The Re-Write Process

I've been trying to hammer out a really solid new draft of the feature
script for the past month. After shooting the short film in August, a
little over a month ago, I felt mentally drained from the story. I
needed a break. It was a wonderful and satisfying experience to
create the short. But to immediately dive into more re-writes on
the feature was taxing. Especially because this is a film about
depression and mental illness affecting friendship. (The subject
matter of what I'm writing always seems to impress itself upon
me. I wonder if all writers feel this way.)

But about two weeks ago, I had a breakthrough. I was talking to Mike
(our director) and we came across a new idea that really took the
story in much more structured direction. We decided to have these
girls go on a hike together to visit an old landmark. On their hike,
they encounter a young couple tending their dog with a broken leg.
The girls decide to help the couple out, and in the process are
separated for a brief span of an hour. The separation, however brief,
allows them to re-evaluate and get themselves together, so to speak.
When writing this weekend, in my mind, I likened this experience
to spending a whole weekend with your significant other, and maybe
having on hour apart to run an errand or something. And you sort of
come back from the errand feeling like you got your individual
bearings again.

Anyhow, I always find the writing process to be fascinating, so
I thought I'd share mine. After Mike and I came up with this
idea, I was re-invigorated to work on this story again.

I promised Traci and Mike I'd have a draft for them last night
by 8 pm. So, I spent most of the weekend hibernating and writing
in my apartment. It felt strange at points. At one moment yesterday,
in the late afternoon, I looked at the early fall light streaming in my
apartment, and realized exactly how silent it was, and how long I'd
been working and absorbed in this world. I think those moments of
realizing how deeply you can live in your own head are incredible.
And one of the main reasons I write.