The above is a production still from my 10-minute play, DEVOTED starring Akiko Aspilliaga, Patrick Silvestre and Edu Ibazeta (not pictured). It’s a play that I’ve vowed that I couldn’t write–a love story. I don’t know what it is about love stories, but I just never could get into writing one. Maybe it’s because I don’t believe in them. I mean, one structure of the love story follows: girl meets boy, they fall in love, they fall out of love, then they get back together (some of the time). That’s the nuttiest of nutshells of how some love stories work.
I guess it’s because of this predictable formula that I’ve grown accustomed to “detesting”. At the end of a love story, the couple will either be together or won’t. Done.
So, why did I even write DEVOTED? Honestly it was because I needed to write something! Anything. I’ve been in a depressed mood for at least 5 months at that point and Bindlestiff had a writing workshop for a play fest they were having called The Love Edition. Jumping on the chance to get back into writing, I took the workshop… to learn how to write a love story! Oy vey!
Long-story-short, I’m really glad with what I’ve come up with.
Synopsis
Devoted is a story about a happily single person named Mary who runs into a bookstore trying to hide from the blind-date-from-hell, Daniel. Startled by her entrance, Chris, a history professor, becomes thrilled that someone finally came to the signing event for his first book, A History of Romance in the Philippines. While waiting to make sure that Daniel is gone, Mary confesses that she doesn’t believe that she’ll ever find love in this lifetime. Knowing differently, Chris uses the stories in his book to take Mary back in time to when she did find love, heartbreak and eventually love again.
I was also surprised and honored to have DEVOTED close out the evening of shorts.
Even though the show closed in February, I’ve always said that I wanted it to be longer. The concept of the play, a love story told in 3 different time periods, in 3 different languages, in 10 minutes seemed too tall a task! And I believe it was because there were so much backstory that I didn’t get to tell.
Flash forward to last Sunday when a friend asked if I wanted to workshop something. Bingo. My chance to expand this story…
But I am woefully stuck. All of the ideas I had feel so… boring.
And that’s why I’m writing a post on this hurdle on a blog that needed some new blood 🙂 And I think it’s helping me to remember my process for writing a play:
- Go into reporter mode and ask questions:
- What is there intentions?
- Where do they come from? Their backstories?
- Started think about the the structure: Start at the end? Start before the beginning of my 10?
- What are the stakes? How can I make them higher in a longer version?
- How can I change my perceptions about why I don’t like love stories (i.e. predictable) and change it (surprising)?
- Space out! After a 3 month hiatus from the play, I’m finding myself daydreaming about the story and its characters again. Try to go through the different scenarios in trying to answer the questions above.
- Re-watch the play (I’ll post it in my videos section someday. ha.) and write down more questions. But also to take notes on what I wished I saw. What’s missing that I could add to the longer version.
- Start writing. From my original 10 pages, I got 16 now with the goal of at least 30 by tonight. I’d be happy with 60.
Wish me broken pencils!