Thursday, November 02, 2017

November 2017 Writing Challenge - #1 - Self As Villain


Let's start simple.

Write from a voice as far from your own in every way- character, age, race, education, and wealth... and then write yourself as the villain. You are the reason they are suffering or dying. Worse? You like it.

What's your greatest strength? That's their greatest weakness. Use it against them.

Their suffering or death is the physical manifestation of your greatest strength. Use theatrical metaphor to stage it.

Are you wealthy? What can you do with money? Buy their house and evict them.
Are you smart? Require a test to stop a bomb from exploding.

Are you strong? Place stones atop them until they can no longer breath.

How "realism" is this? I don't know, but use YOUR voice as the villain and a different voice as the victim.

At the end of the play you win and declare your superiority. Don’t cheat and lose to make yourself feel better.

Summary:
The audience will hate you... because that's not how theater works.

Theater is a structurally socialist medium where individualism INHERENTLY gives way to a social collectivism in the form of mob/audience.

At home alone with a SCREEN you may enjoy privately watching domination. You may (as self) like to see people with superior powers exert their will on those who are weaker (and probably also morally corrupt ex: Superman, NCIS)

Screens encourage fascistic tolerances.
Theater encourages empathy.

More on that later. For now, write yourself as a villain, simply by being stronger and winning.

********

This isn't exactly not dealing with the whole idea of self as villain, now that I think about it...

I'm revisiting a story idea I started in last year's challenge but have struggled with since.  I even managed to write a song associated with the play and performed it in public but still haven't managed to wrest the play itself into being.  I've had some new ideas recently and figured I'd use the framework of the November challenge to push myself to dig in and try to bring a full first draft into the world at last that I can hack into the shape of a real play.  So...

Micah is presented with a love potion by his friend Jeffrey who is dabbling in magic.  (Jeffrey has a not so secret crush on Micah, but doesn't have the nerve to use the love potion on Micah himself.)  Micah slips the love potion to his friend Auggie.  And it works.  Which would be great except that Auggie is straight.  And married.  And his wife Sarah is (unbeknownst to Micah until after the love potion takes effect and Auggie feels he should share everything) pregnant.  Jeffrey wasn't expecting the potion to actually work, so now he needs to start working on an antidote.  If Micah sends Auggie home to Sarah, Auggie's just going to ask her for a divorce, so, at least for tonight, he's going to have to sleep over.

Flashback to a showcase where Micah, later in life guitar student, is playing.  Auggie, a professional musician, and Sarah, and Jeffrey are all there to cheer him on.  Sarah brings up the subject that Auggie's tactile relationship with Micah might be making the poor guy uncomfortable,since he's clearly got a crush on Auggie. While Auggie and Micah talk music, Sarah and Jeffrey discuss his newfound magic hobby.

The morning after the first scene, post (fully clothed) sleepover with Auggie and Micah.  Auggie's still besotted, Micah's still conflicted.  (In rewrites, the kiss is no probably longer happening.)

Over breakfast time, Auggie restrings Micah's guitar andplots to write a song to help woo him.  Jeffrey checks in to say the antidote may take a couple of days (just like the original potion), and oh, he may have skipped the whole chapter on ethics in the magic book that could have helped them avoid this.  After the call, in the original November challenge version Auggie and Micah start getting really friendly (again, that's probably no longer happening - and the post-presidential election inspired sex scene is definitely not happening :)

And then there was also some noodling about Sarah and Jeffrey working on the antidote together, and discussing the roots of Jeffrey's newfound paganism. (Which I still need to research more fully)

So...

Now...

In order to avoid questionably consensual sex, what do the characters do instead?  Let's try this, picking up in one of the places we might have left off...

                          MICAH
And for these many and various reasons, they happily offer up an antidote to get you out of any ethical quagmire in which you might have landed yourself.

                          JEFFREY
Yes.  And I was right.  Gathering all the ingredients is gonna take just a bit.

                          MICAH
A bit being - ?

                          JEFFREY
Like I said before, days.

                          AUGGIE
That's OK, Jeffrey.  We're cool with that.

                          MICAH
Fewer days is better.

                          JEFFREY
But an antidote that works just as well as the original potion - ?

                          MICAH
Is the primary objective, yes.

                          AUGGIE
Take your time.

                          JEFFREY
One other thing.

                          MICAH
Oh boy.

                          JEFFREY
No, not 'oh boy' - just a piece of advice from the book.

                          MICAH
Yeah?

                          JEFFREY
The antidote may remove the feelings, but it doesn't erase the memory of anything you may have done while under the influence.

                          MICAH
So you're saying - ?

                          JEFFREY
Anything you guys might - do, here, in the interim - you'll both be stuck with those memories.  Neither of you gets a free pass on this one.

                          MICAH
OK then.

                          JEFFREY
I'll do my best to make that interim as brief as possible for ya'.

                          AUGGIE
Thanks, Jeffrey.

                          MICAH
Yeah, thanks.

                          JEFFREY
More when I know more.

                          JEFFREY hangs up, walks away.

MICAH and AUGGIE are alone, again.


                          AUGGIE
So, what kind of memories can I talk you into making?

                          MICAH
August -

                          AUGGIE
You're not gonna shut me up this time.

******

                          MICAH
I have a fantastic idea.

                          AUGGIE
What?

                          MICAH
You are going to tell me a story about something you really love about your wife.

                          AUGGIE
You want me to talk about my wife?

                          MICAH
Your very pregnant, if still not showing, wife, Sarah, yes.

                          AUGGIE
That will make you happy.

                          MICAH
You have no idea.

                          AUGGIE
OK, but then I also get to tell a story about something I love about you.

                          MICAH
Auggie -

                          AUGGIE
Story for story, it's only fair.

                          MICAH
If it means you'll keep talking about Sarah, OK.

                          AUGGIE
I might even start composing that song for you.

                          MICAH
I'm trying to be a good boy here, Auggie.  Help me out.

                          AUGGIE
What if I don't want you to be a good boy?

                          MICAH
A thing you love about Sarah is -

                          AUGGIE
I love watching her read.
She'll be sitting right next to me while I'm working on something else and she's so intent.  So involved in the story she's reading.
And then maybe something will make her laugh.
And she's so beautiful in that moment.
And she looks up and sees me smiling.
And then proceeds to share the funny bit of whatever she's reading with me.
And even if I don't entirely get it without the full context of the article or the book, I laugh with her.
Just to see her laugh again.
And then she goes back to reading.
And it's all I can do not to stare at her, watch her, and forget what I'm doing entirely.
And wait for the next time she'll laugh.
     (pause, then shifts back to Micah)
That the kind of thing you mean?

                          MICAH
     (not entirely sure what to say)
Yeah.

                          AUGGIE
I can look at you like that.
I can watch you like that.

                          MICAH
No, I don't think you can.

                          AUGGIE
How do you know I haven't already and you just missed it?

MICAH is silent.  Fair point.

AUGGIE strums a chord.
Hums.
Then begins to sing a line.

                          AUGGIE
I blame
you for
the blush in my cheek...

                          MICAH
You are not gonna make this easy are you?

                          AUGGIE
Nope.

(to be continued)




No comments: