Fresh Perspective

As this month comes to a close, I reflect on the little blessings that have come my way in the last few weeks. I’m on the third to last chapter in my latest book and I am getting so much help with my upcoming film.

In fact, this past week I met a fellow filmmaker who was local to me. We spent a few hours today going over my script and even looking at some of the locations I was planning to use. It was probably the most productive two hours I’ve had. He gave me valuable suggestions on the script and was not only interested in the film but asked me how else he could help with it! And although the time we spent was great, I took something away from our meeting that was not what I expected—a fresh perspective.

For those who are just “tuning” in, I’ve taken my short stories of Amber Oak and turned them into screenplays. The trick is, I’m trying to combine the short stories with my science fantasy novel, “Memories of Chronosalis” and the prequel “A Scientist’s Remorse.” Now, this is a huge challenge for me as, in a way, I’m having to entirely rewrite these screenplays. I knew my first screenplay was a bit rough, but I figured I could manage with what I had. When he took the script and read it, some of the things he noted, I had never even thought about. What’s even better, this is coming from someone not only new but someone who hadn’t even read my books. And contrary to what you may be thinking, this is exactly what I needed.

As I told my parents and husband after the meeting, it’s difficult to have people proofread things when they are so familiar with the universe they’ve known for years. Not only that, but many of the people who will be watching this film, might not have ever heard of Amber Oak until the movie premieres.

So, all this to say, if you are a writer of any sort, I want to encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and in addition to the current beta readers, find new ones too. You will be amazed at some things that may come up in your writing that a fresh pair of eyes will catch!