Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, March Movie Preview, and Ninja News!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

My awesome co-hosts today are Tina Downey, Elsie, Elizabeth Seckman, and Julie Flanders! Please visit and thank them for helping today.

I also need volunteers to co-host next month! Since it’s April, it would be best if the co-hosts aren’t participating in the A to Z Challenge. (Trust me, the two combined is a scary, scary thing.) Let me know if you can co-host on April 2. Thanks!

I’m between 8,000 and 10,000 words from finishing my current manuscript. Things are moving along great and I still wish I typed faster. But the first draft is almost done.

And then comes something I’ve never had to do. Go back and add new scenes, plot points, twists, and even a subplot.

Now, I’ve always had to go back and add details. That’s just a given, as I am such a barebones writer. (Hacking and slashing to bring down the word count? What on earth is that?) But I’ve never faced the task of adding so many scenes.

Some will be small, some just embellishments on existing scenes, and a couple will be several pages long. I’ve made notes where I need to go back to, so I do have a plan. But it will be a new experience for me.

Anyone else had to add a lot of new scenes?

Be sure to visit others on the IWSG list!


Ninja News

Playing Pretend, a new adult contemporary romance by Juliana Haygert, is out now. Congratulations, Juliana!

Just eight followers away from someone winning the Epic 2000 Follower Giveaway!
Just click the Google Friends Connect if you haven’t already to enter.



March Movie Preview

Here are the upcoming theatrical releases for March! As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snarky comments by me. (And upon request, I went for full out snark today!)

7 –

300: Rise of an Empire
Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy. Director: Noam Murro
Stars: Sullivan Stapleton, Rodrigo Santoro, Eva Green, Lena Headey
More blood, boobs, and carnage than you can shake a Spartan at! (And actually, it’s getting good reviews.)

Mr. Peabody and Sherman
The time-travelling adventures of an advanced canine and his adopted son, as they endeavor to fix a time rift they created.
Director: Rob Minkoff
Stars: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann
Big fan as a kid. (Before blood, boobs, and carnage came along…)

Jodorowsky's Dune
The story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.
Director: Frank Pavich
Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger, Chris Foss
Probably better than the real movies...


14 –

Need for Speed
Fresh from prison, a street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate joins a cross country race with revenge in mind. His ex-partner, learning of the plan, places a massive bounty on his head as the race begins.
Director: Scott Waugh
Stars: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Scott Mescudi, Imogen Poots
They cast Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad so SOMEONE would go see this film. (Alternate title – Need to Cash in on Fast and Furious Franchise.)

Veronica Mars
Years after walking away from her past as a teenage private eye, Veronica Mars gets pulled back to her hometown - just in time for her high school reunion - in order to help her old flame Logan Echolls, who's embroiled in a murder mystery.
Director: Rob Thomas
Stars: Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni, James Franco
No one’s laughing at Kickstarter now! (However, I’m still not putting money into anything lacking in blood, boobs, and carnage. Except Firefly.)

21 –

Muppets Most Wanted
While on a grand world tour, The Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his dastardly sidekick.
Director: James Bobin
Stars: Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tom Hiddleston
Hopefully this really is the most wanted Muppet film.

Divergent
In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.
Director: Neil Burger
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney
Another young adult, futuristic, dystopian, blah, blah, blah, blah… (Maybe there will be blood, boobs, and carnage?)

28 –

Noah
The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson
Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please don’t mess up this Bible story!!

What’s your insecurity today? Can you help co-host in April? And what movies strike your fancy this month…?

209 comments:

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Unknown said...

Alex - the new book's nearly done? Wow, that's fantastic. I think we develop as authors and that the process you're having to do now is part of that process. I find I do things differently with every novel. I don't mind the adding and taking away part of the manuscript - it's just checking that it all fits properly that's worrying!

LynNerdKelley said...

Sounds you're really kicking butt with the ms. Good for you, Alex. I'm a bare bones writer, too.

Thanks for the movie reviews. Hubby and I want to go see a movie. I loved the book, Divergent. Hope the movie's good, too.

Theresa Milstein said...

Oh, you're so close to the end. That's such a great feeling!

What am I insecure about? How much comment space am I allowed to take?

Libby said...

Oh yes, I've added new scenes, new characters, new plot twists, new realities... and I've only written one book. :) Good luck! It's not nearly as bad as it sounds.

Nilanjana Bose said...

I nearly always write too much and then struggle with editing.
My vote will go to Noah, but the family will drag me to Need for Speed probably. Which may not be a bad thing, considering. Not that either will be running in a cinema near me anytime soon.
Congrats on getting your manuscript almost done.

Ellie Garratt said...

Congratulations on nearing the finish line with your manuscript! I always end up having to add some extra scenes. I find breaking everything down into a post-it note plan helps to see where the gaps are or if some scenes need ditching or moving.

randi lee said...

I believe commenter #1 said it all, Alex. And that's all I have to say about that :D

Laura Pauling said...

Okay, soooo late on this one! :) I usually add details for sure. Along with that I usually have to rewrite the opening, so I guess that's adding and deleting scenes. :)

Deniz Bevan said...

Even when I try, during drafting, to make sure I get all the scenes in there, I invariably end up with a few that are missing and have to be added later. Not to mention all the fleshing out... I wish editing was as smoothly done as drafting!

Hope your edits are going well!

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