Pre-Production: Story Development & Drafts

Story development

The story went through several different versions before I settled on one story. This was mainly because the previous versions were too convoluted and complicated so I had to simplify them. Some of these versions were:

Version 1

Possible scientific mishaps - how can these show us about each of the characters - and culminate at the black hole?

Version 2

Roni's decision - the creation of many other parallel universes - Vera locked in because of her job, which Roni almost causes her to lose

Vera discovers a version of herself from a parallel universe has got stuck in this universe – and now they have to find a way to send her back (Roni)

But, when Roni finds out Vera has an opportunity, she decides to take it in order to help Vera with her seeming lack of self-belief

However, this puts Vera’s current job in jeopardy – and almost reveals Roni’s existence when Vera’s boss decides to come to where Vera is staying to make sure she really is doing the work

And, to make matters worse, Roni’s decision leads to the creation of other parallel universes – making it harder for her to get back to her own universe

Version 3

Vera discovers there are several different versions of herself - and wants to take the place of one of them who didn't have her accident
What differentiates her from them?

Version 4

-Vera is trying to prove herself at work after her accident – but none of the other scientists will believe her theories about parallel universes

-When she’s not at work, Vera is trying to help Roni get back to her own universe – but Vera is beginning to dislike Roni because she won’t help her prove the existence of parallel universes 

-So, Vera begins to overwork to fix Roni’s device which can tunnel between other universes – with the intention of showing it to the other scientists, instead of giving it to Roni

-But when Vera can’t fix it and has been slowly outcasted by the other scientists, she has to accept that her overworking has never solved anything

Drafts

Version 5

When her work is interrupted by a version of herself from a parallel universe, a driven scientist tries to find a way to travel to another universe when all she really needs is some sleep.

Draft 1-

In this draft, Roni gets to this universe but Vera doesn't believe she's real - so hides from her. When Roni finally annoys her enough to come out and face her Vera tries to get Roni to show her how she got here.

This draft was only about five pages. I didn't think it worked because it didn't really establish who the characters were, mainly because they were too alike.

Drafts 2 & 3-

These refined the previous draft a lot more since I gave Roni the goal of wanting to get Vera's help so they could share information between universes. However, Vera's goal wasn't clearly stated, and there wasn't really a point to all of the scenes, plus the structure of the story meant that there was no turning point which propelled the characters towards the ending.

Draft 4-

I added more of an introduction to Vera in this draft, introducing her tendency to overwork in the opening scene but this was too long at this point.

I did think the turning point of the story could be that Vera passes out from exhaustion and wakes up in Roni's universe. However, I found that this made Vera too passive, and as the protagonist her goal needed to drive the story.

Drafts 5 & 6-

Vera's introduction was shortened down to a page, but I added in a graduation picture of her which she looked at and tore up when she gave up as she felt like she had fallen too far from graduating top of her class to hallucinating now. However, I again found this made the story too convoluted.

Draft 7-

The current draft. I think this is slightly better than the previous drafts since index cards and outlining helped me define the point of scenes. However, Vera could still be more active, her goal could be clearer and less convoluted, the characters could move more to make the scenes less static and the turning point could be stronger than Vera giving up her overworking and then just accepting Roni is real.