One way to skin the cat.

Thought I would share a recent writing experience.

I nearly completed a draft of a romantic comedy. I was stuck - wasn't hitting me. The general gist of which is David, a work-a-holic, people hating, billionaire is forced to go a month-long experimental cruise with his ailing father. The nature of the cruise is an experiment/pilot between a skilled nursing corporation and a cruise line to test the concept of a nursing facility at sea. The billionaire protag must go because part of the condition of going, the passenger (David's father) must also bring a next of kin. David goes kicking and screaming - he'd rather work.

Of course, David will meet up with blue collar worker Kathleen, a polar opposite of David and who is on the ship to be with her ailing mother. Blah - blah - blah - a relationship between David and Kathleen is sparked during all of the shenanigans of dealing with a boat full of old folks.

So, I got done and fucking hated it. Everyone just bored me. Fortunately I have a great muse in my spouse who also said first - no - not really your best stuff (which translates to it sucks). Her idea - flip the characters. e.g., Kathleen is the no-nonsense workaholic billionaire and David is the caring, good natured blue collar worker.

What a difference the flip makes. I just started the re-write but I find the new characters so much more interesting and am now excited to write them.

Very long-winded way of saying - if you get stuck on a character, the easiest thing to do might be just to flip their gender.

My musings for the day.

I haven't used your way of dealing with my characters so I don't know if it works. However, I may try using it when I have trouble creating my characters in the future. The original two characters of David and Kathleen were nothing special and that's why you disliked them. Now, they look fresh.

Good luck with your script.

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