After finally finishing the outline for the rewrite last week, I immediately jumped into re-reading the western spec in preparation for the inevitable rewrite/polish.
Looking at it after a 1 1/2-month break was incredibly helpful, and it still reads great.
Then it hit me.
If I can keep up this kind of productivity, I’ll have two brand spanking-new scripts ready to go relatively soon.
Yay.
This whole “dedicating a little time each day to writing” thing continues to be paying off.
Added bonus – more material at my disposal to respond to the question “What else have you got?”
Personally, I prefer a red pen and the ‘delete’ key
Steadily working my way through the coveted territory of Act 3, although the wrapping-up of some subplots still needs some work. Nothing I can’t handle.
Throughout this whole process has been an ongoing tinkering with what was there before. Some items have been cut (necessarily so) while some have been expanded (also necessarily so).
Among what had been cut were a trio of characters who only existed in a handful of scenes in the third act. The only reason they were originally around was to provide conflict with the main character, but didn’t really serve much else of a purpose.
So they’ve been cut, with another character’s part slightly modified and expanded to take their place.
This goes way beyond killing one’s darlings. It’s about making the story as lean and streamlined as possible, and if that means cutting characters, scenes or even sequences, so be it. You do what’s necessary.
But this is also where it can get tricky. How do you know what should stay and what should go?
Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. But you can learn by constantly writing, rewriting and getting feedback. It’s a skill that takes time to develop, so don’t rush it.
(You could read scripts, but those are often the finished product. You won’t know what it looked like before.)
A good rule of thumb: ask yourself as you write and edit – “How much of a difference will it make to the story if I take this out?”
Chances are once you make those cuts, you won’t even miss what’s been taken out, which means it probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
-A total self-indulgent announcement: I ran the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon on Sunday, thinking there was no way I could beat my previous best time ever of 1:53:07, set back in August.
But somehow, despite warm weather and the occasional feeling of “Jeez, when is this going to end?”, I shaved almost 2 minutes off and finished at 1:51:11. Totally didn’t see that coming.
With no races scheduled in the near future, I don’t want to get ahead of myself and even consider the possibility of hitting 1:50.
Although I’ll admit the thought does occasionally cross my mind.
The good news is this will not be on the final, but neatness does count
Since I’m always interested in what other writers are working on, here are some questions I’d really like to see your answers to.
1. MY LATEST PROJECT IS TITLED _______________
2. IT’S A ______________ (genre)
3. HERE’S THE LOGLINE __________________________________
4. THINK OF IT AS ___________ + __________
Here’s mine:
1. NORTH POLE’S MOST WANTED
2. mystery-comedy
3. A mild-mannered elf uncovers a sinister plot to get rid of Santa, but nobody believes him, somebody’s now trying to kill him, and Christmas is one week away.
4. LA CONFIDENTIAL + RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
How I originally intended to approach this rewrite
Since it really has been years since I last looked at my mystery-comedy spec, and not wanting to be too heavily influenced by what I’d written before, I figured this rewrite would be completely fresh. A clean slate. Blank page from the get-go. A whole new ball of wax.
I sit at my desk, all set to open those floodgates. My notebook’s open to this new set of plot points, ready to be fleshed out. Pandora cranks out the sounds of the Rat Pack and the 50s jazz club scene (appropriate mood music for the story’s setting). A hot cup of joe within reach. Overall, a perfect writing scenario.
So what thought immediately pops into my head?
Yep. I’m gonna check out what I wrote before. But just out of curiosity. It’s not like I’m going to keep the whole story. Besides, it’ll be interesting to see how far my writing’s come since then.
This is also why you should never, ever throw away old material. You never know when you might come back to it.
I open the 1-pager. Okay, I remember this part. Wait. I don’t remember that. Whoa, where did that come from? Wow, this is a lot more detailed than I remember.
Finishing that, I automatically wonder how the script reads. A few scenes stick out in my memory, but most of it is long forgotten.
I’ll just take a look at the first few pages. Promise.
Hmm. Not as bad as I thought. Some of the dialogue is a little too on-the-nose. Too many adverbs. Character descriptions could be better. Some good set-ups I instantly recall how they pay off. This subplot’s a little weak.
A quick glance to the upper right corner to see what page I’m on. 26 already? Hokey smokes, this thing is flying by.
By now I feel almost obligated to finish reading it. 35 minutes later, I did.
The overall consensus: still needs a lot of work, but a much more solid foundation to start with and there are some ideas I’d like to incorporate. It’s kind of reassuring to know I’ve already taken care of a lot of the heavy lifting.
A few days ago, I was concerned this was going to be a real slog, but now – not so much.
September is starting off with a lot going on for yours truly.
-We’re in the process of relocating (staying in our much beloved City by the Bay, but changing addresses), so most spare time is dedicated to purging all unwanted stuff, and boxing and transporting what we can to the new place until the movers come later this month.
-I offered to read somebody’s script and make comments/suggestions. Really should get started on that.
-V’s super-busy with soccer, so I wear my chauffeur hat 2 afternoons a week. Nothing like mapping out the rewrite of an outline while sitting in a parked car. Being plugged into Pandora helps.
-I’ve got a half-marathon coming up on Sept 16 (The Giant Race) and another in L.A. at the end of October. I’m averaging about 9 minutes a mile, which isn’t bad, but I’d like to break 1:55, so I train when I can.
Suffice to say, my plate’s a little on the full side for the next few weeks, so progress has been slowed. It’s too difficult to say when I expect to be done with the DREAMSHIP rewrite. Wish I could devote more time to it, but I do what I can.
Do you have a lot going on? How do you handle it? Curious to know how others divvy up their time.
-Oops. Almost forgot. V’s working on her first book report – Book One of LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS. She really likes it; even quietly admitted she liked reading. We couldn’t be more thrilled.
Maximum Z 