I completed another writing exercise this week and contemplated the feedback I had on my “Bright Freedom” treatment.
"The Chronicles of the Natural Mobster"
Was James Smith a natural mobster?
· https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/the-chronicles-of-the-natural-mobster
"Bright Freedom" Treatment Feedback
One person wondered if I could change the character to a white man. I felt that if you did that, the story wouldn’t make any sense. Another possibility that occurred to me would be to either introduce a new character, or change the character George, to be the protagonist. I think this would make things worse, since it is really Bright’s story.
I have clarified what I see as my options for the project are.
· Give up on it and find a different story to tell,
· Work with a sensitivity reader,
· Find a collaborator who will work with me on the project, or
· Find someone to take over the project altogether.
What to Write Before You Write
In the writer’s group we got into a discussion of the difference between a treatment and an outline. In many ways they are similar. As I see it, the main difference is in who the intended reader is. The goal of a treatment is to explain to someone else what you intend to write. The goal of an outline is to help you work out the story before you write it.
A few years ago, I wrote an article about how to write a script where I identified a bunch of other pieces of writing you might write before you write the first draft of a script.
· https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/articles/how-to-write-a-feature-movie-script/
My views have evolved since then, but I still believe in the idea that you need to write a lot of background material before you start to write. In my own experience, I only do that for a longer piece. For a short story, I find I can just dive into the writing.
This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog
