Now that I’m back to working on “Act 2″‘s script again, I stopped and thought a bit about the characters and what they are now.
Kind of intersting because, well… they aren’t what I originally imagined them as. They grew off in different directions that I planned on (which is one of the multitude of reasons the First Draft sucked badly IMO – I started them one direction, then they sort of struggled their way to a deeper character design.) There are two major male characters (Lee Allison and Matt Davies) – Matt’s character never changed. He’s identical to the original concept I wrote down for him.
Lee Allison, on the other hand, changed a lot – originally he’s supposed to be a scammer and sleazy as hell. As I wrote the character, more and more of me ended up being reflected into the character (which was based around a single aspect of my personality), and honesty became a big cornerstone for the character and slowly ended up gaining quite a few other attributes and personality traits of mine (the goal with writing the character was to use bits and pieces of my personalty, following the easy rule of writing: “Write what you know.”)
But the two female characters are the ones that grew and evolved considerably. Jenny Diver is a college student studying theater (which, oddly enough, was based on the idea that the female who would play the role would probably end up being a female college student studying theater.) Honest and clean girl really, Christian upbringing, etc. And she stayed that way through most of the First Draft up till the end. In the second draft, the honest and clean thing starts to show as being more of a mask than her real personality – she acts what everyone around her has expected of her. Not a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing, but it does mean in the right situations she can let loose. In the Third Draft? She can be a downright bitch when she wants to be, and has some jealousy issues.
Tina Fox, on the other hand, started out as a slut and a bitch in my character descriptions. I needed a vehicle to move a plot piece along, and she ended up being a slut and a bitch with money. As I started writing more of her in, she slowly evolved – caring, though a little distant at times. Second draft, she starts becoming more interesting, and in the Third Draft, she may be the smartest and sanest of the entire cast. Go fig that one.
I’m currious if my characters are done growing now – hopefully, this being the third draft, they have. I’d rather not keep re-writing this over and over because my characters are continuously a moving target personality wise 🙂
I re-write the introductory narration just a bit – I may post that on here just for the hell of it to see if anyone likes what they see. I might start throwing some script snippets in here from time to time, just for fun 🙂
Time to go out partying again it seems. My (ex) Sister-In-Law is throwing a Valentine’s party at her house. Oh, joy of joys – I’m going to a party that’s pretty much for couples when I’m single. BLEH. I’m sure I’ll have a good time and all, but that bit about it being a Valentine’s party kinda looms in the back of my head – I’m SINGLE at a COUPLE’s party. Grrr.
So the owner decides yesterday that he’s going to help me out on construction at R & S. Surprisingly he’s actually been helping for two days, though not a full day either time. He’s used to being an in charge sort of guy, now he’s stuck as a side-kick for a while. (He knows the rules – up front I told him the site is MINE until it’s done and I turn the keys over to him.) He tries, but man he looks damned tired trying to keep up with me. I, of course, have a great deal of fun with this situation. I have a ton of little jobs that need to be done, so it is a help, but sheesh – he’s slow, and looks like he might collapse half the time. Being near 60 and way out of shape definitely takes it’s toll on him!
Now, if it would just warm up a little, I could pour concrete and get a huge portion of the job done. Ground work plumbing inspection is passed (twice, since it had to be re-done to move a bathroom), and rough-in plumbing passed. Rough in electrical should probably be inspected on Thursday or Friday, then frame inspection. Now we’re talkin – it’s amazing how much prep work goes into getting things built, then suddenly you hit a breakover point where every day the place looks different and closer to the end. March 1 or so it should be open.
Which begs the question – if he doesn’t have the money to build the next R & S BBQ immediately, what the hell am I going to do for work for a bit? Hrm.
BTW – who actually reads this stuff? I notice the number of views I get going up every time I post an entry now. But I only have 8 people on my friends list. One of those had his account hi-jacked, one never reads my blog, one never logs in anymore. Hm. If you’re actually reading my drivel, drop me a line and say Hi, or throw me a friend request 🙂