BACKSTORY AND PLOTTING

I decided to take a lesson from Lucas' book. One thing I hate in on-going series with long running plotlines is RET-CONing (retro continuity). This basically means that on Star Trek or the X-Files or Doctor Who...somebody writes one thing, then years later, when the story is more established and there are more fans...they change their mind. And lot of writers leave the continuity flaws to the fans…and fans are more than happy to take up that cause. Others make valiant (and often successful) attempts to explain away the discrepancy.

Lucas, however had a plan. He had the backstory (for the most part) for Star Wars when it came out. It all existed in his legendary Journal of the Whills, which plotted out all the movies and the Skywalker familyjourney. Sure, he tweaked it and had to fix a few things, but the bones were there to begin with. Plus he had final say on everything. Nobody could put out a piece of Star Wars story without Lucas approving it. Same with Chris Carter and the X-Files. That way no conflicting plots, character history, etc. could come in to muddy the waters.

So I decided that I needed to plot it all out in advance. (Something I'm glad to see J.K. Rowling doing. It's great to keep the audience guessing and really adds to the depth of the work.) This would allow me to set up plot twists in book 4 back in book two...etc.  The Gina Johnson mystery actually came fairly quickly. I think that was because of Mulder's sister on the X-Files. I used that as the reason Stack and Smiles had a falling out and why Smiles left the force. In ANC they were to reunite after 7 years.

Then there was The Watcher. In the series you know him as the man with green eyes. Yes, he has been in the mix for a long time. What was nice about plotting Charlie's destiny in advance is that I could have The Watcher appear in book 1 (or episode 1 as it turned out), rather than on down the line. With him popping up from time to time, I hope it keeps the reader guessing and working to figure it all out. (Someday I will update this section, when y'all know what's going on.)

Finally there is the ongoing mythology of The Melk Stone. I owe this completely to two people, JRR Tolkien and Chris "The X-Files" Carter and more recently Dan "The DaVinci Code" Brown. In the original book series the Melk Stone didn't get mentioned until book 3 or 4 and then would play out in the later books. I wanted this to develop like the alien/conspiracy mythology on the X-Files. Every once in a while a little tidbit would float to the surface. An all encompassing thread that helps tie it all together. Taking it from a book series to an ongoing series allowed me to develop that.   

Oh...did I skip the part where I turned it into a webseries?

THE WEBSERIES

In 2000 I started an internet radio station. It was a wonderful time. Internet broadcasting was free. Live365 was the BOMB! I produced 13 episodes of Gag Reflex Comedy Theater of the Air with my comedy group. People were listening and liking it. I really enjoyed the production aspect. So, I began looking for another project to work on and immediately thought of Big City. It was perfect for radio.  I began working on scripts for a 12 episode season. During that time I plotted Avatar as the opener. Even going so far as writing the opening teaser.

Jumping the gun, I got permission from my buddy Chris Foster to use some music he'd written and I produced a commercial that ran on my station, promoting the series debut. Here it is:

I also began doing the one word "A" titles. I thought it was an interesting gimmick.

At that time, I was still working on the books. I wondered where the episodes would fit with the book series. Then I thought of something else. I had to scrap A Noir Christmas entirely. It no longer fit the format. There is no Christmas in Big City's reality. There is no Santa Claus. So I had to scrap the story that started it all. I later reused what I had written in Chapter 1 as the opening of ANOMIE (From just after the title until Smiles gets into the elevator.)

I finally scrapped the idea of doing a radio series in late 2001. It would be too involved, need too many actors...and I had a kid on the way.  But I REALLY loved the stories I was writing. And I really loved the characters. And I really wanted to finally get this the HELL OUT OF MY HEAD and to the world. And...I have this website running… So I decided to write it as episodic online fiction, bring in other writers (which I've always wanted to do)and deliver it to the world that way.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT

That's it. The BEHIND THE MUSIC...the E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY...the BIOGRAPHY of Big City. It probably bored you to tears, but I needed to tell this story for some reason. Mostly because it's to involved to explain everytime somebody asks me "How did you think of this."

Now I can direct them to the website and say, "It took 15 years and read this…"

The funniest thing is how original I thought I was. Wow...releasing episodic fiction online...wow!  I'm a pioneer. I'm...treading new water. HAHAHAHAHA! I have come to find there is a world of people out there doing the exact same thing. And I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

I walked around with Stack Fury, Needless Action, Smiles Johnson, Charlie Pickens, Laura Medrano, Nick Manzetti, Gina Johnson, Dennis Breen...etc in my head for so long, I started to think I was crazy. It was like a painting I would drag out and work on every once in a while, never showing it to anybody. Well, now I'm showing it AND continue to work on it. I have finally found the format that suits BC the best.

Unless Joss Whedon is looking for a new series...then he and I can talk.