Fix it in rewrites

[Hang of Thursdays]

So I've written almost 60 pgs of my (presumably) 90 pgs WIP. SciFi/Horror thing, whatever.

And I've done this in about four days, and feel pretty confident that I'll have it finished by the end of this weekend.

I've got a few things on my side:


I spent about a month outlining/brainstorming/spitballing and a solid week going through multiple revisions of "the Board."
I'm also unemployed. Which I *highly* recommend if you need to get some writing done.


I've also skipped over at least one scene, given the villains short thrift in the setup, and have stumbled upon what I think's kind of a neat trick: I've just made some stuff up as I go along. Written myself into a dead-end? Suddenly one of them's an ex-IRA guy who can improvise explosives. Need a plot twist? Suddenly one of them turns on the others.

Characters change on a dime from not-really important to as useful as they need to be to keep the story moving forward.

Screw the setup. Fix it in rewrites. I figure I can always go back and set it up.

Is it good? Well, it's better than the very first script I wrote ten years ago when I was 14, but that's not saying a whole hell of a lot.

Not counting that one, this will be my first real, grown-up attempt at writing a screenplay -- the first one where I've actually read a half-dozen books and done the pre-work and haven't actually stalled out at the end of the first act -- which is thrilling in and of itself.

What I'm wondering is if anyone out there has had similar luck making very rapid progress using this "method" (not necessarily the unemployed bit), and what kind of dangers lurk in the shadows? How badly am I going to want to jam a screwdriver into my temple in a month or so when I get to the rewriting stage? How badly have I screwed myself?

I'll add that this "method" likely comes as a revelation to exactly none of you.

Thoughts?

[icerose]

My first real script I wrote in 6 days. It's still in revisions. Last year I did a write for hire in 9 days, no revisions. They were extremely happy with it. The first being my first script and chances are you have much to learn and will be revising into eternity to get it right but you will learn so much. The latter I knew what I was doing so I was able to meet the extreme deadline, yes the 9 days was their deadline. I had also written more than a dozen features and 6 episodes by the time I had to come up with and write that feature in 9 days.

[hopefulheart]

I watched the filming of "Comes a Horseman" staring Jane Fonda, James Caan and Jason robards. It was filmed in Colorado where I lived. I had access to the script and it was changed and rewrote at least 3 times during filming. If that helps any one. The origional script was written by Mark Harmon.