Under the Black Sand started as a short film in 2006. It evolved into a screenplay in 2007 and was heavily rewritten and transformed by 2009. In 2012, a novel was completed, based on the whole thing. Although the few people that go to read it were enthusiastic, it wasn’t ready for publishing. There were too many loose ends, leftovers from the original short film. I wasn’t happy with it. I’m still not.
But it’s getting there. I was able to finish the novel after I installed Scrivener. Now, I am able to make it the best it can be, because of the way the software breaks the manuscript up in small scenes.
In the original screenplay and novel, Peter, the protagonist, was hell bent on building a new suburb. He defied and fought the city authorities and this caused all kinds of twists ad troubles. But it somehow didn’t click with the main story. It was a nice way to add drama and suspense, but it was like a second story. It didn’t seem to have enough to do with his relationship with the elusive Emily. Who she was and what lay buried under the black sand.
I needed to rethink and refocus the whole work. An impossible task in an ordinary word processor. Scrivener made it relatively easy. I made notes for each scene. What happens here and why? How does it add to the story? How does it drive it forward? How does it connect? And if it doesn’t, will it be removed or rewritten completely?
Much work has yet to be done, but with Scrivener, the road ahead is relatively clear. The final work is in focus.
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