Transitions

Transitions. How to transit (is that a real verb?) from one dramatic scene to another. Or from a cliffhanger ending to the beginning of the next piece.

No head hopping allowed. That was my first easy choice. I could do that. So I'm not doing that. If you need a stunning transition, how do you manage it? Grab someone else and go to their point of view? Try to pick up where you left off? I try to use movie transitions as a model but that doesn't always work. How do you do it? What works for you? What does not work? Would you tell me if what I did didn't work? Would you tell me if it did? Or give examples of what worked beautifully and what didn't quite make it.

The shot has nothing to do with anything except I needed one and pressed Tyler into service. It's sort of a transition. He could be transitioning out of the pool. Now I KNOW that's not a verb.

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Narrative Voice

This is a hot button topic for me.

I started writing strictly from the first person POV from the time I wrote my first pieces, maybe 7 or 8 years old, because I write what I know and that's what I do and that's what I've always done. When I finally moved past that (and I'm slow so I'm talking YEARS, at least after I got out of high school LMAO), I stuck strictly to one POV although I don't really know why. Habit I suppose. Eventually I found it annoying and limiting and quit it.

Using third person, occasionally I would switch from one person's point of view to another's in the same scene. I knew I was doing it. It didn't happen all the time. But sometimes it was necessary. And I didn't realize I was doing anything wrong.

I recently discovered that's called head-hopping, and it is a very very bad thing to do.

Am I going to go back and fix everything? No. Will I try to avoid doing that in the future? Well yeah I guess so since it's such a horrific deal.

Do I understand why it is so horrible? No. Doesn't bother me when I'm reading something. Do I understand why other people hate it so much? No.

I'll respect the rule. But if anyone can tell me why they find this so offensive, apart from the fact that it violates a rule, I'd be interested. (And a couple of people I like and respect do seem to really dislike it.) Please don't tell me to go read X by Y as an example of great literature. I don't care. I want to know why you personally hate it. Is it like someone who doesn't turn off the left turn signal for miles and miles and you want to scream and froth at the mouth? Now I can understand that....

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Fireworks

A little late for 4th of July but there's certainly some rockets red glare. This is a total collaboration with Gayl from concept to completion.

Sessions 10 - Used To

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Hanging by a Moment - Sessions update

Gayl and I have just posted another chapter. Death by tabloid I suppose. Her creativity makes all the difference but it is a lot of difficult technical work for her.

Sessions 9 - Hanging by a Moment

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Historical Revision

I went back and revised South Beach Chapters 36 through 39 and left notes warning/announcing that the changes significantly impact the storyline. I have to admit it felt right. I'm not sure I'm going further than that, although there's a hole in the storyline now. I'd rather work around it I think. Haven't made up my mind. And I'm working on the next piece and would prefer to focus on that.

Because I was using png images when I did those chapters, it's a pain to reread them. I wouldn't recommend bothering. It's not necessary since the same issue will be addressed in upcoming chapters.

Although I don't expect any comments on this, I'd welcome boos, hisses, rotten tomatoes, anything really. I'm interested in reactions.

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Purple

Anyone who knows me knows I put up and take down things all the time. If I put it up at 1 AM and take another look at it when I crawl out of bed and think WTF...then it comes down.

So. Just purple shots. I'm considering some...ummm...historical revisions/clarifications so my mood is a bit purple. Is that cheating? Does it matter? Is it better to leave something broken or go back and fix it? Just a litle fix. And only once.

Do I go back and add more? Or not? Talk about a rhetorical question. But I appreciate every single view and comment. Every reader who checks in and lets me know hey, I hate it, or the opposite, I use your comments when I write.

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Crashed - Sessions Update

This was an exciting piece for us for a lot of reasons, and it is a total collaboration - jointly written and shot. Could not have been done without Gayl's photoshop ability.

Crashed

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Inspiration

In working with Gayl on the followup to "Control", I've frequently found myself very short of inspiration. And sometimes what looks like inspiration turns out to be something totally different - the infamous left handed hammer for example.

I've spent some time looking at the TS3 reviews and blogs - very VERY glad I'm not trying to use that thing as a tool. Kind of reminds me of when I first bought TS and spent...well at least days before I got bored to death of the gameplay, making them eat and sleep and pee and wash the dishes. If I hadn't gotten hooked on using it another way, I would have given up on it a long time ago. Not that I don't get in there and just play, but then I'm using characters I've come to know and care about so there's some interest in watching them run around and interact with each other.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah inspiration. Well. I took this shot maybe a month ago, and promptly misplaced it after sharing it with Gayl. Who found it and sent it back to me. Providing me with inspiration for some of the complicated scenes I'm trying to think through and work through.

Thank you...

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