How I Partnered with the Producers of The King's Speech & What I Learned Along The Way - Part 6
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Checking under the hood
With the last drafts of The King’s Disposition the problems with the story became more subtle and harder to identify. Often I would know there was a problem but have no idea what the problem was and no idea how to fix it.
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Writing stories is to some degree mechanical, there are such a things as story structure and character development techniques but rewrites are not like fixing a car, look under the hood, check the fuel pump! Some issues are more elusive and harder to diagnose and resolve. I decided that when I felt uneasy but had no idea what was wrong, that I would ask the Quiet Voice and wait for an answer. It came more swiftly than I anticipated,
“Experiment”.
“Experiment?”, I questioned, “With what? How?” Something isn’t working, a scene or a character – what do I do? So I started to experiment. I took it apart and put it back together in new ways.
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I’d:
- give dialogue from one character to another – surprisingly that actually helped, or
- change who the events were happening to, or the sequence of the events, or
- start at the end and dive deeper, or
- think about how the events, affected others and insert them into the action, or
- juggle scenes, changing the sequence.
It opened up whole new windows of opportunity.
The Quiet Voice wanted me to step out of the box of my logical thinking and usual patterns and look at my work from different and unique points of view. It was teaching me, actually, to be creative.
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Often the changes that calmed the Voice were not as extensive as I might have feared and the work improved. I was grateful for that.
Fear had very little to do with it
Fear is what was holding me back. This new relationship with the Quiet Voice was about;
- the freedom to dream, experiment and take chances,
- trusting yourself enough to take your dreams in a whole new direction beyond what you had originally imaged,
- finding yourself through what you love, becoming whole, by going to the point where your instincts, your gut feel, your Quite Voice is in harmony with you – is YOU.
The answers didn’t always come at once. Sometimes I would take things apart, look at them from various new perspectives, experiment with my problem scene and then go to sleep.
There is a certain alchemy when the conscious mind falls asleep and the heart opens and the Quiet Voice has free reign. I would often, very often, wake up in the morning and have the answer to an unknown problem with the story. The Quiet Voice spoke clearly and said what I needed to do, and it just felt RIGHT. It was and is a beautiful thing.
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I realized I was free of the worry of what other people thought of my work. Because there really wasn’t anything more I could do to make it any better. I was working from the deepest level of commitment that I was capable of. People make suggestions, sure, I run them by the Quiet Voice and wait for an answer. Sometimes the QV agrees and I implement them, and sometimes not.
But for this moment in time I was at peace. A person can’t do better than their absolute best and the Quiet Voice in its calm and peaceful way knew when my best had been reached. The bar can always move, and will, but… it’s all about living in the now:
- accept nothing less than your best,
- trust your instincts and don’t settle, go deeper, experiment,
- step outside the box and look at it from a different point of view,
- innovate until you find the answer that satisfies, that brings peace and contentment.
The answer makes you whole again rather than fractured in doubt and indecision. No fear or inner conflict, only calm patience, perseverance and peace. That’s the litmus test.
Experimentation and listening became my mantra
What was that Quiet Voice? Who was it? Was it me? It must be. But which part? What faculty? Maybe it wasn’t a faculty at all. Surrendering to its wishes made its Voice grow stronger and I would soon realize the benefits and opportunities of that instruction because everything changed.
That was the first of my revelations, the decision to fully commit myself until the Quiet Voice was at peace. That decision opened doors which I am still walking through today, both personally and in my craft.
B.C. Theatre “Canadian National Playwriting Competition”
After a few more ruthless revisions I entered the play in The Canadian National Play Writing Competition sponsored by British Columbia Theatre Association. At that time they were accepting full length, three act submissions from across Canada. In that year there were 134 full length play submissions one of which was mine. More soon!
Part 7: “Gaining the Throne” is next, feel free to share!
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