Today I like my hair!

I woke up this morning and fixed my hair.  That usually sets the tone of the day.  Ladies, you are probably nodding about now, and the guys are most likely scratching their heads going "huh?" It's true!  The routine is the same, but the results may vary.  You never know until you start running a comb through the curls exactly what's going to happen.  It is either bliss, or agony.  Usually not a lot of middle ground either, and if my hair isn't playing nice, the rest of the day seems to follow suit. 

I went to bed late last night/early this morning after working on revisions on the screenplay adaptation of my story "The Hunt."  I'm short a good 20 pages, and I was more than a bit fed up with the whole thing when my head hit the pillow.  So, this morning, I decided I was going to take a break from it, get a little distance and perspective before I dived back in. 

Keep in mind that I am a disciplined writer, and I am not advocating procrastination.  What I decided to do instead was finish reading a book on screenwriting I'm almost finished with.  (Studying is a constant part of my life as a disciplined writer as well!) What I ended up with after a few hours of reading was a dozen sticky notes with ideas that came to me about my stunted script while I was busy doing something "else."  Ha! 

I also had a back-to-the-basics "duh," moment when it hit me that what I really need to do is look at the beat sheet and determine where I need them to be page-wise, and then compare that to where they actually are.  Is the inciting incident where it needs to be?  How about Plot Point 1?  Plot Point 2?  You get the idea.  Doing some simple math will give me the number of pages I need to add, and more importantly, will tell me exactly where I need to add them.  Hello, targeted revisions! 

I am very fortunate in that my story follows along extremely well with the basic story paradigm already.  That's because I have a decent foundation in setting up the story structure, which is a direct result of that studying I mentioned. 

For those of you who have read 'The Hunt," no worries, I am not changing the storyline at all. The screenplay follows the actual story very closely.  What I'm adding now are details, little things to help make Wuden Hollow a living vibrant world that will shine on a movie screen.  Little details and scenes that add to the lasting imagery. 

For example, I'm adding a brief moment where a little girl approaches Reverend Michael after the first sermon in the opening of the movie.  The wind catches her hair ribbon and blows it into the woods.  I'll use that ribbon in the woods when Michael is deciding which direction to run when being chased.  He can either go toward town, or deeper into the woods.  Then again at the end, when he sees the girl again, and he gives her back the ribbon.  Does anyone remember the girl in the red dress in "Schindler's List?"  

Plus, I'm now back to hair, which is where I started this post.  Not bad, huh?

 

Setting your Babies Free

Tonight I read the ending of my newly-completed novella, "The Hunt," out loud at the Nebraska Writers Workshop.  There's something amazingly satisfying about reaching the end of a good story.  And something even more satisfying if it's the end of one of YOUR stories.  Now that's not to say I'm finished, there are still edits, submissions, and in this case, a screen treatment of the manuscript to undertake. 

I don't quite know how to explain the rush of emotions that a writer goes through with the completion of a mansucript.  When I wrote "THE END" on the page, I was sitting in a conference room at Mahoney State Park, as part of the NWW fall retreat.  I plowed my way through the big climactic fight scene, and tied up all the loose ends before centering my cursor for those final two words. "THE END".  So final.  The picture that comes into my head is the end of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.  "Ebeday, ebeday, ebeday, that's all folks." Cue the target circles closing, and the Looney Tunes theme song. 

You'd think the first thing I would do would be to spring from my chair and proclaim to the world my triumph.  After all, I was in a conference room with a group of WRITERS.  People who understand the strange affliciton of those posessed by a story, unable to yield to anything but the drama unfolding within our mind, until the words have poured themselves from the soul and onto the page. 

But I sat there, starting in shocked silence at the words in front of me.  "THE END."  I've grown attached to these characters.  I've dreamt their dreams, spoken their words, heard their thoughts.  And now it's finished.  I like these people, and a part of me feels like I've lost my best friends.  I know by those two little words on a page, I'll never view the world through these characters' eyes quite the same again.

So, instead of wanting to jump from my seat and proclaim victory, I felt more like throwing up.  An overwhelming sense of...loss.  I think to be a good writer, you need to love your characters so much that you do mourn the fact that starting now, you won't be spending all of your time with them anymore. 

So, I sat there, in my chair and stared off into space for a while, choked back some tears, then on October 16th, at 4:13 pm  typed, "First draft of 'The Hunt' is FINISHED" onto my facebook page. At 4:19, fellow NWW writer and friend Rhonda Hall types back, "Yeah, I'm sitting next to you, and this is how I find out?" 

It's an odd thing how we writers give birth to our stories.  Sometimes, we're yelling and screaming to the rafters.  Sometimes, the peck of computer keys is all we can get out.  It actually took a few deep breaths before I could announce it to the assembled room full of writers. 

A couple weeks have passed, and I've taken some time to rewrite portions of the story.  There is still much work to be done.  Polishing the gem takes a much gentler hand than mining the raw stone.  I think of editing as "head work," and the first draft as, "heart and soul work."  Tonight I read the ending aloud at the NWW meeting.  It's nice to hear a collective sigh of satisfaction as my fellow writers appreciate the end of a journey as well. 

Another of the retreat writers, the wonderfully talented Aaron Lloyd, read the ending of his novel right before me.  His journey with the characters of his novel has taken him over two years.   That's about the length of four Hollywood marriages.  Before we entered into the meeting room to share our endings, we talked a little bit.  For both of us, there was some trepidation, a sense of "Now what?" A lot of joy, and a little sadness, as we send our babies out into the world to stand on their own, to sink or swim on their own merits.