Greetings, people. This is the fifth day of the year and the fourth posting of 2011. Today, I have decided to continue with your look into my idea for a stage play. Over the past two days, I've shown you the outline of both acts of the two-act play. Outlining is a key step in creating something, for it allows continued development of the idea.
In step with that, I have decided that today's posting will contain the further outlining of the play's contents. First up is Act Two, Scene 4, where Oddley is visited by the musical group as he tried to find Gilda. Now, yesterday, I did mention that my original intention was to feature Oddley's singing but by the time I posted the Act Two outline, I had changed it so Oddley was only a listener and would-be manager.
Now, I have gone back to my original idea but merged it with the outline idea. Instead of the band jamming with Gilda, they still practice at Gilda's house. Oddley joins in their act after he finds that they need a singer when nothing of their own vocals can pass muster. Oddley is then offered to join the group full-time, which he accepts, which then gives him new reason to solve his problem with Newshaw.
Next up is the following scene, where Oddley meets the nympho-Gilda. This scene will partly serve as a monolodge for Oddley as he figures out what is going on. That way, the audience can join Oddley in his thinking out of the situation. By the end of the scene, Oddley manages to start the ball rolling on the ending for the play, with the help of Gilda.
This next idea is for the potential movie based on the stage play and it's a new character. The purpose of this character is to establish the workplace that is Easy-Mart. The character is Linda, who is one of the checkers. In the stage play, I've decided to make Gilda a checker while Oddley's job is stock boy.
Linda. as a character. is interesting as it plays with the same idea I've mentioned before, a character transforming something else. When stress gets to her, Linda mentally regresses to the age of six and it takes her several hours to return to normal, during which time Oddley becomes her babysitter, allowing her to keep her job. Linda may appear in the stage play but that depends on further development.
That's all I have today. Tomorrow, I may continue to outline the stage play or move on to something else. That's the new blog around here. Let me tell you, it's a challenge to put something up on the blog every day but I'll get used to it, in time.
Yours truly, John Maxwell.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Idea for Stage Play, Part Two
Greetings, people. It's the fourth day of the year and the third posting of 2011. Today, we have part two of your look into my idea for a stage play. As noted yesterday, it is titled The Tale of Oddley Hutchinson. Yesterday, I post Act One. Now, this play I've written has only two acts, so today, we have Act Two.
In Act One, we met Oddley Hutchinson and his new co-worker and friend, Gilda. Oddley finds himself indebted to a man named Newshaw, to who Oddley owes $3,000. Oddley scrambles for answers on how to pay the debt. Newshaw does offer Oddley a chance to cancel the debt by letting him date his sister, who turns out to be quite the feminist and not in any postion to date.
Down on his luck, Oddley then meets a strange woman (another one of my ideals) who offers a chance for Oddley to pay off his debt by suggesting he work at a science lab. Once there, he meets Dr. Milner, who offers Oddley a job as her assistant. Before he leaves, he takes a bottle of strange liquid. His first day, he helps Dr. Milner with a test subject, who almost kills Oddley, who then quits his new job.
As we begin Act Two, Oddley has tried to talk Newshaw out of the debt but Newshaw only promises constant pain for the rest of Oddley's life. Now, on with the show and Act Two...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 1 - At work, Oddley tells Gilda that he now has 20 days to pay his debt to Newshaw and he has no options on how to pay. He then remembers that Newshaw offered to let him off the hook for a date with his sister Susan. After being so against it, Oddley tells Gilda that he must ask his sister to cast aside her opinions to free himself from pain. Gilda offers to assist in her own way, now that Oddley has come up with the basic outline of a plan. Oddley then reveals that it is the whole plan.
Scene 2 - At Susan's home, Oddley and Gilda try to talk her into having a date with Newshaw. Oddley mentions that her opinions on men might be wrong and tells her that he thinks himself an exception to those opinions. Gilda then tells Susan that she, as a woman, needs to date once in a while to remind themselves of what it feels. After all of this fails, Oddley mentions the real reason and Susan asks the duo to leave.
Scene 3 - At Oddley's house, he and Gilda wonder at how they will pay his debt to Newshaw. As Oddley thinks over any other options, Gilda notices the strange liquid Oddley has carried since the lab. Oddley tells her that he has no idea what the liquid does. Gilda, seeing the bottle's shape, thinks it would pretty on her curio shelf. Oddley then lets her keep it, seeing no further use for him of the stuff.
Scene 4 - At Gilda's house, she downs a teaspoon of the strange liquid and runs from the room, complaining of pain. Oddley then enters, trying to find her. Just then, a group of musicians enter the room, saying that they jam at Gilda's every week. The leader of the group reveals himself as Gilda's brother and the group delights Oddley with two songs, a cover of an old country song and an original, over the sounds of Gilda's pain-stricken screams. The group then leaves, with an invite to Oddley to join their group next week.
Scene 5 - Still at Gilda's house, she enters the room, her appearence changed to one of a nymphomanic. As Oddley fights off the nympho-Gilda's advances by hiding in a closet, he then remembers back to Dr. Milner and Willow and how the two looked alike. He then comes upon a revelation, that both the doctor and the girl were the same and that the liquid does something to a woman's sex drive. Oddley then decides to wait until the liquid wears off on Gilda to tell her this.
Scene 6 - The next morning, at Gilda's house, she has returned to normal. Oddley then explains to her that he has finally thought of a plan to cancel his debt. He'll feed Susan the nympho-liquid and let the results date Newshaw, who will then cancel Oddley's debt after receiving the night of his life. Gilda has reservations on the idea, seeing how the results might go for Oddley instead of Newshaw. Oddley then decides to blindfold Susan until datetime. Oddley then calls Newshaw to tell him the good news on the date.
Scene 7 - At Susan's house, Oddley and Gilda tell her that he has arranged a payment plan with Newshaw to allow cancellation of his debt. Susan is curious as to the plan. Oddley then tells her that Newshaw has given him a new medicine to taste for a friend. If the medicine works well on a healthy person, Newshaw will cancel the debt. Susan, seeing no other reason not to, downs a teaspoon of the stuff after Oddley puts on her blindfold. The duo then wait for the results.
Scene 8 - That night, Oddley is visited at Susan's house by Newshaw, ready for his date and cancellation of the debt. Gilda then presents to Newshaw the results of Oddley's plan: a sexed-up version of Susan, who calls herself Susie. Gilda removes the blindfold, with Susie pointed at Newshaw. Susie then tried to do Newshaw almost on sight. Newshaw, impressed with whatever method he used, takes Susie out and cancels Oddley's debt.
Scene 9 - At Oddley's house, he and Gilda are celebrating the cancellation of his debt with a small party. As Oddley tried to produce the bottle of liquid that helped him, he can't find it. He then realizes that he left the bottle at Susan's house. Gilda tells Oddley that he hasn't told Susan to stop taking the medicine. Oddley tells Gilda that Susan is smart and won't take it again, seeing what waking up with Newshaw the next morning did.
Scene 10 - At Susan's house, Oddley and Gilda sit in a small room, as the sounds of Susan, back to Susie and helped by two teaspoons of the nympho-liquid, pounding away on the door to the room, locked and bolted. Gilda tells Oddley that he has now created a monster out of his sister. Oddley then tells Gilda to quiet down, for they must now wait 18 hours, the length of the nympho-liquid's effects, until Susan returns and they can leave the room at last.
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As in Act One, Act Two contains expressions of my comedy ideals. In Act Two, however, the ideals here are the centerpieces of my ideals. I must admit, these ideals and just ideas that are the center of my idea of comedy and what is funny.
Among the ideas expressed in Act Two was the two-room disconnect. In this idea, which I've had for a long time, while something terrible and/or painful happens to someone in one room, in the next room, something mundane occurs that covers the sounds of pain from the first room. As always, that mundane thing is a musical performance.
I will admit that when I first put this idea into the stage play, it was my intent that Oddley show off his singing voice that he mentioned in Act One. After some thought, it came down to what might be better if Oddley learned something about his new friend while she undergoes terrible pain at the hands of the liquid. I might still get Oddley to sing by having him join in on the cover song.
Another idea I have in Act Two is the locked room. In this idea, two or more people are trapped in a room and while one worries about what's outside, the other is doing nothing but passing the time. In truth, I'd rather have three people in the locked room, so the activity to pass the time can be a card game but you must roll with the punches the best you can.
In the play, this serves as the ending, where Oddley and Gilda must now hide from the transformed Susan until the liquid wears off. In this set-up, they can discuss what they have learned so far. Oddley can mention his plan to manage the band of Gilda's brother while Gilda can do nothing but worry about what will happened to them if Susie finds them.
In Act Two, I put in one of my pet ideas, the idea of one person turning into something else. That idea has always gotten to me, for we always have one personality. To gain another persona is a mark of good fiction, for a character can advance further without much help from outside forces.
In this case, Oddley finds that the strange liquid he found in Act One turns someone into a nymphomanic only after Gilda has downed some of it. Oddley then uses it on Susan to cancel his debt. This way, Oddley has thought his way out using an original plan (another one of my pet ideas). In the end, however, the liquid reminds Oddley that no deed goes unpunished. A true-to-form plot without too much baggage and the audience leaves the theater a little bit wiser.
I hope that this play will inspire you to write your own. I plan to stage mine sometime in the near future. I have ideas on staging and if I can find the right person, maybe you'll see me one day as Oddley, and who knows? Another play featuring Oddley? A movie? A television series? Oddley's future, outside that locked room, is a bright one (don't forget your shades, now)
Yours truly, John Maxwell.
In Act One, we met Oddley Hutchinson and his new co-worker and friend, Gilda. Oddley finds himself indebted to a man named Newshaw, to who Oddley owes $3,000. Oddley scrambles for answers on how to pay the debt. Newshaw does offer Oddley a chance to cancel the debt by letting him date his sister, who turns out to be quite the feminist and not in any postion to date.
Down on his luck, Oddley then meets a strange woman (another one of my ideals) who offers a chance for Oddley to pay off his debt by suggesting he work at a science lab. Once there, he meets Dr. Milner, who offers Oddley a job as her assistant. Before he leaves, he takes a bottle of strange liquid. His first day, he helps Dr. Milner with a test subject, who almost kills Oddley, who then quits his new job.
As we begin Act Two, Oddley has tried to talk Newshaw out of the debt but Newshaw only promises constant pain for the rest of Oddley's life. Now, on with the show and Act Two...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 1 - At work, Oddley tells Gilda that he now has 20 days to pay his debt to Newshaw and he has no options on how to pay. He then remembers that Newshaw offered to let him off the hook for a date with his sister Susan. After being so against it, Oddley tells Gilda that he must ask his sister to cast aside her opinions to free himself from pain. Gilda offers to assist in her own way, now that Oddley has come up with the basic outline of a plan. Oddley then reveals that it is the whole plan.
Scene 2 - At Susan's home, Oddley and Gilda try to talk her into having a date with Newshaw. Oddley mentions that her opinions on men might be wrong and tells her that he thinks himself an exception to those opinions. Gilda then tells Susan that she, as a woman, needs to date once in a while to remind themselves of what it feels. After all of this fails, Oddley mentions the real reason and Susan asks the duo to leave.
Scene 3 - At Oddley's house, he and Gilda wonder at how they will pay his debt to Newshaw. As Oddley thinks over any other options, Gilda notices the strange liquid Oddley has carried since the lab. Oddley tells her that he has no idea what the liquid does. Gilda, seeing the bottle's shape, thinks it would pretty on her curio shelf. Oddley then lets her keep it, seeing no further use for him of the stuff.
Scene 4 - At Gilda's house, she downs a teaspoon of the strange liquid and runs from the room, complaining of pain. Oddley then enters, trying to find her. Just then, a group of musicians enter the room, saying that they jam at Gilda's every week. The leader of the group reveals himself as Gilda's brother and the group delights Oddley with two songs, a cover of an old country song and an original, over the sounds of Gilda's pain-stricken screams. The group then leaves, with an invite to Oddley to join their group next week.
Scene 5 - Still at Gilda's house, she enters the room, her appearence changed to one of a nymphomanic. As Oddley fights off the nympho-Gilda's advances by hiding in a closet, he then remembers back to Dr. Milner and Willow and how the two looked alike. He then comes upon a revelation, that both the doctor and the girl were the same and that the liquid does something to a woman's sex drive. Oddley then decides to wait until the liquid wears off on Gilda to tell her this.
Scene 6 - The next morning, at Gilda's house, she has returned to normal. Oddley then explains to her that he has finally thought of a plan to cancel his debt. He'll feed Susan the nympho-liquid and let the results date Newshaw, who will then cancel Oddley's debt after receiving the night of his life. Gilda has reservations on the idea, seeing how the results might go for Oddley instead of Newshaw. Oddley then decides to blindfold Susan until datetime. Oddley then calls Newshaw to tell him the good news on the date.
Scene 7 - At Susan's house, Oddley and Gilda tell her that he has arranged a payment plan with Newshaw to allow cancellation of his debt. Susan is curious as to the plan. Oddley then tells her that Newshaw has given him a new medicine to taste for a friend. If the medicine works well on a healthy person, Newshaw will cancel the debt. Susan, seeing no other reason not to, downs a teaspoon of the stuff after Oddley puts on her blindfold. The duo then wait for the results.
Scene 8 - That night, Oddley is visited at Susan's house by Newshaw, ready for his date and cancellation of the debt. Gilda then presents to Newshaw the results of Oddley's plan: a sexed-up version of Susan, who calls herself Susie. Gilda removes the blindfold, with Susie pointed at Newshaw. Susie then tried to do Newshaw almost on sight. Newshaw, impressed with whatever method he used, takes Susie out and cancels Oddley's debt.
Scene 9 - At Oddley's house, he and Gilda are celebrating the cancellation of his debt with a small party. As Oddley tried to produce the bottle of liquid that helped him, he can't find it. He then realizes that he left the bottle at Susan's house. Gilda tells Oddley that he hasn't told Susan to stop taking the medicine. Oddley tells Gilda that Susan is smart and won't take it again, seeing what waking up with Newshaw the next morning did.
Scene 10 - At Susan's house, Oddley and Gilda sit in a small room, as the sounds of Susan, back to Susie and helped by two teaspoons of the nympho-liquid, pounding away on the door to the room, locked and bolted. Gilda tells Oddley that he has now created a monster out of his sister. Oddley then tells Gilda to quiet down, for they must now wait 18 hours, the length of the nympho-liquid's effects, until Susan returns and they can leave the room at last.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As in Act One, Act Two contains expressions of my comedy ideals. In Act Two, however, the ideals here are the centerpieces of my ideals. I must admit, these ideals and just ideas that are the center of my idea of comedy and what is funny.
Among the ideas expressed in Act Two was the two-room disconnect. In this idea, which I've had for a long time, while something terrible and/or painful happens to someone in one room, in the next room, something mundane occurs that covers the sounds of pain from the first room. As always, that mundane thing is a musical performance.
I will admit that when I first put this idea into the stage play, it was my intent that Oddley show off his singing voice that he mentioned in Act One. After some thought, it came down to what might be better if Oddley learned something about his new friend while she undergoes terrible pain at the hands of the liquid. I might still get Oddley to sing by having him join in on the cover song.
Another idea I have in Act Two is the locked room. In this idea, two or more people are trapped in a room and while one worries about what's outside, the other is doing nothing but passing the time. In truth, I'd rather have three people in the locked room, so the activity to pass the time can be a card game but you must roll with the punches the best you can.
In the play, this serves as the ending, where Oddley and Gilda must now hide from the transformed Susan until the liquid wears off. In this set-up, they can discuss what they have learned so far. Oddley can mention his plan to manage the band of Gilda's brother while Gilda can do nothing but worry about what will happened to them if Susie finds them.
In Act Two, I put in one of my pet ideas, the idea of one person turning into something else. That idea has always gotten to me, for we always have one personality. To gain another persona is a mark of good fiction, for a character can advance further without much help from outside forces.
In this case, Oddley finds that the strange liquid he found in Act One turns someone into a nymphomanic only after Gilda has downed some of it. Oddley then uses it on Susan to cancel his debt. This way, Oddley has thought his way out using an original plan (another one of my pet ideas). In the end, however, the liquid reminds Oddley that no deed goes unpunished. A true-to-form plot without too much baggage and the audience leaves the theater a little bit wiser.
I hope that this play will inspire you to write your own. I plan to stage mine sometime in the near future. I have ideas on staging and if I can find the right person, maybe you'll see me one day as Oddley, and who knows? Another play featuring Oddley? A movie? A television series? Oddley's future, outside that locked room, is a bright one (don't forget your shades, now)
Yours truly, John Maxwell.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Musings #1 - Idea for Stage Play, Part One
Greetings, people. Sorry for the lateness of this posting, but my life is in a weird order and I'll leave it at that. Anyway, today is the third day of the year and the second posting of 2011. Today's topic is a musing. Musings are what they are, ideas and whatnot that are floating in my head that I would like to have an outlet. Many of you have ideas that are dying to get out, so I'll use my blog as an outlet for mine.
Today's musing is an an idea for a stage play. As a writer, one must find ways of expressing that talent. One way is writing stage plays. Stage plays are an excellent form of entertainment, along with being the oldest form of visual expression.
Now, I also see myself as a would-be actor and this play would star me in the lead role. Writers who act is nothing new. In fact, writers always write themselves into their work. Plays and movies are just an extension of that. So, with that in mind, people, I will now give you the stage play.
The stage play is titled The Tale of Oddley Hutchinson and it contains many of my ideas on comedy. Those ideas form the basis of my comedic mindset as as you'll read the stories and serials, you'll see those ideas pop up over and over again. This stage play will contain those ideas and filter them into their purest expressions.
I've managed to outline the whole play but today, I'll put up Act One, which will keep you interested enough for Act Two. Act One contains more varied forms of my comedic ideals while Act Two contains the simplifed versions. Now, for your pleasure in any form, here's Act One...
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Scene 1 - At the Easy-Mart works Oddley Hutchinson. He meets new worker Gilda, who wonders at the origin of his name. He explains that his mother heard a nurse describe his rather unusual at-birth appearence as oddily, with his mother spelling it O-D-D-L-E-Y. Oddley then mentions that he has money riding on a big game, with him betting with a man named Thomas Newshaw.
Scene 2 - At work, Oddley is sitted with Gilda in the back room as he watches the big game. Slowly, he watches the team he bet on lose by a big margin. After the game ends, he receives a phone call from Newshaw, asking about his payment. Oddley soon reveals to Gilda that he bet three times his savings, sure of the outcome. It now appears that Oddley owns Newshaw $3,000
Scene 3 - At work, Newshaw makes a threatened appearence to collect and Oddley, with Gilda's help, tells the bookie that he is currently in no shape to pay. Rather than kill the worker and never see a cent, Oddley is given a chance to repay the money. Newshaw tells Oddley that he will choose the method of payment and will get back to him tomorrow.
Scene 4 - At the bar, Newshaw manages to catch Gilda after work, to probe for information for how Oddley can pay the $3,000. Gilda, in course, reveals two facts about Oddley she learned during their first meeting: that he claims of a wonderful singing voice and that he has a sister, named Susan. Newshaw then makes his leave as Oddley comes upon Gilda, who reveals nothing about her meeting with Newshaw.
Scene 5 - At Oddley's house, Newshaw visits him and tells him that he will cancel Oddley's debt for the price of a date with Susan. Oddley outright refuses to use his sister to cancel a debt. Susan then enters and reveals herself as a uptight woman who believes that men are useless. Denied a date, Newshaw tells Oddley that he will just give him 30 days to pay or else.
Scene 6 - At the bar, Oddley goes to drown his sorrows over having 30 days to pay three times an amount it took him six months to save up. As he sits with his beer, he is visited upon by a blonde named Willow who wants nothing but sex. Oddley, in getting Willow to leave him alone, reveals his money troubles. Willow then tells Oddley that he should look into employment at a lab.
Scene 7 - At the lab, Oddley shows up to see about a job. There, he meets Dr. Milner, a female scientist who reminds Oddley of Willow. Dr. Milner tells Oddley that she is in the market for an assistant, her last one quitting for unknown reasons. Oddley asks how much the job pays and is told $1,000 a week. Upon hearing this, Oddley decides to take the job. As he leaves, he sees a vial of strange liquid and seeing that Dr. Milner isn't taking interest in it, and pockets it.
Scene 8 - At work, Oddley tells Gilda about his new job at the lab but Gilda informs him that he still has his job at Easy-Mart. Rather than quit a job he'll need after he pays, he decides to take a leave of absence from the store, seeing how he hasn't taken one in six years of working there and the boss asking him to take one every other week. Oddley is then visited upon by the boss and Oddley gets his leave.
Scene 9 - At the lab, Oddley is given his first assignment under Dr. Milner, to research a new muscle builder for use in the space program. He is tasked with giving a body builder a test injection. The test injection build muscle but has the unfortunate side-effect of increasing feelings of anger in the subject, causing the body builder to nearly choke Oddley to death. After the experiment, Oddley decides no money is worth this and quits.
Scene 10 - At work, Oddley has another meeting with Newshaw, where Oddley tells him that he is not, under current means, going to pay his debt in 30 days. Newshaw tells Oddley that he has to pay or Newshaw will make sure that Oddley spends the rest of his life in constant pain. Oddley then walks away, wondering how he will pay Newshaw in 30 days without ending up in pain.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, Act One is full of laughs and plot, a hard to find combo in today's world. The ideals I've expressed in Act One are:
- The character with an odd name. As Oddley himself mentioned, his mother give him that name after hearing a nurse gave an unflattering opinion of her newborn son.
- Pain inflicted for laughs. In the scene with the body builder, Oddley is to be choken while Dr. Milner just notes without looking at the scene playing out.
In Act Two, more ideals are expressed. Those ideals are more central to my idea of comedy. My idea of comedy involves weird and interesting things that I find amusing. They may not be amusing to you but they're amusing to me, and that's enough for me.
Tomorrow, Act Two of The Tale of Oddley Hutchinson
Yours truly, John Maxwell
Today's musing is an an idea for a stage play. As a writer, one must find ways of expressing that talent. One way is writing stage plays. Stage plays are an excellent form of entertainment, along with being the oldest form of visual expression.
Now, I also see myself as a would-be actor and this play would star me in the lead role. Writers who act is nothing new. In fact, writers always write themselves into their work. Plays and movies are just an extension of that. So, with that in mind, people, I will now give you the stage play.
The stage play is titled The Tale of Oddley Hutchinson and it contains many of my ideas on comedy. Those ideas form the basis of my comedic mindset as as you'll read the stories and serials, you'll see those ideas pop up over and over again. This stage play will contain those ideas and filter them into their purest expressions.
I've managed to outline the whole play but today, I'll put up Act One, which will keep you interested enough for Act Two. Act One contains more varied forms of my comedic ideals while Act Two contains the simplifed versions. Now, for your pleasure in any form, here's Act One...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 1 - At the Easy-Mart works Oddley Hutchinson. He meets new worker Gilda, who wonders at the origin of his name. He explains that his mother heard a nurse describe his rather unusual at-birth appearence as oddily, with his mother spelling it O-D-D-L-E-Y. Oddley then mentions that he has money riding on a big game, with him betting with a man named Thomas Newshaw.
Scene 2 - At work, Oddley is sitted with Gilda in the back room as he watches the big game. Slowly, he watches the team he bet on lose by a big margin. After the game ends, he receives a phone call from Newshaw, asking about his payment. Oddley soon reveals to Gilda that he bet three times his savings, sure of the outcome. It now appears that Oddley owns Newshaw $3,000
Scene 3 - At work, Newshaw makes a threatened appearence to collect and Oddley, with Gilda's help, tells the bookie that he is currently in no shape to pay. Rather than kill the worker and never see a cent, Oddley is given a chance to repay the money. Newshaw tells Oddley that he will choose the method of payment and will get back to him tomorrow.
Scene 4 - At the bar, Newshaw manages to catch Gilda after work, to probe for information for how Oddley can pay the $3,000. Gilda, in course, reveals two facts about Oddley she learned during their first meeting: that he claims of a wonderful singing voice and that he has a sister, named Susan. Newshaw then makes his leave as Oddley comes upon Gilda, who reveals nothing about her meeting with Newshaw.
Scene 5 - At Oddley's house, Newshaw visits him and tells him that he will cancel Oddley's debt for the price of a date with Susan. Oddley outright refuses to use his sister to cancel a debt. Susan then enters and reveals herself as a uptight woman who believes that men are useless. Denied a date, Newshaw tells Oddley that he will just give him 30 days to pay or else.
Scene 6 - At the bar, Oddley goes to drown his sorrows over having 30 days to pay three times an amount it took him six months to save up. As he sits with his beer, he is visited upon by a blonde named Willow who wants nothing but sex. Oddley, in getting Willow to leave him alone, reveals his money troubles. Willow then tells Oddley that he should look into employment at a lab.
Scene 7 - At the lab, Oddley shows up to see about a job. There, he meets Dr. Milner, a female scientist who reminds Oddley of Willow. Dr. Milner tells Oddley that she is in the market for an assistant, her last one quitting for unknown reasons. Oddley asks how much the job pays and is told $1,000 a week. Upon hearing this, Oddley decides to take the job. As he leaves, he sees a vial of strange liquid and seeing that Dr. Milner isn't taking interest in it, and pockets it.
Scene 8 - At work, Oddley tells Gilda about his new job at the lab but Gilda informs him that he still has his job at Easy-Mart. Rather than quit a job he'll need after he pays, he decides to take a leave of absence from the store, seeing how he hasn't taken one in six years of working there and the boss asking him to take one every other week. Oddley is then visited upon by the boss and Oddley gets his leave.
Scene 9 - At the lab, Oddley is given his first assignment under Dr. Milner, to research a new muscle builder for use in the space program. He is tasked with giving a body builder a test injection. The test injection build muscle but has the unfortunate side-effect of increasing feelings of anger in the subject, causing the body builder to nearly choke Oddley to death. After the experiment, Oddley decides no money is worth this and quits.
Scene 10 - At work, Oddley has another meeting with Newshaw, where Oddley tells him that he is not, under current means, going to pay his debt in 30 days. Newshaw tells Oddley that he has to pay or Newshaw will make sure that Oddley spends the rest of his life in constant pain. Oddley then walks away, wondering how he will pay Newshaw in 30 days without ending up in pain.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, Act One is full of laughs and plot, a hard to find combo in today's world. The ideals I've expressed in Act One are:
- The character with an odd name. As Oddley himself mentioned, his mother give him that name after hearing a nurse gave an unflattering opinion of her newborn son.
- Pain inflicted for laughs. In the scene with the body builder, Oddley is to be choken while Dr. Milner just notes without looking at the scene playing out.
In Act Two, more ideals are expressed. Those ideals are more central to my idea of comedy. My idea of comedy involves weird and interesting things that I find amusing. They may not be amusing to you but they're amusing to me, and that's enough for me.
Tomorrow, Act Two of The Tale of Oddley Hutchinson
Yours truly, John Maxwell
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Saturday Story #1 - "Good Day, Fellow Traveler"
Welcome to the new year of 2011 and the newly-reformated John Maxwell Blog. As stated in the last postings of 2010, the blog will know feature a new posting daily, something that very obvious when doing a blog. Every day, a posting will note a thought I have for that day. On the weekends, there will be standard features.
Today is the first installiment of the Saturday Story, when I will display a piece of fiction written by me. Today's installiment is titled "Good Day, Fellow Traveler" It was something I wrote a while back in one sitting. It's a short one but it's full of vague meaning and little explaination for anything. No backstory or anything mark it well.
For your reading pleasure, here's the story...
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The many people standing at the door shocked the man who wished to enter through it. He wondered why so many were using a door placed into a brick wall that streched high into the sky. He had talked to someone before about the wall and was told that no one had seen over it except the bricklayer who built it.
The man then asked the stranger why the wall was built. He was then told that the bricklayer left no clue to why the wall was built except that the answer lays beyond the door he built into the wall in case anyone wished to see what was behind the wall. People had gone through the door and few had returned but refused to report what they saw.
The man soon took his place in the line that lead to the door. The man looked ahead and saw a strange man, dressed in a black suit, standing next to the door. Once in a while, the man would open the door and let a person through the door. Everytime the man opened the door, the line got shorter.
The man looked at the people ahead of him in line. The man right in front of him was a shoemaker, carrying a shoe in his hand. The man asked the shoemaker why he was carrying a shoe. He replied that he hoped to give in to whoever needs it on the other side of the door. He had spent his life making shoes for everyone in the land. His son had just taken over the shop and the shoe the shoemaker had was the last one he made with his hands.
The man then turned his attention to the woman right in front of the shoemaker. She looked to be 50, wearing a wedding dress. The man asked the woman why she was wearing a wedding dress. The woman replied that as a young girl, she had been promised to a young baron as a gift.
He was very wealthy and the baron loved the young girl very much. He promised her his land if she were to marry him upon her 18th birthday. The girl agreed to the condition. However, on her 18th birthday, the baron disappeared behind the door and she didn't get the baron's land, which went to a greedy cousin, who wasted it. She then stated that she had waited long to follow her love behind the door.
The man then looked to the man in front of the shoemaker and the old bride. He was a soldier, carrying his sword with him in his belt. The man asked the soldier what he was doing in the line. The soldier then told the man of how he spent his childhood training to join the army to fight the enemy. By the time he was able to, there was no enemy to fight. Soon, an enemy came and the army went into the battle with the soldier.
The soldier made many friends, who the enemy took their lives away. Each friend the soldier lost, the soldier gained a new one. Pretty soon, the soldier had only but one friend. The enemy soon retreated but not without taking the friend with him. The enemy, the soldier then said, had came from behind the wall and the soldier hoped to fight his old foe.
The man soon looked ahead and saw a salesman ahead of the soldier. The salesman told of how he had sold an item to every citizen in the land, including the man. The man remarked why a salesman who sell an object to someone he did not know. He had sold gold to kings and shoes to beggars and even meat to farmers. The salesman replied that he knew everyone in the land so he knew what to give them.
When he ran out of people to give stuff to, his life lost purpose and he wondered the land endlessly. It turns out that the only person the salesman couldn't sell to was himself. He then said that he going to see if anyone on the other side needs a item sold to them and he will give it to them because a salesman lives to sale.
The man soon saw each one of these people walk through the door in the wall. Each one who entered was whispered something by the doorman and when they entered, each was smiling like children. The man wondered what the doorman was telling them. He felt that it was something they wanted to hear. Soon, the man was at the front of the line where he was spoken to by the doorman.
"Good day, fellow traveler." was the phrase the doorman greeted the man with.
The man had heard this spoken to the shoemaker, the old bride, the soldier, and the salesman. The doorman soon looked the man over and then walked over to the man's ear and whispered something. The door was then opened and the man stepped through with a smile. Then the next person stepped up to the door, me.
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The simple wording and simple meaning allow one to draw their own conclusions on what is going on, like a good piece of fiction should do. To explain everything is a mark of bad writing, for giving your readers every piece of detail is not needed. Only give them what they need and they'll draw the conclusions, hopefully the right ones.
I should close by making one further amendment to how the blog will operate from now on. On Fridays, I will have the adventures of Cy and Conrad as I present Life in Hyperion as the Friday feature on the blog, with each story presented as a weekly serial. The first serial will be self-titled and will make a wonderful addition to the blog.
I will now close by saying, "over the wall lays all meaning and nothing" Think about it.
Yours truly, John Maxwell.
Today is the first installiment of the Saturday Story, when I will display a piece of fiction written by me. Today's installiment is titled "Good Day, Fellow Traveler" It was something I wrote a while back in one sitting. It's a short one but it's full of vague meaning and little explaination for anything. No backstory or anything mark it well.
For your reading pleasure, here's the story...
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The many people standing at the door shocked the man who wished to enter through it. He wondered why so many were using a door placed into a brick wall that streched high into the sky. He had talked to someone before about the wall and was told that no one had seen over it except the bricklayer who built it.
The man then asked the stranger why the wall was built. He was then told that the bricklayer left no clue to why the wall was built except that the answer lays beyond the door he built into the wall in case anyone wished to see what was behind the wall. People had gone through the door and few had returned but refused to report what they saw.
The man soon took his place in the line that lead to the door. The man looked ahead and saw a strange man, dressed in a black suit, standing next to the door. Once in a while, the man would open the door and let a person through the door. Everytime the man opened the door, the line got shorter.
The man looked at the people ahead of him in line. The man right in front of him was a shoemaker, carrying a shoe in his hand. The man asked the shoemaker why he was carrying a shoe. He replied that he hoped to give in to whoever needs it on the other side of the door. He had spent his life making shoes for everyone in the land. His son had just taken over the shop and the shoe the shoemaker had was the last one he made with his hands.
The man then turned his attention to the woman right in front of the shoemaker. She looked to be 50, wearing a wedding dress. The man asked the woman why she was wearing a wedding dress. The woman replied that as a young girl, she had been promised to a young baron as a gift.
He was very wealthy and the baron loved the young girl very much. He promised her his land if she were to marry him upon her 18th birthday. The girl agreed to the condition. However, on her 18th birthday, the baron disappeared behind the door and she didn't get the baron's land, which went to a greedy cousin, who wasted it. She then stated that she had waited long to follow her love behind the door.
The man then looked to the man in front of the shoemaker and the old bride. He was a soldier, carrying his sword with him in his belt. The man asked the soldier what he was doing in the line. The soldier then told the man of how he spent his childhood training to join the army to fight the enemy. By the time he was able to, there was no enemy to fight. Soon, an enemy came and the army went into the battle with the soldier.
The soldier made many friends, who the enemy took their lives away. Each friend the soldier lost, the soldier gained a new one. Pretty soon, the soldier had only but one friend. The enemy soon retreated but not without taking the friend with him. The enemy, the soldier then said, had came from behind the wall and the soldier hoped to fight his old foe.
The man soon looked ahead and saw a salesman ahead of the soldier. The salesman told of how he had sold an item to every citizen in the land, including the man. The man remarked why a salesman who sell an object to someone he did not know. He had sold gold to kings and shoes to beggars and even meat to farmers. The salesman replied that he knew everyone in the land so he knew what to give them.
When he ran out of people to give stuff to, his life lost purpose and he wondered the land endlessly. It turns out that the only person the salesman couldn't sell to was himself. He then said that he going to see if anyone on the other side needs a item sold to them and he will give it to them because a salesman lives to sale.
The man soon saw each one of these people walk through the door in the wall. Each one who entered was whispered something by the doorman and when they entered, each was smiling like children. The man wondered what the doorman was telling them. He felt that it was something they wanted to hear. Soon, the man was at the front of the line where he was spoken to by the doorman.
"Good day, fellow traveler." was the phrase the doorman greeted the man with.
The man had heard this spoken to the shoemaker, the old bride, the soldier, and the salesman. The doorman soon looked the man over and then walked over to the man's ear and whispered something. The door was then opened and the man stepped through with a smile. Then the next person stepped up to the door, me.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The simple wording and simple meaning allow one to draw their own conclusions on what is going on, like a good piece of fiction should do. To explain everything is a mark of bad writing, for giving your readers every piece of detail is not needed. Only give them what they need and they'll draw the conclusions, hopefully the right ones.
I should close by making one further amendment to how the blog will operate from now on. On Fridays, I will have the adventures of Cy and Conrad as I present Life in Hyperion as the Friday feature on the blog, with each story presented as a weekly serial. The first serial will be self-titled and will make a wonderful addition to the blog.
I will now close by saying, "over the wall lays all meaning and nothing" Think about it.
Yours truly, John Maxwell.
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