Well, today is about writing up the outline to Episode 3 of the first season of Across The River To Motor City.
It's a crucial script (I know, I know, they all are) because this marks the halfway point in our mystery story. Months ago, we broke a period story that was kind of interesting, a good little investigation for our main character to go through in 1964 Detroit and Windsor.
But in development, as sometimes happens, other elements in the contemporary narrative start to change. So when it came time to weave together the contemporary and period story, the beats of the former didn't really fit the latter. So, to the well of despair with me.
No. I'm on track now, thankfully. But it's a slow slog. And the script deadline approaches next week.
In fact, this weekend, partly due to this script, and partly due to family obligations, I will be missing out on a fabulous cottage weekend with my Agent and his posse of boy-writers. No cards for me. No steaks. No drinks. Just....typing. Sad.
Anyway...
A while back I printed some links to some unusual words from other languages. Everybody knows schaedenfreude, of course. But there were some other juicy ones.
This is not that.
This morning, I got up and turned on the XM and I was a little weighted down by everything I had to do today, and I was feeling a little harried and maybe a trifle put upon, and then a song came on. (It was actually Sting's Brand New Day...ugh. I know.) And the song was treacly and full of bullshit greeting card bromides and empty feel good promises that should not pierce the cynical sheen of my dark and steely heart, but damnit if by the end of the song didn't I feel better anyway. Shamelessly manipulated, and a little sickly about it, but nevertheless, artificially shluffed into a better headspace.
Someone needs to come up for a word for this feeling. It doesn't need to be German.
For further study and reflection: this word could also be used to describe the feeling one gets as an adult, walking around Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
Go to it in the comments below. You're doing the Prophet's work.
7 comments:
Well, the Dutch translation for "artificial happiness" is "kunstmatig geluk."
So I nominate kunstgeluk, stress on the first syllable, all of the syllables smushed together like a good Amerkuhn speaker.
"fluffed" is good.
As in "fluffer."
It’s maybe not quite right, but something like numinous?
Exalted. Elated. Um ... I dunno.
aflexugated /a-FLEK-shu-ga-ted/ (adj): a false sense of happiness or contentment
Yes, I made it up.
KJC
Alex, do you mean fluffed as in this definition fluffer? Whoa!
Erm...enlivenment?
Damnit!, I'm boring!
:)
I vote for fluffed and I intend to use it.
When you think about it, fluffing is part of a screenwriter's job. The ultimate goal of any movie, and the job of everyone involved in it, is to manipulate the audience's emotions, so more than half the time that's going to involve a form of fluffing.
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