Creating A New Classic, Fiction

Words

Writer: Hello, Muse.

Muse: Hello.

Writer: It’s that time of year again.

Muse: Time to write the holiday movie.

Writer: Yup. ‘Tis the season. While everyone is in Christmas mode, they want a draft script to get started on next year’s movie.

Muse: What have you got so far.

Writer: A lot of questions. Animation? Live action? Historical? Present day?

Muse: Have they given you any direction?

Writer: The same thing they say every year. Give them another Diehard.

Muse: Well, it is a good movie.

Writer: Sure, but why is it considered a Christmas movie? It could be the corporate 4th of July BBQ and Hans Gruber would still fall off the Nakatomi tower at the end.

Muse: Barbecue grills in a high-rise?

Writer: So, they got takeout. Work with me here.

Muse: It has a great cast.

Writer: Yeah, I can’t do anything about who gets cast. We’re not going to get the equivalent of Rickman & Willis in a made-for-TV movie. BUT. A good screen play will attract good actors. I can’t control what happens after, but I can control that.

Muse: That sounds familiar.

Writer: See, I listen.

Muse: That’s good. Back to the task at hand.

Writer: (in monotone) Stay on target. Stay on target. I wonder what holidays they had a long time ago, in a …

Muse: You are getting distracted again.

Writer: Arggg.

Muse:

Writer: This is where you jump in with the brilliant idea.

Muse:

Writer:

Muse: How about Christmas in Mongolia?

Writer: They don’t celebrate Christmas in Mongolia.

Muse: Exactly.

Writer: ooooh … or Africa or Asia or the Mideast … some non-Western country … avoid places Christmas is banned … too political … are there places it is still banned? … (clicks on tab) … no, look that up later … a country where Christmas is sympathetic but not a big deal … young person … working abroad … alone-on-the-holidays sympathy … maybe a small village … heartwarming scene of kids surprising the main character with tree decorations … maybe a big city … bound to be other Christmas celebrants if the city is big enough … local church if we want to go religious … maybe a Christmas friendsgiving with other expats … scrambling to find decor … food … maybe has to work that day … maybe celebration includes someone the main character doesn’t like … enemies to lovers if we want to go romance …

Muse: You will have to make choices at some point.

Writer: No, no. I mean yes, absolutely, I’ll need to decide on a story line. But they like it when I provide options. I’ll give off ramps at key points, change of characters, change of venue, different genres, different countries. This is great. I can work with this. What do I owe you?

Muse: Same as always. Do your best work.

Writer: Merry Christmas, Muse.

Muse: Merry Christmas.

(Sounds of rapid keyboard clicking.)

~~~ curtain ~~~