45 minutes before my play is due, and I am zen.

I recognize that there are things wrong with this draft. There are things wrong with this draft that I cannot fix in the time I have remaining and I am just going to let them be. With that in mind, I recognize that I have basically written eighty pages with limited grabbing from my previous draft in about four days, and that is no small feat.

I recognize that there is language in this play that is "inelegant." There are monologues that I felt like I needed a shower after writing. Someone gets called a "cum-dumpster," which I think is a terrible phrase and one I would never,  ever use; but I recognize that it is in character. I recognized that my biggest weakness as a writer last week was my reluctance to "go there" and let sex and violence be explicit. I recognize that this play represents an attempt to overcome this weakness. It might not be there yet, but I forced myself to write the monologues and I forced myself to leave them and if nothing else I learned how to push my boundaries this semester.

I recognize that this is not a final draft. I will revise this play. But I have made improvements in the rewrite that justify that I only slept four hours last night.

And I am zen.

Unexpected themes

1. The desire for children to be taken seriously by their elders. Done twice: Lou to Carson, wanting him to stop using childish nicknames for her, and Carson to the Commander, wanting to not be called by his sidekick name.

• At the same time, rejection of the idea of a "responsible adult." Being an adult doesn't free you from the insecurities you faced growing up. Issues of upbringing impact adult personas.

2, Everyone is a little bit incompetent.

• Some people are more incompetent than others, or in different ways, but everyone has a weakness and it comes from within. No kryptonite in this universe.

I will edit in more as I realize them. It's never good to force a theme onto a play.

Fresh drafts and alternate character interpretations

One of my aunts has a fridge magnet that claims she is "Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult." Carson is that relative (not literally based on my aunt) pumped up to eleven. His responsible adult costume is paper thin. Marcus treats him more like a younger sibling than an estranged friend, which is much closer to what I originally envisioned their dynamic. Honorary "Uncle Carson" just creates a much more comfortable and friendly relationship with Lou, as well, and the degree of transparency that all of these characters have with each other is really freeing.

There's no longer layers of secrets - there's only one, and it's the most important secret. 

But back to Carson. He's the free-wheeling uncle who blows into town when the wind pushes him that way. He's thirty-six, but retains a boyishness and refusal to grow up and face responsibility that likens him to Peter Pan. He owns neither a dependent animal nor a coffee table. He has never been married - in fact, any attempts at all to probe into his romantic life prove utterly fruitless: it is either so non-existent or so convoluted that it will never come to light. 

(When Lou is twenty-four she will run into Carson at some family function and suddenly understand ever aspect of his psychology in a single epiphanic flash.)

Carson is erratic, a little bit manic depressive, a lot of an optimist. He anticipates every plan ending in success, puts justice first... and still, after all of his hospitalizations and rehabilitations and the abuse he's been put through, believes that people are fundamentally good. Carson remains a Hero not only because it's the only thing he knows how to do but because he believes in the work.

I like the airiness and the energy this new draft is giving me. I was told to let the play breathe - and I hope I'm doing that.

Oh Lou, I underestimated you.

I said you had no angst.

You have so much angst. You're so tired of being lied to and I promise it's going to stop but you just have to let me get to page fifty before I can start giving you some answers.

You are such a lost little girl.

I am so sorry for misjudging you.

World building...

Just some things I need to set in stone... thought I'd share them.

Now with 100% more Batman comparisons.

The American Superhuman League, chartered by Then-President Gerald Ford at the behest of The Commander and several other Superhuman veterans of the Vietnam war in 1975. The League receives government funding and League members have formal ranks and titles in the US military: in times of war, active-duty members of the League will be called upon to serve the United States to the best of their abilities. However, the League is self-regulating and has its own rules and conditions that exempt its members from US certain US laws. The League has always differed from the military in that it does not categorize or divide its members based on gender, race, or sexuality. It is open to anyone of significant ability and drive, and all members are expected to fulfill tasks based on their individual skill set.

Super-powers follow a mendelian inheritance pattern, but there are some complicated masking genes known to exist, hence super-powered children can be born of apparently mortal parents. For any given couple in which both parents are super-powered, the chances of them having a child without powers range from zero to one in four. For a superpowered/mortal pairing, the chance is between zero and one in two. There is no correlation between heterozygous/homozygous status for the Superhuman allele and overall strength of powers.

The exact manifestation of powers is highly subjective based on the individual. Powers of children do not have to reflect those of their parents. Powers can flux later in life, usually due to physical or psychological trauma. For example, a former speedster who finds themselves paralyzed after an accident may develop telekinesis.

Powers solidify by the age of ten. Formal League training begins at age ten. Young heroes begin a "Sidekick" apprenticeship with an experienced hero at the age of twelve [Batman and Robin], although their formal schooling continues until a high school equivalency degree, usually earned at the age of sixteen. Sidekicks remain apprenticed with their mentors until the age of twenty, and although legal adulthood in the united states is considered to be age eighteen, Sidekicks are obligated by league charter to remain subordinate to their teachers until they complete their apprenticeships.

At the conclusion of an apprenticeship, Sidekicks may choose to remain as an "assistant" hero to their mentor,  or may contract with a League-organized team stationed in the United States or abroad. Sidekicks do not retain their hero titles from their apprenticeships, graduating to a new name that marks their status as an adult hero [Robin becomes Nightwing, Batgirl becomes Blackbat]. Usually these titles are chosen by the mentor and agreed upon by the sidekick, but sometimes sidekicks choose their own titles. Heroes will also sometimes change their titles later in life if they feel their previous title no longer fits [Batgirl becoming Oracle].

If a hero is killed in action or dies of natural causes, it is acceptable and even expected that their closest apprentice assume their mantle [Nightwing becoming Batman].

Hero/Sidekick relationships are expected to retain a Teacher/Student dynamic, but are typically unmonitored. Abuse is rare but does occur, but is almost never reported.

Superhero teams are created based on diversity and dynamic. A team will seldom have two heroes with the same power set unless those powers are somehow linked. Teams are created with gender balance and diversity in mind - the League has occasionally come under fire for tokenism, but they'll be damned if their teams don't reflect the diversity of their proud nation. A range of personalities are favored in drafting a team, although there will almost always be a clear leader.

Some heroes operate independently of an overal team, but are still contracted with the League. Vigilantism is frowned upon, and heroism without a license is punishable by law and by the League.

The incidence of powers is about 1% of the general population. The trait knows no racial or economic boundaries. A billionaire playboy is as likely to be born with super-powers as is the child of poor, immigrant parents. Heroes tend to be over-represented in media - most superhumans who do not find work contracting with the League find themselves involved in the entertainment industry, as actors, stuntmen, technicians, acrobats, etc.  Superhumans who choose fields outside of the League or entertainment tend to be quiet about their abilities, as there is a degree of suspicion held by the general population, as well as a sentiment that they ought to not waste their abilities.

Religious acknowledgement of heroes tends to differ from denomination to denomination. A comparable debate may be Evolution vs Creationism, whether powers are the result of god or the result of evolution. (Evolution is winning, as powers are genetically linked). Heroes are not well-recognized in the historical record until the 1800s and did not formally organize until the 1970s, but much speculation exists about various historical figures prior to that.

Heroes exist openly, although those contracted with the league tend to maintain a secret identity. Those working in the entertainment industry generally go by their own names. The important thing here is that people know they exist. Heroes do not live in fear of discovery or persecution. They are protected as a minority by the US government and generally viewed favorably.

It is possible to draw a great many allegories between superhumans and any minority group that you like, but the fact is that they themselves are not the metaphor, simply background for my storytelling.

The Commander

There's something really refreshing about writing a villain.

Not a good guy with a sinister side, but an honest to god villain. A character who makes your skin crawl. A smug bastard who you want to punch in the face. A manipulative sleaze who even the most innocent sentences have some vague undertone of horror when they come out of his mouth.

The Commander is that villain.

(Or, at least, I hope he is.)

Marcus and Carson's old mentor wasn't originally going to be included in the play, but I got talked into it and I'm in a better place for it. In fact I sort of dread to think what I was going to do before I put him in because the play needed an antagonist and here he is.

He's meant to be a pastiche of every franchise headliner ever, but mostly Captain America (his theme), Superman (his powers), and Batman (his tendency towards taking pubescent male sidekicks). His introductory paragraph introduces him as "More Jor-El than Superman at this point in his life," which is also accurate - the Commander's in his late sixties. He's on the verge of retirement and everyone knows it and that's why they're so keen to shower him with accolades and awards.

The dark side of this is, of course, that he's an unrepentant child molester and Carson and Marcus's varying degrees of disfunction are almost certainly a result of apprenticing with him. Trying to make him repent is a huge action of the play, and I can't really say more about that without spoiling massively but the Commander has a lot up his sleeves. You don't make it in the hero business as long as he has without being ruthless.

There are certain lines I write for his character that seem perfectly tame at first - but become suddenly sinister when considered with the rest of his character. As I discussed with my roommate, "Anyone who can mention visiting a children's hospital and make the audience squirm is probably villainous gold."

I haven't written a proper villain in a really long time - probably not since sophomore year of high school. So this is going to be really fun, I think. Villains are fun to write. It's fun to make everyone around them uncomfortable and I'm going to have a blast.

Even if the Commander is a wretched human being.

Especially because the Commander is a wretched human being.

Lou.

Lou Lou Lou Lou. This name is just so right for her. There's something in the abruptness about it that fits her so perfectly - almost like it's been abridged, like there's a piece of it missing, but it's not any weaker for it. Lou doesn't sound like a nickname - it just is. Truncated but no less whole.

I write a lot of motherless girls, and I'm sure there's a real Freudian reason behind this but really... I rarely find a mother character who is interesting to me. It feels like there's more tension in writing fathers and daughters (which is probably Freudian in its own right) and this isn't to say that I've never written a mother character - there has been one in and out of different drafts of Other People's Garden Gnomes, and All The Pretty Hipsters certainly had one. My screenplay project last semester had a mother-protagonist, but that felt like something distinctly different. I guess the issue is that I'm reluctant to write an abusive mother, because I worry that it might make people think badly of my mother, who is nothing if not amazing - but if I wrote a mother-daughter relationship like what I have with my mom, there'd be no tension.  So I avoid the topic altogether and write motherless girls.

What I like about Lou already, even so early in the writing process, is that she has very little angst. I think she has a fair degree of anger and frustration, and a drive to rebel and to succeed, but I don't think she spends a large amount of time pondering her lot in life or moping about feelings - she just does things. On of the things I'm really trying to do is have her be a character who moves in a straight line. She's the kind of person who walks into a room and knows exactly what she came into it for. A little bit manipulative, yes, because she only asks questions that she thinks she's capable of getting answers to - hence why she's never asked Marcus much about super powers, because she doesn't think she'll get an answer.

I'm still toying with her first proper scene with Carson, and how she acts in front of her dad as opposed to when he's not around, but I get a sense that there's a fair bit of difference. Just like Marcus has a facade, so does Lou, and they play them against each other. Initially Carson probably sees a good deal more of their "true selves" than either sees of each other's, which is something I would like to play up, because it's a loving and familial relationship but it's one built on lies and presumed ignorance.

Anyways, that's just a sort of introductory idea of the character. I'll probably put something up for Marcus and for Carson later one, although most likely not this weekend. I'm doing a 24-hour play festival - which is something I've really wanted to do for a long time - but it will be sort of hectic. Fun and hectic and just the way I like my life.

So that's Lou. More on her later.

And we're back

Starting tap over from the beginning has actually been a really good experience. I never really realized how weak some of my fundamental technique was (also I'm out of practice), and it's been fun and going well so far. Even the fact that it's at 8 AM is pretty good because it wakes me up. And I'll be ahead of things when we get to stuff like drawbacks and perrididdles, but for now I'm just really impressed (in a bad way) in my inability to do slap-toe drops with my left foot.

It reminds me of something my tap teacher in high school used to say... "Left foot is retarded." :)

I've started real work on my full length play for this semester. It's a project I'm really excited about and have done a lot of drafting/planning on, so it's good to finally be working on it in earnest. I didn't have a title when I pitched it last Tuesday, but since then I've hit on something that I really like... So unless I think of something better, it's going to be Boy Wonders (and I'm starting a tag for that). At first I thought it might be a bit too camp, but I tried it out with a few different people and got a good response... and it's not like it isn't fitting, since most of the drama revolves around things that happened to my leads when they were superhero sidekicks!

I'll probably admit some plot details as I get further into the writing process - it's not really good to put stuff all on the table when you're just starting. So in the next few weeks I'll probably toss up some character summaries and such.

This is going to be so fun, though!

YAY.