While I am no longer at Walden and never will be I still want to write 10 minute plays. Who knows? maybe they will be performed somewhere else. I have two ideas right now, both still in their early stages of me just thinking over the plot in my mind.
I'd appreciate some responses including your experience with handling characters different than yourself, i.e. different gender, age group, race, religion, or simply personality-wise -- has it ever been a big issue?
Retro
You may have noticed the tags at the bottom of some of my posts include tags called "retro". What are these? Basically, I'm working on a very important series of books I like to call Retro. I should disclose a few details since the first chapter didn't do that at all.
Retro is short for Retrograde (or Retrospection, I'm still deciding). It involves doctors traversing the memories of people. It may sound like Inception but it actually was more inspired by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I had this idea before Inception came out but I can't say Inception hasn't changed some of my ideas.
Tamara
Another series of books I have planned centering around the single character Tamara, nicknamed Tara. This series will be a sort of heist/spy series focusing on art theft.
One thing I should say is that both the Tamara and Retro series will take place in the same alternate universe, similar to our own.
Short Stories
Like 10 minute plays, there is something very convenient but deceptively difficult in writing compact stories that are only meant to be finished in one sitting. Currently, all the short story ideas I have will all be something I call Origins stories (named after the awful X-Men: Origins series, but I couldn't think of a better title). Basically, they will be anecdotes from characters seen in my larger series, like Tamara and Retro, from when they were younger or simply before/in between the events of the larger series' occur.
- One play centering around Christmas/the New Year. Particularly what people think of their New Year's resolutions. This play would involve two sisters, the older sister having just come back from a gap year of traveling.
- The second play will be about the whole idea of wishful thinking in bad situations. The situation specifically is someone has gone missing and the characters in the play have just returned from their part of the search hoping someone else will find the person. This one would have a young character (12 or younger) and an older one (+18 years).
The big issues right now with my play ideas (other than being out of practice for a good while) is that the characters I want will be unlike many I've worked with before. I've noticed a pattern in my characters start to arise after having a reading of my latest play Angel In the Snow. Someone pointed out how they liked that my characters debunked the common portrayal of teenagers in plays as being hormonal and stupid by having such an in-depth conversation. Spencer and Jason from Sorry About the Mess were similar since they both are smart and successful in their own ways.
It seems my characters reach a singularity of sorts as all being very smart, sarcastic, and screwed-up individuals. Doesn't that sound like someone I know? Not that I'm saying those characters are bad -- Spencer, Jason, Natasha, and Luke are some of the best characters I've ever written, especially given how little time I had available to show them off.
But, I want to try to move away from having my plays having the formulaic style: intelligent character + intelligent character = highbrow discussion. Having two girls as characters is sort of influenced by the fact that the majority of actors working are women and seems unfair that I usually write characters for men, but mostly because I really want to see if gender can get in the way of what I think characters would truly say and do in their situations. Having characters in different age groups is basically the same thing.
I'd appreciate some responses including your experience with handling characters different than yourself, i.e. different gender, age group, race, religion, or simply personality-wise -- has it ever been a big issue?
Retro
You may have noticed the tags at the bottom of some of my posts include tags called "retro". What are these? Basically, I'm working on a very important series of books I like to call Retro. I should disclose a few details since the first chapter didn't do that at all.
Retro is short for Retrograde (or Retrospection, I'm still deciding). It involves doctors traversing the memories of people. It may sound like Inception but it actually was more inspired by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I had this idea before Inception came out but I can't say Inception hasn't changed some of my ideas.
Tamara
Another series of books I have planned centering around the single character Tamara, nicknamed Tara. This series will be a sort of heist/spy series focusing on art theft.
One thing I should say is that both the Tamara and Retro series will take place in the same alternate universe, similar to our own.
Short Stories
Like 10 minute plays, there is something very convenient but deceptively difficult in writing compact stories that are only meant to be finished in one sitting. Currently, all the short story ideas I have will all be something I call Origins stories (named after the awful X-Men: Origins series, but I couldn't think of a better title). Basically, they will be anecdotes from characters seen in my larger series, like Tamara and Retro, from when they were younger or simply before/in between the events of the larger series' occur.
As I have only dealt with characters that are different than myself or outside my realm of experience with marginal success, I don't now what to say other than, it is easier to write what you know.
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