The Rock Garden Enters Pre-production

If I have been rather less active on this blog of late, it is because I have been occupied with two writing projects that have provided me with great joy and kept me quite busy.

A Fearless Man (the book I'm working on) has been gaining momentum. After adding 40 pages to it since the beginning of the year, I realised that the time had come to redesign the world of its setting. More research on the medieval period provided me with new insights that changed my initial approach to the story. I have since gone about re-researching the world region I have set it in, despite the fact that it is imagined. The result has been a rather surprising study of Latin and German to forge the place names of the towns, cities, regions, rivers and mountains of the world of the story. Character illustrations also ensued, which I will share on this blog in due course, as well as map design, which I derive infinite pleasure out of.

Also, and perhaps more excitingly, The Rock Garden is entering pre-production. I'd abandoned the notion of short film writing since leaving film school, but my great friend, Verster du Plessis, coaxed me into developing his latest film project with him. So far, the story has undergone five rewrites and the script is currently on its fourth draft. What has fascinated me about the project is that every draft has differed vastly from the previous one. Each draft was also film-able as a story on its own. In other words, the tone and story shape of each was whole, but quite different from each of the others. The current draft, however, ended up being the most exciting one of the lot, as it juxtaposes a fairytale reality with a predominantly realistic one.

I also wormed my way into illustrating the film, which is a feature within the story. This will prove a great challenge, as it must compliment the overall tone of the film and not undermine it. In time, nearer the completion of the film, I shall map out the writing process of The Rock Garden, as it has certainly been an interesting one.

Hanfred Rauch