Almost Too Tired

This picture is pretty much what I looked like last night. Even after drinking copious amounts of caffeinated tea and energy drinks, my brain was frazzled trying to come up with witty lines, the right words, and other little details that I just simply cannot ignore. I'm fine with using random names and changing them later, that's easy to do. But coming up with the right things for the characters to say, and just how to get other characters in deep doo-doo, can be taxing on an already exhausted brain. I will admit I only got a few pages done last night, but I'm planning on finishing up my 10 page quota by this evening. Not too many left to go, it's just a matter of making my brain actually wake up long enough to function and help my fingers to type things properly. I swear, even writing this little paragraph so far, I've had to hit the backspace to fix an error every other word. How sad is that?

Any way. Moving on.

When I decided to do this Script Frenzy, it was really a passing idea. I was involved with the Playwrights Festival {deeply involved. Running the sound, having a lead part in one play, and a minor part in another} and the subject of writing my own script was just an idea. One of those silly-at-the-time ideas that turned into a challenge, and then into a double dog dare. I was curious about writing a play, and with a little encouragement from some theater friends, I signed up on the website. {Which, as a side note, if you click on the Script Frenzy Icon over there, it'll take you to my profile and you can explore from there ^^} I started reading about how to write a script, what the proper formats are, and other hints, tips and tricks.

My idea developed probably two weeks later, while watching Cinderella {The Disney one} with Felicity. I started questioning everything that happened in the movie. Why would somebody name their kid 'Cinderella'? What if there was no fairy godmother? And other such questions that lead me to the basic plot line for my play. After poking and prodding my questions, they led to ideas and those ideas led to newer ones, and most often, funnier ones.

Lot's of people have been asking me exactly what my play is about, and I'm always hesitant to tell them about it, because if I just say it's a Cinderella story, I can see their eyes glaze over and their interest levels dropping by the nanosecond. But I always end up telling people the ENTIRE story, which eats up a lot of time and doesn't leave any real surprises when they finally get to read it. {Or hopefully, in this case, SEE it.} It's not just another Cinderella story. It's got more depth to it, with very different characters. Truly, the only thing that even remotely resembles the famed story is the fact that there is a "Cinderella" {even though that's not her name}, a prince, and an cruel stepmother. That's it. The prince isn't anything like he is in the Disney movie. He is, essentially, the village idiot. But no one can say anything about it because he is, The Prince. The step sisters? HA! Got you. There are no step sisters here! That is a surprise that I will be keeping.

I will also be keeping the surprise of who she ends up with at the end. Duh.

Here is a snippet of the first act:

Ella is an orphan. Has been since her mother died in childbirth, and her father died shortly after marrying Clarissa, a beautiful but cruel and materialistic woman who Ella always believed to be the cause for her fathers death. Ella was tormented daily, not once treated like part of the family, and was essentially forced into slavery for her step mother. Her only reprieve, and the things that keep her from viscously murdering her 'family', is her childhood friend Henry, who is a servant in the kitchens at the Palace, and Alton, a friend of her fathers (and a tailor to the royalty and nobility) who took on the role of protective guardian, coming by almost every morning for a cup of coffee and a bit of high-life gossip. One morning, Alton brings news that there is to be another ball for the Prince, set up by his overly matchmaking mother. He also brings with him the clothing that he tailored for Ella's step-family. Chaos ensues when a coffee stain is found on a piece of the fabric, and of course, Ella is punished severely for it. Unable to attend the ball, Ella is depressed and thinking of running away when Alton stops by again with a surprise for her.


And that's all I'm going to give you. I'm on the verge of spilling the beans for the whole story, and really, what fun would that be? ^^ Until tomorrow, keep writing! {Or, in Jenni's case, KEEP EDITING!}