and so it begins

Today I started writing the book of the show.  I’m only a couple pages into it, but I’ve started.  It’s exciting and frightening at the same time.  Hopefully soon ish I’ll have the first draft under my belt.  Along the way I’ll post passages or other something related to the show somehow, altho I’m not entirely sure what that is yet.  Wish me luck!

Oh my goodness I missed a Sunday?

Wow.  I just realized I didn’t post on Sunday.  I’m really sorry, readers.  I could have sworn I posted something Sunday night…and yet it’s not up and there are no drafts on my dashboard or anything.  It’s really weird.  Eek!

So this Sunday you are definitely getting a post.  Definitely.  Like, fo reals.

I don’t know what happened.  Crazy-face.

I don’t want to name names…

But I totally do!  I have chosen names for all my characters and now it’s time for the big reveal.

The Birthday Girl: Winifred (I know it’s an old name, there is a reason for that.  She’ll be called Win or, to her annoyance, Winnie).
The Sad Girl: Audrey
The Boyfriend: Leo
Older Brother:  Drew
Younger Brother: Aaron
Lovesick Girl: Katherine
Lovesick Boy: David

by the seat of my pants

Ok so I’m just kinda writing this post a bit off the top of my head.  Some of today’s content was actually worked out before but I’m sure some of it will just happen while I’m typing.  Lucky you?

The basic plot idea I have thus far (or that I’ve chosen to try and develop, that is) is the idea of a group of young adults (around my age, because that just makes life easier for me) going to Disneyland for the day in order to celebrate [insert birthday girl’s name here]’s birthday!  So far I have that group consisting of The Birthday Girl, The Boyfriend, The Brothers (2), Lovesick Boy and Lovesick Girl (yea I bet you can’t guess what they wish for), and The Sad Girl.  I’m a stickler for all things even tho…and it really bothers me that due to the current cast outline there are more guys than girls, and I am obsessed with an even cast.  So I’m thinking about adding like…I don’t even know.  Haha.  Because as of right now most of the characters have a general background and a wish.  Oh right, I went on a tangent.  Basically they all have a wish, some superficial, some rather deep, and the Spirits of Disneyland are gonna help them make their wishes come true.  Through Disneyland related means.  So as I was saying, I have everyone figured out (in a general sense) and I can’t think of another character.  So we’ll see.  I might just have to live with it being uneven.

The Characters:
The Birthday Girl: She has one of the more silly wishes, simply because I couldn’t have the show being too heavy, and I had to be sure the wishes were all something I could kinda have granted in a Disney way.  This girl is generally really happy with her life, her friends, her family, etc.  She goes to a school she likes, has a pretty good job (and got the day off for her bday, so that’s cool), has a great boyfriend, yadda yadda yadda.  All she wants is to be treated like a princess on her birthday.  [I know that this description makes her seem like she would be a brat or a snot or something, but I assure you she won’t be.  She worked hard to get good grades for scholarships to go this school she loves so much, is just as good a girlfriend to her boyfriend, and is a hard little worker.]

The Boyfriend: Sorry, guys…I know you’re prolly gonna hate this… but he just loves his gal and wants to make her happy.  He is wishing to find the perfect gift for her.  I’m still working on his back story as to why all he cares about is his girlfriend’s gift…but that is his wish. So there.

The Brothers: These two are only a couple years apart but they have been prone to serious fighting (more than the typical sibling-ness) due to divorced parents and misunderstandings, that sort of thing.  Both of them remember (and miss) the good old days when they were younger and got along better, and secretly wish for understanding and maybe even brotherly love and friendship.

Lovesick Boy: no background yet…but if you guessed that he has a thing for Lovesick Girl…you are so right.

Lovesick Girl: no background for her either, but she likes him back.  It’s true.

Sad Girl: This was my toughest to figure out a wish for (because there is so much for this poor girl to wish for) and how to have it grantable by Disneyland-esque things!  I spent a lot of time pulling my hair out over this one, and I think I might actually have her figured out.  Now pull out your tissues, it’s a sob story…  She has 3 younger siblings (none of working age yet), her mom has been sick for quite some time and is out of work, her dad works a lot to cover medical bills as well as the cost of providing for them all, and she had to forsake her post-highschool plans in order to work full time and help take care of her siblings.  And, understandably, she is overwhelmed by the pressure of caring for them and working, and the struggle with her mom’s illness, and she just wants her life back.  Can you blame her?  Her wish (tentatively) is to be able to go to school under these circumstances, while still being able to help out at home.

The Big 1,000

Thats right, 1,000 views!  Actually, 1,004 (I guess I haven’t been checking obsessively enough to see that I was at a thousand).  That’s great!  Thanks to everyone who has been reading, and I hope that those of you who just happened upon this blog enjoyed and will come back for more.

Coming tonight/tomorrow morning:
The plot choice that I’ve decided to work with for now and maybe some character snippets.

Now that I have more time…

The process of settling in to the apartment is drawing to a close, so for the next few weeks I should have a bit more time to work on things on a more consistent basis.  So I’m going to try to post something every Sunday night or Monday morning from now on at the very least.

moving along

K so I’ve been working on some more specific story ideas.  On one of them I got a little off-track, but I’m not telling you which one.

There is one element that remains the same throughout these ideas: the character I discussed in my previous post “biting the bullet“.  I’ve decided to call him/her/them the Disney Spirit, until I can think of something less cheesy.  Or maybe cheesy is good in this case.  It is a rather cheesy character.  Anyway, there are variations on this character in the different ideas, but he/she/them is/are always there.  The reason I keep saying “he/she/them” is because I haven’t decided if this character is going to be male or female or a team of two.  I’ve jotted down some more notes on the Disney Spirit (these were written before my idea of having two, when I was still thinking of an older man):
-Mentor-type, Dumbledore-esque
-Child at heart
-Somewhat mischievous (Figment)
-Name?  Or nameless?
-Maybe 2 (1 male, 1 female) as a team (but then they’d prolly need names)

In my first idea, I had a group of people either signing up for a tour (they have DL tours) or winning a special tour.  They were strangers (or if they signed up for the tour they could know each other) and hadn’t entered any contests to win the tour, they just were kinda invited under somewhat mysterious circumstances.  In this scenario, the Disney Spirit is their tour guide.  All these guests have something to learn or a wish to be granted.  The tour guide either helps them learn whatever they need t learn or helps them make their wish a reality (but doesn’t grant it outright, because then there’d be no story!).  I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote this out, but this was the first thing I thought of and at the time I really liked it.  Haha.  I think it’s a little too Willy Wonka-esque, especially if the won the tour and had some lesson waiting for them. 

After I thought about that for a bit I got away from the lesson idea, and stuck mostly with wishes (since that was the point of the Disney Spirit in the first place) but I still wanted to play variations on how the group knows each other (or doesn’t).  Either they all arrived separately (in pairs or small groups of  three or four) and stayed separate (because I can’t see strangers ending up spending the whole day at DL together, I’ve made friends with strangers at DL for a line or something, but not the whole day), or they came as one group of friends.  If they came as friends though, I’d probably have them split up from time to time (they want to go to different restaurants or rides or something like that) to make things more interesting.  How can they have a private moment with the Disney Spirit if their annoying friends are always around?  In both these ideas, the Disney Spirit would more than likely be two people, and they would turn up throughout the day in different roles throughout the park.  In the morning they might be taking tickets and later they might be serving churros, and in the evening they might be the Storybook Land Canal guide. 

Anyway, those are the ideas I’m working on right now.  I’m not throwing anything away (mentally, that is) until I’ve really worked on each of them more thoroughly.  I have other notes coming soon, too!

“it’s a small world” *spoiler alert*

Hey howdy hey!

This past Thursday (the 5th of February) my cousin Nick and I went to Disneyland and got to ride the new (and improved?) “it’s a small world”.  Sadly, I did not have my camera, and so I was only able to get pics on my cell phone…and they didn’t turn out very well, sorry.  But I still remember it oh so clearly! 

 I know there were a lot of rumors going around about what all would change, but first I’d like to say that the new paint and revamp sound system (not the song itself, I’ll get to that in a second) are great!  Everything looks so clean and bright and it sounds like they just recorded the song a few days ago, rather than over 40 years ago.  And, maybe I’m remembering incorrectly, but it sounded like there were richer harmonies in the finale room (where all the children of the world get together and paaaartay).  Yes, I know I’m a dork for even wondering about the harmonies, but they very well could have added it in after the fact with all the new-fangled sound editing these days.  The boats were also nicer (with a smaller seating capacity!) and flowed through the attraction much better. 

Now, let’s get going on the more noticeable changes….such as the addition of Disney characters and music into the ride…

2009, pt. 2

This month I’ve been moving.  Thusly, not much time.  Now the place where my bed and food and internet and phone and whatnot are is not the place where all my miscellaneous crap is.  Also, moving takes about 4 hours a day, plus looking for a job, plus other general life things.  Long story short…I’m falling a little short on this months goals.  (see post on that here) But I will have it completed by the end of February.

This post was mostly for me, to keep myself accountable.

Thanks for reading!  Don’t forget about me!

2009

Well I know it’s been quite some time.  Holidays, personal life, etc.  I’m not gonna go into the gory details here (although feel free to find out if you’re curious over at my personal blog) but I just want you all to know (all two of you) that I have been working on the show, and I have some structured goals for the show for this year.

This month I plan to:

• Finish up a story outline
• Get a general cast of characters sorted out

Within the next 6 months:

• Finish a rough draft
• Share it with a few people for editing and input

By the end of 2009:

• Have a few drafts under my belt, altho not necessarily a final (the addition of music may cause the need for tweaking)
• Get some more people involved and committed
• Start writing the music! (Like I said, story first.)