Notes on the Art and Faith of Rewriting
1) TAKE CONTROL—Know where you're going when you begin to rewrite. Don't do it reactively or to try to please someone. Don't get pressured into rewriting something just because it is expected. You will feel icky later. Only re-write your work because YOU think it will get better. If you are forced into a situation where re-writes are paid for up front, or you are commissioned, or it is a work for hire, don't turn it down, but use a great deal of caution and find time to listen to your own voice about the project. The GOOD thing is: you can always keep an old draft and go back to it if that deal/relationship doesn't work out—as long have you haven't flat out sold the rights. For me, a promise of production often has enough value to re-write—partly because the shared experience generally shows me ways of making my work better. Keep every draft, and all your notes. You'll need them like a map as you move ahead.2) LISTEN—Value all opportunities for comments about your work, formal and informal. All comments are valuable...but some will ring true better than others. Some will be valuable because they tell you more about the other person than about your script—the kind of person who may someday be in your audience! Don't forget about the audience. Listen most to the comments that make you go "ah-ha, oh, yeah, that's right..." I used to think that the ones that bugged me, like "how dare they say that, it's clear as day!" were to be paid close attention to...nowadays, I'm thinking not so much. It can't help you if it doesn't make sense to you. Screw 'em if they just don't like it. Your greatest assignment as an artist/human is to trust and cherish yourself and YOUR sense of beauty.3) IDENTIFY, DEVELOP, EXECUTE—I generally like to re-write after there's been some time from the original draft. I like responding to a reading, where I've taken my own notes about what worked and doesn't work, and then some brief comments from actors and other listeners. I take the notes, make a numerical list of SPECIFIC goals I'm trying to accomplish, i.e., "Watch for places where so-and-so gets whiney," or "Try something different with that damn ending..." and know it's because these things will help make it closer to what you think is already there. Sometimes I'll take a whole new pass at an entire act. I do most original composing on legal pads, but re-write on the computer...but sometimes, I think this is a crutch. If you think something is a crutch, it probably is, so, I should try a new way sometime. Always fix typos, spelling, and formatting! No excuses! But when in doubt, be consistent. English sentence grammar isn't important in dialogue—but compelling rhythm of punctuation, verb tenses and perfect word choices are.4) CLARIFY—Another way to approach re-writes is by finding another point of entry into the material: drawing pictures of the structure, or making a sculpture, or finding objects or music which you think perfectly suits your play and let them help you understand what you're trying to accomplish. If you are very brave, you can try doing a very logical, objective analysis of your own work. This analysis can be guided by any number of books about writing plays. I always fall back to Aristotle's six basic elements: plot, character, theme, dialogue, music, spectacle: and realizing how the piece is utilizing each element can be very illuminating. I would avoid trying to analyze your play like how your English Teacher. By this I mean, comparing and contrasting it to another work, or against an overly simplistic ideal form. (You know: must have a quick inciting incident that establishes a single heroic protagonist with a great gift and a tragic flaw asking a dramatic question conflicting with a complex antagonist building rising action through discoveries, complications, and reversals to a single climax and a hopefully short denouement). Or like your Therapist (You know: this character must symbolize my latent desire to screw my dog!). Find a way to analyze it that's organic to the way you've internally organized it. And do try to see your play as live, on a stage. I think that helps us avoid TV/film-itis. I think it’s valid to think about where your play and your writing fits into the scheme of dramatic history and literature and into contemporary society. Don't be afraid of thinking—but don't over do it, either. It can make you mistrust your gut, which probably knows what needs to be done, anyway.5) GLOBAL VS. LOCAL RE-WRITES—Big re-writes are adding or removing entire sub-plots or characters or devices, or significantly changing the structure of your play. Little re-writes are lines that don't work, or sections of scenes that don't work, or sometimes entire scenes. Big re-writes are best done before a rehearsal process, if possible. They make actors and designers and directors crazy. Little re-writes can be done right through opening, and in some cases, beyond. One way to begin talking to a dramaturg, director or producer is to find out if they have global or local questions/confusions/suggestions/problems with your script (those are generally the words they will start with). If they issues are global, maybe they're not the director/producer for you (damn! I wish I knew this years ago...). Or maybe it is time to go with that OTHER big idea you had about how to write this play, if you're fortunate enough to have more than one way of looking at it. Remember: The director is responsible for the PRODUCTION, the playwright is responsible for the TEXT. They cannot change it without your permission!!! It is LEGALLY your work! But, if you are fortunate to be involved with a production, please be reciprocally respectful: don't speak to the actors in rehearsal, and respect your director's monumental task and the choices they make as well.6) PERFECTIONISM—I used to think that there was an ideal version of my play and to put it perfectly on the page was the ultimate goal...but now I don't think ANY play, including Shakespeare, Williams, and Mamet, is ever really perfect. On a humanistic level, who would want it to be? Now, I'm looking for a certain kind of satisfaction, like a good meal, or a nice outfit, or a long kiss. A play is finished when YOU decide it's finished—which may be after the first draft, after the fifteenth draft, or never. But realize that you're cutting off opportunities for production and artistic growth if you never agree to re-write, and if you decide it's finished when it still has elements that the majority of people think don't work. Art is about making choices. Development helps you understand and refine the choices you've already made. Know that you are making them and think about why. The re-writing process can reveal choices that you didn't even know you made—those cool subconscious choices. And as a writer, you have to protect these choices-and sometimes, yes, even refine them for public view. Theater is about working with other people—if you don't value others' opinions and choices, and work with this dynamic, then you might better write novels or poetry. Or obituaries.7) PATIENCE AND PRACTICALITY—Don't be too hard on yourself, and don't give up, particularly if you are in a blue funk about the piece!!! Even if you never write another play again, it is important for your personal artistic and educational growth to complete the process of manifesting your play and reach some closure on it. But be aware that it is very, very difficult to write a play that successfully speaks to many people, and very difficult to get your play produced. But it does happen...and if you have the motivation, you can sometimes self-produce.8) SPIRITUALITY—I think of my work as a child on a journey, from the initial "oh, that would make a good play" until the time it gets fully produced in front of an audience, then like a full grown adult, to maybe even being published, as if that were the twilight years of a new play. To get the child birthed and raised and out the door takes time, discipline, love, and a huge leap of faith. Weird thing is, they don't all mature at the same rate, and there is no promise they'll take care of you when you get old. During those long periods between readings and workshops and productions, I find it useful to think of writing as a spiritual discipline, and the practice of making art as a kind of faith in mankind, and in your own gift. I think of writing as a calling, something that I was put on earth to do for the betterment of mankind…but not perhaps my own material success. So for me, the process of re-writing is about getting closer to the truth, both inner and outer. It's a celebration and worship of dramatic communication.© 1998, Emily Cicchini