Originally Posted by: Rincewind stick to your word and shovel that creatve juice somewhere else, maybe short stories or something.
I was kind of thinking of getting back into my writing, the story of PostModern would make quite the synopsis. (Some, in fact most, of this is off the top of my head to fill out the story, and there's godmoding here, but it never happened so I'm allowing it.)
Kate Kerry, Scottish-born former child star, lives in California with her big sister Catriona Robbins, and across the road from posh best geek friend Kitena Dale. The story begins when three daft Welsh blokes, Dan Helyer and brothers Damien and Kato Comyns, move temporarily from Merthyr Tydfil to Beverly Hills (living with Meryl, Dan's only known American relative) to attempt to make it in the music industry. Dan seeks the help of property developer and private studio owner Jeremy Catterling, who offers them unlimited use of his super-expensive studio as long as he gets to meet Kate. Meanwhile, our heroine is struggling with bad memory lapses and night terrors. She meets up with a therapist, Mason West, who is a big fan of Kate's music and will treat her for free. (It really pays to be Kamikaze Kate.)
So, we have new band Blazing Torch. Kate is really close to Mason, Dan is thankful to Jeremy, and Cat has a crush on third wheel Chris Pardoe. Kitena, Damien and Kato all think that Blazing Torch are super creepy and should be avoided. However, things are going well for Kate. She discovers that she has dissociative identity disorder and begins to explore her alters with the help of Mason. They decide to use music as an aid, and Kate records an album called "sufferkate" which has many different Kates on it. Recording isn't going so well for Kitena and the Merthyr boys. Dan and Kitena are being abusive towards poor ickle Kato because he looks like Justin Bieber, and so he locks them in the studio and loses the keys. The only other person with a key is Jeremy, so after a few nights, Kato goes to him. Jeremy, trying to prove that he's a nice kind man, lets Kitena and Dan out. They're found in a passionate embrace. As Dan is with Tanya, Kitena is with Harvey and we all want to keep it secret, Dan and Kitena are now extra nice to Jeremy and Kato and act as if it never happened.
They're not the only ones in California with love tension. Mason keeps denying it, but he has fallen in love with Kate. It's unrequited as Kate still has a solid relationship with her boyfriend Josh, and Mason values Kate's friendship too much to interrupt, but damn it's hard work. All is not lost though - Cat and Chris have got together and are doing well. What with that, Jeremy being so nice, and Mason holding back, our readers trust Blazing Torch now, right? It's only Damien who hasn't got his head round them, and he's being a bit of a git in general because he's so lonely and all the hot guys are straight. When Meryl's having a relative over whom she hasn't seen in a while, Kato and Dan decide to take Damien out with the girls, and they go round to Kate's where she, Cat and Kitena are getting ready. Blazing Torch are there as well, and they don't leave them behind. Kato finds a pregnancy test kit on the bathroom counter. Ooh. Kato assumes that it's Kate's and that Josh already knows, and gives him a call to invite him out to congratulate him. Josh says he's busy. Never mind, he'll congratulate him later. Oh, the boys have only gone and forgotten the address of the place they're going. The lot of them detour to Meryl's place to pick up the bit of paper.
When they arrive, who's there but Josh!? JOSH HELYER! DAN HELYER! Helyer isn't the most common surname in the world! Why did we not see this before!? Meryl announces that the two are half-brothers. Kato seems happy for his best mate, and chimes in about the other new addition to the Helyer family. But Josh has been on tour and Kate has been - spending time with Mason. Oh dear. The family moment's gone as Mason burbles on about how he hasn't even kissed Kate, and that it must be Cat's. Chris smiles and starts telling Cat how pleased he is, but Cat insists it wasn't her test. So we're back to Josh vs. Mason about Kate, and Dan being pissed off that his family moment's been wrecked. Kitena shouts that the test was hers. Most of them congratulate Kitena and, in his absence, Harvey, and get back to the Helyers. However, Dan's interest in Josh has waned. Kitena wouldn't be that reckless, would she!? Dan huddles with Kitena, Kato and Jeremy, and for the sake of Harvey and Tanya, make them promise to pretend it isn't his. No more is said for now.
So we move on. The mortgage on Kate and Cat's house mysteriously goes up, and they can't afford it. Cat decides to leave the USA and go back to Perth in Scotland, where she hasn't been in six years. She splits with Chris, who after the baby fiasco made it clear that they want different things. Aww. Kate doesn't want to go, she doesn't want to leave Josh behind, and falls out with Cat. So, Mason offers Kate a home in the house he shares with his bandmates. Damien's still a bitter git who doesn't trust Blazing Torch, so he offers a room in the Helyer/Comyns household. Kitena also says that there's room for Kate. For some reason, Kitena suddenly changes her mind and says that she needs to be alone with the baby, and Dan vetoes Kate moving in. So, Kate's fallen out with Kitena and the Welsh lot, but she gets to stay in America! And she has Josh, Mason, Jeremy and Chris, right?
Oh poor Kitena. Bit of a crap situation, and now she's lost her best friend too. In a strange turn of events, Mason is the most comforting, being a free therapist to Kitena as he was to Kate, and bringing her to trust him, enough to tell him about Dan and the baby. Kitena wants Dan to be involved, but doesn't want to split with Harvey. Oh, and by the way, he thinks she's just getting fat again. Mason says that she should be open and honest, Harvey would appreciate that most. Dan sees this as an attempt to get in with Kitena, and insists that she tell Harvey it's his child, but Kitena trusts Mason. And now, back to our heroine who gets even more pissed at Kitena for "stealing friends", and Mason for letting her. Mason still loves Kate but finds her impossible to live with, so he packs up and moves in with Kitena. Kate works out her revenge - she realises that the reason Kitena hasn't told Harvey about the baby is that it isn't his, so she tips him off that the baby is Mason's, which Harvey believes, and splits up with Kitena. Kate's just not making friends is she?
Meanwhile, back in Scotland, Cat's solo career as sex rocker Catriona Comatose is taking off so much that she's got a support spot on Clungeflap Bottlerockets' USA tour! (Prestigious huh?) While they're in California, Cat goes to visit everyone, and finds the relationships in tatters. Kate makes it clear to Cat that she's either visiting Kitena and Mason or her, not both. Cat and the band go to see Kitena, as this also avoids any awkwardness with Chris around. Kitena invites Damien and Kato round for a little party, but Mason says not to bring any Helyers, he's had enough of that family. They assume that this is all Kate's fault. Kato goes, but Damien and Dan stay at home, abusing Meryl's spirit store, getting really drunk. Over at Chris's, he convinces Kate to make an impromptu appearance, it is after all her birthday tomorrow. He takes Kate round. He tries it on with Cat again, but fails. He leaves, upset, and walks past a drunk driver. None other than Damien! He's mostly OK, only surface wounds, and Chris finds himself kissing them better. The two of them, along with passenger Dan, stay in the car for the night and sit around trash talking Kate. When his friends start kissing, it gets uncomfortable for Dan even this drunk, so he walks over to Kitena's and rings the doorbell. Nobody answers, but the door is open. The house is quiet. Everyone seems to have either fallen asleep or passed out paralytic.
A few hours later. 1st April 2012. Kate's birthday. Well .... it would be if she was still alive. In Kitena's hallway, Damien and Chris find Kate, throat slit, out cold. The police call it a suicide, Kate did have DID and at least one suicidal alter, but there are so many murder suspects, so many disliked her. The new lovebirds - yes, they found her, but did they find her dead or alive? Could it have been Kitena, daughter of an assassin, pissed off that she's lost her boyfriend because of Kate and raging hormones to boot? Mason, annoyed that she upset Kitena and then framed him, or maybe just "if I can't have her, no Helyer can have her"? Catriona, upset with her sister for leaving her and then not wanting to see her? If everyone was asleep when Dan walked in, too drunk to know better, it would have been so easy for him, wouldn't it? As for Kato - who trusted Kato in the first place? And who the actual fuck are Clungeflap Bottlerockets?
I'm actually quite proud of the above, it's a better plot than Twilight and look how that sold. (Pride never leads anywhere, 'tis true, and a LOT of things are better than Twilight, but still. If you got it, flaunt it.) Thing is, thinking about it, I never could have written that in a few months like I planned (well, I planned to concentrate more on their musical careers and Kate's personalities in TRSG, but DID is hard to explain in a whole memoir from someone who has it, let alone a quick thing from an outsider - and it'd have got a bit tedious explaining what everyone released in this, we just need to know that they are musicians) wouldn't have worked, it wouldn't have been consistent, there'd always be a plot hole or some really elementary mistake. That's why I have never completed a novel, after years and years of attempts, I'm too incompetent with my writing. But when I work hard for a few days on a short story, I can really get into it and not arse it up.
My "leaving" has shown me that I'd like to stay in RP, but in a different way. Have a new character with no ties to comment and release some stuff. Whoever it is would also, like Kate and Raven used to, do CD artwork for anyone that asks, another thing I like doing. But my main things would be -
1. Making up plots, like the above (but maybe a bit less mad), which could be carried out by people who are better at keeping things constructed.
2. What I already do. Passing my old characters out and seeing them move on. (:
What do you think?
Edited by user 29 November 2011 09:02:40(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified