The dreadful third act
Thursday, April 19, 2012

I’m closing on the third act. The dreadful third act. The place in the script where my writing usually sucks.

Isn’t that a marvelous attitude?

How on Earth am I supposed to write a third act that vibrates of well put words when I have this trunk of bad emotions jumping around in the back of my head?

I have not even finished the second act yet. There are about ten pages left, and yet the knot begins to build up.

I’ve written the next Oscar winner so far. Damn it if I cannot remove that nasty, little knot from my own mind. One thing is certain: no one but I can remove it. So if it shall be thrown out, I have to do the job myself.

First thing I must do is to ensure my plan for my third act still works.

I am the kind of writer who plans her script before she writes. This time I was rigid on planning the third act, just as carefully as the rest of the script. Historically I’ve left the third act to its fate until I got there. Not very surprisingly that has also been the place where I got stuck.

So, this time I put effort in planning the whole script.

But, the two first acts have not in every aspect been as planned. I have not strayed off far. And I have been very aware of my changes, considering what would happen later. Still – since I’m well aware of my fear for the third act – I want to check my notes before I begin; double check it is all there, ready to be spilled out on the empty page.