Pain, actually

I've recently been working on a new draft of a rom com film I wrote about eight years ago. Back then I got the script up to draft five, knew there were still problems with it, but didn't know how to fix them. A couple of months ago I pulled the script out of the metaphorical drawer, re-read it, and thought I could produce a new, relatively problem-free draft in a few days. Ha bloody ha, as it turns out.

The main difficulty lies in recapturing my state of mind as it was eight years ago. Back then I knew exactly who my characters were, how they spoke, how they thought. This was closely intertwined with the way I thought at the time. I've changed since then. This is obviously a good thing -- I pity anyone who stops growing intellectually at the age of 23. But it also means I'm constantly having to stop myself from rewriting my characters into the ones I would create now. If I did that, I'd effectively be gutting the script and starting over -- in which case I'd prefer to work on something fresh.

I'm tempted to put a sticky note on my screen saying, "Write like you used to write, only better!" Easier said than done.