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.
