After publishing my last screenplay about a year ago, I hit a creative wall. Fort Defiance was such a bucket list project. Completing it was satisfying, which left me with little drive to find something new to write. I had a great and lengthy folder for Tribe of Liars with no plan how to develop it further. I liked the fragments I’d written, but it wasn’t grabbing me.
I believe in letting an idea cook, even if I remain creatively idle, rather than force my writing. It worked. I had a brain blast: I would blend Tribe of Liars with another (untitled) screenplay fragment. Neither was working on its own, but combined, I could envision the story arc.
This entry is a placeholder for how I’ll share my process.
I have four characters and their animal Companions. Each team needs a backstory before I can develop a proper screenplay. Gage and Wrigley are the furthest along right now. Not only do I have a Story Enneagram for them, but I have the fictional writing that digs deeper.
I’d like to post my backstory writings here. When the screenplay is eventually published, I’ll include these prologues in an appendix. It’s a complicated writing idea. Let’s rock!
Update 1:
When I wrote the beginnings of the Gage and Wrigley backstory I didn’t know how to develop the IP further. It was a writing exercise at that point. The ToL idea began as a video game, not a film, so I wanted to include the gaming aspect even in the fiction. The conceit I used — go into a first-person narrator voice for the details — is cringe to me now. However, I will probably continue with some variation of the narrator in the other three Companion stories. A lot of brainstorming went into the animal powers; I don’t want to lose the fun of that.