I have just written the first draft of the teleplay. It was a rough goal, but the page count is currently at 58. I'm not sure how this happened, but I've been obsessed with this page count since day one. I can't even believe how many scenes are squashed together, and I was thinking this was going to end up at least being 65 pages. Granted, this is a first draft and the number will change.
I'm excited. This draft along with other ideas has given me ideas on how to write some episode bios for the Bible. Once this semester is over, that will be on the top of the list for writing projects to do.
This script has challenged me in different ways. Writing the outline I was more objective, but while writing the script I found myself being more affected by the content. I didn't expect this initial episode would be so dark (and I would not intend for the entire series to be this way because I think it would quickly flat line), but there's been times where this script has sent my mind into some creepy places. I've grown to love many of the characters; I'm excited that Caden and Rebecca are shining through so much more than in the film script version. Lise has even had somewhat of an upgrade, and I think she was already a fairly polished woman.
After spending this much time with character development, I have to admit that it's amateur to think that a writer is only writing characters based off themselves or it's something deeply repressed in his or her mind. Building characters is more like working with photoshop or color correcting editing in general. I see it as though there's several ranges to play with like saturation, contrast, gamma level, etc. These levels have different names for character development, but it's those tweaks that give arbitrary words actual souls. I am not like most of the characters I write. I don't have their abilities -- I mean I can't power house through a building with acrobatics. I'll sprain my ankle (though I wish I could be an acrobat. Olympic gymnastics are on my list of people to envy). I'm not as evil, twisted, and sadistic as some of these characters. I have a weak stomach when it comes to blood; writing about it is rather fun, but actually experiencing people with arms chopped off and puddles of blood is too much for me. That's why I'm a writer, not a crime scene investigator or doctor. I'm also not as good as some of these characters. They have moral compasses that stay true even in the most intense of conflicts. In a sense, I can learn from these imaginary characters and scenarios and in turn improve myself.
A writer needs to have a large amount of range in writing various types of characters, emotions, and across genres. I can write a light hearted comedy just as well as a having-to-keep-your-light-on-at-night horror epic. I think as we progress in society we'll see more and more that writing is not necessarily a blueprint of an individual's psychosis. This error has caused a great deal of suffering for writers, why if we only turn back a century ago some of the most famous writers (especially women) were institutionalized for what they wrote on paper. Just the same, we would burn people at the stake more often for having brains than actual users of witchcraft / magic. There is a number of thoughts, emotions, and experiences to delve into for writing, but the art of fiction is to make writing ring true not necessarily be the identity of the writer's soul. Writing may come from a place of authenticity in the writer's life, but what arises out of that authenticity doesn't have to be who the person is in and of his or her self, and it doesn't mean they've been through the experience that's on the paper. I have not rode on dinosaurs, fought giants, and used telekinesis -- maybe in my dreams -- but I can paint these ideas in words. And that's what it is. An artistic representation of reality, not the exact reality of a person's mind.
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