Changing the Plot: The Secret Things
Monday, May 13th, 2024 15:29![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hermenoodle Hi y'all! It's been a while.
As far as life goes, it's been good. Been meeting some interesting people here and there with interesting conversations that have lingered for good reason. Some changes have come about, including helping out as a children's church leader at my mom's church. So far, it's been a good experience to not overthink in how to teach in accordance with the time of the pastor's sermon, but it's coming along. I pray to be more steadfast on my personal life to really overflow well to be a teacher in this position. Fortunately, I am not alone in this, so I feel better about that, too.
I've been brainstorming a lot harder on The Secret Things lately, and I realize I've definitely revised some ideas about some of the chapter-episodic nature of the story. While the premise is still the same, I remember struggling on making sure Yona is truly the main character versus Teresa. Teresa is important to the story and to Yona herself, but I found that some of my ideas were focusing a lot on Teresa to the point it felt more like a shoujo manga towards teens than a more mature story that focused on adults. Perhaps I should read some josei manga? I do remember being recommended Princess Jellyfish when I was at Bible college once...
Initially, it was a bit hard to a degree. It may be even harder when I will have to write the script and draw out the scenes concerning certain mature topics, but I don't want to be a writer & artist who trivializes those things. I also want to avoid making caricatures or stereotypes of certain characters because of their positions as I've seen in various media. Some authors, both Christian and non-Christian alike, I have seen to not address some serious problems for some characters and situations they're put in, and it gives a bad taste in my mouth. So, that's why even now with some ideas, such as one where a priest and a nun have a questionable relationship (which I have weighed whether there would be unilateral abuse of some kind or just unhealthy codependency for both), have to be written with a bit more complexity with an ending where it's not necessarily happily ever after for both. Perhaps I don't mind the idea of inferring that they will; I do plan to have some sense of time passing in each chapter. I do think some characters do need to face repercussions and effects of their actions as much as some of them should experience grace to heal. That still takes time. I'd love to think that even though The Secret Things has 5 chapters (for five stories, hopefully not extending into duel chapters to extend that), that maybe a short epilogue or a cheat sheet of "Where Are They Now?" for the cast would be nice to do, if not something at the end of each chapter when I figure that out.
Otherwise, things are coming along better than I thought! One thing that's helped in these episodic chapters is seeing the common thread of the backstory of the main 3 characters, Yona, Teresa, and Leviticus, and how that would impact the way they go about each case. Some of it does deal with mature topics, but I also want to make sure that it's not so exploitative of the characters' pain. This exploitation can sometimes be seen too much in Black centered media today, even those that are made by Black creatives. Treading carefully in the way that the story has a conflict to resolve with high stakes and some emotional maturity is what I am for in The Secret Things and future works.
As far as life goes, it's been good. Been meeting some interesting people here and there with interesting conversations that have lingered for good reason. Some changes have come about, including helping out as a children's church leader at my mom's church. So far, it's been a good experience to not overthink in how to teach in accordance with the time of the pastor's sermon, but it's coming along. I pray to be more steadfast on my personal life to really overflow well to be a teacher in this position. Fortunately, I am not alone in this, so I feel better about that, too.
I've been brainstorming a lot harder on The Secret Things lately, and I realize I've definitely revised some ideas about some of the chapter-episodic nature of the story. While the premise is still the same, I remember struggling on making sure Yona is truly the main character versus Teresa. Teresa is important to the story and to Yona herself, but I found that some of my ideas were focusing a lot on Teresa to the point it felt more like a shoujo manga towards teens than a more mature story that focused on adults. Perhaps I should read some josei manga? I do remember being recommended Princess Jellyfish when I was at Bible college once...
Initially, it was a bit hard to a degree. It may be even harder when I will have to write the script and draw out the scenes concerning certain mature topics, but I don't want to be a writer & artist who trivializes those things. I also want to avoid making caricatures or stereotypes of certain characters because of their positions as I've seen in various media. Some authors, both Christian and non-Christian alike, I have seen to not address some serious problems for some characters and situations they're put in, and it gives a bad taste in my mouth. So, that's why even now with some ideas, such as one where a priest and a nun have a questionable relationship (which I have weighed whether there would be unilateral abuse of some kind or just unhealthy codependency for both), have to be written with a bit more complexity with an ending where it's not necessarily happily ever after for both. Perhaps I don't mind the idea of inferring that they will; I do plan to have some sense of time passing in each chapter. I do think some characters do need to face repercussions and effects of their actions as much as some of them should experience grace to heal. That still takes time. I'd love to think that even though The Secret Things has 5 chapters (for five stories, hopefully not extending into duel chapters to extend that), that maybe a short epilogue or a cheat sheet of "Where Are They Now?" for the cast would be nice to do, if not something at the end of each chapter when I figure that out.
Otherwise, things are coming along better than I thought! One thing that's helped in these episodic chapters is seeing the common thread of the backstory of the main 3 characters, Yona, Teresa, and Leviticus, and how that would impact the way they go about each case. Some of it does deal with mature topics, but I also want to make sure that it's not so exploitative of the characters' pain. This exploitation can sometimes be seen too much in Black centered media today, even those that are made by Black creatives. Treading carefully in the way that the story has a conflict to resolve with high stakes and some emotional maturity is what I am for in The Secret Things and future works.
