rewrite

Circling back to the first go-round

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My current project is rewriting/revising my fantasy-comedy (animation-optional). It has undergone numerous drafts, along with multiple revisions and variations on both the primary storyline and several subplots.

There have been a handful of the latter which have been particular tricky to figure out the best approach. Something just wasn’t clicking, so I took my usual approach to finding a solution and stepped away from my laptop, put on my running shoes, and hit the road.

While my feet pounded the pavement, the next hour and seven minutes heavily involved coming up with possible alternatives to how the story reads now. A few possibilities presented themselves, but nothing to make me stop short and proclaim “That’s it!”

So I took another usual approach, that of taking a step back for a more of a “big picture”.

Silly as it sounds, I’d forgotten that one of those earlier drafts had some decent contest success (not that that’s my goal), so I dug up that one to give it a read.

A large percentage of that script remains in the most recent one, but especially close attention was paid to “what drives your protagonist”. More than a few readers had similar things to say about that. My hope is that fleshing that out a bit more will have the desired effect and reinforce the whole story.

There are a few other subplots that also need work, but this was one of the big ones.

This kind of approach will be the strategy for this latest draft. The last thing I want to do is over-complicate things, and I’m fairly confident that doing this will help keep things simple.

Nicely done, me from the past

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Having (for the most part) completed the outline for the action-comedy, attention has shifted to revising/rewriting another script.

I’m not sure the last time I’d worked on it – maybe March?, but I opened the pages and was pleasantly surprised how many changes had already been made. There are still some rough spots, including figuring out the best moment to have a key part of the story take place. Weighing my options on that one.

But it was very reassuring to see how much work had already been put into this before switching to another project, and not at all surprising. This has happened before.

I’d also forgotten how much work overall had been done for the new draft, including questions about potential subplots and character arcs. This helps lighten the load – albeit just slightly. Looking over some of the notes I got on the previous draft, a few sticking points remain that need addressing.

There were also some suggestions from readers that didn’t mesh with what I was going for, or felt like they wanted things to go in a different direction than what I was intending. I weigh the merit of what’s being said, and then decide if there’s something in there worth salvaging.

Whenever I start a rewrite, I try not to put a limit how much time I’m allowing to get it finished. Many times it’s longer than I’d like or expect, but this time feels a little different. I suspect once things get started and more pieces fall into place, the shorter the time to get to the finish line.

Figuring out all these solutions won’t be easy, but I’m confident it will happen. Hopefully sooner than later.

More like this, please

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Some MAJOR progress on the outline for the action-comedy spec this week, and I am thrilled.

Among the highlights: figuring out how and where to connect some sequences, plotting out a few others, and coming up with a great new angle about my antagonist’s arc.

Some of these were a long time coming, and some were spur of the moment. I’ll take what I can get.

Also realized a few subplots still need work, which range from “should this be cut or expanded?” to “three scenes should cover it”.

One thing that’s been nagging at me since the beginning is the best way to show my protagonist’s arc in action. How is she changing over the course of the story, and what are the most effective ways to do that? Doing what I can to have this occur at every opportunity, even if it’s something that initially seems insignificant but plain as day in retrospect.

Ain’t easy, but it’s coming together. Would have been great for this to have happened a few months ago, but that’s how it goes.

No guarantee this momentum will continue, but confidence levels are currently registering as high. I may even be so bold as to suggest a strong possibility the outline could be done by the end of the month. This will most likely be followed by either a whole lot of editing and revising, or setting it all aside to work on one or both of the two rewrites.

Either way, there’ll be at least one completed draft of this script by the end of the year.

Just your typical rewriting rigamarole

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Figuring out the rest of the story for the action-comedy spec continues, but there was a slight change of focus this week to the rewrite of the fantasy-comedy.

A lot of the story remains in place, but there are still some tweaks and minor adjustments that need to be made.

First was seeing what still worked. This involved the very-helpful writing out the entire story scene by scene, with a quick sentence stating the point of each. Or at least “here’s what’s happens here that moves things forward”.

I also dug up notes from the most recent round of readers – first-timers all. I’m still working my way through them due to the sheer volume of comments and suggestions. Some pretty good stuff, with lots about the characters and potential ideas of how to make them better.

One reader’s comments really resonated, mostly due to the fact that they pointed out something regarding the story I wasn’t aware I’d done. It was as if my subconscious was a contributing writer. Good when I do it intentionally, even better when it’s unintentional AND still works within the context of the story.

As I often do during the figuring-stuff-out phase – no matter what draft it is, I tend to overthink and cram too much stuff into the story. That’s something I want to try and avoid this time around. Like I said, most of this should only require some minor touch-up work, and I think I can limit the bigger changes to a relatively small number.

Once all of the changes are made, I’ll go through and trim the excess fat while fine-tuning it as much as possible.

Like with all of my projects for this year, progress may be slow, but it’s still coming along.

…and looking ahead

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Last week was all about 2025.

This week, to paraphrase the words of Dr Emmett L Brown, we plan for… the future!

-First and foremost, nailing down the story of the new action-comedy spec, and churning out at least 1-2 drafts. I’d say it’s about 2/3 of the way there. Still some details to work out, but I like how it’s developing.

Also nice – several readers have already volunteered their services to give it a look and subsequently tear it apart. In a helpfully critical way, of course.

-The other big thing is doing a major polish/revision on my western and fantasy-comedy specs. They’re good, but there is definitely potential to elevate the quality of each.

I’m also very fortunate to have a manager who’s really psyched about helping me on all fronts, from feedback on pages to getting the scripts out there.

As last year wound down, several columnists and podcasts talked about planning a strategy for achieving writing goals over the course of the year. A few really hit home for me, and I’ll be putting my own spin on that approach.

Looking forward to seeing how it all goes.

-Another significant project for this year is seeing the completion of post-production on my thrill-omedy short film SHECKY. The crowdfunding is just about halfway there and as of this posting, hovering around 71% funded.

Several readers of the blog have chipped in, and I once again put out a sincere request to anybody else who can contribute and is willing to do so. This is a long-in-development project for me, so any help I can get to reach that finish line is highly appreciated.

There are also some fantastic tier rewards, including invaluable feedback on scripts, directing reels, and acting reels. Click on the link above to take a look around and see if anything strikes your fancy.

-Lastly, my hosting of The Creative Writing Life Podcast continues. Guests are already lined up into February, and I’ll see what I can do about finally adding some theme music.

Those are the big ones for the next 12 months, and no doubt other things will show up.

Exciting times are ahead, chums. Make your 2026 as amazing as you want it to be.