3 Ways to Resurrect an Old Story

by John Bucher (@johnkbucher)

It’s seldom discussed, but most writers must get a lot of bad writing out before any solid
storytelling begins flowing from us. As we grow, we see our own development and tend to discard
the stories we worked on earlier in our journey. While our writing style may have left much to be
desired, it doesn’t mean that there were not some gold nuggets in the midst of the carnage we
rightfully discarded. Some of our best ideas may have emerged before we started thinking too
much about our writing.

Before you burn old scripts or cast them into the outer reaches of your hard drive, make sure
there are not elements you want to save for later when your writing has matured. If you’ve been
writing for a while, go back and look at some of your early work. Are there ideas that still hold
charge for you? Here are three ways to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

1. Resurrect the Character

Perhaps you had created a fascinating character but just didn’t know what to do with her. Perhaps
she represented a large part of who you were at that time in your life. Characters can embody
truth that transcends description and words. Your character might still feel like someone you want
to explore and live with for a while. Developing a strong character can be one of the most difficult
things to accomplish in all of storytelling. If you were able to do that but just couldn’t find a
journey that worked, reviving that character later — after you’ve developed better plotting skills
— can lead to powerful storytelling. Remember, Wonder Woman scripts floated around
Hollywood for a long time before someone was able to execute a plot worthy of such a powerful
character.

2. Resurrect the Plot

Did you know that the plot of Die Hard was written as a sequel for Arnold Schwartzenegger’s
Commando? Or that Oceans 12 was originally developed as a project called Honor Among Thieves
before having its plot brought over to the successful Soderberg franchise? Sometimes, we have a
great idea for a story but our characters aren’t the best fit for the narrative we are constructing.
This could have been the case with some of your early stories. Most of us can recognize when we
stumble on a simple yet effective plotline to build a story around. The magic occurs when we are
then able to execute that plot with characters that keep the audience interested in the story. Even
if an entire plot is not workable, there may be elements of that can be salvaged from a script that
was discarded long ago.

3. Resurrect the Concept

Your characters may have been flat. Your plot may have been overly complex and confusing.
However, that doesn’t mean that the original concept for the story you were crafting wasn’t worth
developing. Our abilities at executing a script usually get better the longer we write. It’s quite
possible that you just didn’t have the chops to tackle the killer idea you had in the early days of
your screenwriting career. Dusting off the concept, then adding fresh characters and a better
structure to hang the plot on, might make all the difference. James Cameron had the concept for
Avatar before he made Titanic, but he knew he didn’t have the skill set or technology yet to
accomplish his vision. Putting a script in a drawer for a while may not be a bad idea, as long as we
remember to get it back out when we have developed the necessary abilities to pull it off.