Home3 February 2013: Watched a fascinating documentary late last night: "Tales from the Script". NOW I have a much better idea as to why it's taking so long for the negotiations for film and tv rights to be sold!
I love getting a glimpse behind-the-scenes as to how other writers work or feel frustrated, struggle, succeed, etc. As soon as I have finished the artwork for the Gossie & Friends series I'm going to try my hand at adapting one of my short stories as a screenplay. THE KIDNAPPING OF THE BOY WITH RED HAIR (an interesting short story as to HOW and WHY Maol Rudha came to be in Moel Eyris) lends itself to this format and it will be an interesting exercise for me as a writer.
I have written (and performed) plays before but never tackled the odd format of a screenplay. THE KIDNAPPING was written in 62 scenes and I think it should be fairly easy to rewrite these scenes as a screenplay and see how it reads.
This is The Year of Me Being a Writer!
Later in the evening: I finished formatting the first 10 pages of THE KIDNAPPING into the screenplay format. It's quite easy! I had written the short story in "scenes" so it really is just a matter of following the structure and format for a screenplay and moving scenes around where necessary. Having been an actor it's not so hard to think in terms of "fade in's" and "dissolve to's" and clarifying INT. or EXT. as well as DAY (LATE AFTERNOON) or NIGHT (EARLY EVENING) and putting page numbers at the top righthand corner of each page instead of the bottom righthand corner (as I do with a manuscript).
THE KIDNAPPING OF THE BOY WITH RED HAIR really does lend itself nicely to be adapted (for my first try at writing a screenplay). I can't let myself get too sucked into doing this until I finish GEMMA & GUS!
1 February 2013: When you can't sleep---write! Just finished writing the third book in the Old Bear and Little Cub series: A BED FOR LITTLE CUB. I have been thinking about the story quite a bit. I had done a colour study about 15 years ago that planted the seed for the idea so it really was just a matter of tapping out the story on my laptop. Oh, how I love my laptop! I still have my old manual typewriter that I love dearly, but writing (actually typing) is so much faster on my laptop! And easier on the fingers.
I won't tackle doing the layouts and finished artwork for ABFLC until October. I want to spend the summer finishing the final draft of THE SECRET BOOK OF MOOLSTERY. This IS my year to concentrate on writing!
30 January 2013: Still in Dearborn! Will be heading back to Henwoodie in upstate NY in a few hours. Got a lot done while I was here. John and I and the pups have had a great two weeks together!
25 January 2013: I've spent the past few days watching the 6 part series on Scotland that I gave to John for Christmas: Scotland Mountains; Scotland Islands; and Scotland Highlands. Absolutely fabulous DVDs!
I mention the Cairngorms (which mean Blue Hills) in the Prologue (which you can read at the LAY OF MOEL EYRIS page) but I was never quite certain why. Well, NOW I know why! In one of the DVDs on the Scotland Mountains the narrator mentions the mythical "farm" (pronounced 'fahth') as "a giant, ferocious mole as big as a large dog that attacks unwary travelers" in the Cairngorms. How could an idea/myth be more perfect for my own adaptation as to who/what this mythical creature is?! I love it! And I will use it! Apparently, "fahm" means "mole".
24 January 2013: I'm thrilled that so many people are actually reading the writing I have posted on THE LAY OF MOEL EYRIS page so far! And the response has been overwhelmingly encouraging!
Someone asked: "When did you first start this project?" The answer is that the genesis for the idea/concept of LOME began in 1978 when I first ventured to Scotland and began to explore a number of prehistoric sites. I spent 6 weeks in Scotland that first visit. The more I saw, the more stories I heard, the more interested I became in archaeology and prehistory of Scotland, especially the folk beliefs associated with the ancient sites.
So, the idea for my own mythical world began to take shape in my imagination. Almost every single picture book that I write and illustrate is a "folk tale" from the larger saga/mythology. If you go way to 1984 and look at one of my first picture books to be published you can see many of the ideas that play such a large role in the saga presented in this simple story: trow-wifes, bog-trotters, cairns, standing stones, banshees, stony downs, etc.
I began writing the mythology, Word List, and doing more focused research for LOME in 1980. This is the year that marks the official beginning of LOME.
To the right is a very early sketch of a trow-wife:
19 January 2013: I'm in Dearborn at John's house. Got the studio unpacked and GEMMA & GUS is on the drawing board. I have to get focused and get to work to wrap up this book.
Have been tweaking, revising, and rewriting the Prologue and typing the entire text out here on the website. Have started adding annotations to provide more insight and clarity (since the complete narrative is not posted). The format for the annotations seems to be working. I have figured out how to add jpegs of sketches and photos to illustrate a specific idea or character in the text.
Of course, I may end up doing the same thing here.
15 January 2013: Have set up the official "Olivier Dunrea's Lay of Moel Eyris FaceBook page where readers can comment or ask questions regarding the narrative as they read it here at the website. It will be interesting to see if anyone is even reading the narrative.
10 January 2013: The finished artwork is coming along nicely. Of course, it's taking longer than I thought. I get too distracted with all the pups and the snow outside.
Note to self: Get these picture books done so that you can concentrate on LOME!
5 January 2013: Still working on the finished artwork for GEMMA & GUS. As soon as this book is finished I will plunge right into the finished art for GUS. That leaves only three remaining books to do in the Gossie & Friends series: GABBY & GABE, PEARL, and PEARL'S LOST PEARLS!
1 January 2013: It's a New Year! Happy New Year! This is the year when I will finish the final remaining five outstanding picture book contracts and will be able to concentrate on my more ambitious, serious writing: THE LAY OF MOEL EYRIS: The Saga of the Bear's Son.
There is now a new page here at the website (you can see it in the list to the left) where I will post excerpts, ideas, concepts, sketches, video recordings, etc. that relate to LOME.
This blog is in itself an experiment to see if it can be added to without having to constantly reformat the page!
