I first wrote Surviving Edwards Avenue in 2004, as a companion to another script which almost won at Austin '03, called Cricket Hill. I liked Surviving Edwards Avenue, sent it out, it was a bit more edgy that Cricket Hill, but I had no luck with it. So away it went - until this January, when I decided to write a book. A novel. I had so many damn scripts written (55) that I said to myself, "Self, just adapt one of your screenplays."
And now, Surviving Edwards Avenue is almost complete, I'm at 40,000+ words now, working on the last chapters. It's funny, writing a book. For years I've been streamlining thoughts and stories, showing the actions instead of saying. And now, obviously, it's the oppposite.
And I love it.
I can really get inside the characters' heads, and tell the reader EXACTLY what they're thinking.
As I was writing the novel version, something was changing with the story. When I first wrote the screenplay 6 years ago, it was much more comedic, but as I write the novel version, it's less so. I find myself scaling back the humor, going in more for the drama of the situation (the plot is 3 kids dealing with their parents divorce). What seemed irreverant before now has taken a turn, but it feels right. And certain things that happened in the screenplay seem ridiculous now so I've had to do a bit of plot modification. Actually, if I ever did want to send out the screenplay again, I'd have to do some major tweaking & re-writing - and I only really discovered this when I started the book.
The plan is to finish it this week, let it digest a bit, then go through it and fix what needs fixin.' Not the usual way I'd suggest handling a re-write - writing a book first - but it's working this time, and I can't wait to finish it.
