The Wall Seems to Be Winning

We expected a few bumps in the road, didn't we?

So the first draft sailed to completion - but now that we are 90% there - the last 10% of work is getting the better of me. It's only the opening. The first 5-10 pages of the script. The part that sets up the story, introduces our character and her pre-movie situation, the problems in her world that need to be resolved. The part that makes us like her and invests us in following her journey. It's also the only part you are guaranteed everyone in the biz will read. So, just that.

It is the most important 10% of the whole script. It has to be just right. And although the majority of people who have read the script like the opening - there are an important few who just don't like it as much of the rest of the story. And even though I am in the latter - and I love the opening I have - I've been around the block enough to know - your first pages have to work for everybody. Well, that one crazy aunt who wears house-slippers to the supermarket, we can let her go. But everyone else must have the same reaction. Do you know what that reaction is?

I want to read more.

So, today, tomorrow, the next day and the day after that I will be working and reworking my opening.

And how am I going to do that? I'm going to go back to character and character arc. I'm going to invite my character into the squishy recesses of my brain cavity and let her hang out. I'm going to imagine what she learns and where she ends up. I'm going to then use that information to create a scene that best sets this up.

Wish me luck and happy banging your head against the wall. (It just makes if feel that much more satisfying when you happen upon the solution.)