So You Finished a Draft... Now What?

Rewriting

It’s something we all need to deal with, and there is no getting around it. Rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. In the last post, I talked about writer’s block and, well, how and why writer’s block is pretty much a whole bunch of bullshit, and to again quote Terry Pratchett, “something invented by people in California who couldn’t write”.

Because rewriting is such a layered, involved, and subjective process, meaning it’s different for every project and for every writer, this will be a relatively shorter post than one might expect. I don’t want to completely confuse you, but at the same time, it’s a subject that absolutely needs to be discussed. It is also a process that truly needs a helping hand. In other words, please try to not go through the rewriting process on your own and without support. I stress this all the time. Hire a consultant. Take a writing class. Get into a writer’s group. The first draft process is one thing, but the rewriting process is an entirely different monster.

So you finished a draft. You submitted it to four or five people you trust will give you real notes without simply patting you on the back. You’ve received those notes and they sit in a digital pile in your email inbox, and you’re scared to open them.

You finally, after pacing for a few minutes, open the email, devour the notes and possibly start crying. I’m kidding. I really hope you don’t cry. And really, after this chapter, you will hopefully feel more confident about opening those emails. But let’s start with an example of a note to get specific.

Example of note: If the reader offers you a note that says, at around page 40 or so, she just wasn’t connecting with the character. What does that mean?

Let’s first make sure that you understand something. The page number, in this particular note, probably doesn’t mean anything other than just a reference to a particular spot where she made the actual note. It’s much more likely and probable that the note is an overall note on Character Development. Okay? So we’ll stop right there just for a second.

I have discussed this in a prior post, but I’ll review quickly. What are the four story elements? Concept, Structure, Character, Page Writing - the four primary elements to any construction or development of a story or script.

But it’s not quite as organized as that little list may at first seem because all of the story elements are connected. So if you make a rewrite change or addition to your Main Character, it will invariably alter and affect how the Secondary Character’s role will play out, not just your Hero’s adventure or evolution. Still, this is remaining within the Character Development story element if you want to stay organized, but let’s dig in a little deeper.

What does it really mean that by page 40 a reader isn’t connecting with your character? Or the reader isn’t seeing the motivation come across strong enough (or whatever the character note might have been)? It’s probably because you haven’t given the reader enough existing emotional conflict and struggle early on, in the first five, maybe ten pages. So, suddenly, that page 40 comment doesn’t mean anything regarding structure, really, because it is technically referencing an emotional reaction the reader did not have earlier on in your script.

Now what does “existing emotional conflict” mean? It’s simply a reference to the emotional flaw: the sweet and sour personal issue and trait of your Main Character (he’s a “selfish, starry-eyed dreamer” or something), but also it’s connected to the deep-seeded, unknown “need” of the character.

I’m already dumping a ton of information on to you, I know. I’m doing this on purpose because this is exactly how a rewrite feels. You’ve finished a draft, you’ve given it to someone, and they say, “Change all of it” or something. This is overwhelming, but it’s supposed to be, and I’ll do what I can to explain.

I just mentioned a term, “the deep-seeded unknown need of the Main Character”. I am going to have to teach a bit to the top of the curve here because I have, in past posts, already talked about this idea of “want vs. need”, so I won’t dive into it too much. You’ll just have to go back and re-read previous posts (which you can find quite easily on my Substack homepage), but when addressing character-related notes in a rewrite, always revert back to that idea of a character’s “want vs. need”.

Does the audience fully understand and grasp what the character wants at the outset of the story?

Is that “want” then altered, changed, evolved, or shattered even, later in the story so that he then gets to the point of knowing what he needs? That is the very definition of Character Development.

But let’s go a little further into an example of breaking down the meaning of a note, especially a character-related note. I wrote a script forever ago, and so far nothing has happened with it, and thus I feel fine telling you a bit about it. And no, I’m not going to pitch it. It’s just useful here in this example since I have already received countless notes on how to rewrite it. So, in my script, a lot of reviewers were having a hard time believing that the Main Character, named Arthur, would be best friends with someone like the Secondary Character, named Damien.

Because this wasn’t a one-time note or comment – I received four or five comments from different readers - I knew that it needed to be addressed. That is point number one and reason number one to take notice of a note: when it is repeated by separate readers. So I took the note, and I knew that it was a Character Development situation that needed to be addressed, but I also knew that if I were to rewrite their relationship as a brother-brother relationship as opposed to a best friends kind of situation, this would then obviously change their dialogue in certain parts (which would be part of the Page Writing story element), but more importantly, it would change the inner motivation of Arthur, and motivation is inherently connected to Structure (and yes, Character Development, but I’ll explain why it’s leaning more toward Structure).

I then knew that I needed to allow for this character exposition about them being brothers to be released at a certain stage in the script – when the characters “meet”, or at least when the audience sees them meet, because obviously they’re brothers and they met prior to the moment we see them meet on screen. And since this script is in the comedy adventure genre, the brother relationship would need to be established immediately so the audience knows what to expect moving forward. I don’t need to add a twist or something, and there is no need to hide this information and leave it somewhere in the latter sequences. I knew this was information that needed to be presented when Damien, the brother, meets the audience – likely a Sequence 2 introduction.

I also realized that this brother relationship would probably affect how accepting or unaccepting Arthur would be of Damien overall and throughout the adventure. A best friend relationship is usually quite different than that of a brother-to-brother relationship.

And because I knew I didn’t have to change Arthur altogether, and because I was aware of what kind of person he was, I assumed he would likely be more outwardly judgmental of Damien (you know, it’s just the family thing to do). On top of that, being judgmental in general is likely connected to an even deeper-seeded need for approval from someone he loves, in this case his brother. That’s just basic psychology. When we judge someone else, we’re really just judging ourselves, and that, in turn, usually means we have low self-esteem and then need someone to approve of what we do, how we act, etc. Still with me? We’re still on this one note of the Arthur and Damien relationship not making sense.

We’re still on the Character Development story element, and that so-called negative need (the one I just mentioned where Arthur has a need for seeking approval). Understanding my Main Character’s need suddenly started a process of brainstorming new scenes based on that one note of how Arthur being friends with Damien isn’t believable. But here’s something even more confusing; the negative need of seeking approval is the opposite of the actual “need” that Arthur needs. In other words, it’s referencing his emotional flaw and struggle, so by the end of the story he needs to no longer need approval of someone else. Got it? Maybe not. I’ll explain a bit more.

Because of this one note I received, I looked at Arthur first. I didn’t look at how Damien might change or be rewritten. I looked at Arthur, because I knew he was my Hero, my Main Character, the one who needs to change the most by the end of the adventure. So by looking at Arthur and then putting him into situations, just through brainstorming, where he will interact with Damien as a brother, I knew that his approval-seeking emotional flaw would probably come out even more than it already was. Bam. Character Development is already improving and not because of one thing that happened on page 40 that the reader didn’t like, but because I hadn’t done the work well enough in the early pages to define not only who Arthur is, but his relation to Damien. It’s not that I needed to add a backstory, but instead a further clarification of what Arthur ultimately wants. Approval.

So we’ll review for a second. At the outset of receiving notes, you have to identify the story elements – Concept, Structure, Character Development and Page/Scene Writing - at which the note refers to on a primary level, but then break down how one change will affect various interactions (especially if the note is referring to character development). It’s a brainstorming process all over again, but based on the affect of the particular given note. How will this note affect my story elements as a whole?

Here’s a grand, over-arching comment or platitude: virtually every rewrite that is needed can be solved through enhancing character development and therefore character action.

Some classes force a writer to do certain rewrite passes, focusing on only one particular story element at a time. “Go through the script focusing only on structural issues. Pin point those issues, make notes in an organized way so that you can then only address the structural issues as you go through the script.” That doesn’t help. At all. We’re naturally creative people and we’re constantly considering all roads, all avenues, all options. Instead of forcing an immediate organizational approach, simply go back to the very outset of your initial brainstorming for the project and consider this...

“Who is this character? What does she want and what does she need? And, more importantly, how is some form of an emotional flaw stopping her from getting there?” If you’re constantly going back to those questions, you then need to make sure that examples of that conflict are coming out on every single page. The conflict I’m referring to is what? The character slowly realizing that what she initially wanted wasn’t actually what she needed. That’s a painful process – that process of discovering you were technically wrong in some way. That should really be your only true rewrite objective regardless of the note you receive. “Does the inner conflict of my character impact the story on every page?” From there, just dive into list-making - make lists of possible moments, without concern over structure (where or when it will happen in the script)…moments that will SHOW the Main Character managing this process of flaw confrontation (moments where and when the character has to face up to some kind of fear or emotional issue).

Even if the character isn’t present in the scene, the story belongs to the Hero, and the Secondary Characters and opponents need to be acting in a way that will threaten the Main Character’s ultimate need, always. Eventually, breaking down your rewrite will become natural to you since you’ll become that much more aware of the primary story elements of Concept, Structure, Character, Page Writing.

But let’s talk about Concept for a second, because not all notes, necessarily, refer exactly to what I was saying about my script; like the example note of, “I’m not identifying with the character”. There is an industry term called, “conceit”, and you may have heard it used in a story context. It’s derived from the word Concept. And conceit specifically means, “the most unique element of your story.” Whatever that element is, it’s what separates your story from all of the others. But how is concept proven? The Promise of the Premise? It’s proven through the action of the characters, because the character is experiencing a situation or world in which we have not yet seen that type of character experience before, and…

…HOW that character pursues his or her goal defines the unique execution of the premise.

Look at the movie SHREK, as an example. That movie is filled with conceits. Not only do we have a Main Character we haven’t seen on screen before, but he then interacts with a world and arena we haven’t seen before either. That example is technically an easy test in order to see if Concept is proven on every page, because the Main Character himself is a conceit and that Main Character will be in most, if not all, scenes, and those scenes will take place in this fairytale version of a world we haven’t seen before. Add on HOW her pursues his particular goal (which is rather simple - I just want to be left alone), and we suddenly see a very unique story.

But not every story will have a completely original character and a completely original world, so what do we have to do? We need to create the uniqueness by putting an interesting character within an interesting world, which then allows for that combination to then create a conceit - to create the uniqueness. If we take two story elements – two story elements we HAVE seen before – and put them together in a way that has never been put together before, the overall situation (which is really just “Concept”) becomes unique because of the combination, and therefore you have a conceitful situation. Which, by the way, fools the audience into thinking that the entire story is unique and like nothing we’ve seen before. Technically speaking, we have seen it before, just not in this way. That’s a unique Concept.

What’s my point? Identifying what is most unique about your story needs to be on the top of your rewrite plan checklist. Once the script is finished, you should literally write out a sentence or two that defines what you think is the most unique element and then go through the script and mark the pages and scenes where you feel that uniqueness may not be completely coming through, and then mark the scenes where you think it IS coming through. I guarantee you that most, if not all, notes that mention the story being flat or “it lost me in the 2nd Act”, is because your unique story quality, or the “conceit”, is not evident on the page.

So I will quickly review and beat this out for a second. How do you approach a rewrite?

• Take in all of the notes
• Read through them with a non-biased eye (as much as you can, and I know how hard that is)
• Let the notes sink in, and then step away, take a walk, do something else
• Do not react to the note right away

I will repeat that last one more specifically.

• Do not open up an email and start typing out all of these explanations or answers to the notes
• Don’t explain yourself
• Don’t get defensive
• Put the email away and take your fingers away from the keyboard
• Deep breaths

Once your small therapy session is complete, now the organizational process begins. If you want to be really organized, type out each note, if the notes were hand written on the side of the script, or copy and paste the notes from that dreaded email you received, and put the notes into different categories. What are those categories titled? You guessed it – the four main story elements

• Concept
• Structure
• Character
• Page Writing

Just divvy them up. Easy. It helps you relax and get into a left-brained kind of approach.

Then what? It’s really just brainstorming all over again. Granted, some of the notes will not resonate. You may receive one note from one reader saying that this or that isn’t working, and then another reader could say she loved that part. Whatever. When that kind of thing happens, you make your own decision. But, and this is important, focus on the notes that you feel will have the biggest impact on the overall story of your Main Character, especially if the same comment is popping up within multiple sets of notes. Look at those first.

Let go of the positive notes. Those are nice, but the whole point of a rewrite is to improve.

And from there, you’re brainstorming how to evolve that particular note, like I did with Arthur and Damien possibly being brothers instead of best friends. Just do a free-hand writing session of talking to yourself about what the note means…not to you personally, not to the reader, but from a non-biased story perspective.

That’s a lot, and I am barely cracking the surface of the rewriting process. It’s a messy thing, rewriting. Where do you start? How do you know if you’ve addressed the note properly? So many questions erupt, but it’s okay. Just relax, do your best at addressing the note, and, above all, do not sit on the notes for too long. I have done this myself. I received notes, let them settle in, and then suddenly four months went by, and I hadn’t touched the script and instead started something else. You lose all momentum, not only where the story itself is concerned, but where your readers are concerned, especially if those readers are executives looking forward to the next draft. You can give yourself a few days if you have to before brainstorming changes, but not too much longer.

The creative process is all about momentum, so you have to keep it up.

Like I mentioned earlier, my best advice where rewriting is concerned is always to look to your Main Character for changes that may be suggested. Even if it’s a conceptual note, you will want your Hero to drive the concept and prove what is unique about your project.

Max and The Story Farm offer all of his Substack content to ISA members for free, but a week or more after the original post was sent. If you would like to receive his most up to date Substack posts, as well as participate in a community of writers through his subscription and the Substack app, you can do so by going here: www.substack.com/@thestoryfarm