How to Stop Worrying and Love the Rewrite - Part 2
Twenty (more) filmmakers, authors, and comic book writers from around the globe weigh in about how they self-edit and find their stories' true identities
“The first draft of anything is shit.” - Ernest Hemingway (TRUE)
“Great writers aren’t great first-drafters. They’re great rewriters.” - Taika Waititi (ALSO TRUE)
The art of revision — self-editing or rewriting — is a deeply subjective aspect of our craft and so, like most everything about the arts, we all develop different tools, philosophies, and practices to accomplish the exact same thing. To explore this subject in greater depth, I invited a cast of brilliant screenwriters, novelists, and comic book writers I know to weigh in on this subject. Here’s the question I posed to them:
There are many theories about how to tackle a first draft, from strict outlining, to pantsing it (as the British say about making it up as you go along), to vomit drafts that begin with an outline but incorporate every whim you have along the way to discover characters and plot. Let’s talk about rewriting, though. What is your approach to finding your story’s true identity in all the work you put into that first draft?
But when I sent this question out, something unexpected happened. I got too many responses, probably because it was a subject so many were excited to discuss. Consequently, I had to break what was meant to be a single article featuring twenty-five artists down into two parts - with twenty artists featured in each.
Here’s Part 1, which you should read first if you haven’t yet. It features twenty artists who have helped gift to the world multiple critically acclaimed novels, three STAR TREK films, CHILD’S PLAY, STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC, a film featuring a teenager having sex with an apple pie, tons of comic books, the SHARKNADO series, and much, much more.
Below, you’ll find Part 2 and the second twenty responses I received. Some are practical, some are technical, some are philosophical. In all cases, they come from professional artists - many operating at the very tippy-top of their game. In addition to the various mediums they work in, they represent a diverse range of voices and cultural backgrounds from across the globe including the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Spain, and Australia. Hopefully, their perspectives and experiences will be of some help to you wherever you are on your own creative journey.
KELLY FREMON CRAIG (screenwriter/director, ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET.)
A first draft feels like groping in the dark. A second draft feels like working with a light on — I can see where I am, so I have a better idea where to go next. This is probably why I like rewriting so much more than writing. Before I begin, I try to get a little distance from my first draft. Forget about it for a few days. When I pick it up to read it, I pay close attention to how it’s making me feel. Where am I leaning in, where are my eyes glazing over? Do I like these people? Does any of this make sense or have I totally lost my mind? I act as my own first audience.
Usually, it’s impossible for me to read more than a scene or two without stopping to fix and change things. Most of what I write in a first draft makes me cringe but I’ve trained myself not to be alarmed by that and just keep going. As I rewrite, my aim is always richer detail, but more brevity. How do I convey the most I possibly can in the smallest about of time? I experiment with “what ifs.” What if X happened on page 30 instead of page 50? What if she’s pouring sweat on her job interview? What if it turned out she was lying about her promotion? I pay attention to how each change is making me feel about the story and characters. The act of playing around and trying things ultimately reveals the “identity of the script” as you called it. Certain aspects of the story I know before I start writing, but most of it — arguably the most interesting parts of it — I discover as little surprise treasures during the journey of rewriting.
Kelly is a U.S.-based filmmaker. She was also the first guest in 5AM StoryTalk’s artist-on-artist series, which you can read here.
ANGELO PIZZO (screenwriter/producer, HOOSIERS)
I write my first drafts from more of a feeling, intuitive place. I tried an outline in my first attempt at screenwriting and felt straitjacketed. In fact, I gave up on my effort altogether because I thought what I had written sucked. Then about six months later, it was suggested to me that I try the Nabokov method, which entails never reading a word of what you’ve written until after the work is completed. I finished Hoosiers that way and have used the same method for the forty-eight scripts I have written since.
I like the description of writing a first draft from the lower chakras and rewriting from the upper chakras. That resonates, as does the idea that first drafts are domains of the right brain and rewriting are domains of the left. The fact that my first six years in the business was spent in the executive/development world was beneficial. In working with other writers, I was able to develop that logical, analytical, objective muscle in my left brain. And it is that muscle which I turn to after completing my first draft. I read that draft almost as if someone else had written it, and my job is to meet with that person and give him constructive notes. It is only then that I truly discover what I have to work with.
Angelo is a U.S.-based filmmaker.
MELINDA HSU (showrunner, “NANCY DREW”)
The best rewriting advice I ever got was from Ed Solomon (MEN IN BLACK), so I’ll start with that. He said: Before you start a rewrite, come up with five specific goals for that rewrite pass. For instance, here’s a list of rewrite goals I might have for a TV script with a six-act structure: 1. Make the character of the grandmother funnier. 2. Create a splashy opening sequence with eye candy to get a director excited. 3. Cut five pages out of Act One. 4. Bring forward the simmering romantic attraction between the two leads all the way throughout. 5. Figure out a more impactful low point for the hero at the end of Act Three to make the emotional payoff land harder in Act Five. The end result of this list of rewrite goals is that your next draft will be better and not just different.
To answer your question more specifically, finding a story’s true identity should also be the underlying goal when coming up with your list of revision tasks. But sometimes you need to take a bigger step back if you feel you’ve lost track of the story’s true identity. Taking a bigger step back can look like going for a walk in nature, or setting the script aside for a few days or weeks if you have the luxury of that time. I sometimes find it useful to journal and free-write about why I wanted to write that particular script or character journey in the first place. And I like to ask myself how I want the audience to feel while watching this show/movie. With that question, I get specific about the audience. For instance, “How is my thirteen-year-old niece going to feel when she sees that hug at the end of Act Five? What would melt her heart?” I also like to tap into my own sense of wonder. Watching a guilty pleasure movie, re-reading part of my favorite book from childhood (like THE LORD OF THE RINGS), giving myself ten minutes to sit in the sun and let my mind wander… all of it can help me get out of my own way and remember what I really care about in a script.
Melinda is a U.S.-based screenwriter. She’ll be joining me for one of my artist-on-artist conversations early next month.
DEBORAH SPERA (author, CALL YOUR DAUGHTER HOME)
Rewriting is my very favorite. I love it so much and I love notes. If you are lucky to have a reader that gets what you are trying to do and sees how to help you make it better? I live for that. A good note can expand your mind, a good note allows you to move the jigsaw puzzle into a different form, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but you learn something more about your story in the process. In a first rewrite, I look for clarity in the character(s) journey(s). What did I miss? Where did I fall? What can I add or cut to make this clear? The book I’m working on now is written from a four-character first-person narrative, so I must clarify the individuals I’m writing about, as well as their personal dilemmas, and create a macro story that is historically accurate so I can pull them into orbit. I want to care about what happens to these people individually and collectively. But first, the characters and their journey’s must be clear.
Second, I check my plot to see if it is informed by character and not device. I like my plots to serve the characters and not the other way around. For me, good characters create good action. That’s the way I tackle it. I work from the inside out, not the outside in. The third thing I tackle is plausibility. Do I believe what I’m writing could happen? Does the reader? I steer clear of notes that don’t make a story better, but I try them first. I once got a note from husband about the end of a first chapter. He suggested the character do something outrageous. To me, that was impossible, my character would never do such a thing. I could not see it, so I didn’t try. I rejected that note for one year and was hitting my head against the wall trying to figure out why the story wasn’t working. I had painted myself into a corner with a character I barely knew. Chapter One. When I decided to give the note a whirl (yes, those are the words I said to myself) the whole world of the novel opened. I was suddenly on an adventure. I couldn’t see where I was going, but I was damn eager to find out. Now I am rewriting a second book because I tried the note and saw the path forward and was willing to be surprised. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Give it a try. And if it doesn’t work, you’ll know right away. As I said, give me all the notes and all the rewrites, they are the most fun of all.
Deb is a U.S.-based author, screenwriter, and producer. Her debut novel, CALL YOUR DAUGHTER HOME, is out now.
TIM LONG (screenwriter/co-executive producer, “THE SIMPSONS”)
My best advice for tackling a rewrite on your own first draft is this: try your best to forget you’re the one who wrote it. And the first step in doing that is to let some time elapse between completing the first draft and diving into the second. Take a nap, eat a sandwich, talk shit with a good writer friend about another, unaccountably more successful writer (that hack) — any of the lovely pastimes and hobbies writers indulge in to avoid, you know, writing. Eventually, you’ll forget all the horrors and glories you went through writing that first draft (mostly horrors, probably) and get down to the business of revision and re-imagining.
If you’re seriously committed, I suggest the following bit of one-person role play: pretend that the person who wrote the first draft is someone you really hate (easy for me) and that the executive is someone you really like (hard to do, but bear with me). The executive knows how bad the first draft is, and has assigned you this rewrite in a last-ditch effort to save the project. You have free rein to do whatever you want: cut, rethink, reword, rearrange, whatever. If you fail, it’s no big deal — how could anyone save a disaster like that terrible, terrible first draft? But if you succeed, you’ll be the toast of Hollywood and have all the love and money you could possibly want. The only imperative is to be bold and do whatever it takes to save the rotten fetid pile of raw sewage that is this first draft.
Is this approach unusual and perhaps even a little psychotic? Maybe. But it’s a fun exercise, and also a good way to remember that your job is to make the new draft as good as it can be, without regard to anyone’s feelings — including your own.
Tim is a U.S.-based screenwriter.
LATOYA MORGAN (screenwriter/consulting producer, “THE WALKING DEAD”)
There’s nothing on this planet more satisfying as a writer than rewriting a story I’m excited about. For me, first drafts are pure hell. I despise the blinking cursor on my computer that mocks me every time I open a dreaded blank document. It’s like pulling teeth to get the essentials onto paper and out of your head. But once it’s been pried from your beautiful mind, that’s when the true magic begins. When I have the beginning, middle, and end of my story, I can settle into what I love most - deepening my characters and shoring up logic holes. I have three good rewriting rules that I follow.
“Start at the end.” Now that I know where my story’s going, it’s easier to see the path that characters need to take to get there. I like to start at the end, then track character decisions (more on that in a bit). Once those decisions are tracked, I comb through the script scene by scene and interrogate them. Do we really need this moment? Is this the best way to accomplish the objective of the scene? Is there enough conflict? Am I bored? Do I feel like I’ve seen it played this way before? If the answer to that last question is yes, I always change it! Going to the end of my story always gives me fresh eyes for the story as a whole.
“Make it make sense.” Let’s say I’ve got a character pulling a heist in a climactic scene. I need to know who’s pulling the job, who’s the target, and why they’re doing it. I make sure they’re motivated by more than the plot machinations requiring an action beat in the closing moments or screenwriting myths that say “X should happen by page Y." A personal gut check is an excellent barometer as well. Do I really buy that this wallflower character would be so bold in this moment? I certainly could buy it, if it’s been set up properly in a believable way that makes the scene feel earned. The true key is to always make the story feel as real as possible. Bonus points if it feels fresh and unexpected.
“It’s the characters, stupid!” Even if I’m writing in a genre like action or horror that can feel well-tread, good character work can set still set my story apart. When I create characters, I use a combination of research (everything from the time period to specialty knowledge my characters might have) and experiences I’ve had with family, friends and associates, that have incredible stories and colorful ways of speaking. To me, putting a unique stamp on characters is like cooking good gumbo. Sprinkle in a little of this, a dash of that, and then…I’ve got something delicious.
Rewriting is its own special bag of tricks that’s guaranteed to elevate your story to the next level. And if you’re like me, typing the words “revised draft” is nothing short of special. Happy rewriting!
LaToya is a U.S.-based screenwriter and comic book writer. She co-created “DUST” with J.J. Abrams, which debuts later this year.
LISA HOLDSWORTH (screenwriter/executive producer, “A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES”)
I hate writing outlines, but I know that I need one. So, I bitch and moan my through writing the outline, during which I make note of any dialogue that springs to mind. I try to concentrate on plot and structure, but the other stuff inevitably creeps in, Then I write a "kitchen sink draft" where I try and hit very beat of the outline. That's when I find out if the characters’ actions are well-motivated. If I grind to a halt, it's usually because I just don't believe my characters are behaving realistically.
Lisa is a U.K.-based screenwriter. She is also a former Chair of the Writers Guild of Britain.