Story

So I promised I would talk about the book I am adapting. I mentioned before that I am taking the book my grandmother wrote and adapting that into a screenplay, as a gift to her. It's going to be my first real, "professional"-grade screenplay, and also my first adaptation. I must admit...I'm very excited.

The title of the book is Zero Degrees of Separation. It centers around the character, Christina, who dies from a terminal illness and is then guided to the other side by Angelic figures. Once there, she must re-learn everything that her soul-self has always known, and forgets with every return trip to the Earth plane.

So the interesting issue I am seeing as I get further and further into the book is the timeline of the story that is told. There is definitely a story in here, with enough conflict to be had, and roadblocks to keep characters from their goals, but it's going to be an issue of timing and placement with this adaptation. I can already tell that the major events that happen in the book will need to be reordered for film story purposes.

I'm nearly halfway through the book now, and I have to completely finish it before I start making big story decisions like that. Though in reading through it at this point, it's definitely intriguing picturing the scenes in my head as they would appear on the screen. It's also fun to guess the progress of scenes and how the through-line of the story will carry Christina to the end.

There is not much else to update at this time...beyond everything I've said so far, so please come back soon to hear more about this interesting process.

Now, my grandmother is still trying to get the message of her book out there to other people in need. It's a great book to help those that are close to death, or know someone who is, come to terms with the idea of passing on. She is an expert and a trainer for hospice care, and does outstanding work for the Twilight Brigade, Compassion in Action. Please check out their non-profit organization here.

If you're interested in purchasing a copy of the book yourself, check out this link to Amazon.com. Any contributions are greatly appreciated.

Prologue

Alright then, welcome to my blog.

The purpose of all of this is to give me some inspiration, and to chronicle my journey. I am an aspiring screenwriter, trying to carve a path for myself into mainstream movie-making. I believe I have the ability, the talent, and drive to make it into "the business", and I definitely have the proper tools in place.

So this blog will be my "journal" of sorts - my outlet for all things concerning writing, my writing, and whatever else happens to cross my mind. Hopefully I'll obtain followers along the way...which is to say hopefully this blog will be interesting to people besides my own self.

While working through the various writing projects I've begun, I have found a certain lack of drive at some point through the thing. I'm hoping this will allow me a place away from under par performance, and a sort of "inner sanctum" to how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking about my work. A way to unwind and explain what is or isn't coming to me. That way hopefully this will inspire me to continue writing or at least working on it somehow...and my writing will inspire new posts on this blog.

So that's the plan. Having said so much...my project is an adaptation of a book my grandmother wrote a few years back. She has been trying to get it made into a film for a while now, with the help of some friends who are more "in-the-know", with little success so far mainly on the screenwriter aspect of it. So, angry with the pathetic try the last hiree attempted, I offered myself up to adapt the book. She agreed, of course, and I am excited to get it done.

I have begun already with re-reading her book and taking notes to form the main timeline of the film and what I want to happen when. I am currently one-fifth of the way through the story, and hope to start on my major note-taking once I am finished. I'll be updating this blog regularly throughout, again, in the hopes to inspire myself in numerous ways.

I hope you follow along on this journey: my very first, potentially-professional, feature-length adapted screenplay. I'll talk more about the book I'm working on in a later post, when I have more of an idea of what I'll be doing. For now, take note that it is a story about death, the afterlife, and the lives of those who are left behind on the Earth plane.

See you next time!