Even More On Ideas
September 22nd 2006 15:04
And we’re back. Don’t ask.
In our last thrilling instalment, we were discussing how to turn an idea, or a combination of ideas into a story. I left you with the task of imagining a story that combines the story of the Hawaiian priest Pa’ao with the idea of a deep sea oil rig. In between all the other stuff that’s been happening at Script Central, I mulled the idea over, and realised you could take it a couple of ways.
The Pa’ao story has elements of The Odyssey about it; long sea journeys, fighting, religious imagery. But the central character is not a good man. Filled with extremes, to prove his son didn’t steal taboo fruit, as accused by his brother, he ripped his son’s stomach open Later, when his brother’s son interrfered with the canoes, being purifiesd before final departure, Pa’ao killed him and buried him under the keel. This is the guy who’s supposed to have introduced human sacrifice into Hawaii, and he was off to a flying start.
Arriving on the big island like an old-time fire and brimstone preacher, he set about reordering the place to his tastes and built the first house of sacrifice, as well as introducing Pele worship.
Now, how to tie this to an oil rig.
Several ways. Story idea 1: a bunch of canoes arrive at the rig. These are the last remnant of the followers of Pa’ao’s laws. They have arrived to make a new home. The oil riggers are tough guys, and so are the islanders. Mayhem ensues.
Story idea 2. An executive for the oil company arrives with a new agenda, to increase output significantly in these oil-struck times. And his new agenda has a built in ‘collateral damage’ or ‘attrition’ figure. In other words, he will sacrifice people to make his goals. And they’re all a long way from anywhere…
Story idea 3, a variation on 2: the rig suffers a hostile takeover by another company, who on the surface look civilised, but underneath will go to any lengths etc. While it starts in roughly the same place as 2, it would go in a different direction.
I suppose what these ideas have in common is the clash of cultures, one of them prepared to work with the darkness inside. Another variation could have a group of men isolated for a long time, beginning to doubt there’s anyone left in the outside world, splitting into two groups, and one group finding that when someone was injured, and blood was spilled, well, things just seemed to go better. From there it’s a quick descent into madness…
All these spun out of reading about Pa’ao. If you want to be any kind of writer at all, then you have to have that kind of mind, that watches the passing parade of stories, real or fictional, and say “hmm, if I took that part of that premise, and combined it with this news idea, with a bit of my mother in law thrown in…”, and you’ll suddenly find your self pouring out notes or an outline or as full script, as the need burns.
You’ve made a start. But be prepared to discard ideas too. Don’t hold them As Faulkner (I think) said, “You must be prepared to kill your darlings”. I had a favourite idea for a SF series, called ‘Stormfront’, about a spaceship, low on fuel and supplies trying to scrounge enough to keep ahead of a war fleet flattening everything in its path. Along the way, they’d meet weird characters, soldiers both brave and cowardly, terrified people waiting for the end. And then the crew and passengers had their own backstories too. It was all going so well… until the revival of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ was announced. I read the notes, eventually watched the first couple of eps, sighed, and canned my series notes. While I started before the revival was announced, the audience would have said I was just ripping off ‘BSG’, or being indulged by someone trying to damage that show by producing something similar. I suppose I could convert the basic idea into a fantasy setting, as a novel, but that’s a backburner project.
It happens. Happened with Mary Bryant and ‘Stormfront’. Will almost certainly happen again. So my advice is come up with as many ideas as you can, and along the way you’ll strike something that we haven’t seen before, the one to keep to your self and polish until it shines.
By the way, if anyone’s interested, I think the Pa’ao story by itself is worthy of a script. Characters, depth, story, interesting locations, could span generations if you wanted. If anyone wants to take it up as a writing project, go ahead. Do some research, start to get the outline together, the salient points about the characters especially. Pa’ao sounds like a brooding menace on the world, but I could be wrong. It’s a good story. If you want to have a test script project, you could do worse.
In our last thrilling instalment, we were discussing how to turn an idea, or a combination of ideas into a story. I left you with the task of imagining a story that combines the story of the Hawaiian priest Pa’ao with the idea of a deep sea oil rig. In between all the other stuff that’s been happening at Script Central, I mulled the idea over, and realised you could take it a couple of ways.
The Pa’ao story has elements of The Odyssey about it; long sea journeys, fighting, religious imagery. But the central character is not a good man. Filled with extremes, to prove his son didn’t steal taboo fruit, as accused by his brother, he ripped his son’s stomach open Later, when his brother’s son interrfered with the canoes, being purifiesd before final departure, Pa’ao killed him and buried him under the keel. This is the guy who’s supposed to have introduced human sacrifice into Hawaii, and he was off to a flying start.
Arriving on the big island like an old-time fire and brimstone preacher, he set about reordering the place to his tastes and built the first house of sacrifice, as well as introducing Pele worship.
Now, how to tie this to an oil rig.
Several ways. Story idea 1: a bunch of canoes arrive at the rig. These are the last remnant of the followers of Pa’ao’s laws. They have arrived to make a new home. The oil riggers are tough guys, and so are the islanders. Mayhem ensues.
Story idea 2. An executive for the oil company arrives with a new agenda, to increase output significantly in these oil-struck times. And his new agenda has a built in ‘collateral damage’ or ‘attrition’ figure. In other words, he will sacrifice people to make his goals. And they’re all a long way from anywhere…
Story idea 3, a variation on 2: the rig suffers a hostile takeover by another company, who on the surface look civilised, but underneath will go to any lengths etc. While it starts in roughly the same place as 2, it would go in a different direction.
I suppose what these ideas have in common is the clash of cultures, one of them prepared to work with the darkness inside. Another variation could have a group of men isolated for a long time, beginning to doubt there’s anyone left in the outside world, splitting into two groups, and one group finding that when someone was injured, and blood was spilled, well, things just seemed to go better. From there it’s a quick descent into madness…
All these spun out of reading about Pa’ao. If you want to be any kind of writer at all, then you have to have that kind of mind, that watches the passing parade of stories, real or fictional, and say “hmm, if I took that part of that premise, and combined it with this news idea, with a bit of my mother in law thrown in…”, and you’ll suddenly find your self pouring out notes or an outline or as full script, as the need burns.
You’ve made a start. But be prepared to discard ideas too. Don’t hold them As Faulkner (I think) said, “You must be prepared to kill your darlings”. I had a favourite idea for a SF series, called ‘Stormfront’, about a spaceship, low on fuel and supplies trying to scrounge enough to keep ahead of a war fleet flattening everything in its path. Along the way, they’d meet weird characters, soldiers both brave and cowardly, terrified people waiting for the end. And then the crew and passengers had their own backstories too. It was all going so well… until the revival of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ was announced. I read the notes, eventually watched the first couple of eps, sighed, and canned my series notes. While I started before the revival was announced, the audience would have said I was just ripping off ‘BSG’, or being indulged by someone trying to damage that show by producing something similar. I suppose I could convert the basic idea into a fantasy setting, as a novel, but that’s a backburner project.
It happens. Happened with Mary Bryant and ‘Stormfront’. Will almost certainly happen again. So my advice is come up with as many ideas as you can, and along the way you’ll strike something that we haven’t seen before, the one to keep to your self and polish until it shines.
By the way, if anyone’s interested, I think the Pa’ao story by itself is worthy of a script. Characters, depth, story, interesting locations, could span generations if you wanted. If anyone wants to take it up as a writing project, go ahead. Do some research, start to get the outline together, the salient points about the characters especially. Pa’ao sounds like a brooding menace on the world, but I could be wrong. It’s a good story. If you want to have a test script project, you could do worse.
| 58 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Joy
Where was I? Right. Your ideas are pretty cool, but I think that a lot of research would have to go into scrrenplays based on historical fact. I know many screenwriters neglect some parts of history to write a good screenplay, but I do think research adds a sense of authority. Especially to people who know a lot about Hawaiian history... not that I think many people in the world do...
Gosh... I'm just rambling. But I liked your post. I think that's what I came here to say. Oh, and I don't think anyone in Hawai`i follows the idea of sacrifice anymore... but there are some people who do still practice traditional Hawaiian religion.
Comment by Australis
The Scriptwriting Blog
Personal Blog - A Writer's Life
thanks for the feed back.Nice to meet someone from that part of the world and know I've got it at least partly right!
I know exactly what you mean about historical accuracy. As mentioned in my posts, I had the Mary Bryant idea the same time as another guy who's well ahead in the game. In part of the story, when the convicts make their escape from Sydney Town (as it was then), they did it in dead of night, and no one knew 'til seven a.m. the next day. Very neat. Two books written at the time, one by one of the escapees, confirms this.
But not good enough for the other writer! He had soldiers lined up along the edge of Sydney Harbour firing muskets and cannon at the fleeing boat! To say the least I was outraged! It created a false sense of drama. It looked fake, even to people who didn't know the real story.
Bu I digress. Yes, historical inaccuracy upsets me.
To return to your kind comment, I thought the Pa'ao story would be good because it seems so rich and unexplored (well, at leas unexplored where I live, in Australia). The other thing I was working towards (and now you've helped me realise it) is you can use these ideas as a springboard into something that can be a little historically looser (hence the remnant idea), but still based on a powerful backstory, but giving you the flexibility to embue the story with its own power and originality.
Thanks again.
A.
Comment by Joy
But the story about the thieves? That's pretty cool. Why did it need to be changed?
Comment by Australis
The Scriptwriting Blog
Personal Blog - A Writer's Life
I think it was done in part to underline tensions set up between some of the main characters, convict and soldier alike. Without wanting to sound mean-spirited or envious, the whole script was done in a sensationalist manner to emphasise sexual tension, jealousy, rivalry and pettiness. The true story didn't need much of that. To be fair, the story I wrote incorporated a few fictitious sequences, but I limited them to periods when we don't know what actaully happened, and tried to stick close to the truth of the characters and the situations, while at the same time being aware it still has to entertain.
Ah well, we live and learn. It's just something I think a writer, if they say they're going to write a script 'based on a true stiory', should work on, to stay close to the truth of the story and make it an entertainment. No one said it would be easy!