Project Eagle

I have decided to call this new project of mine Project Eagle. Why? I went to a random word generator and that's the word that came up. It seems fine to me until I find a better one. So this is what it is, Project Eagle.

Luke commented on my last post that I should consider turning some of my stories into a play. I like the idea of having a theatrical version, but I feel like I would want the theater to supplement the writing. That is, I want to write the stories into a coherent whole, and then just turn them into scripts. I figure it won't be so difficult. Purely writing scripts seems a bit limiting to me. Performances happen in real time, and there's only so much time to include so many stories. Also, I wouldn't be able to distribute a play as easily as a book. On the other hand, there are benefits. One benefit of a script is that I don't have to worry about technicalities of writing, and at this point, I am not entirely sure if I have the capability of writing all the things I want to write in the way that I want to. At this point, I haven't settled in on what I'm doing yet.

I started brainstorming more ideas, and my list has gotten decently long. My criteria for writing down ideas was very broad. I basically listed all things that I've seen, heard, or witnessed, that I thought were at least remotely funny. As I formed the list, I realized my notes can be categorized into four types.

1. Complete Stories: These are stories that have a beginning, middle, and end. They are an entity unto themselves.
2. Incomplete Stories: These stories are currently in progress in my life right now, and they have yet to be resolved. They yield the potential for funny and good ideas, but they lack an ending.
3. Characters: Instead of stories, these are people that I've met who have unique personality characteristics. They may have done some interesting things, but there isn't one prominent story that defines them.
4. Fragments: These are small details that don't tell a story on their own, but could possibly add flavor to a story that already exists. Perhaps it is a detail of setting, a personality characteristic, an amusing quote, or an entertaining activity.

As I see this right now, the logical thing would be to form a complete story, include interesting characters, and flavor it with the fragments. 

I have remembered many ideas off the top of my head, but I do not think I will be fully finished with the brainstorming phase until I take advantage of all of my resources. I want to read through my old journal entries from last year to see if there are things I can include. I also want to look at old facebook statuses, because I've put some odd stories on there. Lastly, I want to ask the people I know if they can recall stories. They might remember stories and details that I don't. Additionally, the conversation itself could help remind me of other things.

My next plan of action, which I may begin during my brainstorming phase, is to summarize all of the complete stories on index cards in three or four sentences, give or take. That way I can browse through them, decide which ones to keep, and which ones to dismiss. Once I know what I want my stories to revolve around, I can attempt to write them, and see what happens from there.

Things are currently optimistic, but I know that I will soon encounter challenges.