My bold experiment with not outlining on The Ghost Light has so far produced only 13 pages – which is far from nothing but only barely something, by my reckoning. I set it aside to finish a chapter of the novel and probably won’t come back to it until after I have finished enough chapters to trigger another payment. That story has waited a long time to be told; it can wait a little longer.
I’ve been working on a different screenplay for the last couple of evenings; one that Adam and I started as another collaboration awhile back before we ran aground at page 29. It’s not that we didn’t know what was going to happen – most of the story is outlined – we just didn’t have the same mutual fire under us that created the Football Script. It’s a fun idea, plays to our strengths, and very commercial – every industry person to whom we’ve told the idea thinks so – but when you’ve only got the last bit to motivate you, that is rarely enough; and we each had other projects that felt more creatively enticing. For these interim days, suddenly I’m finding pages for this one – we’ll have to see if he thinks they’re up to snuff.
But this is why it’s valuable to keep these half-projects at hand, along with all the notes and outlines. When you’re in a mood to write and your first-position project just isn’t moving your fingers, it doesn’t take long to get yourself back into the groove of something else. And the results can surprise. The other night I was reviewing my notes for a short story idea from three years ago, then I blinked and realized I’d typed 200 words. Again, that’s only barely something, but compared to the nights when it feels like you can’t find a single good sentence hiding anywhere in your brain, it’s an enjoyable feeling.