Captain Razzberry is a little storyline I began developing with my best friend something like (yikes!) 20 years ago. I don't actually like to think about how long ago we started piecing together the first components of the story, because that reminds me how old I really am and I don't feel that old....so there.
The story was born one late night when we were in high school. We were up 'til some ridonkulous hour cooking, of all things, for a dinner party. Anybody remember when we still had those? Well it used to be a thing for me and her back in the day. You know which day I'm talking about. Back when people still knew what a letter was, and only the newest, fanciest cars had CD players instead of tape decks. Yeah...THAT day.
After the first pieces began to emerge, we continued to collaborate on the storyline in a completely serious way. We were roommates for a time in college, and during that year we spent every Saturday parked at our local Waffle House, surrounded by notes, furiously sketching out character profiles and outlining major events in the story. We wrote screenplays, and we totally expected to sell them. One year in a fit of utter madness we even tried to SHOOT one of the movies ourselves. But over the long haul it just remained something special between me and her. We told other people about it, they were mildly interested, but we were the only ones who really cared.
We lived and breathed this story on an obsessive level that only a fellow artist can appreciate, where something consumes you and eventually becomes part of your very being, a component of your true identity. Amid the wide tapestry of characters we generated for this world, two emerged as our favorites. We each felt ourselves drawn to one character, and began to use the character's name as we ventured onto the Internet (back when the Internet was a "new" thing and people never used "real names"). So committed are we to this story, to these characters...so gripped by all the story has come to represent to both of us...we use the same monikers to this day.
My best friend went on to do all kinds of awesome things, including earning a Masters in Creative Writing from a highly respected university. Her thesis project? Captain Razzberry. I did mention we were consumed by this, did I not?
Life and other crap has separated me from my best friend by half a planet. She ended up in Chicago married to an awesome dude (I had the great honor of standing up for her recently as one of her attendants) and I ended up in the Philippines married to a totally different awesome dude. But this story, like our friendship, is much bigger than lil' ol' Planet Earth.
I work in crazy insane places and she's gone on to earn a bunch of different university degrees and has essentially devoted her life to creating and expressing herself artistically. It may seem nuts, I have a pretty interesting life, but she will never really know how much I envy that of her. Today was one of those days. I came across this song by Daughtry (don't judge me!), buried in my mp3 playlist, called Spaceship. The lyrics just hit right to the core of my Captain Razzberry soul. It stirred the beast that went to sleep long ago, and suddenly...I had to write. I mean HAD to write.
Admit it, it's a pretty cool song.
Anyway, it's been so long that I've forgotten so many of the secondary and tertiary character names. I find myself struggling to remember more than the meanest of highlights from the overall story-arc. But I honestly did not care. I had to write. So I did.
And now I'm starting this blog, and hoping to entice my dearest and oldest friend (two and a half months older than me, to be exact) to join me in bringing our story back to life, by writing episodes or chapters or short stories or whatever you want to call them. Stuff. Writing stuff. With me. From the other side of the planet. Because the Internet is awesome.
So here we go! I'll post my first contribution in a few minutes. Then I'll send her an invite and see what happens. ;-)
Enjoy!
Cory (a.k.a. Juleska)
The story was born one late night when we were in high school. We were up 'til some ridonkulous hour cooking, of all things, for a dinner party. Anybody remember when we still had those? Well it used to be a thing for me and her back in the day. You know which day I'm talking about. Back when people still knew what a letter was, and only the newest, fanciest cars had CD players instead of tape decks. Yeah...THAT day.
After the first pieces began to emerge, we continued to collaborate on the storyline in a completely serious way. We were roommates for a time in college, and during that year we spent every Saturday parked at our local Waffle House, surrounded by notes, furiously sketching out character profiles and outlining major events in the story. We wrote screenplays, and we totally expected to sell them. One year in a fit of utter madness we even tried to SHOOT one of the movies ourselves. But over the long haul it just remained something special between me and her. We told other people about it, they were mildly interested, but we were the only ones who really cared.
We lived and breathed this story on an obsessive level that only a fellow artist can appreciate, where something consumes you and eventually becomes part of your very being, a component of your true identity. Amid the wide tapestry of characters we generated for this world, two emerged as our favorites. We each felt ourselves drawn to one character, and began to use the character's name as we ventured onto the Internet (back when the Internet was a "new" thing and people never used "real names"). So committed are we to this story, to these characters...so gripped by all the story has come to represent to both of us...we use the same monikers to this day.
My best friend went on to do all kinds of awesome things, including earning a Masters in Creative Writing from a highly respected university. Her thesis project? Captain Razzberry. I did mention we were consumed by this, did I not?
Life and other crap has separated me from my best friend by half a planet. She ended up in Chicago married to an awesome dude (I had the great honor of standing up for her recently as one of her attendants) and I ended up in the Philippines married to a totally different awesome dude. But this story, like our friendship, is much bigger than lil' ol' Planet Earth.
I work in crazy insane places and she's gone on to earn a bunch of different university degrees and has essentially devoted her life to creating and expressing herself artistically. It may seem nuts, I have a pretty interesting life, but she will never really know how much I envy that of her. Today was one of those days. I came across this song by Daughtry (don't judge me!), buried in my mp3 playlist, called Spaceship. The lyrics just hit right to the core of my Captain Razzberry soul. It stirred the beast that went to sleep long ago, and suddenly...I had to write. I mean HAD to write.
Admit it, it's a pretty cool song.
Anyway, it's been so long that I've forgotten so many of the secondary and tertiary character names. I find myself struggling to remember more than the meanest of highlights from the overall story-arc. But I honestly did not care. I had to write. So I did.
And now I'm starting this blog, and hoping to entice my dearest and oldest friend (two and a half months older than me, to be exact) to join me in bringing our story back to life, by writing episodes or chapters or short stories or whatever you want to call them. Stuff. Writing stuff. With me. From the other side of the planet. Because the Internet is awesome.
So here we go! I'll post my first contribution in a few minutes. Then I'll send her an invite and see what happens. ;-)
Enjoy!
Cory (a.k.a. Juleska)
Of course I will join you! I can only try my best to contribute. I do know a lot of back story and side characters, so hopefully that will help. This may be exactly what I need right now, and just what I need to get back to work on the Origin Story Screenplay.
ReplyDeleteI posted my first contribution. Check it out! I probably got names and other details wrong but, what the hell. I can correct it if need be or we'll just roll with it.
ReplyDelete