I started to work on this project as a script in August 2009. Since then I wrote 9 drafts as a script and 26 drafts as a novella. I dropped it several times and now I think I might take it up again.
Recently I listened to a few Perry Mason audiobooks that I found on YouTube. They are very different from the impression I had from what I remember from the old Raymond Burr TV show. My character, Bright Freedom, is also a lawyer with an unconventional approach, so that prompted me to revisit the story.
Story Threads
As it stands now my story has three main threads, which, while separate stories, are linked in a way that I can’t remove one without undermining the others.
The main thread, from my point of view, is the personal issue that Bright Freedom struggles with. I added the other threads as a way to externalize her internal issues.
The second thread is the conflict with corporation that threatens to destroy a community. The community hires Bright to help them fight back. While Bright is a hired gun in this thread, her personal issues drive her to take it on.
The third thread is Bright’s dedication to helping abused women. She takes this on as a personal goal. It leads her to take great personal risks.
Issues I’ve Run Into
- One issue that I struggle with is that the main character is a woman with a different background and life experience than I have. I have some trepidation about being able to create a realistic character. I also worry about how some people might feel about me writing such a character. It is usually this issue that causes me to drop the project.
I told myself that I should just write the story and then ask some people who would identify with Bright to tell me what they think. I assume that I could then manage to fix any problems with out having to make major changes to the story. That is something I am not confident of.
I have tried to reassure myself by seeing examples, like Ripley in “Alien”, where filmmakers change a character written as a male character into a female. That gives me a bit more confidence about what I want to do.
- A second issue is just what exactly the corporation is up to. I’ve felt that what exactly they are up to doesn’t matter, so I never make it clear in my previous drafts. I still feel this way, but I have come around to the view that if I had a clear reason for the conflict, that it would be easier to write and develop the story.
Ideally, the reason would connect more clearly to Bright’s internal conflict. I do sort of hint at that now, but it would help if I could make it more explicit. The main reason I have started to think about this is that I feel that it would allow me to add some more twists and turns to the story.
The first 3 or 4 scenes of the story have a lot of action, but the later parts of the story are much less intense. I think the conflict with the corporation could supply more intensity.
- A third issue is that I wanted to write the story as a straight forward action adventure story. However, the issues that Bright deals with, battered wives and honor killing, are serious issues and I worry that my approach might trivialize them.
In the past I took the view that the story is a wish fulfilment fantasy, where the intrepid heroine defeats these problems. I think of the old cowboy movies where the good guy can kill off hundreds of bad guys with out reloading his six-shot revolver. I still think of the story in that way, but I still worry how people will react to that approach.
Why Do I Keep Trying?
Despite all the problems with the story, I go back to it again and again. There is something about it that I feel I need to express. I think it is the character of Bright Freedom that holds my attention. It is as if she has taken on a life of her own and demands that I write about her.
I had a similar experience with my movie “Line of Taxis”. It too took on a life of its own and demanded that I make it. In that case, it was the support of my collaborators on the film that helped me press ahead. I’ve wondered from time to time if I should try to find someone to collaborate on this story. I can’t think of anyone I know who I feel would be right for the story. I don’t know how I can find someone either.
This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog
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