. Other times the male hidden person has asked a human woman to assist in their wives during a difficult birth. Occasionally you’d hear of the hidden people becoming intimate with humans, it’s said to be very delightful.
Zombies.
Another Icelandic belief is Zombies. It’s not as common as the Hidden Folk and elves but you hear stories from time to time, they used to believe that the zombies would come and drag you away. That’s all I know about it, and it’s hard to find information about it, some people interpret them as ghost stories. I might post it in the 2nd edition of this culture corner about Icelandic ghost stories.
Trolls
We like trolls, we believe they live in the mountains and they get petrified in the sun (Much like the trolls in ‘The Hobbit’ )
One of my favorite stories is of exactly a troll and I’ve taken the liberty to translate it for you guys because I love you guys so much, it’s rough translation, it’s very poetic and hard to translate into English.
It’s called ‘The Night Troll’
There’s a place that whoever would take care of the farm over Christmas night while everyone else was at the Christmas festives would be found either dead or just gone mad, so naturally no-one wanted to stay behind to take care of the place. They thought there was some kind of evil at work.
Once a girl offered to stay behind, everyone was relieved and left her behind.
During the night someone appears at the window and tells her that she has beautiful hands, and she says that she’s never worked with her hands.
He then compliments her eyes.
She tells him that she’s never seen any evil.
He compliments her feet
and she says that she’s never stepped in dirt.
He then tells her that the day is in the east.
She tells him to stay still and turn into stone and to stop causing harm to people.
He disappears from the window and in the morning when the people got home there was a giant stone in the farm, that wasn’t there the previous day, she told them about the visitor that came during the night and discovered that it had been a night troll at the window. She never actually looked at him while he was there.
I hope you enjoyed this little post. I’m thinking about doing another one later about the Icelandic ghost stories since they’re quite different to the ones everywhere else in the world. (If you guys are interested that is)
If you want to hear more stories about Elves and Trolls feel free to ask me.
I‘m from Iceland, and Icelanders are known for a lot of things, one of those things is our folklore. I've written a little bit about our mythical creatures.
The first creature I‘m going to talk about is Huldufólk (Hidden people)
The hidden people are quite important to our culture, at least in the olden days. They would appear often in significant or prophetic dreams, they‘re described wearing 19th century Icelandic clothing or green.
The hidden people are like humans, tall and handsome while Elves are little stranger looking with big ears and skinny legs. It’s also said that the Hidden People are better looking and more charming than humans.
Our holidays used to evolve around these people, they don‘t do it as much anymore which I think is a pity since it‘s a really cool folklore. In total there are 4 holidays that are related to the ‘Hidden people’
New Year‘s eve, twelfth night of Christmas (January 6th), Midsummer night and Christmas night.
On the twelfth night in every town there‘s a Bonfire known as Álfabrennur or Elf Bonfire (in English). There‘s also stories of Elves and Hidden people invading farmhouses and holding wild parties.
It‘s also customary to clean the house before Christmas and to leave food for the hidden people.
Recent surveys have shown that not many Icelanders believe in the elves or hidden people, but there‘s plenty of interesting stories out there about sightings and such. About 54% of people openly do not believe in Hidden People or elves, while the rest either say they do or don’t deny that they believe.
It‘s also believed that there are certain spots called ‘Álagablettur’ or ‘Enchanted spots’ which is where they live. Only 2-5% of Icelanders claim to have experienced these spots.
Most of the recent stories about the Hidden People and Elves happened when people are trying to construct something, a mall or a road.
When they were making a tunnel underneath Hvalfjörð (Around 1997) Construction equipment was continuously breaking down as they approached a boulder that was meant to be moved, this is a tell-tale sign of the Hidden People. They’d then take the broken equipment to be fixed but there was never anything wrong with it in the first place, it got so bad that in the end they called a woman who supposedly could talk to the hidden people, she told the construction guys that the spirits were vacating and needed more time, so they gave them more time, after a while she came back and told them that they had moved. Construction carried on without incident.
A lot of the stories are quite similar. The area around my college is known for Hidden people, a road behind my school is quite normal then BAM rock, they tried moving it but as usual things would break. They tried selling it the property that the rock was on, so someone would build a house there but no one wanted to buy it. They’ve often had to change the layout of buildings so they wouldn’t make the hidden people angry, because that can end in things like huge costs overrun on construction sites to accidents to even death. They’re usually quite nice though. Just don’t anger them.
The hidden people also quite enjoy human company from time to time. Sometimes they appear in times of need, one trade union leader claims that when he was younger he fell down a cliff face and was saved by a hidden person, a maiden and he says that he will never forget her haunting beauty. Other times the male hidden person has asked a human woman to assist in their wives during a difficult birth. Occasionally you’d hear of the hidden people becoming intimate with humans, it’s said to be very delightful.
Zombies.
Another Icelandic belief is Zombies. It’s not as common as the Hidden Folk and elves but you hear stories from time to time, they used to believe that the zombies would come and drag you away. That’s all I know about it, and it’s hard to find information about it, some people interpret them as ghost stories. I might post it in the 2nd edition of this culture corner about Icelandic ghost stories.
Trolls
We like trolls, we believe they live in the mountains and they get petrified in the sun (Much like the trolls in ‘The Hobbit’ )
One of my favorite stories is of exactly a troll and I’ve taken the liberty to translate it for you guys because I love you guys so much, it’s rough translation, it’s very poetic and hard to translate into English.
It’s called ‘The Night Troll’
There’s a place that whoever would take care of the farm over Christmas night while everyone else was at the Christmas festives would be found either dead or just gone mad, so naturally no-one wanted to stay behind to take care of the place. They thought there was some kind of evil at work.
Once a girl offered to stay behind, everyone was relieved and left her behind.
During the night someone appears at the window and tells her that she has beautiful hands, and she says that she’s never worked with her hands.
He then compliments her eyes.
She tells him that she’s never seen any evil.
He compliments her feet
and she says that she’s never stepped in dirt.
He then tells her that the day is in the east.
She tells him to stay still and turn into stone and to stop causing harm to people.
He disappears from the window and in the morning when the people got home there was a giant stone in the farm, that wasn’t there the previous day, she told them about the visitor that came during the night and discovered that it had been a night troll at the window. She never actually looked at him while he was there.
I hope you enjoyed this little post. I’m thinking about doing another one later about the Icelandic ghost stories since they’re quite different to the ones everywhere else in the world. (If you guys are interested that is)
If you want to hear more stories about Elves and Trolls feel free to ask me.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
First post.
The thing I hate most about starting a blog is the first post. I'm never sure what to write. Should I introduce myself? Hi, I'm Matty, I live in Iceland, there's lava.
This is going to be my writing blog, I aspire to be a screenwriter, or at least get some of my works out there. I wouldn't mind writing for T.v either. I've read about it.
I've been writing since I was 5, my grandmother gave me a notebook to write in. I did loose interest for a while but I seem to be back on track.
I'm currently working on a few projects, most important project this month is 'Crossing Lines' which is a Film-Noir type of movie and I'm doing it for Script Frenzy.
I'm not quite sure where it's going at the moment, I was thinking about setting it in modern day instead of the 1940s, it would be easier to write, but I like a challenge. I'm about 38 pages in, I'm behind but I will try to finish this month.
My inner editor is driving me crazy, so it's getting harder to write, but hopefully I'll pull through.
This blog is also a nice way for me to procrastinate.
This is going to be my writing blog, I aspire to be a screenwriter, or at least get some of my works out there. I wouldn't mind writing for T.v either. I've read about it.
I've been writing since I was 5, my grandmother gave me a notebook to write in. I did loose interest for a while but I seem to be back on track.
I'm currently working on a few projects, most important project this month is 'Crossing Lines' which is a Film-Noir type of movie and I'm doing it for Script Frenzy.
I'm not quite sure where it's going at the moment, I was thinking about setting it in modern day instead of the 1940s, it would be easier to write, but I like a challenge. I'm about 38 pages in, I'm behind but I will try to finish this month.
My inner editor is driving me crazy, so it's getting harder to write, but hopefully I'll pull through.
This blog is also a nice way for me to procrastinate.
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