06.05.06

The Writer’s Journey

Posted in Screenplay at 6:27 pm by Administrator

Hello.  I am back from my trip.  It was wonderful to see my folks again.  I live so far from my mom and dad, it is difficult for me to visit with them more than once or twice a year.  I know I am not going to have them forever so it is important for me to spend as much time as I can with them now.

While I was home I was able to move forward on outlining my screenplay.  Writing is an interesting process.  In many ways it is a lot like gardening.  There are times when the work is obvious and you need to just set down and do it.  And then there are other times when you have to step back and wait for an idea to grow or blossom.

You shouldn’t rush an internal process like writing, just like it is not a good idea to force a plant to grow.  If you try to force nature the end result is not as good as if you had let the process unfold in its own time.  The same thing goes for writing.  A writer needs to learn patience and trust, everything in its own season or time.

I now have an outline of Act I and Act III, the beginning and end of my movie.  I am in the process of sketching out the middle section, the trials and tribulations that will lead to the growth of my female lead.  I have a good understanding of the character of my female and male leads.  I know what motivates them and how they work together.  I also understand what I am trying to communicate on a symbolic level with my screenplay.

Writing is a soul satisfying way to connect with the Divine Force.  My screenplay is not from me, it comes through me.  I find that when the writing is easy it is because I have opened myself to Divine Inspiration, the Sacred Muse.  All I have to do is listen and then write down what I hear.

Blessings,
Swan

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05.26.06

My Dream and its Meaning

Posted in Screenplay, Dreams at 7:23 pm by Administrator

I had an important dream this morning.

In my dream it is a beautiful spring day.  Three neighborhood children come to my front door to see me. The children suddenly begin to cry and point to a sign that has been nailed to the outside wall of my home.

The sign reads, “The adults at this house invite children into their home unsupervised.  We do not know what these adults are doing with these children.  We are now doing surveillance on this home.  Children are no longer permitted to enter this house.”

The children run back to their homes crying.  They are scared and sad.

The dream changes.  I am in my bedroom now.  In the lace curtains at the window I see the face of a man.  He is peering into my bedroom and taking notes.  He is my neighbor, an ex-military civilian.  He is wearing a white t-shirt and putty colored pants.  His title is something like, “Patroller of the Peace.”

I try to verbally connect with him, to show him that I am a good person, that we share things in common.  I tell him, “We are for Peace too.”  My SO tells me to be quiet.  He is worried that the things I say will be used against us.

Now it is night and I hear the mewling of kittens.  They are hiding in the drapes of the long curtains.  Some are big and healthy and strong.  But one is so small; it can barely lift its little head.  It is hairless and smooth like a grey-green lizard.  I pick it up.  Its skin is cool to touch.  I am worried that it won’t survive.  But it moves and tries to suck on my finger.  It is hungry.  I hold its little body in my hands so that I can give it my warmth.  I look around trying to figure out how I can feed it.

My dream ends there.

A little later that morning in my daily meditation session, I worked with the symbols of my dream.

Before I go into what I believe is the meaning of my dream, let me explain that dreams are a way for our subconscious and our higher self to speak to us.  The subconscious does not speak in words but in pictures and symbols.  So in my dream a weak little kitten is not a kitten.  The kitten stands for something that I love that needs me to nurture it and help it to grow strong and flourish.

That being said I believe this dream is about my screenplay.  The vulnerable little kitten represents my infant screenplay, my newly born brainchild which needs me to protect it and nurture it so it will grow healthy and strong.  The children in my dream represent my inner child or children in this case.  This is the Divine Child within.  These children represent me connecting with a multifaceted Divine Force.

They have come to play with me.  But my inner critic, the “Patroller of the Peace” has created a barrier to keep them out of my house.  Houses or buildings have traditionally stood as a symbol for the Ego in dreams.  My inner critic wants to keep the “Peace” by keeping the Divine Children (messengers from the Divine Force) away from my Ego.

So this is a dream about spiritual transformation.  The death of the Ego is essential for spiritual transformation.  But death can be a painful experience.  It turns our world upside down.  The death of the Ego tears away the defensive structures that protect our personalities.  Once the defensives have been removed we can be reborn.  We can become an innocent Child again.  And like a phoenix we rise from the ashes with a more fully integrated connection with the Divine.  But while the process of transformation may not be peaceful the end result is the creation of a deep and profound inner peace.

Through the deep spiritual work I have been doing I have uncovered that I am a writer, and that writing is my soul work.  This information could be upsetting to my Ego which does not want me to upset the apple cart of my present life.  Currently I can work as a librarian and also write at night, but that might change.

The Critic in my dream, the Patroller of the Peace, is not a bad guy.  I can tell that because he is dressed all in white.  He is trying to keep the Peace and to keep the children safe.  But as I learn later in my dream, the Critic is not needed at this time.  It is up to me to take care of the kitten child.  I must feed it, nurture it, and keep it safe.

So my infant screenplay is inviting me to play with it.  It is asking me to keep it away from the Critic, both internal and external.  For criticism, even helpful criticism will “kill” this vulnerable child.  When it is stronger. When the script has taken form and shape, it will be time to show it to the world.

So there you have it, my dream and its meaning.  It always amazes me the incredible forces available to assist us on our journey.  All we have to do is be open to our Guides.  We can find our Guides anywhere but they often come to us in our dreams.

For the next week I am off to visit my folks.  I don’t know if I will have a chance to post anything while I am gone.  But I will try.

That being said I want you to know I am moving forward with my screenplay project.  My screenplay software, Write Brothers Movie Magic is winging its way to me through the postal service.  I should have the software in hand when I get back from my trip.

Also I completed the 9-Minute Movie exercise for my screenplay.  I have outlined my story on nine 3×5″ index cards.  The cards cover the action that will appear on pages 1, 3, 10, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 120.  This will be my road may when I begin to write. 

I got this exercise from Viki King’s How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method.  I am also finishing up reading The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Volger.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with baby steps as does a screenplay.

Peace,
Swan

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05.24.06

Obsession: Another Signpost on the Hero’s Journey

Posted in Hero's Journey, Screenplay at 8:49 pm by Administrator

I apologize for not posting anything for awhile.  I have been wrapped up in preparing for and going on a job interview.  I won’t know if I got the job for at least a month.  And I am not sure if I want it.  Maybe I will write more on this at a later date. 

One thing I did learn while I was off interviewing is that I have driving need to write a screenplay.  This is not a new idea for me.  It is an idea that keeps popping into my consciousness, usually during my morning meditations.  But going on this interview made me evaluate what my Heart desires.

The whole wanting to write a screenplay started with my becoming obsessed with the movie, “V for Vendetta.”  The first time I watched this film, I left that movie with tears streaming down my face.  I have since seen it six more times.  I even tried to go see it again last week but it was no longer showing in my area.

As I have traveled on my personal Hero’s Journey I have come to realize that when I become obsessed with something, like a movie or an actor, my subconscious is talking to me.  So when I found myself obsessing over the movie “V for Vendetta” I knew that something was going on below the surface.

I have to confess I have an embarrassing history of becoming obsessed with movies or television shows that feature actors with English accents.  Here is a short list of my obsessions: Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, Peter Donat in the 1972 version of Cyrano de Begerac, Alan Rickman in all of his movies, Anthony Head in VR5, and of course James Marsters playing the character of Spike in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

About two years ago I became obsessed with the actor Alan Rickman.  After much soul searching I discovered that the obsession I had with Rickman represented something more.  The actor symbolized for me abilities and skills that I wanted to embody, that I wanted to claim as my own.  

Again after much soul searching, I decided to honor this subconscious drive and enrolled in a month long acting course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.  Why RADA?  Because that is where Alan Rickman studied acting, of course.

What happened during my month of study at RADA is a story for another time, but I do not believe it was coincidence that my studies lead me to RADA, Glastonbury, the Goddess Conference, Starhawk, and Kathy Jones.

So now here I am obsessing over the movie “V for Vendetta” and especially over the character of V played by Hugo Weaving.  I was mesmerized by V’s voice and the character’s use of language.  And though he wore a mask throughout the whole movie, V’s body language was so expressive and exquisite that it spoke volumes.  These characteristics were created first through the work of the writer and then refined upon by the work of the director and the actor.

I found myself going to see the movie over and over again so that I could deconstruct the film.  I went to watch “V for Vendetta” just to record all of the different symbols and themes that appeared throughout it.  I went to watch it to follow the color red through the movie, to observe how time is used, to study and compare the colors worn in Evey’s and V’s costumes, to see how many “mirrors” (both literal and figurative) there were in the movie, to follow the emotional through line of the character V throughout the movie, and to figure out what was the symbolic meaning of the standing domino.

As I studied the film I realized I was engaging in the type of detailed work I would have done as a director becoming familiar with a play or as an actor preparing for a role.  I wanted to know what made this film “tick”.  I wanted to get inside of the movie and inside the heads of the characters.  I wanted to understand the subtext of film because this movie spoke to me at such a deep symbolic level.  I thought if I could understand this movie than I would understand myself.

On the surface it appears to be the story about a man who is either a terrorist or a freedom fighter or maybe he is both.  But if you read the movie symbolically there is much more going on.  On a symbolic level this is story about the power of hate and the power of love.  And more importantly it is the story about spiritual initiation and transformation.

During the course of the movie, the character of Evey shares some wisdom her father has passed on to her, that “artists use lies to tell the truth.”  Like the character of V,  Wachowski Brothers use the fiction of this film to convey a deeper message, that love is stronger than hate, and that one must die to be reborn.

Over twenty years ago I went to college and studied to be a theater director.  As a young idealistic woman I wanted to use my art to change the world.  My most important work as young director was staging a play adaptation of the novel “1984″ in the year 1985.  I thought my production would influence people to wake up and take political action against the atrocities of the Reagan administration.  But that did not happen. 

When I realized that theater was not going to change the world I gave up my artistic dreams and set off to follow a practical path.  I turned my back on being an artist because I feared being penniless and out-of-work.  Instead I chose the path of safety and went back to school to become a librarian.

Now twenty years later I find myself moved to tears by film that is speaking deep truths.  Is this a coincidence?  To quote V, “there are no coincidences.” 

In my daily meditations I realized that I want to speak in a voice that is as eloquent and as inspirational as the character of V.  That I want to speak truth through art.  And like V and Evey I want to live by the courage of my convictions.  

So the spiral path has lead me back to where I began over twenty years ago, the path of the artist.  But this time instead of following the director’s path I am embracing the writer’s journey.  I know I can write a screenplay if I just keep at it.  I now have a track record as a writer.  As I mentioned in my previous post, in 2005 I wrote a 50,000 word novel in a month. If I can do that I can write a screenplay. 

So I invite you to follow me on this new endeavor.  As I begin to write I will keep you posted on my creative process.  Currently I am taking notes and writing the back stories for my main characters. 

Best wishes to you all.  May you too discover your Heart’s Desire.

Swan

 

 

 

 

 

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