I knew I would need to go over what is wrong with it at some point. It isn’t that it is so long, or that it lacks slash. Reading in a screenplay format will probably feel weird for some, but it’s should still be pretty easy to follow, and I did leave out a few things that a screenplay would definitely have to increase readability.
No, the biggest problem is that it does not fit within the expanded universe.
Many franchises, especially in science fiction, have novels that go outside of the movies, but that still work with them. Some even become considered canon. That could never happen here, because I don’t fit within anything. Well, technically it probably does fit within the music videos, but what I have written is an origin story that goes right through to killing off everyone except for Frank, so on that level it does not work.
It’s pretty arrogant of me, though that was not intended. None of it was intended. Even when I decided, “Fine, I have to start writing”, I thought maybe it would end up being about 70 pages. When it was clear that I was going to go past that, I thought, well, maybe it will be 120 pages, like a standard screenplay. Now it is like three movies, and the third one is bloated. That is kind of the trend for movies based on comic books. They try and shoehorn too much into the last part. I see I am not immune.
The amazing thing is that there is still so much that could happen. Even just from the videos, I saw other avenues you could explore. Looking at different things on the internet I keep stumbling upon explanations for what different lines mean, and different plot points, and some of the ideas sound really cool. Even just yesterday I was watching a clip from New York Comic Con, and they were interviewing Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, and Becky Cloonan, and Gerard was saying how the story had changed multiple times. And what they said is intriguing, but ultimately we won’t really know how it all works out for a few more months.
Actually, it reminds me of Balzac’s La Comedie Humaine. He wanted to portray all of life, with all of its variations. That’s crazy ambitious, and he didn’t finish. There are 91 complete works and 46 unfinished, some of which are just titles. There are interesting overlaps and inversions. For example, you have The Return of Martin Guerre, where a man returns from war and is recognized, but later there are suspicions about his identity (this inspired Sommersby), but then you have Colonel Chabert, where a man who is not an impostor is not recognized, and is unable to resume his place.
I’m not a huge fan of Balzac, but I get why he wanted to do it, because there is so much that happens, and can happen, and it’s fascinating. That makes me feel a little better about having my own take. The other thing that helped me feel better was this:
I just thought this was so beautiful, and it gave me some perspective. One thing that I was worried about between the history of slash and Mary Sues is that if anyone even reads this they will be seeing things that aren’t there. This would be a loss in one way in that if you can only conceive of romantic relationships you are missing out on a lot, because the friendships and familial relationships are really important. Also, Jane has close moments with pretty much everyone, and I don’t want it to be perceived as “She is getting all of the guys, we hate the pretty, pretty princess.”
That is all completely out of my control. I am releasing it into the wild. I will still have all of the memories and lessons of writing it. I learned things about cars and weapons and kung fu, and wrote song lyrics in Spanish, and realized things about myself, and now I am starting to draw. That’s all mine, no matter what.
Now it’s out there for what it can be to others, and maybe it won’t be anything, or it will be something that would make me scratch my head “Really?” but that’s okay. That happens with songs and stories and paintings, and it’s beautiful, even when it’s confounding. Creation is such a gift.
So this was good time spent, even if it is time to move on. I do still feel a little awkward about it, and I guess still some need to self-sabotage, so these are little things I expect people to hate.
· The car comes from Frank, not Gerard. I feel like this is bad, but it’s just how it made sense.
· Gerard gets hit in the face three times. I know: Not the face! And he totally didn’t deserve two of them.
· Ray playing Spanish guitar. It’s only in the one scene. The other times he is playing, it is rock, but this is the most extended musical segment, and it needed that tone.
Again, these things take on lives of their own, and it is an amazing thing, and I am okay with it being out in the world.
This link will probably only work for 30 days. Uploading was harder than I thought, and now I have signed up with five different things and this was the first that worked.
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