I should hit 20,000 words today.  That’s 12 days to write more than 1/4 of the novel.  Yet again, I am only getting faster.  The beginnings of the story are entirely set up and I am hitting the stride of the plot.  I hope to write at least 3,000 words today (1,000 are already done and I still have an hour before I have to report for work).  Considering I am not doing much other than writing this story, I am going to use these days to build the “Influences” section of my website.  Today I will start with two movies.

Lost In Translation
This movie has long been one of my favorites.  I saw it with my father when I was a teenager.  It stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson (before she was famous).  This movie holds a beautiful balance between plot and character-building scenes.  The development of romance is impeccable.  I hope to be able to write like this some day–holding onto tension to build romance and allowing for the plot to flow freely.

Children of Men
Another one of my favorite films–but for vastly different reasons.  I love near-future fiction.  If you have never visited FurtureTimeline,com, it is well worth the visit.  Anyway, the important thing to remember in near future fiction is that you can only account for certain details.  Certain inventions, disasters, or events cannot be predicted.  Children of Men not only takes this into account, but makes it a central theme–creating a semi-dystopian society in the process.