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MissMelisshttp://www.missmeliss.com
Draco-cello-black-blue

Birthday Girl (An Alternate Basil & Zoe Story)

by

Draco-cello-black-blue

 

The Brief

Gods and devils,

Today we shall fight the battle over the souls of the people! Or at least one person!

Today we are writing a morality play.

Normally, you will have God on the right, the Devil on the left, and an everyman character in the centre.

Lots of other representation will try to persuade them to do the right thing.

But… and this is the big question – what is good? And what is evil?

For some inspiration, here is the text of Everyman – the archetypical morality play:

http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/everyman.html

 

This is your opportunity to push your agenda!

 

The Excerpt

METHOS:       You’re a kid.

ZOE:               I’m legal. I’m also the daughter of one of the most famous composers in the Coalition’s history. And I’m a bad-ass cellist. I thought you and Basil talked. You should know that.

METHOS:       He said he coached classical.

ZOE:               I play everything.

METHOS:       (eyeing her) You’re pretty enough. And you kept your cool in the bar. But there are two problems with this scenario little girl. First, I don’t do virgins. And second, I don’t do virgins who are stuck on my brother.

ZOE gets off the bed and crosses the room, invading METHOS’s personal space. She presses herself against him, sliding her hands up his chest. He’s a synth. Stronger than human. He resists. She presses her knee against him.

ZOE:               Two things you’re missing in this scenario, silver-guy. First, I’m not a virgin. And second, I’m not stuck on your brother.

 

To Read the Entire Play…

Click here: 1902.08 – Birthday Girl

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Filtered

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The Brief

So write stream-of-conciousness, and let the words flow, including all the, uhms… and ooohs… and arghs… and anything else that your brain might… hold on, there’s a arm with the…uhm, who is he pointing at? I mean, can I really even be as a … what’s it called? Uhm… Off! Argh! I forgot what he’s.. uhm… you know, the… oh, never mind. I guess it must be because of the… Sorry. I’m back! I mean, just get busy and let the words flow.

 

Write a monologue that’s all coming straight from your head without any censorship. Perhaps be brave and write about yourselves, or be less self-indulgent and write about a friend’s story (though keep it all first person).

 

The Excerpt

But now… now I’m not even hungry before I’m absorbed. So now, I have to set reminders to drink protein shakes so I can take morning meds, and then to eat lunch and then to have snacks, only I just had dental work and mouth is still all weird so I can’t chew much and I’m so sick of mushy things – there are no good mushy snacks that don’t require being spread on crunchy snacks!!!

And fanfic – this epic Star Trek: The Next Generation fanfic  – this Data/OFC romance that I’ve been working on for a decade now – is my escape. I write it between the stuff that’s real. I write it when I can’t focus on the sort stories I’m supposed to be polishing or the flash fic I’m supposed to be collecting or the podcast that literally only two people listen to.

 

To Read the Entire Play

Click here: 1902.07 – Filtered

cedric

Vineland Revisited: Being the True Tale (Told in Reverse) of Cedric the Man-Eating Plant

by

cedric

The Brief

I think we’ve done enough content for a bit so let’s look at structure.

And more interestingly – let’s look at erutcurts!

We are writing a play backwards today.

Or do the Pinter thing from Betrayal and reverse chronology.

if you’re writing in another language);

(or right to left or up to down

so you read it left to right

But still maintain the sentence structure

So that you need to read it from the bottom up

Maybe you want the play to go backwards line by line,

It read to time a at word one backwards go and end the from start to needs just one so, front to back from word for word play entire the write to want you maybe or.

!sdrawkcab gnihtyreve etirw dna erocdrah og nac uoy rO

Don’t use computer programmes or algorithms though to do it for you!

And bonus points if you can make the backwardnessity make contextual sense with the play!

 

The Excerpt

I could hear my offspring singing, ready to break out of my planter, and spread their seed around this world, ready to go out on their own, but all I could think of was that my dinner was repeating on me. The blonde chick had been kinda stringy, with more than a hint of bleach. I shoulda eaten her first. I shoulda…

To Read the Entire Play

Click here: 1902.06 – Vineland Revisited

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(Oh So) Quiet Conversations

by

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The Brief

So from one end of the world to another…

And as I’m on my way to the Nordics, myself, what better time to respond to someone who, in my own personal eyes, is one of the few people I can call a true contemporary artist.

From the Sugarcubes all the way to Utopia, Björk has been an artist who hasn’t just re-defined herself, she has re-defined her art – constantly pushing the boundaries of what art can do, how it relates to the artist, to her audience and to the world.

So to celebrate her 53rd birthday back in November, your task for today is to pick one of her songs (musically or lyrically), or one of her albums, or one of her videos, or one of her costumes/masks, or one of her interviews – and to respond that that.

And do something different with your play. Change the format. Don’t make it look like all of your other plays. Make this one stand out and look strange and odd and quirky and cool…

Björk deserves all the respect we give her – so for bonus point – make her shine! Make her the star.

And for those of you who don’t believe that bonus points are real… oh they’re real.

If you collect 833 bonus points, you can exchange them in March for 832 bonus points! It’s a bargain! But be warned – if you collect too many, they may melt.

 

The Excerpt

ANNA            So, anyway, he’s a med student at State and he asked me out, but… I don’t know. I’m not sure I want to go.

JEN:                You don’t want to go out with a future doctor? Why not? Is he ugly? Does he have hairy thumbs? Halitosis?

ANNA:            No, I just… I think I’m into him. (She points to MUSICIAN)

JEN:                The piano player?

ANNA:            He writes his own stuff. Did you know?

JEN:                All I’ve ever heard him play is old jazz and lame covers of Bjork tunes.

ANNA:            He plays more than that, really.

JEN:                (observing) He is kinda cute, in that scruffy artsy way.

ANNA:            See…

JEN:                But he’s a musician.

To Read the Entire Play

Click here: 1902.05 – Quiet Conversations

metalworks

Sparks Fly

by

metalworks

 

The Brief

Yes… it’s Chinese New Year.

So let’s take some inspiration from this magnificent culture and New Year’s traditions.

I’m expecting sea monsters, stove gods, red envelopes, upside-down fortunes, swans, lanterns and obviously – a pig!

For the linguaphiles out there, maybe find a few Chinese words and incorporate them in the play. “Mandarin or Cantonese?” Dealer’s choice!

Oh, and it’s bad luck on Chinese New Year’s to use negative words or to cry and to fight – so make the plays cheerful!

For bonus points, write something for a large cast – no more monologues and dialogues!

 

The Excerpt:

BOY 3:            I heard that our parents go outside the dome to save us from Space Dragons. They fly down to the surface of the moon from outside the Asteroid Belt and wait until after Earthrise to attack!

GIRL 3:           That’s not funny!

BOY 3:            It’s not supposed to be. (makes his hands into claws) RAWR I’m a Space Dragon!

TEACHER:     (clapping hands for attention) Children…!

MEI LING:     Actually, dragons are a part of lunar new year. But in our culture the dragons symbolize nobility, strength, and good fortune, and when we do the dragon dance, we are driving away evil spirits.

 

To Read the Entire Play

Click here: 1902.04 – Sparks Fly

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Max and Margo

by

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The Brief

Pick a number! Any number (as long as it’s between 1-60)

“What? Magic?! No way, dude!”

No! No magic! I don’t like magic! Unless it’s the magic that comes out of your magical fingers as you type today’s genius play!

No… just pick a number, any number (as long as it’s between 1-60)

Don’t you trust me? Just trust me. It’s not magic. I swear.

Just pick it.

The number.

Any number (as long as it’s between 1-60).

Good!

Now… check the link below

Don’t cheat! First pick the number and only then look at the link.

WHAT CAN THIS POSSIBLY BE?!

Good, now find the corresponding thing to your number and write about that!

Go wild!

For bonus points – incorporate the number with the corresponding thing and marry them into something uniquely extraordinary

 

The Excerpt

The number I picked was 19, by the way.

CHARLIE:      I was thinking tomorrow.

MAX:              Your mom’s making pot roast tomorrow, isn’t she.

CHARLIE:      Well… she claims it’s pot roast.

MAX:              (to MARGO) Charlie’s mom is the worst cook. Everything she makes tastes like cardboard. But her pot roast? Her pot roast tastes like regurgitated cardboard.

MARGO:        Oh, gross! (to CHARLIE) You, know, I think it would be better for your health if you had Mongolian beef tonight and stuck to mac-n-cheese tomorrow.

KENT:            And this is why we love Margo. She has much wisdom.

MAX:              Yup. That’s why I love Margo.

 

To Read the Entire Play…

Click here: 1902.03 – Max and Margo

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Stormy Weather: A Relationship in Three Short (Rhyming) Acts

by

nathan-anderson-113932-unsplash

The Brief

Coz every year we do poetic briefs –

To do with either rhythm or with rhyme…

But this is now the fifth month of our game

So this year we’ll do both, I think it’s time.

We’ll take some inspiration from the Bard

But mix it up so that we do it new.

We’ll write a play that’s all Iambic Pents,

but also make it rhyme, we must that do!

“what sort of rhyming pattern should we use?”

I hear you ask with panic in your voice

Well, you can choose whatever fits you best

That’s right, you have the power – make your choice!

Right, that’s the easy part, and now the trick,

the language must remain ‘au natural’

Do place the play in modern times and themes

Maybe even make it factual.

I don’t want any mention of old Will

or texts that could be taken from his plays

No themes that maybe he has written ’bout

instead deal with our lives these modern days.

So write about things Shakes-boy couldn’t write

Like Mars bars, Gogglebox or World War II.

I hope you like this challenge, my dear friends

I think it’s fine. I do. I do. Do you?

 

The Excerpt

The sound you’re hearing is just a branch on the roof

I’ll show you in the morning if you require proof.

I love that your dreams are never boring,

And that you think of ships at sea when you hear me snoring.

But right now, I’m so tired I almost feel like I am dead,

So maybe drive the Master and Commander novels from your pretty head

Cuz all too soon our dogs will bark and growl and whine and peep

And we’ll have lost all chance of ever getting any sleep.

 

To read the entire play…

Click here: 1902.02 – Stormy Weather – A Relationship in Three Short Rhyming Acts

trippylococatsbyfran

Art Therapy for Maturing Divas

by

trippylococatsbyfran

The Brief

As you know, we are now called The Literal Challenge or TLC – so to celebrate that, let’s write a play about TLC.

“What? Second challenge and all you’re giving us are letters?! I expected far more!”

“Well, there is more! Loads more! In those three letters there is a whole range of possibilities”…

Perhaps set it in a spa, where customers receive special (!) TLC.

Perhaps write about a couple arguing about a Tables, Ladders and Chairs wrestling match (google it!).

What about a play consisting only of lyrics by the great band TLC, or just pick one of them – a monologue about a T-bone steak? About someone’s Left Eye? About eating a chilli? (This is far too early in the process for me to betray my age in such a way).

What about three characters talking but never using the letters T, L and C?

Or… go at it from a completely different angle. Take a hot bath and give your body some TLC as you free write (maybe don’t take any electronic devices though).

And of course – you could just write about THE LITERAL CHALLENGE!

 

The Exerpt

LUCY:             Impudent child. Tried to tell me there were rules. I told her I’d been cursing like a sailor before she’d been born and I wasn’t likely to stop any time soon, and when she’d been a    medic in a war zone she could maybe think about lecturing me. Fuck… was it knit six, perl three or knit five, perl two? (she begins ripping out stitches)

RED:               This is why you never complete anything.

DORIS:           It’s not about the finished project. It’s about the stimulation of the creative act. Making art is good for the brain.

RED:               We’re not ‘making art,’ we’re coloring in pictures. You’re just using a brush instead of pencils or crayons.

DORIS:           It is, too, art. I choose the brushstrokes. I choose the picture. And you, you select the colors you use. Or do you see a lot of cats striped pink and yellow?

 

To Read the Entire Play…

Click here: 1902.01 – Art Therapy for Maturing Divas

 

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Parched

by

joseph-greve-350488-unsplash

 

The Brief

Not sure why, but I’ve gone all nautical the last few days in my emails to you, so it seems appropriate that we use that for our first brief.

Ships, boats, water, blue, salt, sea, waves anything to do with this magnificent force.

…

Let’s start off easy (this is only the first challenge after all) – so write the play in the style you feel most comfortable in.

 

The Excerpt

Ordinary humans are told to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but that’s assuming eight-ounce glasses. Me? There are days when eight gallons barely quench my thirst. My husband makes good money, and my patreons on my podcast keep me in spending money, but you don’t want to know what our water bill is like. Some days… some days the ice machine can’t even keep up with me when it’s set to ‘party mode.’

 

To read the entire play…

Click here: 1901.31 – Parched

 

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2019: This Will Be Our Year

by
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The warmth of your love
Is like the warmth of the sun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come
Don’t let go of my hand
Now darkness has gone
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come
I know I’m not the only person who was more than ready to kick 2018 out the door, and welcome in the promise of a new year.  Like a brand new pad of drawing paper, a brand new spiral notebook, a brand new computer with a virtually empty hard drive, a new year is a blank canvas, as yet untainted by politics or pain.
This last year, actually the year and change going all the way back to August 2017, has been a hard one for Fuzzy and me. We lost his mother, his father, and my stepfather. We also lost my last great-uncle, but that wasn’t a death that impacted me a great deal, except that I’m sad he was sick and suffering at the end.
And then there was my knee surgery.
While my mother was here, I was confronted with the fact that, as much as I’ve improved, I’m nowhere close to being completely healed. I found out earlier today that I did not make it into a writing residency I applied for, and my first reaction was not disappointment, but relief. I’m not ready, yet, to be traipsing around a walking city without Fuzzy’s help and support.
And I won’t forget
The way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said,
“Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on
And speaking of help and support, I want to thank all my friends and family who have been with me on the journey through PT, and on the expanded journey of this podcast. Five years ago, when Nuchtchas told me about the Dog Days of Podcasting, I thought no one would care what I wrote, or listen to what I had to say. I’d probably have more listeners than Nutty and my mom if I bothered to make regular episodes (goal for 2019 – one a month) or tell people about it (like many people, I’m great at pushing other people’s art, and really bad at sharing my own), but the act of creation is often its own reward.
So, I wanted to take a moment and say thank you to ALL the dog days participants – those who did only August, and those who did something in December as well. Your comments, your mentions, your willingness to participate when I ask for volunteers – those mean so much. And your own podcasts make me smile, laugh, think, and wish I were on the ocean. This includes you Michael Butler – I listen to every episode. Really. I’m not naming any other names because I don’t want to miss anyone.
But also thank you to my other friends – Debra, Becca, Clay, Jancis, Fran, Selena, KM, Stones, Katie, OC, the entire Klingon Marauders fleet on Timelines, my cousins, Michelle, Kerrin, David, and Shirley, and my husband’s aunt Kathy. My own aunties, Patricia and Dee, and my local friends Kathy, Scott, Ben, Ian, Kimberlyn, and Trenton. You’ve listened to me whine, laughed when I was funny, provided encouragement when I needed it, and generally just been there.
And a special shout-out to my Mom. Because even though we push each others buttons the way only a mother and daughter can, she’s still my hero.
To the people who read my stuff wherever it’s posted and published, to the people who listen, to the people who just ARE.
Thank you.
Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun
This will be our year
Took a long time to come
In the poem “Story Water” Rumi wrote:

Water, stories, the body,
all the things we do, are mediums
that hide and show what’s hidden.

Study them,
and enjoy this being washed
with a secret we sometimes know,
and then not.

 

Thank you for sharing your stories, both fiction and not. I hope to hear more from you in 2019.

 

Thank you for listening to mine. I hope to share more in 2019.

 

This will be our year – all of us.

 

This will be our year
Took a long time to come

“This Will Be Our Year” was originally by The Zombies.