DANGERLION

Here's my first idea for how to open. The Tomsky character narrates the story of the Queen of Spades: the dark and seductive goddess of luck who cursed St. Germain with her secret to evading life's unpredictability. A gambling secret he must pass down to those who he deems in need of it or chooses to. So in this scene we'd be following St Germain as he receives this secret. As Tomsky finishes the story we cut to the title.

Then we're in New York City, present day, at an underground card game. Tomsky is drunk, they've been playing all through the night. The Naroumov character (a gambler and soldier) is hosting and thinks the story is bullshit. Tomsky swears it's true, and swears it's how his family acquired their wealth. Herman (the Herman character), their friend, thinks it might be true, but when Naroumov propositions him to bet on it, Herman says he's watched enough games to know that anything is possible, however he doesn't risk what he needs to win what he wants. He's still intrigued by the story and wants to meet Tomsky's grandmother and see for himself.

Then we would go to an incredibly wealthy, decadent, imaginative residence in New York City. I'm thinking something with a big, ominous, ancient feeling--like you believe it could exist in New York City, but it has a class from an older time you wouldn't expect. Almost like a place out of time. This is the Countess character's estate.

I've got some more brewing, but now I'm switching gears back to character--there is too much undefined. Who is this modern version of Herman? I thought he could be obsessed with all sorts of games: watching sports, playing chess, poker. He could know Naroumov through the army, where he's an engineer for training simulations. Who is Lisa, what is her relationship with everyone else like? What about the Tomsky character?

I like the idea that as we learn more about the Countess and her family, we get little clues that make us wonder whether the story is true. I also like the idea that the game in the opening is poker, but the game the secret actually applies to is faro like in the original. So in the end, the Herman character has a faro showdown.

PS Yesterday I procrastinated shamefully hard, I only wrote for like 30 min. Today I did 4 hours. It's been a challenge to stick to the battle rhythm, but I'm doing better each week and next month is going to be even stronger. Tonight I'm going to see Avengers in IMAX at midnight. Suckas!

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote this opera, which I've been listening to, and it is fantastic. Going to watch this version this week; the wikipedia synopsis sounds really intriguing. I don't have much experience interpreting operas but stirring and suspenseful classical music, horror and gambling seem to be a match made in heaven. The music is on Spotify and I would fight a moose to grind online poker to it right now.

My immediate next steps are writing a scene by scene outline and character sketches. Having these will put me in a much better place to go back into Dramatica and look at the storyform again. Which will produce my first attempt at the "vision" of what the modern adaptation could look like. It will probably look decent, but in actuality it will suck. Seizing destiny will not be so easy--Tchaikovsky and Hermann went mad in the pursuit of theirs. 

(spooky opera music, ghostly things)

I'll post some ideas as I go...

PS I'm about finished reading Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. Fucking awesome. There are some epic turn-the-page reveals. The man should just be called Fucking Awesome. 

I am down to 8 possible storyforms, which seems like a lot, but what makes Dramatica great is that the questions you ask to find the answers are probably more useful than the actual answers. Right now I have a pretty solid understanding of the Main Character Throughline (the story from Hermann's POV) and am circling around an understanding of the Overall Story problem (basically, where's the conflict coming from from a birds-eye view, what started it and what will resolve it? What is affecting all the characters?)

Hermann becomes more appealing the deeper you go. He represents the story's desire to eliminate chaos (in cards and in life), and he just doggedly pursues that goal armed with logic, a vibrant imagination and a lack of conscience. And still in the end the Queen of Spades gets the last laugh. I wonder if you could think of the story like a hand of poker. Hmm

Here are all the other important characters:

Lisaveta- young and pretty but poor and dependent on the Countess, ignored by men for uglier women. Desires freedom in the form of a savior, fate gives her Hermann, who kills (morally?) the Countess and breaks her heart.

Countess- was young and promiscuous and desired, now goes to great lengths to surround herself with reminders of older times and maintain her fading beauty. Alleged possessor of St Germain's secret.

St Germain- according to Tomsky, 60 years ago Count St. Germain bestowed the secret on the Countess. Pushkin describes him: "You know that he represented himself as the Wandering Jew, as the discoverer of the elixir of life, of the philosopher's stone, and so forth. Some laughed at him as a charlatan; but Casanova, in his memoirs, says that he was a spy. But be that as it may, St. Germain, in spite of the mystery surrounding him, was a very fascinating person, and was much sought after in the best circles of society."

Tomsky- a prince, faro player, friend of Hermann's. His grandmother is the Countess, and he tells the story of her secret at Naroumov's card game.

Naroumov- soldier, gambler. Hermann frequents his card games (which are less like home games and more like parties) because he's basically a creepy railbird, and it's at one of those games that Tomsky tells the story of his grandmother and the secret.

I am again liking the idea that the new Hermann character is a soldier (he could even still be an engineer) who was injured on the battlefield. I think this event could be a great way to make him more likable at first, and it could be a means of showing where his motivations might come from. Also works on a thematic level.

I'm also now unsure about New Orleans as the choice of setting. Pushkin's story seems timeless and placeless, whereas choosing New Orleans seems to lock us in to having something to say about New Orleans. I think you can make it imaginative, suspenseful and creepy anywhere you set it. Some good things to start thinking about here would be where/how can you have the most visually interesting locations? Where are the coolest looking places to play cards? Where could you imagine finding the magnificent estate of the creepy old Countess?

I watched the 1960 film adaptation of Queen of Spades. The filmmakers made some changes to the story (Hermann finds the story in a book, Naroumov is a much bigger character) that did help it make the jump from page to screen... but as with most adaptations, they mainly focused on transplanting the plot and ended up missing some of the point.

Here are eight major events in the plot:

Hermann hears the story, Hermann sees Lisaveta in the window, Lisaveta arranges for Hermann to sneak inside the Countess' estate, Herman chooses to surprise the Countess and scares her to death, Hermann goes to the funeral, Hermann is visited by the Countess and receives the secret, Hermann denies Lisaveta, Herman tests the secret and loses his fortune and mind. 

Hermann grows from a person who believes in "not sacrificing the necessary in the hope of winning the superfluous" to one who has sacrificed his sanity chasing the truth to a story about a gambling secret. Lisaveta grows from a naive ward of the Countess to a heartbroken pawn of fate.

In my opinion, Pushkin's point is to show the problems of manipulation that arise when fate places people with conflicting passions in relationships with each other. It's also a horror story about man's age old dance of death with Lady Luck, and about two doomed people who are screwed no matter how much they think they are exercising their own free will. To be a successful I need to make sure I really nail the characterization and development of these relationships between those eight aforementioned plot events. The relationships and the growth as Hermann pursues his goal--that is what is most important to transplant. Around that, I think a lot can be changed for the sake of an entertaining yarn.

AND MOAR SUSPENSE. Everything's better with more creepy and more suspense.

Alexander Pushkin's The Queen of Spades

Down the rabbit hole I go. The more I read, think and write about the original short story, the more I realize why it is so celebrated. I also wish I could read Russian. Pushkin is a terse writer, and the story can be interpreted differently depending on how you look at it: it could have paranormal/supernatural elements, or it might involve the main character's hallucinations. Herman is an unusual main character. He’s coldly logical, and we like him because he has the good sense to avoid gambling and appears to romance the creepy grandmother's attractive young servant. Then we realize he’s actually manipulating her to find out if there truly is a secret, and doesn’t experience much remorse. By the time you understand who he really is, you’re in a strange place as a reader where you don’t really like him, but also want to know what's going on with the creepy grandmother as much as he does.

Right now I'll venture that The Queen of Spades is Pushkin's nightmare: a story about cruel twists of fate in gambling and in life, and the actions people will take to change their fortunes.

What I am doing: closely rereading the short story and making notes. Reading some Internet analysis. Building a few different possibilities of the storyform in Dramatica, which is producing tons of writing and thinking (collected in Scrivener). All of this contributes to a final storyform and a decent amount of prep writing that explains the progression of the story. Then we can really start imagining what an adaptation could look like.

Tomorrow I’m going to watch this film version

Dramatica is like Holdem Manager for stories. It’s a deep, complex, intriguing and challenging theory, and an incredibly useful tool once you begin understanding how it can help you. Dramatica says that every complete (fully explored) story is a model of the human mind trying to solve a problem. To fully explore any issue, an author has to examine all possible solutions to that issue and make an argument to prove to an audience that the author’s way is best. Basically, it allows for a deeper understanding of how and why stories work to communicate meaning to an audience.

Structure and dynamics are what give a story its meaning and make you feel the way you feel when you experience them. Dramatica can help develop the best structures, fix broken stories, or analyze stories to extract their structure. I’m going to use it this week to figure out exactly what made Pushkin’s original Queen of Spades short story work. To adapt it into modern day New Orleans, we keep the precise original structure but illustrate the story points differently. For example, Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story have the same structure... but they’re illustrated differently.

More tomorrow, where I’ll explore some findings...

Wired calls this "a warrior-focused name for daily routine." Most people lack the awareness that improvement is a lifetime war you fight each day, or the discipline and willpower required to accomplish meaningful goals. In my opinion, the right battle rhythm is crucial to honing your body and mind. It keeps you thinking clearly, keeps you motivated, and virtually ensures you're always learning and making progress. If you can commit to it, you will become a better warrior. 
here's my M-F, I offer it up to the poker gods for their boomswitch on this important mission:

 Reading and writing on the weekends. Wonder how much discipline and willpower I have.

MWAHAHAHA

SET YO ALARM CLOCKS SUCKAS

THE CLOWN EMERGES FROM HIS SLOOMBA

AND HE CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THE AVENGERS

Most are in agreement QUEEN OF SPADES is the most promising idea. Bring it on. Taking suggestions for films to watch, books/articles to read. I've been working on Alfred Hitchock's Masterpiece Collection and there are about 8 films in there I plan on seeing. I could reread A Confederacy of Dunces... anyone know any modern day stories that take place in New Orleans? There's Treme, the Bad Lieutenant w/ Nicholas Cage. How about horror? Psychological dramas? Stories with similar kinds of themes or protagonists? Great gothic fiction (film, tv, novels, short stories, graphic novels, anything) would be sweet. 

6AM TOMORROW I AM IN YOU BLACK MARIA

The Queen of Spades

F-box

Reality Show

These ideas are far away from being worthy movie stories, but unfortunately I'm drinking GETSHITDONE JUICE and need to choose. The chosen one will be molded into STORY GLORY. All 3 interest me for one reason or another:

-The Queen of Spades has a creepy, supernatural feel to it, and it's a story about class conflict and human avarice. I get to pull from proven source material, and if I can pull it off, I can show that I understand how to adapt a short story into a film.

-Sci-fi is my favorite genre, and I love mystery, and dark fairy tales, and exploring some of the ideas in "On the Marionette Theatre." Reinterpreting the Adam and Eve story as socially relevant fantasy/sci-fi, with dramatically complex and flawed characters (some of which are robots!)--that seems like an awesome challenge.

-I have a need to write a story about the experience of being on a reality TV show. I have a lot to say about that, it was a unique experience, and there's all sorts of ways to tackle fun ideas about living in public vs private, the pursuit of fame, ego indulgence, and so on.

I might end up writing all 3, but I can't write them all at once. What do you guys think? In the end I'm going with my gut but will consider all thoughts/discuss all weekend. Going to make the final call on Monday. Then, CHARACTERS!

This one is an adaptation of the Alexander Pushkin short story. I've updated the story to take place in modern times, but kept much of the core plot intact (for now).

A reserved soldier who never gambles hears a story while watching his company play cards. The story is of a beautiful woman, who 60 years ago lost a fortune at cards, then won it back with the help of a secret strategy. The next day the soldier is wounded by an IED; while in and out of consciousness, he is haunted by visions of the woman and her cards. 

Sent home to NY to recover, the soldier receives an invitation from a friend in the army (the same friend who told the story). The invitation is to a charity gala for fallen soldiers, hosted by the friend’s grandmother—the woman from the story. Each day before the gala, the soldier watches the estate from afar, haunted by the story of the old woman and her secret. The day before the gala he observes a young and beautiful housemaid through the window, and decides to seduce her in order to gain her confidence, and learn the old woman's strategy.

At the gala, the soldier is celebrated for his bravery. He charms the housemaid; they dance, and at the end of the night he slips her a letter. Over the coming weeks they engage in a growing love affair via secret letters. Eventually she arranges for him to sneak inside the estate late at night while she is away with the old woman, and wait in her room until she returns. When night arrives the soldier sneaks in, but instead hides in the old woman’s closet. When she arrives, he emerges intent on extracting her secret, but the sight of him frightens her to death. The housemaid witnesses the betrayal and is heartbroken.

The soldier attends the old woman’s funeral. The housemaid sees him there, and thinking he has come to reconcile, is destroyed when she realizes he has only come to see the old woman’s dead body. The soldier steps to her coffin and looks in; the old woman appears to wink at him. That night he is consumed by fever dreams of immense wealth, and visions of three blank cards. He awakes and is shocked to see the old woman, who tells him her secret on the condition he marries the housemaid.

Ignoring the old woman’s wishes, the soldier withdraws all his money from the bank and takes it to an underground, high stakes casino. There he wagers all his money on the strategy, three successive bets, against a champion gambler. He wins the first two bets, but loses the third. The losing card, the Queen of Spades, appears to wink at him like the old woman did. The loss of all his money, so suddenly and in such strange circumstances, drives the soldier insane.