Tag: creative-writing

These days, you can’t go to the movies or turn on a television without being pulled into one of the many cinematic universes that exist. The MCU. The DCEU and now the DCU. The Conjuring-verse. The Fast and the Furious-verse. The Flanaverse. Star Wars and Star Trek. I could continue but I’d wager you know what I’m referring to.

Shared literary universes are less common. I can only think of two that I’ve read: Stephen King’s Dark Tower universe (which basically encompasses many of his 70+ books in some capacity) and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation/Robot universe. If there are others that I’m missing, please feel free to drop them in the comments. I love a good, shared universe. Hell, my Endworld books have elements of other things I’ve written over the course of my life, some published/circulated and some not in them. I even have a rough plan to incorporate other ideas into what may, one day be my own, shared literary-verse. Sadly, there are days where I feel a bit like Geoffrey Chaucer, and I wonder if I’ll ever complete half the things I want to write outside of the Endworld novels. Time is never on my side. But the idea remains. I even have a checklist in my OneDrive of WIPs that if completed would amount to the bare minimum of published writing that would in my mind make me a legit writer/author. Some of you reading this, right now may already consider me that. If you do? Thank you. I appreciate you more than you know. But inevitably it all comes back to how I feel about it, and for me? I need more. I need to do more. Once upon a time…

…because all good stories, and some sh*tty ones begin as such…

…I set a goal for myself to one day be a published author, and I guess, in a way I’ve achieved that goal. But it’s not what I envisioned. I have a lot of work left to do. Which begs the question: Why am I writing this blog entry now when I could be working on my HEAVEN AND ENDWORLD edit and prepping that for publication? Well friends, occasionally, an idea grabs you by the nape of your neck and refuses to let go. Anyone that’s been reading these pieces of Mental Flatulence for the last, few decades knows that every so often, I need to write a JJ Abrams-esque take on Dora the Explorer, or outline a play called “You Got Old, Charlie Brown” which postulates what happens to the Peanuts gang as they get older. This is no different. A few years back, a movie came out about the Gen X, childhood icon that was Mister Rogers. I still haven’t seen it–though I fancy a good, Tom Hanks movie and I do have it DVR’d on my YouTube TV account–but at the time it was released, I considered the possibility of a public broadcasting shared universe, centered on the idea that Bob Ross–yet another Gen X icon–was the Nick Fury character, i.e. the guy that brings everything from Mister Rogers to Sesame Street, to Julia Child to Rick Steves together. This idea has recently resurfaced since I have been a frequent visitor in what down time I have to the official, Bob Ross YouTube channel which has been running weekend marathons of up to five of the show’s 32 seasons in chronological order, and is currently running what it is calling “A Happy Little Week Long Marathon.” That’s right: Seven straight days of 24/7 Bob Ross’ “The Joy of Painting,” linkable HERE if you’re interested.

You’re welcome. Winky emoticon. Smiley face.

So how would a public broadcasting shared universe work? Well, if you want to follow the template of the most successful, shared universe–the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU–you’d need to start with a recognizable, but not overly GOAT’ed personality, which means Big Bird is out. So is Elmo. I think I’ll stick with Fred Rogers though I’m sure my minions would prefer Abby Cadabby or the Super WHY kids. Just not DirtWorldGirl. Sheesh. She still freaks me out. Regardless, let’s say that at the end of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” they roll the credits. But mid-way through you’re back in Mister Rogers’ living room. He’s putting his shoes away and throwing on his jacket when he hears a knock at the door. He goes and opens it, and there stands Bob Ross in all his afro-tastic glory. He’s wearing his customary blue or white chambray work shirt, which is unbuttoned down to his naval and a pair of light-blue jeans. Fred Rogers says, “do I know you?” And Bob says “No my friend, you may not know me yet, but you will. I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news but apparently, the current administration wants to defund public broadcasting. Our happy little livelihoods are in jeopardy, and I want to talk to you about something I’ve been developing for some time now…”

“…I call it ‘The No Mistakes, Just Happy Accidents Initiative.'”

Okay. So that needs work. Regardless, Fred, though hesitant decides to follow his new, granola-esque friend with the bushy, brown hair and greying beard down the proverbial happy little squirrel hole. What follows is a series of productions (I’m okay with movies and/or television shows, along with some literary pieces, as well) wherein Mister Rogers and Bob Ross begin to recruit other members of the public broadcasting family onto their team of heroes. Big Bird and Elmo. Snuffy from Sesame Street. Daniel Tiger. The hosts of Antiques Roadshow. Bob Villa. And yes, DirtGirlWorld because the larger the team, the more chance they’ll have to offset the force arrayed against them by the current administration, even though she freaks them all the f*ck out.

Fast forward a few productions to what is now, in modern entertainment-speak an Avengers Level Team up even though the MCU didn’t really pioneer the idea (but IMO they did perfect it). I don’t quite have a name for it yet–I’m sure that will come when I decide what to call this team–but in it, the heroes team up to take on the evil forces of the administration. Not just the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy or Girl for those of you that have never played an RPG), but all the BBEG’s minions, departments and non-governmental groups that are tasked with promoting government efficiency and saving money via downsizing which includes all public broadcasting.

You can likely figure out what happens next. The heroes persevere, but in the process of defeating their enemies, they lose their leader: A curly-haired painter named Bob Ross, who sacrifices his own existence to ensure that institutions like NPR and PBS never disappear. The credits roll less a mid-or-post-credit scene, but they roll to the music that closed every episode of “The Joy of Painting” for 32 seasons as one, final Easter Egg honoring the passage of the man that gathered them together to ensure that evil doesn’t triumph and that good is not dumb ala Dark Helmet’s observation in “Spaceballs” because the world needs more people telling us that there are no mistakes… Just happy accidents.

Finis.

What do you think? Not quite as elaborate as my JJ Abrams Dora idea or my Peanuts one, but I’m still in the early stages of Creator Mode on it so give me some time and I’ll work it out. Or I’ll never revisit it again. I honestly don’t know, and truth be told I never do. Where do the majority of my ideas go once conceived of? It’s a mystery. Sadly, they do not often end up on the page in totality and that’s something I need to reckon with moving forward. Let me be honest, folks: I’ve no intention of reaching out to anyone and pitching this idea, anymore then I intend to dig up my Dora or Peanuts treatment and pitch them. If you really want to read them, they’re both on this blog somewhere. These ideas are, in essence Fan Fiction, a concept which makes me almost as squeamish as DirtGirlWorld did and still does. I pitch them herein to hopefully elicit a chuckle or two from you, my sometime readers and to keep my ability to create a story fresh, even if that story is a contrived take on a beloved institution, or beloved characters from my Gen X past. It’s an exercise that many writers/authors go through. In creating something unoriginal we gain the confidence we need to create something mostly original. I’ve gone on the record in the past as saying that most of the good story ideas are played out, and it’s not about coming up with something inherently original anymore. It’s about telling a story in a new, and different way that has both familiar, and unfamiliar elements.

Do I have original ideas that I don’t think anyone else has ever conceived of? Sure, I do. There are a couple of titles on that WIP list that offer new takes on everything from time travel to space exploration, as well as one or two that are slightly Meta. I guess what it all boils down to for me, this God awful warm and steamy, late July night in 2025 is that it’s not so much about the idea as it is about writing the idea… Getting it out of my head and onto a page. Some of those ideas will land and others–like my infamous blog post about Dennis Rodman which I’ve referenced in the past and will not link herein because God, why would I subject anyone to that ever again–will fall flat. Yet again, I find myself questioning the balance of my life as it is now, as it was before and as I want it to be in the future. I can’t always force myself to stay up until 3AM each night and wake up at 6 or 7 to take my kids to camp or school, start work et al. My soon-to-be 50-year-old body and mind simply can’t sustain itself like it used to on a combination of caffeine and nicotine. But much like how I sat down tonight and kept working on this idea despite my reservations about it falling flat–and I leave that for you to decide friends and countrymen/women–I need to do what I can, when I have the time and the energy needed to go into Creator Mode. Even the MCU… Even the other shared universes I mentioned above… Even Stephen King and Isaac Asimov wrote stories that didn’t land. Should I allow myself to be constrained by my reservations and my fear of not achieving my own, personal goals as a writer/author? Or should I simply nut up, and get back to editing HEAVEN AND ENDWORLD so I can move onto my next idea? There is another option. I could retire for the night and watch another hour or two of “A Happy Little Week Long Marathon” before I pass out.

This… This is a timeless question y’all. I wish I could answer it, but truth be told? I honestly don’t know. I guess I’ll appeal to my shared universe on this side of the proverbial wormhole of existence again and ask it to point me… Yet another Sh*thead… In the right direction.

Please?

FM.