The director of the play and I had a lunch meeting yesterday. (Well, Monday, actually.) It was really productive. Since we have been given carte blanche, we’re making a shitload of changes to the play. Combining characters, getting rid of characters, story changes; we’re going all out.

Will the producer and actual writer be happy? Highly doubtful. In fact, they’re probably gonna hate it. Well, the producer might like the idea of less characters because it’ll save him money. But the writer, he’s not gonna like it at all. He doesn’t understand that there has to be a story arc. His writing sounded too much like a bunch of guys hanging out in a bar, not a complete story. What the director and I came up with is a complete story. With surprises and a couple of twists.

Should be an interesting script when all is said and done.

In other news….

I think I’m going to start work on another graphic novel. Have the first few pages in my head and I need to get them down before I forget them. It’s gonna be different from Uke´ in that it’s not going to be about a superhero. Or even in manga style. This will be a darker storyline. More dealing with the underbelly of society perhaps. Not exactly sure which way I’m gonna head with it yet, but dark it will be.

What I’ve noticed from working with Sara*, or to be more precise, looking at all of the sites for the conventions she’s a part of, and on the panels they have either artist or writer/artist. There aren’t many, if any, just plain writers. At all. I understand that it’s the art that makes the story graphic, and the better the art the better the book. Sara* has a convention later this month and under photo on the website it says that she is the artist of a particular story. The writer is not listed on the page at all.

Just a curious little tidbit I’ve noticed….

*names have been changed so that they can’t be googled.

There’s something about getting together with people on a project who all are on the same wavelength that get the juices get flowing, ideas bouncng off each other like superballs; it is such an incredible experience. It’s also refreshing because if you get stuck hanging off the side of a cliff, there’s someone there to pull you up.

For instance, after much debating on what our goals were for the manga (basically, which publisher we are aiming for), we decided on a page count. At the current count for the script I had written, we were going to need more to progress the story than we could actually use. So I tossed an idea out there, Sara* bounced one back, and Bry* just sat there, just staring at the table. He then came up with this brilliant idea that will help us hit our page target. Things like this, make me excited.

Things like the script adaptation do not. Earlier today I read over the script, version 6 apparently (or so the writer thinks), and again, things were put in that we agreed didn’t work. Parts that I had written were taken out. This destroys one’s fun. The excitement is gone for me from this project. I am really hoping that at this week’s production meeting the writer says he doesn’t like what I am going to put in so I can step down from this and move on. Nothing saps the creative feeling more than having hours of work disregarded when you’re the one they asked to edit in the first place.

On a side note, I’ve been so psyched about the manga thing that I finally sent my brother-in-law the descriptions for the characters for the graphic novel he wants to work on with me. The story is one I’ve been meaning to get down on paper, mostly in novel form, but for whatever reason just haven’t gotten around to it. Hopefully he won’t dally about too long with the sketches.

Also, I’m thinking of telling a story through twitter. This isn’t a new concept. I’m sure tons of people are doing it. @CharlieHuston has been doing it since February 2nd. I think the challenge of telling a story 140 characters at a time will be good for the creative process. Just like this blog is supposed to be. I have noticed an increase in my writing output since I started this. Coincidence??? Yep.

I just need to work out some details of what story I’m going to tell. Maybe I’ll dig out one of my short stories that came from the creative writing class I took in college. I think I may be able to do something with it.

I’ll post the twitter link when I start the story.

*names have been altered to protect me from possible lawsuits.