#my next idea is a mermaid princess who got driven out for some reason or another

[naynah-pinsence]

Rewrite shower thoughts I gotta jot down before I forget:

I’m really glad I’m rewatching! It’s fun to remember stuff, and I think that I’ve thought of way more interesting things by revisiting the source. Recommend! I think I have to scrap chunks of my script bc I thought of new things, lol. That’s the process tho!

Gaito thoughts:

While I haven’t posted them all here, I have rewatched and taken notes on episodes 1 - 16 of Pitch. Unless I’m forgetting a line here or there. Gaito’s given reason for doing what he is doing is because he thinks the princesses and their pearls are pretty, and he likes pretty things. Like, he caresses the glass encasing Noel and ignores Lucia to her face when he’s got her in his grasp. He has the new shiny thing, but doesn’t have them all, so onto the next! This is a good villain! This is not my favorite type of villain, but still good. He’s downright cruel to the Dark Lovers, who literally live to serve him, and (if I’m remembering right) has no problem destroying the Black Beauty Sister’s sentience, which is effectively a death. Cold and goal oriented. Good, simple, and clear!

BUT. Once Sara enters the picture, Gaito’s villainy gets less direct? If I remember correctly, we don’t get the reveal about Gaito’s ~tragic backstory~ until maybe three episodes before he dies. Additionally, he chooses to die, which is framed in a redemptive light. The turnaround on what the audience is supposed to feel about Gaito is way too quick! (again, if i remember correctly). Before the narrative wants us to feel bad for him, Gaito is just a villain. And that’s fine! There’s nothing wrong with an antagonist just being a bad guy! Not everyone is Zuko.

I actually prefer the idea of a young, lonely, and misguided Gaito committing his sea-crimes out of a more explored backstory. I think it’s more interesting! It also gives Kaito more of an identity when it comes to Panthalasa. What does it mean for Kaito to be a lost prince to a dead kingdom? If I remember, it doesn’t really get touched upon ever? He just shoots light from his forehead when the plot needs it. Obvs, this kind of stuff is why I’m planning the rewrite in the first place! At this point, I’m using the backstory-driven Gaito, but what about Sara?

Sara thoughts:

Sara is an interesting character. She’s a pretty strong foil for parts of Lucia and Hanon as well as being a look at the “what if the good guy went bad?” genre. Her innocent trust was broken as a young teen, and her emotional outburst essentially destroys her home. She probably ended some lives. How does she deal with that? The anime only focuses on her relationship with Taro, so idk! Sara comes to hate humanity, which rubs off on Gaito when she meets and stays with Gaito. He does what he does for her. She seems to be completely smitten with him as well, but she is so focued on her hate that she uses him to enact her revenge. She also chooses to die with Gaito, as a form of atonement.

Sara has been so motivated the whole time that it seems a little out of left field for her to just give up at the end. Here’s an outline of an idea I’m playing with: At the end, Gaito does not die with Panthalassa. Gaito and the others (let’s be real, it’s mostly going to be Coco) try to convince Sara to live peacefully with the rest of them. Sara doesn’t. Sara is still angry. Sara isn’t going to quit. Sara shatters her pearl tear in defiance to the others, Aqua Regina, and her destiny as a mermaid princess. The shattered pearl would replace the search for soul fragments in Pure, and Sara would replace Michal and Mikeru as the main antagonists of Pure. They’d still be there, but maybe Sara would replace Fuku as the mastermind villain!

Quick Michal thoughts:

I don’t remember much about her except that she’s a good foil for Lucia, and also she’s kind of annoying? I’ll get to her character later, but man do I want her to be a good character. As it stands, I think it would be cool for her to be the villain for Aqua, as some kind of mermaid hunter. I’ll get there when I get there.

#mmppp rewrite #rewrite research #mermaid melody

[that-random-citizen]

Writeblr Intro

Apparently I haven't done one of these yet so here we go

About me

Hey! I'm a person who writes and has too many projects unfinished. Let's be friends!

So, what can I say about me?

This is my side blog dedicated to writing. I go by L. and I'm 21 years old. I'm Portuguese and my pronouns are she/her. INTP?? Let's just get to it

You inspired me to write this intro. Yes, you. I really like reading about all of you and your stories, makes all my writing process less lonely because now I know there's a bunch of other people out there... who also struggle to write...

Let's struggle together, my friends!

I started writing stories a long time ago but only in 2019 I finished one completely. And after that, I started trying not to give up on my projects after only 3 chapters. It's been a challenge!

Although a lot of my WIPs feature romance, I have no idea why. I like a lot of stuff. So I tend to write a lot of stuff. This stuff that I'm talking about are the genres. Yes, I'm good with words. I love mystery, thriller, comedy, fantasy, I don't really remember much more but yeah, you got the idea...

I'm very character driven so I tend to focus a lot on my characters when writing. That's the reason why I excuse my excessive amount of daydreaming instead of putting my thoughts on paper. I'm just developing the idea! It needs to reach its final form... And so, I can't really move on if I don't know my characters like the back of my hand and that's why it's been 7 years on that one WIP (introduced a little down below)

I reblog a lot of memes and writing advice that I like. I also like reblogging your WIPs because they're all so good and you guys have amazing ideas and beautiful layouts. I wish I could read all your stories! I may try to up my game and add some mood boards when I introduce my characters. I don't usually write in English so I'm not sure about posting excerpts but I'll be keeping my WIPs updated in terms of how they are doing and character wise. I can also talk about random ideas and new WIPs that cross my mind. It's an infinite number of possibilities. And that's why I don't gamble.

I'm quite random and so I have a hard time focusing on one thing for to long. And that, my dudes, brings us to a very high number of unfinished WIPs that I can't keep track of. Here's the list:

WIPs

I have to many to count (27). These are the ones I'm trying to focus on right now:

The 4 Elements

It's been 7 years!

Basically I came up with this story because my brother asked me to write it and I was trying to make him more interested in reading books so I decided I was going to write something he wanted to read. Uh, that's a long and confusing sentence... if only I had editing skills!

Anyways, then it became this big conversation topic between us and I developed it a lot over that summer. And in the past years. It also has some clichés that I see a lot on TV that I'm not that fond of and so I decided to give them a little twist with this book

It's a superhero story!? And is my longest running project (I guess)

It's a series of 4 books from which I have a good grasp of what I want to write but one of the main characters is still a mystery to me so... I'm struggling!

Like, what is her motivation? I can't really find her voice, she's the "leader" and the only one who carries a braincell in the entire series and yet... What is her conflict in the story? I guess we have to wait another 7 years to find out...

Found family trope because that's my reason to live

A lot of chaotic energy

Four idiots who can control the elements

A lot of backstory

Some bad guys

It's a fantasy book. Or a sci-fi? I'm not sure

I'm going to write the second draft of the first book by this summer... hopefully

Reverse Fairytale

I don't know what to say about this one

I like taking clichés and reversing them somehow so I guess this is it

There's a princess trapped in a tower, a bunch of knights, a bunch of witches and a kingdom to overthrow

Very soft, very sapphic

There are only women loving women and an ace boy who has a pet dragon

Fantasy. There are a lot of fairy tale books involved

It's also romance and... why do I do this to myself?

Even the subplot is a romance - it's about a mermaid and a pirate and a curse but that's a spoiler so let's move on

Helena's Trial

This one I just want to get the outline done

I really liked this idea but I forgot to write it down and now I'm going through it to get it back

Another thing about me: I have terrible memory

It's about this angel and this devil who realize that they were guarding the same person - Helena

And in this universe, there can only be one guardian for each human depending on the fate that is given to someone as they are born

If you're destined to do good things you get a guardian angel

If the big boss says you're going to be evil, you get a devil to guard you and you have to be evil, no chance of changing back your destiny

Another corrupt system that it's getting overthrown

Helena has both an angel and a devil guarding her so they have to realize her destiny fast because she's destined to die in 24 hours, on her wedding day

The angel and the devil knew each other before they died and so it's a little awkward

It's a little enemies to lovers in that area

There are also cupids and a big Goddess who wants revenge

Fantasy

There's a screenplay...

So I'm trying something here but I'm still not sure.

I have about 100,000 words of backstory and that isn't even over yet and I'm trying to write a TV series screenplay.

I literally don't know why

It's a comedy so I had a really great time getting to make my characters be complete idiots but I have no idea how to write this and it's been a ride...

That's about it. I'm having new character ideas but I don't want to get myself wrapped around them yet. But my next big thing is going to be a horror novel (with chaotic energy and some idiocy, the only things that are a constant in my works) so if you have any tips, let me know. I tend to write in every genre. I thrive for it actually. I think it's a good experience to figure out what I truly enjoy and the things I wouldn't want to touch with a 10-foot pole

Anyways, feel free to interact, I'll be making an effort to be more active about my WIPs and post more about them here. Maybe it's the little push I need to focus on them and actually finishing one for a change. You can drop a message anytime, let's be friends and writing buddies!

#writeblr #writerscommunity #writeblr intro #writeblr introduction #writers on tumblr #writing community #writing #wip

[house-of-ocs]

Kraken Akutagawa x Mermaid Akkata

A/N: This was seven pages and 3k words on my google docs enjoy!

Atlantis was a legendary kingdom said to dwell under the waves of the mighty sea. Everyone passed the kingdom off as nothing more than a myth, a legend told to small children for entertainment, no one knew that it was indeed a real place. Atlantis was ruled by King Richard and his wife Queen Emily. Like most royal families Richard and Emily had a daughter, that they named Akkata. Akkata was a free spirited and outspoken mermaid, normally she did what she wanted no matter what anyone said, much to the chagrin of her parents, especially her father. They tried their hardest to keep Akkata in check, but were mostly unsuccessful, they hoped that as she got older Akkata’s personality would mellow out a bit, and while it did Akkata could never get rid of the adventurous spirit she had buried inside of her. 

When she turned thirteen Akkata’s royal lessons began and she hated every second of them, she was forever trying to find excuses to get out of them, but everytime she thought she had escaped she was dragged right back. By the time she was sixteen Akkata had stopped trying to escape her lessons, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed them, her father had threatened to keep her on lockdown in the palace if she tried to escape again, and Akkata hated being cooped up in the castle more than she hated her lessons so she gritted her teeth and bared it. By the time she was eighteen Akkata was extremely bored. Being a princess was fine. It was just boring you couldn’t do anything on your own, everything was done for you. Her parents are always telling her that she should be proud of her kingdom and what she has, and she was but she couldn’t help but feel like something was missing, like there was this part of her that was missing and she didn’t know where to find it. One day these thoughts plagued Akkata’s mind as she swam through the reef not knowing that she was treading into deeper, darker unknown territory. She looked up when she ran into something hard, and saw that it was a cave.

There was a legend floating around the kingdom about a bloodthirsty, mer-eating kraken that lived where the sun didn’t touch the water. Akkata had heard these legends, but she had never believed them, according to the books she read in her spare time krakens were a species of octopus that died out centuries ago, so there was no way one could be living close to her home, and if it did live there she would have seen by now as krakens weren’t exactly easy to miss. Akkata turns to go back home, but a low growl coming from the cave makes her pause. A smart mermaid would swim away right then and there, but Akkata’s curiosity won over her survival instinct. She entered the cave finding that it had small bunches of bioluminescent plants scattered across the place, there were also the bones of fish and merfolk that littered the ground. Akkata hears the growl again, but this time it’s right behind her, she turns around toward the back of the cave to find a hulking shadow standing over her. It looked like it was laying on its stomach and Akkata could faintly make out the movements of eight long, big tentacles swirling behind it. It’s fathomless black eyes stare her down daring her to say anything, but she can't; she's speechless. The kraken growls at her again, and his hand moves forward Akkata easily dodges the oncoming appendage, she swims away as fast as she can; her heart beats out of her chest, but not from fear, oh no, from exhilaration. 

Akkata spends the rest of the day in the palace library searching through every book, looking for more facts on the kraken legend, that isn’t a legend after all. She closes yet another book growling in frustration at how little information there is. “I’ve never seen you read this much Akkata” A voice says from behind her. Akkata turns to see her closest friend, Nina Franchesca swimming up to her. Nina has known Akkata since the two were very young, and they’ve always been there for each other. “Nina, what do you know about krakens?” Akkata asked, Nina raised an eyebrow and swept some of her wild, red hair out of her face “Not much, why do you ask?” Nina responded. “I met one” Akkata said shortly, Nina giggled “That’s funny Akkata” She said, but one look at the other mergirl’s expression told her that she wasn’t joking, although now that Nina thought about it Akkata rarely ever jokes, if at all. “What did he look like?!” Nina asked, Akkata shook her head “I don’t know, it was too damn dark to see, but I could tell he was huge, and he had these captivating eyes” Akkata recalled. Nina started to pace back and forth “So the legends they’re true?” She wonders, Akkata shrugs “I guess” She mutters.

“Shouldn’t we tell your parents?” Nina asks. Akkata jumps up from where she’s sitting “Abso-fucking-lutely not!” She hissed. “Why not? Akkata, with something as big as a kraken living dangerously close to your home it would be a good idea to at least let your parents know that it exists” Nina informed, “And if we do father dearest will just send an army to go terrorize it. He hasn’t threatened anyone, sure he eats merpeople but with a body as big as his you have to eat something. Nina we have to keep this a secret as far as anyone else knows the kraken is still a legend Okay?” Akkata said, holding Nina’s forearms. Nina sighed through her nose “Fine, we won’t tell your parents, but you have to promise not to bother it” Nina conceded. Akkata nodded “I promise I won’t bother the kraken” She said. 

Later that night Akkata lay awake in bed thinking about that kraken, everytime she closed her eyes all she could see were those eyes, those dark, obsidian, eyes. She had promised Nina, but it wouldn’t hurt to visit it one more time would it? If it didn’t eat her the last time, maybe it wouldn’t this time, but just in case. Akkata got up and left her bedroom, she slipped past the guards, and out of the castle with practiced ease, she snatched up a fish from a passing reef, and swam to the location of the kraken’s cave.

Akkata floated in front of the cave for a second debating if she should just wait until tomorrow to see him again, but she knew her curiosity wouldn’t subside until she saw him again. She swam forward the cave having the same source of light as it did when she first entered it a few hours ago. That same growl from earlier echoed from behind her, and she turned and saw the same black eyes looking at her, only this time she could see the face that framed them. His skin was pale, and his hair was black and tipped with white, his arms were folded beneath his chest and he was glaring at her. “What are you doing back here mermaid?” He demanded, Akkata swallowed and dropped the fish she had brought on the ground in front of him “I brought you fish” She said simply before she turned and swam away. It continued like this for a few weeks Akkata would leave him fish and then would swim away without another word. One day that changed when she brought fish and a book she set the fish in front of him as she normally did but instead of leaving she made herself comfortable on a patch of moss, and opened her book. 

“What are you doing?” Kraken asked, glaring at Akkata’s still figure “Reading” She answered, for some reason he didn’t try to chase her away. It was like that for a while, and then Akkata started to attempt conversation. Kraken wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but she did get a name out of him, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, and in return she gave him her name. “Why do you keep coming back here?” Akutagawa demanded. Akkata looked up from the book she was reading “Hm?” She sounded. Akutagawa glared at her “Why do you keep coming back? Aren’t you afraid of me?” He hissed. Akkata shrugged “Not really. Should I be?” She asked, Akutagawa wrapped a thick tentacle around her waist and shoved her against the wall “I eat your kind Akkata, my name is spoken with fear across the entire ocean. I could rip you apart right now does that not bother you?!” He lectured. Akkata shook her head “I know you could hurt me, you could eat me right now, and no one would notice I’m gone until it's too late, but you haven’t yet and I’ve given you plenty of chances to, and you never took a single one of them” She observed. Akutagawa glared at her and unwrapped his tentacle from her waist he swam off to the deeper end of his cave leaving Akkata alone. 

The next day Akkata didn’t show up at her normal time at first Akutagawa thought she was just late, but as the day turned to night and she still hadn’t shown up he found himself feeling oddly upset. At first he thought nothing of it ‘She’ll be back tomorrow’ He reasoned, but two days turned to two weeks and two weeks turned to two months and still no Akkata. At first Akutagawa was relieved, no annoying mergirl to disrupt his schedule, but relief soon turned into another more empty feeling in his chest. Had he finally convinced her? Had she finally realized how dangerous he was, and decided that it would be safer to stay away? Had he finally driven it into her thick skull that he was no good to be around? That he destroyed everything he touched? Somehow the knowledge that he might have driven her away for good didn’t sit as well with him as it would have weeks earlier. 

Akutagawa sat in his cave the idea that he might have driven away the only true friend he'd ever had didn’t sit too well with him. What was this feeling? He hated it, he felt weak and helpless and he hated feeling that way. What had Akkata done to him? She must have cast some sort of spell on him, that was the only explanation wasn’t it? Almost three months later Akutagawa felt movement in his cave that didn’t come from him. He swam to the front of the cave ready to kill and eat whatever it was that had decided that it was smart to sneak into the lair of a kraken. He stopped when he saw who it was, Akkata stood there blissfully unaware of his previous intentions. She had come back, she had actually come back, he hadn’t driven her away after all. Another feeling, warmer than the one he had been feeling the past weeks, filled his chest he shook his head. Was he happy? He guessed he was.

Akkata turned around and jumped at the wide-eyed stare Akutagawa was giving her “Oh, there you are, I’ve got some really cool stuff to show you” She said as if she hadn’t left him alone for nearly three months without so much as a ‘goodbye’. “Where did you go?” He asked. Akkata rolled her eyes “My parents swept me off for some impromptu vacation something about ‘quality bonding time’” She scoffed. Akutagawa stared at her so she hadn’t left him. She was still going to visit him everyday until something like this happened again, he found himself feeling oddly light at the knowledge. “Did you miss me?” She asked, Akutagawa scoffed “Hardly, I was glad to be rid of you for a few months” He muttered. Akkata rolled her eyes “Whatever asshat” She settled down next to his hand and pulled the burlap sack she had brought along closer to herself she dug through it and pulled out what looked like a shiny stick, with smaller sticks attached to the top. “What is that?” Akutagawa asked as he squinted at the odd object “I have no idea but I saw some of the land dwellers eating with it” Akkata said. 

“Where’s the rest of your family?” She asked one day nearly a year after he had met her. Akutagawa looked at her, his eyes unreadable “Dead, killed by pirates” He answered shortly, “Oh, how long have you been on your own?” She asked, Akutagawa thought for a moment “Seventeen years”, “And you haven’t had any other contact at all?”, “No, I haven’t why are you asking me all of this?” He demanded “Just curious I guess” Akkata said “Well, stop being curious!” He snapped. “What is your deal? I never said you had to answer my questions, you did that on your own” Akkata argued. Akutagawa growled at her because she was right; he didn’t have to answer her questions; he could have just not said anything, but he chose to answer them, not that he would ever admit to this. “Whatever” He muttered instead. 

Weeks later those feelings Akutagawa detested began to grow and fester inside of him, he also noticed things about himself that have never been there before, and almost all of them would happen whenever Akkata was around. His cheeks would color, his heartbeat would quicken, and he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. Not to mention that she was around so often that her scent was starting to rub off on his cave. Akutagawa hated this, Akkata had done something to him. He was sure of it. Why else would he be feeling like this? One day as Akkata sat next to him, her newest book open in her lap, she brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Akutagawa's eyes followed the movement, and he growled. He was going to make her stop whatever she was doing to him right then and there. “Stop that” He demanded, “Stop what?” Akkata asked “Stop whatever it is you’re doing to me” He snapped “And what am I doing to you?” Akkata asked “You have cast a spell on me and I want to know how to make it stop” He said. Akkata raised an eyebrow “What makes you think I’ve casted a spell on you I don’t know magic” Akkata said. Akutagawa glared at her “These feelings only started because I met you, so obviously you caused them”, “What feelings?” Akkata asked exasperatedly. Akutagawa listed off the things he felt when Akkata was around, and by the time he was finished she was speechless “Ah, Akutagawa I didn’t cast a spell on you, but I think you have a crush on me” She supplied a light dusting of rose on her cheeks. 

Akutagawa’s eyes widened. A crush, he had a crush? “How do I make it stop?” He asked, “Well, you make it stop by dating the person you’re crushing on” Akkata said. Akutagawa stared her down. Akkata rubbed the back of her neck “I’ve never dated anyone before, but I want to try with you. It'll be weird at first, but we’ll make it work, and if it doesn’t I still want to be friends” She said as she placed her hand on top of Akutagawa’s. Akkata was right, it was weird at first, suddenly everything felt different one touch was enough to cause electricity to run through their bodies, but they eventually got used to the idea of dating. 

Nearly a year later, the feelings Akutagawa had for Akkata hadn’t lessened at all, they had only grown more. This time he refused to go to Akkata he would figure this out on his own, until then Akkata remained unaware of his feelings. One day as he waited for Akkata to come visit him Akutagawa noticed a shadow passing over the surface of the water, and he knew what that shadow was, a ship, a pirate ship, and it was heading straight for Akkata’s kingdom. Memories of how his family, his mother, his father, his sister, all died at the greedy hands of pirates, flashed through his mind if he lost Akkata, another person he cared deeply about, to pirates he would go mad. Without another thought he swam towards Akkata’s home hellbent on protecting what was his.

Meanwhile, the kingdom was in complete chaos. Soldiers, and men were readying for a battle with the pirates, and women and children were being urged into the palace for safety, and Akkata was still outside the palace directing the crowd into the castle. Akkata was so focused that she didn’t notice the net until it was too late. She was snagged and being dragged towards the surface with rapid speed she struggled and yanked attempting to free herself, but it was no use she was stuck. Suddenly the net she was in stopped moving she looked up and saw a large, black, white-tipped tentacle wrapped around the rope that held her net together “Akutagawa” She breathed, and there he was his jagged tentacles easily breaking the rope, the net fell apart and Akutagawa grabbed Akkata and placed her on his shoulder. She held on as he swam to the surface, and watched in fascination as he wrapped his tentacles around the ship and crushed it into smaller pieces the pirates scrambled for driftwood, but they were not able to handle the intensity of the waves. Akutagawa swam back down to the kingdom Akkata placed in his palm, everyone was quiet, no one quite believing what they were seeing.

‘Maybe they won’t be afraid’ Akkata thought, but she was proven wrong when someone screamed in fright. “It’s got the princess!” A soldier yelled the others drew their weapons, preparing for a battle that they would surely lose. Akutagawa wrapped a tentacle around Akkata’s waist “What are you doing?” She asked, “Just play along everything will be fine” Akutagawa urged, he lowered Akkata onto the ground, right next to her parents, he then released a cloud of ink and swam away. Akkata moved to go after him, but she was yanked into the castle before she could. After being checked over by the royal physician Akkata was released to her parents who fussed and fretted over her before sending her to her room with the promise of “Ending that vicious Kraken’s life”. Akkata attempted to escape her room only to be stopped by guards at her door, she was trapped. Akkata couldn’t help but worry about Akutagawa. The knowledge that he could easily defend himself against the palace guards did little to ease her anxieties. 

That night, when she was sure everyone was asleep, Akkata snuck out of the palace and ventured to Akutagawa’s cave to see if he was okay. But when Akkata got to the home of her beloved she found that he wasn’t there, she searched the whole cave not believing what she was seeing, but he was gone and any trace that he had been there was gone too, as if he had never lived there in the first place. Akkata returned to the castle in a daze, she ignored her parent’s scolding, the worried glances of the servants, even Nina’s concerned fretting. When she was totally alone in her room she slid to the floor, tears surfacing in her eyes, and streaming down her face, she cried and cried until she could cry no more. For Akutagawa Ryunosuke, her lover, and the only person she could confide in was gone. 

Two years later 

Akkata sits on the throne of the queen, her coronation was a month ago and she still hasn’t gotten used to the fact that she now ruled Atlantis. Suddenly a guard burst through the doors of the courtroom “Your majesty! The kraken, its back!” He gasped. Akkata’s eyes widened could it be? She swam down from her throne and stopped in front of the frazzled guard “Are you sure it's the same kraken from two years ago?” She asked. The guard nodded “Yes, your majesty”, Akkata swam past him, the guard following closely behind her. She opened the doors to the palace, and there he was, all forty feet of him standing in front of the palace his tentacles sweeping over the area surrounding him, creating small currents. She swam forward and past the guards pointing their weapons at him “Hold your fire!” Akkata commanded, “Your majesty?” One soldier asked, but Akkata ignored him in favor of staring at Akutagawa, taking in his presence after such a long time. She swam up until she was eye level with him, it was really him he was actually here. She reached out and touched his cheek, she chuckled 

“Hey Ryu,”

A/N: There it is folks! My first entry on Mermay! I really hope I didn’t screw up Akutagawa’s character, but I think I did fine. Anyway this is just the beginning. I hope to have more Mermay stuff out before the month ends, I’ll see when I get those done.

I think I’m gonna do that Gin x Abi Selkie Au I was talking about. I’m not sure yet.

#akkata rye #my ocs #my writing #akkata x akutagawa #Mermay #ship: yokohama’s bonnie and clyde

[chicbamboowear]

“Frozen” heats up Denver: Inside Disney’s multimillion-dollar quest to conquer Broadway

Patti Murin will portray Anna in Disney’s pre-Broadway musical "Frozen," coming to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on August 17. (Provided by the DCPA.)

Broadway singer and actress Patti Murin shares nearly everything about her work with her actor husband, Colin Donnell.

But not her latest project.

“I’ve been involved in this for a year and my husband doesn’t know a single thing about it,” Murin, 36, said of “Frozen: The Musical,” the stage adaptation of Disney’s 2013 hit animated movie. “It’s been such a closed process. And I mean closed. Nobody we love has been able to see it.”

Dozens of people working on the top-secret production have been camped inside the Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex since May. Even before that, Disney executives had been considering “Frozen” for a stage musical, given the established pipeline for animated Disney features such as “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” to become Broadway (and later, nationally touring) productions.

When “Frozen: The Musical” debuts for the public at the Buell on Aug. 17, it could mark the launch of another theatrical production worth millions, or perhaps a billion, dollars for Disney, which plans to move the show to Broadway’s St. James Theatre in February.

But first, the “Frozen” team must work out countless kinks during the seven-week “pre-Broadway engagement” in Denver, a city in which Disney has learned to rely on the quantity and quality of theater-going audiences, plus skilled crews and facilities that mirror the production’s eventual home in New York City.

“We have about 150 people in Denver working on the show,” said Jack Eldon, vice president of domestic touring for Disney Theatrical Group. “That includes performers, technical crew, the creative team and all our designers. But we also need to make sure audiences there can sustain the number of performances that we need to revise some set pieces, and tweak things like the costumes and music.”

Landing “Frozen: The Musical” is a coup for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA), which hosts the region’s biggest touring theater productions. But it’s not unprecedented. In 2007, DCPA also hosted the six-week, pre-Broadway run of the stage adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, selling a record 95,000 tickets. It has also served as the launchpad for the national-touring production of “The Lion King,” which has been seen by tens of millions since that road version opened in Denver 15 years ago.

“Frozen: The Musical” is just the latest example of the DCPA’s national influence and evolution into touring-show powerhouse, DCPA president Janice Siden told The Denver Post.

“Everywhere I go, our Broadway group is the envy of theater groups around the country,” added Martin Semple, DCPA chairman, who credited DCPA Broadway executive director John Ekeberg with keeping the Disney relationship strong. “Going to the Tonys with John and meeting all these people just confirmed the respect people have for us.”

The DCPA has driven ticket sales for its 2017-18 season by dangling “Frozen” in front of its more than 28,000 subscribers. It has every reason to expect that the broad, crossover appeal of a “Frozen” tryout will help this season surpass last year’s numbers.

As the largest nonprofit theater company in the country, the DCPA sold 685,375 tickets to its touring-Broadway and in-house theater company shows in fiscal 2016, generating $150 million in economic impact and attracting roughly 1.2 million visitors to downtown Denver, according to a DCPA report.

Despite employing the original, Oscar-winning creative team from the film version of “Frozen,” and big-name Broadway veterans — including Tony winners such as director Michael Grandage (“Red”), choreographer Rob Ashford (“Thoroughly Modern Millie”) and music supervisor Stephen Oremus (“Wicked,” “The Book of Mormon”) — Disney is leaving nothing to chance.

Past musical adaptations of the animated Disney films “The Little Mermaid” and “Tarzan” were high-profile flops, and “Frozen: The Musical” has already burned through a couple of directors, three choreographers, two set designers and a pair of Elsas, according to The New York Times.

But flesh-and-blood audiences will have the last word on this reportedly $25 million-$30 million production — not the first.

“The creators get so close to it (that) I promise you they will be shocked at least once in that first performance — for good or bad,” said Dennis Crowley, senior publicist at Disney Theatrical. “If it’s like every other musical ever written, the creators will find something they absolutely did not expect, either something they thought would be a knock-’em-dead moment that won’t, or a laugh they never saw coming.”

Crowley cited the example of “Aladdin: The Musical,” the pre-Broadway engagement of which involved major retooling in the show’s first 40 minutes after theater goers in Toronto failed to respond to voice-over narration, which diverged significantly from the film.

“Audiences said, ‘We don’t know these people. We don’t care about these people. Where’s the pretty girl in the midriff and the hot boy and the genie?’ So they cut all the narration, brought in the genie at the top of the show and,” Crowley said, snapping his fingers, “from the first New York performance it was a different show. And that’s not atypical.”

Disney Theatrical has built in at least three months of downtime between the end of the 46-show Denver run on Oct. 1 and its New York roll-out early next year, just in case it needs a new song, new sets or more. Already, a creative team that includes the married songwriters from the film, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, has expanded “Frozen” from a 102-minute movie to a roughly two-hour musical, with triple the number of songs and a cast of more than 40.

Like most film shooting schedules, the pre-Broadway engagement is a grueling sprint that squeezes the most out of everyone’s time and energy — even if it started in earnest more than a year ago with the film’s original co-director, Jennifer Lee, writing the script and rehearsing the show at Manhattan’s New 42nd Street Studios.

“Right now in (technical rehearsals) in Denver it’s pretty intense,” said Caissie Levy, a Broadway veteran who plays Princess Elsa in the musical. “We’re there for nine or 10 hours a day, popping in for wig fittings and slotting things in like that. The first month of previews we’ll rehearse all day, and there will be a lot of maintenance for Patti and me. A lot of justified massages, sleep and steam rooms.”

There’s plenty of pressure on Levy the role of Princess Elsa, which includes belting out the instantly familiar and Oscar-winning song “Let It Go.” But there’s also opportunity in evolving an animated princess into a three-dimensional character.

It’s a tricky balance: “Frozen: The Musical” must mirror major aspects of the movie, because that’s what is selling tickets for the DCPA right now. Loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale “The Snow Queen,” “Frozen” has resonated with global audiences thanks to its empowering female characters, humor and melody-drenched songs.

But the musical version must also find its own voice. Merely mimicking the film risks alienating fans with a hokey copy of the original — no matter how eye-popping the sets, costumes and special effects are.

And the potential audience is huge: “Frozen” is the highest grossing animated film in history, with more than $1 billion in worldwide revenue. DCPA and Denver tourism officials are anticipating plenty of out-of-state visitors to attend this pre-Broadway run, since 8 percent of DCPA patrons came from out-of-state last year — versus about 4 percent 20 years ago. The percentage of out-of-state visitors increases into the double digits for touring Broadway shows like “Wicked” and “The Lion King,” the DCPA said, which gives officials a good idea of “Frozen’s” potential draw.

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The stakes and tension are high for all involved, even without considering the instantaneous reactions will be posted to social media for all — including curious New York audiences and critics — to see. For that and other reasons, the show will run for about a month in Denver before critics are allowed to officially review it on Sept. 14.

“We must be adrenaline junkies and masochists and overall crazy people to do this, because it’s so thrilling and so terrifying at the same time,” said Levy, 36, who has appeared in “Rent,” “Hairspray,” “Wicked,” “Hair” and other pillars of Broadway success.

“But we need to make sure everyone who’s seeing the show for the first and only time, who bought tickets when they went on sale months ago and are bringing all their kids in their ‘Frozen’ gear, or who got a babysitter and went out to dinner, are getting the show that they’re meant to get,” added Levy, whose 18-month-old son and (as often as he can make it) husband are joining her from New York.

The Denver Post got the first peek at the production, provided this reporter swore to secrecy about any sets, special effects or details that he witnessed.

Inside the Buell Theatre looked like more of a buzzing hive than an empty shell, with dozens of designers and technical staff camped out among the audience seats at tables filled with lamps, computer workstations, hardwired phones and rivers of overlapping wires — more like NASA’s Mission Control than a stereotypical row of producers critiquing from the front row.

Many of them were designers and their associates, including Tony winner Christopher Oram (sets and costumes), six-time Tony winner Natasha Katz (lighting) and Tony winner Finn Ross (projections).

But the final collaborator in the musical, as the cast and crew likes to say, will be Denver audiences. The creative team is hoping to make something that will run for years to come, if not decades — less a time capsule of ideas, more a vehicle for their continual delivery.

Still, no amount of preparation can predict what happens on opening night.

“That is the day that I always say to myself, ‘Why did I do this?’ Because you’re always terrified,” Murin said. “You could be as ready as you could possibly be and still be like, ‘Why did I choose this career?!’ ”

Levy, who already feels a sisterly bond with both Murin’s “hot-mess” Princess Anna character and the actress as a person, said Denver is an ideal place to get acclimated to the show and its audiences. But she won’t refuse off-stage help if she needs it.

“Self-care is super important,” she said. “I’m sure we’re going to get very chummy with that oxygen tank in the wings.”

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