Today, I have to write a review of Les Miserables for theatre as a production critique, because that's what we do in theatre class. I think the hardest part, for me, is the summarizing.
Why?
I know the story so well - I have seen it five times, counting the movie, and I have the soundtrack nearly memorized. If you asked me to sing a bit of any given song, I'll be able to at least hum the melody, if not the words. The difficulty in summarizing the play in under a page is not making sure I get everything in, it's deciding what details to leave out. Act Two can easily be summarized in two sentences or less: "The revolution fails; except for Cosette, Marius, and the Innkeepers, everyone dies. Cosette and Marius get married and join Valjean at his deathbed." It's easy. Act One, on the other hand, took two-thirds of the allotted page, and most of that is backstory.
How does this tie into writing?
In the event that I actually get something published, I'll need to make sure my backstory is sound but can be summarized, and that the same can be said of the actual story. There is always the eternal question of What To Keep In And What To Leave Out, and when I get through my first Real Typing Session today, I hope I'll be able to identify that well.
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