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| Working the rewrite |
Yesterday, I wrote about how you
were the one in charge of writing the script of your life. It’s your story and you need to be the one
who determines which direction it takes.
I also shared how while writing a scene from Surrender, Virginia
Hart’s cheating husband, Pierce, appeared in the scene when he wasn’t even
supposed to be in the book. Suddenly,
the scene was off the outline and with each scribble of my pen I had to
improvise the rest of the chapter, following my character’s instincts over my
thought out plan.
Life is the same way. Something occurs that takes you off script
and you find yourself having to improvise your next moves. It doesn’t have to be anything major. Perhaps an accident keeps you from taking a
trip you had been planning or keeps you out of the big game. It doesn’t change your life story, just a few
upcoming scenes. Frustrating it may be,
but not life altering. It requires a
small amount of rewriting, but before you know it, you’re back into the main
story without much wasted ink.
However, sometimes an event can
take the story in a whole new direction.
Unplanned pregnancy. Job loss. Death of a loved one. Divorce.
Your life has suddenly taken a dramatic turn and the rest of the story
has to be reworked. At first, you’re not
sure what to do and you just coast. You’re
improvising the next few days, maybe weeks while you’re rewriting the outline
of your future.
It’s not always negative. The unplanned pregnancy can be an amazing
thing, especially once that bundle of joy lands in your arms. Of course, you’ll have to rewrite your nights
with wake up cries and dirty diapers, but it will be worth it. The new story line will be a gripping page
turner, especially when the baby hits the teenage years.
It could also be a job promotion
that comes with a relocation, perhaps a financial windfall, or true love’s
magical kiss. Each of these events will
take your story on a different journey than it was heading. You will need to rewrite your outline for
upcoming chapters, crossing some things off and adding others, again
improvising as you go until it is done.
Hopefully, you do have an outline
for your life, goals you wish to achieve in five, ten, twenty years. You should be working toward something, a
purpose for your life, not merely existing.
That would be a life of total improvisation, when every day you just
wake up and wing it, creating a life out of what’s around you instead of
stretching toward a dream. That’s
existing; not living.
However, even with a plan firmly
in place and your eyes on a certain ending, life happens in unexpected
ways. If you do not allow for some
flexibility, you’ll snap and the rest of your script will wind up in the
shredder as you visit the looney bin.
Sometimes you are just going to have to improvise things, play off of
what’s going on around you until you regain a thread of the new story you can
run with.
That’s what happened with
Virginia. Once Pierce appeared in the
scene, I just kept writing, unsure myself what was going to transpire, until
another subplot revealed itself and strengthened my novel. I had to be willing to allow the characters
to float for a bit on the unexpected plot twist before the new outline came
into focus. You may have to do the same
thing with life for awhile until your new path becomes clear. Don’t panic.
It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the story, just a new direction.
While you need to have an idea of
where you’re heading in life, you also need to be receptive to new storylines
that open up to you along the way. Some
may just come across your path in the normal flow of time while others explode
upon you in a maelstrom of chaos. Be
open and flexible. Improvise without
killing the show and in your forward momentum another tale will unfold and
stability will return. You may stumble a
little, many people do, but don’t quit.
The story to come will quite possibly be even better than the one
before. You won’t know, however, until
you make it through the rewrite.
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Great post Robbie.
ReplyDeleteUseful advice. My current novel keeps heading off in different directions to what I had planned. first draft feels pretty unstructured and messy right now. I'm sure with the following drafts that normality will be restored in the narrative.
Thank you, David. I look forward to seeing how it pans out. My novella did the same thing and I had to go back and add chapters as deeper things were revealed in the first draft.
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