Saying Good Bye to Characters

Just got the shooting script of Growing the Big One. For the first time I got to read the changes made to my script since I handed it over. I think I might need a stiff drink or two.

I've been a professional writer for over a decade — writing for a variety of magazines and companies. I know the client writing the check has the final say, so it's dangerous to attach your ego to words that can be (and often are) drastically altered.

I pride myself on being able to shrug off edits with the best of them — it's just part of the business of commercial writing. So why can't I shrug off these edits as easily?

But it's my story

I've always known screenwriting is commercial writing. It's just that this time the client is a studio and/or producer paying me instead of a publisher or corporation.

I knew while I was writing that first draft that if I was profoundly lucky and someone picked up my story, it would lead to story edits.

So, again, why can't I shrug off these edits as easily?

Saying Good-bye

This may sound odd, but I think it's because I had to say good-bye to some people I cared about. Several of the characters I had crafted, loved and lived with for months as I wrote disappeared or were combined with other characters. It's like having someone you're close to vanish into thin air.

I've listened to other writers lament over the changes made to their stories and how their characters have been destroyed. I feel for their pain, but although edits aren't the easiest thing to read, I'm not quite as worked up as some.

Saying Hello

Why? Because I'm a writer! I can write another story and I can populate it with characters I've lost.

Oh sure, they may have a different hair color, be a little older or younger, or hold a different job, but I'll know who they are. They're my buddies — characters too good to be deleted.

We writers may not have the final say when it comes to editing, but we definitely have the power to resurrect.