There hasn't been as much time for writing as I would like, so I'm cutting back on other things like blogging to do that. But I like to blog, so I'll be here as much as I can. And when I can't blog, I'm sharing random thoughts via Twitter on important things like: "According to US Weekly the way I wear my eyeliner is out. That's fine. I was sick of people like Nicole Ritchie copying me anyway." It's like fun short blogging... except often more meaningless, though that sort of stuff amuses me.
Anyway, I do ponder things that don't fit into 140 characters too and this is one of them.
*Warning: major geek alert*
So, since I obviously have oh so much time on my hands, I decided to sign up for ABC Insider Access, which allows me (supposedly) to give feedback on my all-time favorite soap opera, One Life to Live. (I warned you. I'm not just your garden variety Star Trek nerd... well I am that too... I've been addicted to the "stories" since age 14.) You see, I was reading all the plot summaries to see what I missed during the week I was in Seattle and there was this link asking if I had an opinion about OLTL and, by god, I did!
Now, when I have about ten minutes to spare (which I never do, but I make time), I go onto this special super secret forum, watch trailers for the upcoming weeks show, rate them, and then go vent about how pissed I am that OLTL is having another serial killer plot for the third time in as many years and can't the find something better to do with John because he's a great character, but they are totally ruining him by making him hunt down serial killers over and over and not to mention pairing him with Marty? Blech! I'm totally Team John and Natalie. And why has Natalie become this annoying whiny character ever since the broke up. And Blair's kinda like that too. And now Starr. Why must you ruin all the strong female characters, dammit!
Yeah, so I say stuff like that, but more eloquently and then I also point out that if OLTL needs a new writer, I am one and I write YA so I could totally help them continue to build their teen audience. And I put "LOL" after that, but secretly....
So here's my top secret fantasy writing life. Back when I was an undergrad, I saw this internship to write for one of the ABC soaps. I was so damn close to applying. But it was in NYC and I didn't and still don't want to move to NYC (no offense NYC, I like you, but if I move somewhere, it's gotta be a place with milder weather than Chicago and that's not you), and plus there was no guarantee I'd end up writing One Life to Live and while I like All My Children, I stopped watching when Sarah Michelle Gellar stopped being Kendall and went on to be Buffy.
But now, I kinda sorta secretly hope that I'll become a big bestselling author and someone will say, "So, Stephanie, who do you want to write for?" And I'll say, "Well, I would like to continue writing books for MTV Books cause I love them, BUT can I also write TV? Preferably One Life to Live. Like from my house? Maybe fly in for big meetings a couple times a year?"
Or maybe I would aim a little teensy bit higher. I feel like the new 90210 needs me. I have a bad feeling they are going to fall into a major teen cliche trap any second now and have Adriana give birth at prom and have a shotgun wedding. If she needs to melodramatically give birth some place, it should be in the middle of the school play, since for some reason there doesn't seem to be an issue about her being the lead even though she's about to pop. See I know this kind of drama. I've read it, watched it, written it, hell, even lived a little bit of it. That's my resume. Hire me.
Or... aiming for the absolute top. I was talking to my brother about Veronica Mars, which I know I'm late on the bandwagon, but I'm totally obsessed. Veronica is the kind of teen girl character the world needs more off. And then my brother tells me "Oh the show was originally supposed to be a YA book." WHAT?!? "The producer Rob Thomas is a YA author..." OH YEAH! I remember reading his book Rats Saw God in my YA Fiction class at Columbia. It was one of the books that really got me interested in writing YA. So now he is producing shows like Veronica Mars and 90210 and dude, I just want to be Rob Thomas (the writer, not the Matchbox 20 guy)!
So that's what I've been fantasizing about lately. But in reality, I'm still working part time and trying my best to write new stuff as fast as I can. The last week I was struggling with a story to submit to an anthology. I'm not sure it will go in the anthology... I'm not sure it stands alone well enough because it's yet another novel idea. It's got a male protag and it's set in the whole Southern Wisconsin/River's Edge world of IWBYJR (but about five years earlier... though maybe he'll cross paths with Emily and the gang, who knows?).
Anyway I have to polish that and send it to the anthology submission people. Then back to work on my Persephone book proposal that my agent wants to send as my option book to MTV (ie. they get first right of refusal and I hope hope hope they don't refuse). Then because I'm a mad woman, I think I'll be working on my bartender book at the same time as Persephone because my agent thinks we can sell it into the adult market and the more books I can get out there, the closer I get to writing full-time (though I'd still work at the Beacon once a week for fun of course) OR maybe writing fiction part-time and teenage drama TV the other part....
*Shrugs* A girl can dream.
So what's your dream job or dream combo of jobs?
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2 comments:
ooo, I'd love to write for TV. Specifically, the Disney channel. Haha, High School Musical: The Series head writer, that's my dream.
My dream job would be sleeping all day and going to shows and looking cool all night. Soooo, reviewing live bands and cd's for a music magazine. But, a cool one. The Big Takeover. Maybe Spin. So I guess I'd basically wanna be Charles Bukowski, but slightly less pretentious. Very slightly.
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