Journal, 4/2/11

What is this writing journal all about?

MELINDA: See, I loathed my generation, I was an overachiever during a time when wearing a different flannel shirt each day constituted achievement, and the best example of what I hated about my generation was the montage, this ludicrous idea that all you needed was a catchy song-

Catchy music begins to play

-and a series of hard-workin’ tableaus-

PERSE strikes a pose

PERSE: Boring!

MELINDA: -and you can overcome Soviet fucking Russia, but the crazy thing is, I think that way now, when I remember certain passages of time, they’re strung together in little tableaus, set to music.

This passage presages the “Boring Wars”, a montage battle of wills between tutor Melinda and her student Perse that goes between the first scene of Perse and the most recent scene I wrote for Flux Sunday. It’s rare that I write out of order when things are going well, but so it was.

I’m excited to juxtapose the scenes of obsession and desire against the conventions of teen pop music and montages; hopefully, the play can contain both without feeling like an exercise in clever structure.

In addition to writing this four page scene today, I completed a first draft of the plot. I’m excited, because it has the same relatively simple structure of Dream Walker, a play which came out very quickly. Its ending, however, feels a lot like the ending to Denny and Lila. On the one hand, that’s good, as that’s my favorite ending of the 2010 plays. On the other, I worry it’s too similar, as the plays share a similar emotional charge.

Today was one of my few remaining free days, and most of it was spent working on Ajax in Iraq, the play I’m directing for Flux in June. I was glad to find some time to write, especially to complete the plotting, as that usually means the rest will come quickly and easily. However, I also want to get in some work on After Earth, so tomorrow is looking like a very full morning of writing.

Oh, also, I completed this list of my unfinished plays. Hopefully, this will serve as further (public) motivation to stay focused, and not let the days slip too easily by.