Have you noticed this iteration has more problems than the ones before? I’m curious if this is simply something happening with these stories. Or perhaps it’s a pattern and something I need to factor into the overall Agile First Draft process.
When I reached episode 2.4 I realized I have to rewrite Finley’s character arc this season.
I thought this season was about Cade becoming more ruthless. I’ve wanted that dichotomy to his character from the beginning—a warrior with steel in his veins and warmth in his heart. I thought he needed to earn that strength and conviction or come into it.
So 2.2 and 2.3 were designed to put him on that path to something harder, 2.4 was going to be a catalyst to realizing this new aspect of him that he acted on in 2.5.
But 2.4 isn’t working. It worked fine at the plot level. Things happened. The story moved forward and sideways and made sense in the end. It felt off but worked in the dialog. I could write what they’d say in each moment and how the characters would react. But then I got to the description iteration.
And I couldn’t write dialog tags explaining Cade’s motivation. Because his actions were out of character without enough of a catalyst to justify the shift.
So I stepped back to look at his character arc again. I examined the cake of my story to find the weak point. And realized I was pursuing the wrong arc.
I thought about who the crew is—this theme I’ve been chasing of thieves who are still good people. What am I actually trying to show?
That our behavior doesn’t define our identity.
Culturally, we tend to judge people’s identity (he’s a bad man) by their actions (he did something bad). The problem with that is it doesn’t leave room for change, growth, redemption. I wanted to drive a wedge between action and identity with characters who broke the laws of man and still lived by the values of God with compassion, justice, grace and love.
Once I reconnected to that theme I realized Cade is already pretty well there based on his actions and choices in season 1. He wants to protect people and he’s ruthless in taking down Sovrens who don’t take care of their people.
But Finley. She lives with a code of honor that upholds something of God’s law. But she’s being called to something more. To live deeper. To let herself experience empathy which requires being involved and brings with it responsibility and an emotional weight she doesn’t want to live with. But that she needs.
So now, at the description iteration I need to pivot to her character arc.
Which means, for 2.4 going back to the plot iteration.
And I’m resisting it somewhat. Because I have this idea that plotting is hard for me. I got through it in the plot iteration and I don’t want to go back.
But this has to be done. What I have isn’t working. And I want these stories to be the best they can be.
I didn’t try that hard before I decided to call for reinforcements.
I called my brother who is great at unlocking key plot elements that make the stories work. Back in season 1 I was struggling with 1.2. I wanted it to be serious, to not ignore the gravity of this terminal disease. But I didn’t want the story to feel dark or heavy. I wanted a bit of a fun adventure, to maintain the tone of the series within this terrible situation I put them in.
My brother suggested that the settlers’ imminent death was a few years off. So there was an awareness of impending doom but still breath to live now. I loved it and a lot of that was written into the opening which I loved.
I really should probably call him for every episode. Give him a co-writer credit and get him to help me with the plot iteration then I run with it from there.
When I called him for 2.4, he almost immediately gave me an idea I could work with and that excited me. As I thought through it, I also got another idea to build on top of the scenario he suggests that I thought was funny and excited me.
So now I need to write it.
Back to the plot iteration for 2.4. A new 7-Act-Structure. A new conflict/consequence to give each character a mini arc. Then a review of the series to make sure Finley’s arc is evident in some way in each episode.
I have some of the pieces in place with 2.1. I need to rework a good bit of 2.2 probably. But 2.3 isn’t about her or Cade so it probably needs the least work. 2.5 a bit of change. And 2.6 maybe doesn’t need to be altered too much but can better highlight this shift in her.
How is an Agile First Draft different than traditional drafting with this sort of thing?
Working on each iteration individually probably helped me see the problem. Because I was focused only on character motivation, I saw what wasn’t working. With a traditional draft I would have been focused on the scene or the chapter and all the things that are a part of it. Since it’s the last iteration I don’t know that the revision will save me either time or words. The work still has to be done.
