Tuesday, June 4, 2013

"We've come to know it as the 'Magic Bullet Theory.'"

This is the last week of the Quest Initiative.  Sounds like the scheme in an Austin Powers' movie, or something Doctor Octopus would cook up to morph the Green Goblin and Venom into a single mighty power ranger.  It's not any of those things.  It means that I need to stop picking at the scab of my loglines and send in my entry already.  But I can't.

They aren't ready.

HILDAGO An American cowboy, circa 1890, travels to the Middle East to compete in the world’s most prestigious long distance horse race.

I know this because every time I look at them I see a word that I can change to make them better.  Yesterday I made them SO much better.  The problem is that, today, when I finish writing this and look at them again, I'll probably change them back and think it's SO much better.

As Lee Harvey Oswald said, "Sometimes you just have to pull the trigger."  What?  Too soon?  Okay, no more LHO jokes.  I just figured that if I added a little controversy at the midpoint, it would make the blog a more exciting read.


MR. POPPER‟S PENGUIN
A successful NYC realtor inherits a penguin, turning his life upside down.
 
I'd go with LHO's advice, except that Roy Rogers is back there telling me to reign in the Trigger.  I'm listening to him.  There's more to this than just sending in a witty sentence.

I'm not buying a lottery ticket.  It's more like a raffle ticket.  Long odds, but odds that I have some influence over because, even thought there are, as of yesterday, 350 competitors and nearly 700 loglines - they are being judged.  This isn't a random ticket being pulled out of a hat.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM II
Larry, a former night watchman, struggles to save his friends (museum exhibits come–to-life) when an evil pharaoh threatens to destroy them all and take over the universe.
 
And that is why I can't just send in what I have.  There's still something more I can learn about loglines before the deadline.  I can still find the perfect adjective to describe my protagonist.  I may still find a way to add simplicity and tension.  Yet there is that ever present writer's doubt - what if the underlying idea isn't up to snuff?  I may write the perfect logline for my concept, but it isn't a logline contest, that's just the audition.  I've lost even before I've started.  Certain rejection.
I have the same problems as J.J. Abrams.  How awesome is that?

3 comments:

  1. Until today I had never heard of the Quest Initiative, a logline, or J.J. Abrams, and I still liked your entry! (FYI dictionary.com apparently hadn't heard of logline either.)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I'm glad I've been able to learn you something ;) Now I'll have to get a guest spot at dictionary.com and learn them something too...

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  2. Love Abrams' TEDTalk. What you are doing is to realize the "sense of potential" from "infinite impossibilities." Keep going, buddy!

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