Hop — Jump

Beijing Olympics Men's Triple Jump — by Richard Giles of Perth, Australia
By Richard Giles from Perth, Australia – Beijing Olympics: Men’s Triple Jump Panorama of Idowu Phillips, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4638191

Some projects come about as follows:

  • I write the first act in an exhiliarating blitzkrieg of creativity;
  • then, either unable or unwilling to grind through the second act, I skip it all together; and
  • I write the final act in a creative deluge that’s equal parts excitement and desperation.

At the end of this awfully quick process, I show my efforts to The Goddess, certain that, in that moment and on that day, My Work Here Is Done.

Nah-ah.

I’ve only written a beginning and an ending.

There’s no journey, no arc, no incremental building of character or drama.

Just a —

FADE IN:

— and a —

FADE OUT.

I have to work at my ending — not just fine tune how the music swells, and tweak the moment when I want tears to form in the audience’s eyes — I have to build up to it.

I have to write the rest of the damned thing.

But at least I know where the story starts and ends.

 

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