For Christmas this year, a dear friend sent me a calendar for
2015. The subject of the calendar is movie stills from the greatest flick of
all time – The Goonies! This friend
knows I’m a sucker for that movie; he saw the item and thought of me.
Boy, am I glad he sent that thing!
I’ve been thinking about where in the house to put it since
I opened it on Christmas morning. We’ve got a movie/television show theme in
our living room so it could work out there. But I like having a calendar in my
office as well.
This morning, as I was once again debating the placement of
my own little treasure, I started thinking about the movie.
The movie is about a group of kids who call themselves The Goonies and they end up on an adventure, along with a couple other friends, to try to find treasure at the end of a map they discover in the lead character’s attic. They know that treasure will save their homes from going into foreclosure and they can all live happily ever after.
The movie is about a group of kids who call themselves The Goonies and they end up on an adventure, along with a couple other friends, to try to find treasure at the end of a map they discover in the lead character’s attic. They know that treasure will save their homes from going into foreclosure and they can all live happily ever after.
I know the movie by heart. Actually, I know stuff about the movie to the level of obsession.
Seriously. I could sit here and quote the thing word-for-word, point out all the editing mistakes, interject where certain scenes were cut or which lines were improvised, plus tell you who of the original cast is no longer with us. Among other little pearls of trivia.
Seriously. I could sit here and quote the thing word-for-word, point out all the editing mistakes, interject where certain scenes were cut or which lines were improvised, plus tell you who of the original cast is no longer with us. Among other little pearls of trivia.
So this morning I began thinking about the script, plot and
structure of the story.
Act I starts ideas flowing
There’s a lot of debate and discovery in the first 40 or so
minutes of the movie but things don’t really get going until one very important
line is uttered by the leading male character in the movie.
The line that Sean Astin’s “Mikey” blurts out when they’re about
to get caught by the Fratellis and need to dive under the fireplace to hide, suddenly
hit me like I’d never heard it before.
“It all starts here.”
In the movie, Mikey is talking about the trail leading to
One Eyed Willie and his buried treasure.
I interpreted it a little differently today.
You know all those random internet quotes talking about the
first step of a journey? Well, this morning as I sat down to work on my next
book, I kept repeating the mantra of those four words:
“It all starts here.”
Because it doesn’t matter what I wrote back in November
during NaNo. That was just Act I. A catalyst to get me moving on the story,
characters and structure of the plot.
Just like Mikey and the gang in the scenes leading up to
those four infamous words.
Act I – check! Now for II and III
I won’t spoil the movie if you’ve never seen it but stuff
happens, they’re all tested over and over again and in the end there’s a very
touching happily ever after.
(That shouldn’t be a spoiler considering it’s a kid’s movie
from the 1980s. HEA was all but decided before the opening credits rolled!)
So I’m using the story in the movie to help keep me on track
as I pull together all this gobeldy-gook from November.
I will find some things are really easy to plot out. Other
elements of the story or process will present their challenges – testing me,
just like the Goonies were tested and challenged – and I’m going to have to do
my best to overcome them.
Because I refuse to be captured by the bad guys (AKA: procrastination and lack of determination) and that pirate gold (AKA: my finished novella) is waiting
for me just around the corner!
Today, as I sit down in my office (after taking almost the
entire month of December off to enjoy the holidays), I’m reminded that my
journey to complete the Shaw McLeary Series might be a long one but I owe it to
myself to see the adventure through to the end.
Because, like Mikey said...
“It all starts here.”
Image courtesy nongpimmy at freedigitalphotos.net
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