An Overlooked Aspect of The Writing Process

Some authors see writing as an exorcism.  They describe some nagging psychological haunt that won't go away until it's banished to a page.  The writing process can change you.  Think of all the discoveries you make in the process of completing a long piece of work, and all that you learn about yourself.  Ideas that drive and inspire you ripen in a script or a novel.  Inspirations can also get old and sterile -- or worse you can get sick of feeling, seeing, thinking, smelling and tasting them again, and again, and again... and again.

On top of that think of all the news, pain, happiness, and experience that transpired in your other, real life while you spent all that time traveling back and forth from your imagination...

When you complete your script, are you the same person you were when you started writing it?
 

Probably not, but it depends.  What are your writing habits?  Do you outline?  How many drafts do you write?  Do you write all the way through a first draft before you go back and look at your work, or are you a writer that re-reads and revises all of the previous days work before a new word is written?  Those preferences and superstitions combine into a long process or a short one; does it make you one of those blowhard writers who swear it takes a journey to write something worth reading, or one of those cocky crackerjacks who explode script faster than oil shooting into the gulf?  (or are you one of the other writers who fall somewhere in between?)

Give your preferences some thought, because they combine to affect how different you are at the beginning and end of the process.  How much time did you allow yourself to change?  What freedom did you allow yourself to question your perspectives, or potentially lose motivation in your subject?

It's possible that our consistency or our ability to change, is what ultimately distinguishes a good writer from a great writer.  You are not the same person you were when you started writing that first draft... How different are you?  And how does that affect a script?

Maybe its a good thing to change; like getting another set of eyes to scrutinize your work on the next draft, with the advantage of sharing the same intimate knowledge of the script.  Stephen King might agree when he offers the following advice in his increasingly seminal book, "On Writing."

"How long you let your book rest [...] should be a minimum of six weeks. [...] When you come to the correct evening [...] take your manuscript out of the drawer.  If it looks like an alien relic bought at a junk-shop or yard sale where you can hardly remember stopping, you're ready."

Divorce yourself from the material to get a clearer perspective, until you're less attatched to any line or section that doesn't serve the work as a whole.  Become a different person, with tweaked tastes and sensibilities who will approach the work with new found experience.  Who knows?  Maybe she'll discover that old-you's ideas are sophomoric and stupid...

Maybe there's an advantage to drawing a first draft out long enough for your views to change.  The tone of the work at the beginning will be inconsistent with the end, but in exchange you can attack the second draft with maturity, perspective, and new ideas.

Maybe it's healthy and even beneficial to change alongside your characters.

Then again, to let one person start a book, then hand it off to a stranger to finish it sounds like it could be a terrible idea...  What if consistency is the thing, and it's best to fight change however possible; to stay true to your original ideas -- to keep them vibrant and mysterious, and protect that they stay as close as possible to how you first found them.  Maybe this approach keeps the energy in a script, and one should rush through the writing process to avoid changing too much before he or she finishes?

Perhaps the mark of a great writer is his ability to change, but remain true to their original intentions on the page?...  What are your thoughts, fellow writers?

Charles Rhoads