I finished my first script and foolishly thought the hard part was over. I sent it out to get some feedback while I worked on outlining potential new projects. Comments came back and I merrily went to work on a rewrite. And then another rewrite. And then a few more tweaks.
And it improved. BUT, even after several passes, I knew I still hadn't fixed the main problem … just hidden it better. So I put it away for a while and focused on other stuff.
Then, finally, I had that eureka moment when I realized why I couldn't "fix" the issues and also exactly what needed to be done to finally nail down the story. Unfortunately, it requires a page one rewrite of a story with a lot of moving parts. Undeterred, I beat out a new outline and dug in.
And got nothing.
The thing is, I'm at the point where I've spent so much time messing about with these characters and this story that I can't even tell anymore if what I'm writing is any good. All of it just feels stale - even with the significant changes I made. I think part of the problem is that even though I'm really tearing it apart, I know I'm writing with an eye to trying to use as much of what I've already written as I can. Not the best tactic but I keep finding myself just wanting to be done with the damn thing and reusing saves time and effort.
Obviously, I need to step away from it again and hope at some point the fire comes back. My question is - do any of you run into this sort of problem?
I hear about people rewriting stuff many, many times. How you manage to maintain any inspiration and objectivity at that point?
And it improved. BUT, even after several passes, I knew I still hadn't fixed the main problem … just hidden it better. So I put it away for a while and focused on other stuff.
Then, finally, I had that eureka moment when I realized why I couldn't "fix" the issues and also exactly what needed to be done to finally nail down the story. Unfortunately, it requires a page one rewrite of a story with a lot of moving parts. Undeterred, I beat out a new outline and dug in.
And got nothing.
The thing is, I'm at the point where I've spent so much time messing about with these characters and this story that I can't even tell anymore if what I'm writing is any good. All of it just feels stale - even with the significant changes I made. I think part of the problem is that even though I'm really tearing it apart, I know I'm writing with an eye to trying to use as much of what I've already written as I can. Not the best tactic but I keep finding myself just wanting to be done with the damn thing and reusing saves time and effort.
Obviously, I need to step away from it again and hope at some point the fire comes back. My question is - do any of you run into this sort of problem?
I hear about people rewriting stuff many, many times. How you manage to maintain any inspiration and objectivity at that point?
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