We’re a two-car family:<\/p>\n
The sportswagon is Japanese, inconspicuous and boringly reliable.<\/p>\n
The chariot is Italian, spunky and an attention-seeker – the attention being of the garage mechanic kind. But The Goddess loves it to bits<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Just before we headed south last weekend*, the wee car was lustily belting along when all power disappeared – just like that<\/i> – and, after some checking and poking under the hood, and reading of the user manual, the sportswagon and I towed it to the local garage.<\/p>\n
A few days later, mid-holiday, I came upon a scrap of paper with The Goddess’s handwriting:<\/p>\n
(Below Her writing was a scrawl by different, mortal, hands: ejection seats, STOL capability, NOS on-demand, coffee machine, HUD with satnav, cloaking device<\/i>.)<\/p>\n
Like I said, The Goddess loves Her chariot. But I suppose there’s a limit to how much one is willing to contribute to your mechanic’s passion for deep-sea fishing. 1. The thing is, the first draft was aborted<\/a> after eighty-plus pages and although I’ve returned to a prose treatment… I’ve started another list:<\/p>\n a. it’s a story about fathers and sons – while in a less tidy hand – still my own – and in no discernible order:<\/p>\n – throw in a car chase Mm. Getting there.<\/p>\n (This’ll be the last post about the process (and That Project) for a while – the potty-mouthed Phill Barron<\/a> and the mysterious Daily Screenwriter<\/a> write about process much more interestingly than I do.)<\/p>\n \n* Sorry for the week’s silence. The Mamea family were in Wellington visiting aiga<\/i> and the only ‘net access I could get was through my cellphone<\/a> (hence my few emails were of the all-text-on-one-line variety).<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’re a two-car family: The Goddess drives Her chariot, aka The Little Car; and I drive the sportswagon, aka The Big Car. The sportswagon is Japanese, inconspicuous and boringly reliable. The chariot is Italian, spunky and an attention-seeker – the attention being of the garage mechanic kind. But The Goddess loves it to bits. Just … <\/p>\n
\n
\nI have a similar list for my current project<\/a>:<\/p>\ntreatment<\/strike>
\n 2. scene breakdown<\/strike>
\n 3. working first draft<\/strike>
\n 4. first draft
\n 5. inflict on readers
\n 6. second draft
\n 7. inflict on surviving readers
\n 8. third draft
\n (and so on)<\/p>\n
\n b. the father was a towering personality
\n c. the son has a chip on his shoulder (ie., his father)
\n c. it’s a tale of love lost… and regained<\/p>\n
\n – and a gratuitous sex scene<\/strike>
\n – have them sort it out over hot lead
\n – as long as they all hold hands in the end
\n – gratuitous sex<\/strike> tasteful love scene<\/p>\n