Rewriting / Reescrivint

This last week I've been quite away from the blog. Well, I don't know if a week's a lot or not in Blog-time, but anyway... The thing is, I've been busy with my MA's Final Project. As some of you may know, for my Research Project (that's how they officially call it) I'm writing a feature film, and I've just finished rewriting its third draft. Yes. Third. If you're involved in any way in this world you know these things happen all the time, but for those who are not I guess now all the "so you're a writer, oh, how cool" thing seems a bit less realistic.

First of all let me tell you a bit about it. I'd like to sell it -or at least to give it a try- so I'm afraid I can't post anything about its plot yet, but what I can tell you is that it's an epic drama based on real events that happened on the Middle Ages. It has all the elements that make a movie of this kind good -love, death, blood, pride, honour, ambition- and the story hasn't changed much during the past six months as it's already very consistent. However, the script has suffered many changes, and that's the point of everything: no matter how times you've heard it, or if it's the first time you do, there's something you always have to keep in mind if you are or want to be a writer: writing is rewriting.
 

Take the first draft of my script, for instance. When I finished it, after quite a long time spent planning and developing the story -one of these days I'll tell you how I did it- and writing the script itself, it seemed to me I had reached the summit, that I had written a script each part of which was set in stone and that didn't need any further changes. Of course I was on the peak of the "writer's high" (I wrote about it here) and when I started reading it some days later I realised there were loads of things I had to improve. And here's the thing: no matter how hard you've worked on something, if you let it breathe long enough you'll end up thinking that's just a pile of crap. Or at least this is what should happen, as complacency leads you to mediocrity in whatever you do. 

Then, especially if you are as radical in your opinions as I am, you have to convince yourself that is not so bad and that's worth giving it a try to improve it. And so the rewriting process begin, and you never know how many times you'll go through this path... or how many times you should actually go through it.
 

It has always happened to me: At school I was always trying to make things better and better, to the point I ended up not doing my homework because it wasn't worth the try; and if you ask anybody who's seen me working -especially in the pub- they may even suggest I have a bit of OCD. However, as I've had to deal with this my whole life, when I started writing I found it somehow easier to be able to say "enough" and consider a project finished. Deadlines surely are a good thing for this matter, but when you don't have them you just have to know where to stop, and that's not an easy thing to do, at least if you really have a passion about whatever you're doing.

Aquesta setmana passada he estat bastant apartat del blog. Bé, no sé si una setmana és gaire o no en temps-Blog, però és igual... El cas és que he estat enfeinat amb el Projecte Final del meu Màster. Com alguns de vosaltres ja sabeu, pel meu Research Project (oficialment en diuen així) estic escrivint un llargmetratge, i acabo d'acabar d'escriure el tercer esborrany. Sí. Tercer. Si esteu involucrats d'alguna manera en aquest mon sabeu que aquestes coses sempre passen, però per aquells que no hi esteu suposo que tot allò de "Ets escriptor? Oh, com mola!" ja no us sembla tan real.

Primer de tot deixeu-me que us en parli una mica. M'agradaria vendre-la -o al menys intentar-ho- de manera que encara no puc publicar res sobre l'argument, però el que us puc dir és que és un drama èpic basat en fets reals que van succeir a l'Edat Mitjana. Té tots els elements que fan bones aquest tipus pel·lícules -amor, mort, sang, orgull, honor, ambició- i la història no ha canviat gaire durant els darrers sis mesos perquè ja és molt sòlid. No obstant això el guió ha patit molts canvis, i això és el quid de tot plegat: no importa quantes vegades ho heu sentit o si és el primer cop, hi ha una cosa que sempre heu de tenir present si sou o voleu ser escriptors: escriure és reescriure.
 
Agafem el primer esborrany del meu guió, per exemple. Quan el vaig acabar després d'invertir bastant temps planejant i desenvolupant la història -un dia d'aquests us explicaré com ho vaig fer- i escrivint el guió en sí, em va semblar que havia fet el cim, que havia escrit un guió totes les parts del qual estaven gravades en pedra i que no necessitaven cap tipus de canvi. Evidentment estava en el punt àlgid del "morat de l'escriptor" (en vaig parlar aquí) i quan el vaig començar a llegir uns dies més tard em vaig adonar que hi havia moltíssimes coses que havia de millorar. I és que hi ha una cosa que és segura: És igual com t'hagis esforçat en una cosa, si la deixes respirar durant prou temps acabaràs pensant que és un munt de merda. O al menys és el que t'hauria de passar, perquè la complaença condueix a la mediocritat en el que sigui que estiguis fent. 

Aleshores, especialment si tens unes opinions tan radicals com les meves, has de convèncer-te que, de fet, no està tan malament i que paga la pena provar de millorar-ho. I així és com comença el procés de reescriptura, i mai saps quantes vegades seguiràs aquest camí... o quantes vegades l'hauries de seguir.
 
Sempre m'ha passat el mateix: A l'escola sempre estava intentant fer les coses millor, fins al punt que vaig deixar de fer els deures perquè no valia la pena intentar-ho; i si pregunteu a qualsevol persona que m'hagi vist treballar -especialment al pub- fins i tot us insinuaran que tinc una mica de TOC. Tot i això, com que he hagut d'enfrontar-me a això tota la meva vida, quan vaig començar a escriure vaig trobar més fàcil dir "prou" i considerar un projecte acabat. Evidentment les dates límit són bones en aquest aspecte, però quan no les tens simplement has de saber quan aturar-te, i això no és gens fàcil, al menys si realment t'apassiona el que sigui que estàs fent.