Live Life With No Regrets!

So I put my research and writing skills to work and wrote up an article respectively for Donna Ong and Namiko Chan.

The thing I learnt about writing these articles was that there are REALLY things about them that you didn't know. And that perhaps you don't really know your friends at all. And that they're actually more notable than you think.

Like Namiko. I knew that she was an artist, but I didn't know she had just won the UOB Painting of the Year Award. Holy Canoly! And to think I still remember her as that law undergraduate staying just one level below me in University. She was a great artist even then, designing our block t-shirt. And to think, that I threw away a "Namiko original". Wonder what it would be worth now?

Donna was introduced to me as an artist, but little did I know she was awarded the maximum amount for a scholarship to study art. And had won numerous art competitions. But then again, perhaps people are merely modest.

I learnt quite a bit. I knew that they were both notable artists in their own right, I learnt about the awards that they had won. I learnt their hobbies, their experiences, the schools they attended, what their fears, hopes and joys are represented in their works.

If you had to write an article on Wikipedia about your spouse, family or friends, what would you write? Would you even know enough to write an article about them? Do you know what their achievements have been in life?

But what else could I take from this experience? That the people you meet will be the famous people of tomorrow. That 10 year old nephew of yours playing with the toy soldiers? He could be the next minister of defence. That the girl next door who likes drawing could be a famous artist. "Do not despise the day of small beginnings."

Finally, not just other people, ALL OF US. Including you. Believe in yourself. Do you like drawing? Or telling stories? Or entertaining your parents with your antics? Or planning, or assembling things together? These are the seeds of greatness waiting to be nurtured.

Posted by Nico at 2:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Your first screenplay is always crap.

That's what rewrites are for.

Dont' be worried about your first screenplay. Just do it. Finish everything as best as you can within a week. Don't be paralysed by fear of failure. As long as you do it, you can work on it.

Someone once said, it is better to edit bad copy than to try to edit nothing.

By finishing something as least you have accomplished something and gained the experience of doing it. No matter how bad you (think) it is, it is a learning experience in itself.

Posted by Nico at 5:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Writing is work. It is not just feeling like you want to do something. Even if you don't feel like it you still have to do it.

You can't wait for the muse.

One way to get out of a rut is to set a time limit of say in the next 10-15 minutes write down 10 ideas no matter how stupid you think and choose one of them to further your story.

The act of writing is an effort. No matter how gifted you are, you still have to work. You still face things which you don't know immediately and have to think through the plot and how it all works together.

Posted by Nico at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Scriptwriting Tools
Originally uploaded by nicodemus_chan.

Posted by Nico at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I thought I understood that until I read this example:

Sophie has been sexually abused by her father, a well respected leader in the community and her mother never believed her.

(Weak) She enters the funeral parlour alone, breaks down in tears, beats on his dead carcass, and, sure that no one else can hear her, spits out her pitiful accusation at the corpse.

— Only reacts.

(Better) Walks up to coffin but her mother is with her. Opens her purse. Takes out a large set of scissors, and, to her mother's horror, slowly unzips his trousers, performs a post-mortem amputation, and hands the member to her mother.

— Makes conscious decision to take dramatic action, with deep consequences.
— Visceral, visual, and personal
— Stronger cinematically

Which leads me to think. When we take action, REAL action, do our actions have consequences? The word consequences has more of a negative connotation but if we are to be a source of good in this world, both for us and the people around us, we must take action that have good consequences that change our world.

Posted by Nico at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)