Story strategy

Different projects develop in different ways. With Three Loves, the next posthumous play, which I began this morning, I have a firm sense of structure driving my story strategy. It's a four character play: an artist, dying, in a coma; and the three women who come to his bedside and meet for the first time, each of a different generation: his first love, his wife, his mistress. Act One is three scenes, the 3 possible pairings of the women. Act Two is four scenes, the first three being each woman with the old man, who will speak his thoughts despite being in a coma; and the final scene between the three women. I have articulated little of actual content and am just diving into the structure, a sink or swim style of development.

I also have the next screenplay in mind and wrote a few pages a few days ago, although they're wrong. I'll throw them out and start over. But my strategy here is different: with the working title His Last Fling, this is the story of the mischief an old man gets into when he walks out of his retirement center but it's narrated by, and is the story of, his granddaughter, who is among those out to find him. The voice of the granddaughter is the key here -- I need her to be as engaging as that wonderful voice of Juno is, for example, though of course different. I was impressed how much "voice" can carry a story in Juno and am trying the same strategy.

These are the next two script projects.