Screenplays, Comics, Guns, Guitars!

Okay, so this is my first real post of 2012.

Last year, I set out to finish a screenplay and submit it into competitions, which I’ve done with Things People Do. Right now, the script is making it rounds through Scriptapalooza, Cinestory, and Script Pipeline.

So, Mission Complete!

Whether it will win, I can only hope.

This year, I have a few more goals to achieve.

Writing wise, I want to finish two screenplays this year. One will be Sylvia, a Sci-fi/Psychological Thriller, and I would like the second to be a Horror. I say I would like it to be a horror because I don’t want to force it. I don’t want to write anything about a group of friends, or a family, who go out to a remote place for no good reason just to be killed off one by one by one. If I can’t think of a great concept that’s “different”, at least to me, I’ll go for another genre, maybe fantasy, or even comedy, or maybe another drama. I have couple ideas rolling around that I can jump on.

Ultimately, with Things People Do completed, I want to have three finished and polished screenplays in my screenwriting portfolio to shop around, each in a different genre to show versatility in my writing. Once I get that done, I’ll sit down and get back to one of the two fantasy novels I started before switched to Screenwriting.

I’m also working on a Sci-Fi Webcomic with one of my childhood best friends. I’m tweaking the story while he solidifies the art style and direction. The website is mapped out on paper and will hopefully be up and running in the near future so you all can get a glimpse of the psycho characters and the dark world they live in. As well as a stand alone comic, it’ll be a spring-board to introduce a slew of other characters and stories we’ve created throughout the years that we’d like to share with the world.

Outside of my writing goals, personally I have a few things I want to achieve this year.

1. Learn how to shoot.

2. Learn the guitar.

I like guns even though I’ve never really been around them. Rifles are my thing. Particularly “sniper rifles“. Some acquaintances of mine are hunters, and are into guns as somewhat of hobby and they have spurred my interests in that world. So now, I want to learn more about guns, expand my knowledge of them, how to shoot them, how to take care of them, how to respect them. Besides, I think first hand knowledge and use of a gun/weapon can definitely add to my writing. There’s nothing like writing from experience.

I’ve always wanted to learn to play an instrument since I was a child, but the environment I grew up in didn’t foster such things. My wife bought me an Acoustic guitar for Christmas which I’ve since dubbed “Pretty” for the sounds she makes. I haven’t taken any classes yet, so I’ve been messing around with her on my own. I’ve bought a bunch of different picks to sample the different sounds they produce. I didn’t know that was even an element of consideration until now. I’m able to pluck out some pretty cool melodies on my own, which I’ll share with you all once soon. The only thing kicking my butt right now are chords and only because it feels like you have to be plastic man to get down some of the finger placements, lol. I do have some pretty good callouses on my Fret fingers though, and I wear them like a badge of honor, lol.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to and what I will be up to.

Till next time.

What goal did you achieve last year, and what goal are you on your way to achieving this year?