Here we go for round two on this one, I really hope that I’ll
be able to figure this one out with a bit more pre-writing, and it sure doesn’t
hurt that I’ve already given it one draft. We’re going to have four characters,
in three dreams. Part of me wants to switch it so that it’s even four and four,
or three and four, to give it symmetry, give them all one dream that they’re
happy with ,but that seems like too many dreams, and I just don’t want this to
get too confusing. Instead I want to focus in on the four people.
The other option that I have is to make it three people and
have three dreams, but I like the four that I have right now, and I don’t know
which one of them I would cut. Part of the fun of the four of them is that they
cover just about everything. The only duplicates that we might be running into
is Pia/Kendel both being stupid types in college, but that doesn’t even work
out for the rest of them, because for all of the other ones they are very
different roles that are played. You can’t quite put together those two in the medieval
setting, no? Doesn’t work to be a knight and a servant at the same time.
Anyways, the four characters as of right now are Pia,
Britney, Kendel, and David. The dreams are college, 20’s (I might actually move
this to a different decade just to make things interesting. The 20’s are fun
and all, but I really don’t know if it’s the best place to put them. We could
always go with poodle skirts and fun at the malt shop. That’s always a good
one. Yay for the 50’s! Anyways, the last one is going to be medieval one. I
like the three system because you have the one set in the modern times, where
people are able to relate, but see that something just might not be right,
while there is the super old school one which is the real one, spoilers) and
then we have the second fake one, which on all levels seems to be the easiest
to dismiss.
Time to better flesh out some characters. Better characters,
and more identifiable voices is what I really need to focus on this time
around, because let’s be honest, I got lazy in the last draft and didn’t worry
too much about their individual voices and personalities too much when writing
them. I need to be a schizo author and make sure that I have four personalities
all writing in the first person, running through my head, all with a unique and
different writing style. Honestly, this is the part that I’m most afraid about.
Pia- She’s the smart one. I really want to change her name,
to make it something a bit more approachable, but I don’t know if I want to do
that, just because Pia is such a great name. Because it embodies her so well.
You hear the name Pia and you just think snobby. That’s why I seem to keep
going back to it. Just a bit afraid that not everyone will be able to get her,
or her name for that fact. For college she is the brain child. Try hard on
everything 4.0 or bust, wants scholarships, graduation in under four years, and
thinks that logic and science can fix just about everything. I don’t want to
make it overkill by making her a philosophy major, but at least something that
relies on logic and patterns. I’m thinking either something within computer
programing, or maybe a chemical science like Chemical engeneering or something
like that. Either way, in college she’s a smarty.
In the middle one, wither it’s the 20’s or 50’s, she’s going
to be the stay at home mom. She’s got a high school education, and was never
expected to do much more than that and have kids. Is older in this time line,
has two sons that both go to grade school, and a husband that we’re honestly
never going to worry too much about because he doesn’t matter.
For the middle time line, her story arc is mainly going to
be about women’s freedom and liberation. She’s going to try to step out against
her husband, and have to face the music of being independent, and honestly
smarter thanks to college world, than him. She will argue him into the ground,
and get out of town fast to make it to the group to work with them.
Medieval timeline. I don’t know if I want her and Brittney
to play which role on this one, because depending on which girl I put in which
role, it can switch how the flow of the story goes. They have the options to
either be the princess or be the servant.
With Pia as princess, she gets an even bigger ego about how
important she is, and becomes even more self absorbed. The only good part about
that is that by the ending, when she cracks, she’ll crack hard. It’ll be a big
deal when the princess starts to go loney and doesn’t think that her life is
real. With her as the servant, she becomes even less than what she is in the
middle world, and doesn’t want that world to be the real one, and is actively
fighting to get college to be the real one because that’s the best for her. I
like this one because again Pia gets screwed, but at least she goes down with a
fight. The only problem is that if I make Pia the servant that means that
Brittney gets to be princess, and I don’t know if that one will fit. She’s too
dumb, and too willing to be the stupid princess that gets locked in towers and
stolen from dragons. As fun as that would be to play up, and as much as that
does seem to fit, but we’ll get to that later. I’m really thinking that she’ll
be princess because then her dreams reflect who she is in two different ways,
in one way she’s expected to be the passive princess who does nothing, but then
at the same time she is a woman in power and really smart compared to everyone
else.
Pia’s vote, no matter which character I put her in as in
medieval times, is that college is real. That is the one that she’s voting for.
She’s independent, she doesn’t want to be tied down by a husband, or a kingdom.
As fun as it could be to be princess, she wants to live on her own, be her own
person, and rock at doing it. Empowered, smart, opinionated, her story is one
of working as hard as possible to be something, and then getting smacked in the
face and mentally breaking because of reality.
David-He is the anti-Pia. Everything that Pia is going
through, he is the exact opposite. He is willing to break logic and science, he
accepts the change in realities, and is actually excited by them. He gets the
happy ending. He gets what he wants, and goes with the change with no problem.
His is mainly a story of finding a place where he fits. Where Pia is sculpting
her place without any regard to anything else, David is trying to find a spot
that fits him that already exists. He doesn’t fight, he flows into what he has.
College he’s just getting through. He doesn’t stick out one
way or another, he’s no one important, he wants to just pass so he can get his
degree and move on. College life, he’s not expecting much, and his major is
undecided. He knows that whatever he goes to college for, he’s most likely
going to be working for some company in a 9-5 job, in a cubical, doing
something meaningless just so that he can pay the bills.
Middle- he’s a cop. It’s better than college, he’s new to
the force, only a few years older than the college world, but he’s loving it.
It’s exciting, he’s making a change, and there’s a role for him to fill with
the world around him. Not married, somewhat dating, but enjoying the bachelor
life. Doesn’t have college debts, has enough money to get by and then some
extra, and enjoys what he has.
Medival is heaven for him. He gets to be a magician and
understands all things about the weird and unobtainable. Pia points to him as
to the reason that the world should be a dream, because magic couldn’t be real,
but he loves every second of it. He loves magic, what it can do, how it can be
used, and all of the elements of it. This is his favorite dream. This is the
job given to him that fits him. He doesn’t have to worry about room or board
(the king pays for that) and he gets full ride to do whatever he wants, however
he wants and people love him for it.
Brittney- dumb. She is and Kendel are often put in the same
boat, but Kendel has brains and a deeper side to him while Brittney is just
dumb. If there was a character that I would cut, it’d be her, but I love her
too much as a character because she contrasts everyone else so well, and not to
mention she’s a hilarious character to write as. I just enjoy her too much to
get rid of her. She shows that sometimes not knowing is better than knowing.
Works against Pia because she’s okay with being stupid, works against all 3
because she knows her place and doesn’t have to fight for it, and counteracts
Kendel as the sports/jock that has a deeper side because she doesn’t. I like
her too much to get rid of her because she is the balance to the other three.
The other three are so particular and she just laughs at them and keeps on
partying. She’s also the only one that stays the same age, and generally the
same look no matter which dream, there’s a comment about this when they’re
trying to understand because she’s just so dumb that her brain couldn’t come up
with anything more creative. Not to mention, while the other characters get
introspective and sidetrack in their stories, Brittney is the go to voice for
flat action narrative. She doesn’t get into the sticky emotional things, Omel
asks her what happened in a dream and she’ll give him the dumb answer.
College- party sorority girl. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Is hung
over, drunk, or figuring out where the next party is always, and is just dumb.
Wants to go into law because she keeps on hearing people talking about the bar,
and she wants to go to the bar. (If not that, she’s going into business so that
she can own her own bar.)
Middle- party. If it’s the 20’s or the 50’s, she’s just the
party girl. If 20’s- flapper. 50’s bopper going to dance offs and staying out
all night long at lovers lane. Either way, stupid, party girl.
Old- servant. It’s not the best world for her, but she gets
to be in all of the balls and parties, but without having to be the center of
it. She and the other servants can have after parties after all of the banquets
while cleaning up, and there’s always a good time for a quite literal romp in
the hay.
Kendel- the typical, ‘just
because I’m good looking doesn’t mean that I’m stupid’ guy. He’s always trying
to get known for something besides the athleticism, but at the same time is
just the meat head that’s trying to be deep. If we’re going IQ order, he’d
score third under Pia and David, but he he’s cocky enough to think that he’s
smarter than David. He’s so used to being the center of attention and knowing
what is up, that he’s naturally cocky. He’s not trying to be cocky, it just
happens. Is good at being athletic, but doesn’t like it, would prefer to go
into the arts. Major is undecided, but is looking into film or animation.
His story is one of trying to
find a balance. He’s got the two conflicting parts of him. College is too
physical, middle is too artsy, but knighthood is just right. He gets confused
by the switched, doesn’t understand the meta, but when everything is all said
and done he’s okay with the change because it’s the life that he can make work
and fits him the best.
College- jock, already covered
this above. Physical, but no arts.
Middle- much older, single,
bassoon player in the local symphony orchestra, lives a very artsy lifestyle.
Is afraid for at least a dozen trips into that dream that he’s dreaming that
he’s gay (finds out that he isn’t through an accidental thing, undecided on
what that accidental thing is that shows that he’s not).
Old- knight. He’s a few years
older than college, but nearly as old as middle. It a respected, well rounded
knight. He can be physical and bash in a person’s head, but at the same time is
the quintisential knight in shining armor and has more to him besides just the
brawn. Not the top dog of the knights, but far enough into the organization
that he’s trusted.
Omel- the fifth character that
isn’t one of the main characters, but sure does need a write up so that I can
stay on top of him. He’s a slippery one, and I’m still not sure just how much I
want to work with him because of how much of a pain in the neck he is even for
me. He’s a villain that I hate.
He’s the only one out of the five
of them that knows what is real and what is a dream because he is the one that
put them there. Motivation for doing that was that the four of them each saw or
knew something about his plans in old, and he had to make them distracted by
something else while he tried for his power grab. They didn’t all see the same
thing, all that’s important at this step is that they got too close and he
didn’t like that so he caused the dreams. How did he cause them? Magic. Was it
David’s magic? No.
College- he’s their professor. He
tries as hard as he can to keep them based in this reality. The more he can
make them think that college is real, the better things are for him in old
because it’s not real. He’s doing everything to keep the four of them based in
this time because it gives him the most freedom in reality.
Middle- this is the time that I
don’t know what to do with him. I know what the first and the last are, but I
just don’t know what to do in this dream and what to make him. It’s got to be
something bad, that the other four can resolve and take care of, but I also
want it to be a smidge over the top because if Omel can show them that the over
the top middle world is fake, that must mean that the crazy over the top old
dream has to be fake as well, solidifying them in the college world. I want it
to be over the top, and crazy, but just not too much. I’m thinking some type of
serial criminal, I just can’t quite decide what type of psychopath I want to
make him in this one.
Old- he’s taking a power grab at
the throne and has a limited window to do it. The more he can make those four
sleep, and be in different worlds, the more freedom he has to get some bad
stuff done in reality. Note: he does not join them in the dreams, that’s only
their projection of him, trying to make sure that even in their subconscious
that he’s a bad guy. The only time that he actually works with them, and it’s
under his own control is in Old, all of the other versions of him is their
minds creating him, and making him act that way.
There’s the characters and how
they work together, next time I have time I’ll try working out the story line
now that I know where the characters stand on things.
Opening, this is going to be the four of them bouncing between them, and their introduction to Omel and his class. Everyone is going to be in different parts of the classroom, different ideas poking through, and Kendel is going to walk into the first day of class ten minutes late, the rest are all going to notice. After a week, maybe only two, but I want to make it short so we can get to the fun stuff, Omel calls them into his office after class, and accuses them of cheating and the fun starts.
The group of them realize that they’re sharing dreams and Omel wants to do studies on them. That means that Omel is going to be renting out the sleep research lab on campus, and they all get to move in to different rooms and sleep. I know at first, that they’re going to live their normal lives, and there’s not going to be any restrictions about what they can do, or where they can go in college, but I really want Omel to start placing restrictions on them as the experiment goes on to cut down on cross contamination and making it so that they can’t actually interact with each other while in college. I don’t know if I want to make it as extreme as the first draft, but something along those lines for a shorter period of time is going to happen, but not until the middle of the story.
While opening up and while still in the opening stages of the research, we start to learn about the other worlds. The important part about them, is that I make it seem like the worlds could run on their own, even if they know nothing about it, that the versions of themselves already know what’s going on, that there’s no problem with being whatever they are, and it comes in as second nature, that the students have to actively try to force their characters or themselves, whichever way it helps you understand it, to do things other than what they would typically be doing during that time. For example Pia in the middle dream will naturally feel like she needs to take care of her sons, and that she needs to stay at home. If left alone to her own devices she’ll live out the entire dream without worrying about anything else, and never batting her eye at what is going on around her. She knows who everyone is, she knows what needs to happen, and that’s just fine. However when pia the real person takes over in the dream, she doesn’t have access to that knowledge, it’s just a faint memory. For example Pia the housewife might know exactly what to do with her sons, but Pia the college student once taken over the dream will try to pack their lunches with lunchaables and hand them five bucks for lunch or something like that, not thinking about anything else. The students are able to give up control when they want, and hand it back to their dream versions, but if they give up that control, they can’t guarantee anything that happens because they don’t have control over the automated dream story.
In this opening we get a brief overview of the worlds. Middle’s characters and their shenanigans as well as old dream and where everyone stands there. In the old story we get the hints of the opening where Kendel is starting to get ready for a trip with the king to go hunting in a different kingdom and the trip that they will have to go on. In middle dream we start to hear about the crime rate starting to pick up and weird things happening. I still don’t know exactly what it is that I want Omel to be doing in this time period to catch their attention.
Remember, that while doing all of this world creation the old dream is their real selves, it’s the true version of them. College is one segment of their personalities and middle dream is another segment. Pia in old dream is balanced but unbalanced in middle and college (although college Pia thinks that she’s balanced, she’s not) and the same goes for everyone else. One segment of them might be favored over the others, but it’s always important to remember that old is the original and the others are the fakes and made up versions.
This takes us to the icky middle. While in the middle section there is a very obvious cycle of order of dreams. They constantly go in a set pattern (unsure what that is right now) and everything runs around that pattern.
College in the middle- They get separated into different dream studies, they’re not allowed to speak with each other, and after a few cycles of dreams aren’t allowed outside, all in exchange to full ride scholarships. They’re not allowed to go anywhere, but they’re getting paid serious money to do so. They start using this time in college to start yelling at each other through the walls. The first few times there are TA’s around to tell them to stop doing that, but when their sleep schedule gets knocked off it’s normal cycle they figure out that there are certain times that they can actually talk to each other and try to work things out about what is going on. Pia, using science and logic, argues that Omel isn’t being scientific, and is more imprisoning them, than he is studying them. This leads to the magic induced break out by David.
Middle in the middle- Pia stops being a wife, and Brittney needs a place to crash, so they both stay with Kendel and stay with him. David drops by after work, and they spend their nights trying to figure out the case with David’s information that he gets from work. Near the ending of this segment they start to narrow down on Omel and what it is that he’s doing.
Old in the middle- for this one, the king or whoever we want to make in control goes out of town to visit a different country, hunting, or some other political reason, and Kendel goes with him as one of his knights. They use the other dreams to speak with each other, and try to warn Kendel about Omel and his plans. The rest of the group back at the castle really start to worry about Omel and what he's planning, and Omel takes some serious steps towards trying to make some power plays. One thing that is important to remember to do is to write in that the people around them, start to notice that they're acting differently. They're acting not like their typical selves, because they are treating it like a dream and trying to use dream logic and dream science to explain reality (or in the student's eyes, they're trying to use logic and science to explain a dream) and from that weird logic and system of thinking, they are acting differently. At around the middle I need to also make sure that they say something about how there's no longer an auto-pilot mode through the dream. They control the dream (even in middle) all the way, and can't just set it to run on it's own.
Ending
College- the students start to figure out that something is really wrong, and
break out of the sleep test labs with lab. This starts into the question mark
moment where they are able to use magic from a dream in reality. Arguments are
that either magic has always been around and it wasn't until he dreamed it,
that he could learn it. Pia tries to rationalize it away as being something
else, and there's also a vote for the old dream to being the real world, and
that they are dreaming about college. Almost forgot about this during middle
college the pattern of the dreams gets put out and they are faced with the
pattern not being the pattern. The thing they start getting Omel in trouble for
is abusing his position of power as a teacher, and they start work on getting
him out of a job or in jail.
Middle
ending- All of them start to focus on the crimes, and solving them. I still
don't know what crime it is that I'm going to have Omel doing, but either way,
Omel is going to get caught and they are the ones that are going to get him to
jail.
Old
ending- With Omel snatching power goes for a power play while the king is out.
Kendel rushes back to fight the power. They shut him down and catch him in
trying to do something bad in the castle. Still unsure on what I want this to
be. He gets thrown in the dungeon and faced with waiting for the king to return
for final judgement.
Wrap
up of stories. Middle goes first. Omel getting shot at the sting or whatever
might happens, makes it so that the evil is taken care of and they no longer
dream at all in that dream. They take this and mean that once Omel is taken
care of in old, college will be the world that they stay in. The jury and
the king show up at about the same times, and Omel is found guilty at
about the same time in both of them. This goes for the grand finale of them
being stuck in old dream and college being a fake.
With this ending-
Pia- Goes crazy. She keeps
waiting to wake up in college and keep going to classes, but it never happens.
She goes off the deep end, and goes full fledged bonkers.
Britney- Is happy about the
change. She goes with the flow and doesn't fight it that much. Life is life,
and whatever happens happens. Thanks to the dreams she does start to show a bit
more intelligence than the rest of the servants because she knows how to read
and do basic math (most likely learned from the other 3 dreamer's knowledge
passed onto her), so life is looking up for her because she can do more than
just basic servant duties.
Kendel- learns to fit into
the role of knight. It's not an instant fit, but he learns to love it. This
change happens through middle to end story, and it's at final point that he
likes that life.
David- in love with the ending. Things work out for him, he's the winner of the entire story because he gets exactly what he wants, and the ending works out in his direction.
David- in love with the ending. Things work out for him, he's the winner of the entire story because he gets exactly what he wants, and the ending works out in his direction.
Omel-
arrested in college, killed in middle and beheaded for treason in old. End of
the line for him.
Things that still need to be
figured out, most likely while I'm writing, but it'd be nice to know the
answers before I get to that point in the writing-
1- The crime that Omel does
in middle.
2- The crime that Omel does
in old.
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