When I was starting out it was difficult to find the writing process of others. Hence I wanted to share the process that I follow. My writing process can be thought of as one of growing and shrinking. There is no right or wrong way.
Writing The First Draft
I first write out whatever is there in my head, going with the flow. It can be thought of as as one that uses the left side of the brain. I take what the free flowing ramblings of the left brain and then hand it over to the right side of my brain.
It analyse what the left brain conjured up and shreds everything into pieces. Through this it figures out the underlying structure. Most of the times this results in a lot of shredding of the fluff. What remains is mostly just the bare bones of a story.
The Story I’m Currently Working on
Right now with the story that I am working on I am at this juncture. The only difference is that it was not my left brain that came up with the idea, but my unconscious. It was a dream that had with a complete storyline that was satisfactory and entertaining.
Now I am using my right side of the brain to analyse what the subconscious was trying to tell me. To do that, I have been comparing the dream with the Monomyth structure of Joseph Campbell that I talked about last week. Studying how the Monomyth has been deeply integrated into Jurassic Park has led me to a deeper understanding about its proper usage.
The problem though is that right now the story has a lot of influences from Jurassic park. But I am not worried about this because of the next stage I will be going to.
The Second Draft
Once my right brain has satisfactorily identified flaws in the structure and found solutions to fix it analytically, I then pass it back to the left side brain. It then tramples upon what the right brain created to slowly again become a story that I resonate with. It then again passes on to the right side to cut down the ramblings and bring out a much more chiselled story.
Getting Feedback
Due to my deep involvement by this point I would have lost all my objective judgements. So I turn to my friends for the thrashing. I would send it out to a few of my friends to get critical feedback.
After getting the feedback the process repeats.
This is my writing process. I hope for aspiring filmmakers and writers it gives you an idea on how I go about writing. Please take this and refine it through your judgement to figure out your own way writing process. For more information on making your debut film check my book The Indian Indie Film, eBook now available on Amazon.
