Day 3 : Speak to Me

The Week of Seclusion came to its ending this evening. Though I was only able to spend three solid days writing, (the other two days were spent on the road), I accomplished quite a bit of work for the script. I was hoping to have the first draft ready by tomorrow, but now, I don't think I want to finish it just yet. It's not because I'm being lazy and I don't want to write. It's more complicated than that.

This week by myself wasn't spent entirely on my own. I spent the majority of my time with the characters in the script. I learned about their histories and personalities. I became engrossed in every single detail they shared with me. They allowed me to inquire about anything and everything; their likes and their dislikes, their sex-lives, their dreams...their hopes and their fears, favorite restaurants, their fetishes and their secrets. Nothing was too personal or too private for them to divulge. 

The characters spoke to me.

I tried to do this a few months ago, interview style. The characters obliged me and answered all of my questions, exactly. When I stacked up all of the recorded interviews and began to read them, their answers sounded...scripted. That's not what I was after at all. So I discarded the interviews and began to wonder if the characters truly wanted their story told. I took a break from the idea of writing their experiences because honestly, I had no idea what they were trying to tell me about themselves or what they had been through.

How could I translate if I was unable to understand?

All of that was changed this week. I formed a bond with these individuals and made a pact with them. Now I have a commitment to help communicate and share their tales of adventures (and misadventures) through dialogue. I decided to intertwine their stories, making them one. Thankfully the characters have agreed to share their experiences using performance as a medium.

Even though it wasn't finished today, I expect to have the first draft of the script finished on September 1st, 2010. Truthfully, I don't have a clear plan on what to do with the script after it's written, but I'm excited to see what may happen when I get there.