Anyone who has heard me speak or who has read the articles on this site know I am always talking about characters taking a Leap of Faith in a story.  I have been a bit hesitant about making my own.

The cliff I am contemplating right now is moving to Europe to live and work for a year, possibly longer.  Serendipity has put several people in my path who have done just that–  They moved to a foreign country without a lot of pre-arranged work and they just made it happen.  They built their wings after taking a big leap of faith.  Each person said “just do it.”  And that is what I am going to do.  I will follow their inspiration.

Contrary to most of the stuff I post on this site– about writing and character or story analysis– I am going to start posting about this big leap off the cliff and the grand experiment of building my wings.  This is a formal declaration rather than the tentative “feelers”  I’ve been cautiously putting out.  It’s an exciting and scary time for me.  I will keep you posted!

I arrived in Madrid at about 8am and my room wasn’t quite ready so I walked over to the Plaza Major and had a lovely Spanish Omelette and a coffee.  Someone gave me a subscription to OPRAH MAGAZINE, which I rarely have time to read at home, but which I often take with me on the road.  A particular article about Byron Katie struck me– It centered around four questions.  And you know I love questions!  These questions get at the fear and fearful thinking that causes personal suffering.  As many of you know the best definition of fear I have ever heard is:  “Fear is the anticipation of grief.”  Anticipating something often makes it true– That’s where the saying “a self-fulfilling prophecy” comes from. Here are the questions:

Question 1: Is it true?

This question can change your life. Be still and ask yourself if the thought you wrote down is true.

Question 2: Can you absolutely know it’s true?

This is another opportunity to open your mind and to go deeper into the unknown, to find the answers that live beneath what we think we know.

Question 3: How do you react—what happens—when you believe that thought?

With this question, you begin to notice internal cause and effect. You can see that when you believe the thought, there is a disturbance that can range from mild discomfort to fear or panic. What do you feel? How do you treat the person (or the situation) you’ve written about, how do you treat yourself, when you believe that thought? Make a list, and be specific.

Question 4: Who would you be without the thought?

Imagine yourself in the presence of that person (or in that situation), without believing the thought. How would your life be different if you didn’t have the ability to even think the stressful thought? How would you feel? Which do you prefer—life with or without the thought? Which feels kinder, more peaceful?

Turn the thought around:

The “turnaround” gives you an opportunity to experience the opposite of what you believe. Once you have found one or more turnarounds to your original statement, you are invited to find at least three specific, genuine examples of how each turnaround is true in your life.

Here is a link to the story of one woman whose life was transformed by really looking at these questions. http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Testing-the-Work-of-Byron-Katie

Byron Katie’s informational website is here http://www.thework.com/thework.php There is lots of free material and downloads available that expand on these questions and demonstrate their application.

To learn how to use these questions to help develop fictional characters, click here.

It’s no secret that every script that makes it to the screen gets rewritten multiple times.  In an informal poll I took at a WGA conference on rewriting, most screenwriters (among them Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe winners) said it took an average of 25-30 drafts before the script reached the stage floor.  So, you know you have some work ahead of you after you reach that glorious moment when you first type FADE OUT.

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But then what?  There are few courses in rewriting and fewer books (Yes, I do have one – “REWRITE, A Step-by-Step Guide to Strengthen Structure, Characters, and Drama in Your Screenplay,” but we’re not talking about that here.) on how to approach this sometimes daunting task.  You might have the guidance of your trusted advisors or your writing group when it comes to what’s wrong, but who do you turn to to figure out how to fix that?  Or even how to go about fixing that?

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That’s why I created the residential workshops I’ve been giving in Europe for the past few years.  Here’s how it works.  Eight writers who have completed at least a year in the UCLA Professional Program for Screenwriting or the MFA in Screenwriting program, or have reached an equivalent level in their writing, gather in a villa (yes, a real villa) with me in a remote part of a friendly host country.

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The Villa There we live and work for two weeks, most meals provided, and we dig into their screenplays and figure out what to do about them.  We meet for three hours a day in a seminar format, we talk at meals, we have informal seminars during long walks in the countryside, and I meet one on one with everyone in “office hours.”

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In my way of looking at things, writers usually lose their way from first draft to rewrite because they don’t know their character well enough or their structure needs strengthening.  The first thing we do, then, is focus on the character’s flaw.  From the flaw comes the necessity for change.  From the necessity for change come the goals – the inner and the outer – that drive the story.  So we must know the character inside and out so that we know how that character must change and what he or she must do to achieve his or her goals.

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Then we take a look at the overall story in its most basic form – what I call the seven points of the story.  For the seminar, we send these story points out to each other before we arrive in Europe (this year it’s Spain, last year it was Italy) so that we can discuss them during the first seminar meeting.

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The seven points all have something to do with the flaw – in the ordinary life (1) we see the flaw and how it affects the person’s life – the necessity for change; in the inciting incident (2) we see something happen that will eventually cause the protagonist to want to change now; at the end of act one (3), we learn of the goal and plan to bring about that change; at the midpoint (4), the character shows us a change in that goal as well as a realization of his flaw; at the low point (5), we see the character as far from that goal as possible; in the final challenge (6) we see the character overcome his flaw and reach his/her goal; and in (7) the return to the now changed forever normal life, we see the character enjoy the fruits of his/her labor in the new life.

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You can see how the whole story is flaw and goal oriented, but sometimes, in the original writing process, you lose track of that.  Following up on clarifying these essential ideas, we write a new beatsheet and discuss it at length in seminar, private meetings, walks, trips to town, whenever.  We’re always talking about food (we have a cook or a special deal with a local restaurant), movies, or our scripts.  We’re unhindered by interruption from work, friends and family calling (though there is cell reception), or annoying phone solicitors.  We do have wi-fi this year, but it will be on a limited basis.

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As the first week progresses, the story blooms in sometimes unpredictable ways, but always improves.  Then we begin rewriting scenes, adding new scenes, taking away old scenes that don’t move the story or have been superseded by new directions in the story.  This is a very exciting time as we read portions of new work in the seminars so we can hear if the dialogue works in the mouth and feel the pacing of the scene.  We also work on scene structure and scene dynamics so that writers can get the best out of their pages.

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Did I mention that we get two days off during the two weeks so that people can travel, rest, write, whatever they want to do?  This year we’ll be within an hour’s train ride from Barcelona, forty-five minutes by car to the beach, and ten minutes from Gerona, a lovely old city dating from the middle ages.  Rewrite Retreat in Spain.

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Then it’s back to work.  We usually schedule things so that both night and morning writers can get their work done in time for all to read it before the afternoon session.  I have found that when all eight (plus me) participants in a seminar are familiar with everyone’s work, great things can come of the ping-ponging of ideas.  I’ve found seminar participants to be very generous with their thoughts and very supportive both in and out of the workshops.  It’s one of the things I nurture as much as possible because, while I do contribute my own ideas, I’ve found that nine people working on the same story together can come up with things that nine people working separately cannot.  It’s one of the great things about the workshop.

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And did I mention the food?  Spain has some of the best seafood in the world, and we’ll also be in the middle of their cava region – cava is what they call their sparkling wine, very much on a par with Champagne in my book.

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By the end of the workshop you can have, with diligence, a completed draft or, at the very least, a very good roadmap to your next draft.  You will also have had a heady creative experience with your peers (which is why there are always several people repeating from the year before).  And, surprisingly, little change in your weight since anything you may have added from the food is usually subtracted by the long walks after lunch and dinner.

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For more information, visit the site http://rewritementor.com/retreats/spain.html or contact me directly at [email protected].