Working It Out

Writing is REALLY hard.

The working title of my first book is: "The Perfect Role".

I've already written one complete version of the 12 chapter breakdowns that make up the novel.

And, like most things, once I was done, I realized that I'd written the story entirely BACKWARDS.

So, I've spent the past week rolling the whole thing over and over in my head trying to rework it, and then put all of that down onto the page so that it makes some kind of chronological sense.

I will say that this second version is definitely MUCH better than the first.

This is all based on something one of my drama teachers taught me back in my theatre days: "Always play the opposite."

Of course, in that context, it simply meant that if you wanted the audience to cry, then you SHOULDN'T. Play the opposite. It's always more heartwrenching to watch someone REFUSING to cry even in the face of great adversity, than it is to see them crumble and give in like a victim.

But I've always liked that word: opposite.

I remember helping a former boyfriend write some poetry, a few years ago. He'd written all this beautiful work, primarily in couplets. I mentioned to him that I thought that if he simply reversed the first two couplets in each four line stanza it would be more powerful, and surprising for the reader.

Cause when you write something for the first time, you are still just figuring it out yourself. Once you're done doing that, then you should always go back, and switch it around, so that both you and the audience are surprised where something is going.

Play the opposite.

Anyway, all this has led to a complete back-to-front reversal of my storyline and chapter breakdowns. Which of course also means that I've now had to rewrite and ADD tonnes of stuff to the new re-jigged story.

But it isn't taking quite as long as the first version took.

Certainly the characters are seeming more and more at my fingertips, and is some cases are telling me where they want to go.

It's a fascinating process.

And a frustrating one.

But then, like most things in life, it all depends on how you look at it.

Play the opposite, indeed.