Script Frenzy! update:

[capri0mni]

(Yes, as far as I can tell, the exclamation point is part of the name, just like it is in the American game show "Jeopardy!")

I woke up this morning, and realized that none of options I gave in my last poll on the subject were right. Four of the five options would have each required me to do yet another retelling of a story I've told before, which goes against the whole "fly by the seat of your pants, and see where you land!" spirit of the endeavor, and one (the futuristic, being-chased-by-baddies thriller) was so outside my comfort genre that writing that up as a screenplay would have meant doing two completely new things for me at once, which is a bit much for a first attempt.

So I've decided to follow the old saw and "write what I know best," not in terms of factual stuff I know, but genre. And that's wondertales (fairy tales). I'm going to take motifs and plot fragments from a few different stories, and flip them 'round backwards, and shuffle 'em together in different orders, and see what happens.

There might be a formal "pitch" for your critique (and please, give feedback! I love feedback on new ideas, particularly if I'm saying something strange and confusing) sometime later today or tomorrow...

Oh, and, indefatigable42! Linking back to our conversation a couple of days ago about how there are so few fairy tales where the girls get to be heroes, and do all the interesting stuff: do you know the British (& Appalachian) story of Molly Whuppie? That's another traditional story, along with The Two Brothers, that Hollywood movie makers could have a field day with, if they wanted to...

Comments

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Hollywood would probably take out the bits where Molly tricks the giant into killing his own wife and daughters, though.

Another good "female lead" folk tale is Kate Crackernuts (basically Twelve Dancing Princesses, only with one dancing prince).

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reminding me about Kate Crackernuts! I'll have to go back and reread that one...

Though the studio execs would probably want to change the nams, so as not to scare away the prized male adolescent audience...

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

I don't know either of these, but I'll keep an eye out. Thanks.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Both Molly Whuppie and Kate Crackernuts can be found in a Project Guettenburg etext, here (http://etext.teamnesbitt.com/books/etext/etext05/8eftl10.txt.html#start), if you scroll down... The etext is from an old volume by Joseph Jacobs, and he admits, in his notes to "cleaning up" and "improving" some of the stories... But at least he tells you what changes he made. Which is more than can be said about some collectors...