science fiction

Dismantle, reassemble

Maximum Z adventure, characters, draft, editing, emotion, rewrite, rules, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, story, storytelling, tone, writing , , , , , , , , , ,

home crew.gif

Sometimes when you’re working on a story, you just have this feeling that the way it’s being told is the way it should be told. It just feels right.

Even though I’d made some good progress with the ongoing revision of the sci-fi adventure outline, something still seemed…off. What I had was good, including several scenes that now felt necessary, but as a whole, not quite there yet.

As I’ve mentioned before, I keep all the previous drafts of the outline and script on file –  you never know when some of that text will come in handy. The recent work on the current revision was accompanied by another tab on the screen containing the previous draft, serving primarily as a sort of roadmap to help guide me through this latest effort.

Despite telling myself that this new draft was supposed to be different from its predecessor, its siren call was a bit stronger than expected. There was just something about it that couldn’t be denied. Not to say that the newer version was no slouch either.

Parts of this one work, and parts of that one work. Why not combine the two?

Sure, this even-newer draft might occasionally take a somewhat unorthdox approach in how the story’s presented, but by gosh, I still like it. “Rules of screenwriting” be damned.

There’s nothing wrong with cherry-picking parts of the new draft and incorporating them into the previous one where applicable. Of course, it would have been nice to have come to this conclustion a few weeks ago, but sometimes that’s just how it works.

What’s really nice is that for the most part, save for a few problem spots, the previous draft is still pretty solid on its own. Nothing serious, and some of these new elements look like they’ll really rectify that.

Based on some extremely helpful notes, another factor that’ll help this time around is putting more of a spotlight on the characters’ emotions. Even in this kind of story, with all of its fantastical and extraordinary elements, it’s important to show how the characters are still people.

Lastly, all the time I’ve been working on this story, I’d forgotten how the initial concept and earliest versions were all written with a certain kind of tone in mind; something to really convey the vibe of what story of story this was supposed to be and how I wanted it to read. Somehow that aspect’s diminished over time, and I plan on re-introducing it for the next draft.

This is gonna be fun.

Bit of a mishmash, but it works

Maximum Z adventure, ambition, determination, draft, food, patience, perseverance, persistence, rewriting, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, Uncategorized, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , ,
goulash
Try it. You’ll like it.

The overhaul/revision of the sci-fi adventure outline continues, with some significant progress being made – especially over the past few days.

There’ve actually been a few rough spots just to get here.

One being letting go of how the previous drafts started out, story-wise, and not letting those details affect the new one.

Another has been being able to present important and relevant details and backstory without things being way too expository.

Still another has been figuring out how some, but definitely not all, of the story details could be reorganized, restructured, pretty much rebuilt from the ground up but still have it all work within the context of the story.

It’s been quite the challenge, but the gears have been constantly and consistently turning during the search for a solution.

Took a while to get there, but looks like it’s yielding some results.

But first – a little background info.

I make a point of holding onto previous drafts of outlines and scripts, because you never know if part of it will come in handy for a future draft.

Thus was the case here.

There were sections of the story that were going to stay, but some others simply weren’t a solid fit for the new draft – but there was something about them that still worked and that I wanted to keep.

Getting them to that point took several attempts, approaches and revisions. Took a while, but I got there.

Despite being a slow and somewhat drawn-out process, the new story is gradually coming together. I’m not one to impose deadlines on myself, but once I get all of this a little more organized, the outline should come together relatively quickly.

I like the idea of having a completed first draft, possibly even a revised second draft, by years’ end.

No pressure, but we’ll see how it goes. Probably helps that I’m really enjoying putting this one together.

Same destination, different route

Maximum Z editing, Hot Fuzz, initiative, plot, productivity, protagonist, rewriting, scenes, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, sequence, setup, story, storytelling, writing , , , , , , , ,

hot fuzz

Even though I got some great notes back on the previous draft of my sci-fi adventure spec, one aspect of the script had always bothered me.

As much as I loved the opening sequence, it still felt out of place.

Its primary goal for existing was to establish and set up several plot elements and story details. It does that, but something just didn’t feel right.

Would the story still work if I took it out? Sure, but finding new ways to present all the relevant info would require some major rewriting and revising. Time-consuming (to a point), but necessary.

But that got the gears turning…

The more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed to me. Trust me, it killed me to even just consider killing all those darlings, but doing so would definitely force me to find new and original ways to tell this story.

Added bonus – a new opening would also enable me to do a better job of establishing the protagonist AND set the tone of the story.

So out all those pages went, with an ever-expanding list of all sorts of new ideas regarding How To Do It currently in development.

A writer may know what they want to happen in their script, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. The characters might unexpectedly guide you in a different direction, or maybe you realize what the story really needs is to take a sharp turn off to the side, or you decide that this is the perfect opportunity to go in a totally opposite direction.

Nothing is set in stone. You’re the ultimate creator. Everything that happens is under your control, and you can do with it what you will.

Something not working for you? Change it. Give yourself options.

Follow-up to that – go with options that still work within the context of the story and characters. Your characters still want the same thing they did before, but now you’ve drastically altered how they get there.

It’s a savvy writer who eagerly anticipates taking on the task of devising these kinds of changes. And once they’re all implemented, you’ll barely remember how it used to be because EVERYTHING WORKS SO MUCH BETTER NOW.

Suggestion – no matter how or when you come up with a new idea, WRITE IT DOWN. IMMEDIATELY. Even if you’re in the middle of working on the same script. Everybody says “Oh, I’ll remember that later.”

You won’t.

Do whatever you have to in order to preserve it.

*Apologies for a lack of post last week. I had some kind of bug that put me out of commission for a few days; didn’t even have the strength to compose a “sorry, no post this week” post.

 

I came, I saw, I removed it

Maximum Z editing, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, story, writing , , , , ,
caesar
Veni, vidi, non amoveatur

As the contents of our now-previous domicile were being sorted into their respective receptacles (keep, donate, trash, what on earth possessed us to buy THAT?), my time to write/work on something was somewhat limited.

So I squeezed in a few minutes here and there when I could. Not ideal, but better than not doing anything.

One of my ongoing projects is the rewrite of the sci-fi adventure outline. There’d already been some big changes compared to the previous draft, but it seemed to still suffer from a mild case of “just too much”.

Something had to go. But what? I liked the way this world had been established, along with setting up several vital story details that would yield some mighty effective payoffs later on.

Editor Me (EM) had to seize control from Writer Me (WM), who was really digging in his heels to keep things as they were.

“Which is more important?” EM would keep asking as WM tightened his grip. “Streamlining the story to make it more effective and flow smoother, or keeping something in there just because you like it?”

WM eventually raised the white flag, admitting that EM was absolutely right.

So drastic cuts were pending. But where to make them?

After much deliberation, the cleanest break would have to be the opening sequence – which I’d put together to really establish the world of the story, but it was simply too much, and the main character isn’t even part of it.

RIP, my darlings.

This was a tough decision to make, since this sequence offered up some prime exposition. With all of it gone, I have to now figure out new and original ways to relay some of the more relevant info and story details without resorting to the dreaded cliche of a flashback. Tough, but not impossible.

But as has occurred in the past, having a more-or-less thorough outline to work with has enabled me to salvage more than I realized, along with inspiring some new approaches. A lot of groundwork had already been established, so I get to work with what’s still there, along with utilizing odds and ends from the deleted material when applicable.

This remains a work in progress, albeit a very slow and drawn-out one. But I’d rather spend more time dealing with all of these aspects of the process now, and not agonizing later on over endless patchwork fixes scattered across a completed draft.

A challenge on multiple fronts

Maximum Z adventure, ambition, choices, creativity, determination, discipline, Doctor Who, motivation, notes, outlines, output, productivity, rewrite, scenes, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, self-confidence, spec, strategy, writing, writing process , , , , , , , ,

 

Capaldi daleks
Two possible outcomes in this scenario…

Quite the productive week around Maximum Z HQ, with the most significant being the wrap-up of the latest draft of the sci-fi adventure spec. It’s an improvement from the previous one, but could still use some more work. Rather than jump right in, I’m letting it simmer for a bit.

The original plan was to return to the horror-comedy spec, which is actually still part of the plan. Setting up the new draft’s notes page required me to dig through all of my script files, which involved seeing titles for older scripts that could also use at least one more draft. Four in total.

Thus a plan developed.

Work on all of them. A little at a time.

Jot down some ideas for one. Fine-tune a few scenes for another. Revise the outline for this one. Totally overhaul that one. Go through notes for all of them.

Or choose one to work on per day. A few steps forward, spread out over time.

Or I might strike creative gold and steamroll my way through one, temporarily foregoing the others.

Who knows how this’ll play out?

It could be a stroke of genius. It could also go horribly, horribly wrong.

But the important thing is I try. I’ve got lots of new ideas for each of these scripts, and will do what I can to make them better.

Having completed two drafts in as many months demonstrates to me that I have the ability to get the job done in a relatively timely manner. So no reason to think I couldn’t continue to make that kind of progress, or at least come mighty close to it.

Updates will be posted accordingly. Especially if the results are encouraging. Depends on my mood at the time.

Some exciting times are on the horizon and closing in fast. Sounds like it’ll be quite the thrilling journey. Hope you’ll come along for the ride.