I just finished writing the last episode of Spirit Lake. The series is a week shorter than I had planned (it's only sixty episodes), but I'm happy with it. Obviously it isn't like Fashion Victims, with it's rather grissly violence and more overt sexuality. Still, the series means a lot to me.
Spirit Lake is losely based on a series of stories that I wrote when I was younger (probably around junior high). I always wanted to do something with them, but every time I tried they always stalled. The original stories were closer to a Friday the 13th film with the Claw (I know, very creative) coming after a bunch of stupid teenagers. Finally I abandoned the idea, but it stuck with me.
While I was working as a Production Assistant on the Patrick Swayze series The Beast I made a pact with myself that I would start writing again. So I pulled out those old stories and re-read them. They were awful. I mean, I'm not a great writer now, but I was really bad in junior high. So, I looked over what I liked, and decided to keep it. I liked the town, Spirit Lake, and I liked the little bit of history I had built up in the stories. Then I threw in my own personal wants, such as having a gay romance be a story point, and a healthy dose of Argento style, and what I ended up with is what you are reading right now.
Then, every night after I got back from set I would sit down and write. I kept this up for a while, but work on the show got more intense, and my writing time dwindled until I, again, abandoned the project. Then I started Fashion Victims...
Fashion Victims was a big deal for me. That was the first time in a long time that I finished one of my ideas, and I did it while working on and off on Nightmare on Elm Street (2009). I was tired, I was cranky, but I managed to pump out the first full season. Then I realized I needed something to fill up space on Sudz until I could think up ideas for season 2. Hence Spirit Lake gets dusted off and chopped up into episodes. Hence some of the really LONG episodes. I was cutting 20-30 page chapters into five weekly posts.
Fashion Victims was always something that I planned on putting on the blog. Spirit Lake was not. I wrote Fashion Victims with the idea that the series would be fairly tame, I didn't think like that when I wrote Spirit Lake. Spirit Lake was something I never really planned for anyone to read (and while I don't believe many are reading, I know a few are). Still, finishing this, writing the last episode is a big deal for me. I was able to take something that I had held onto for years and build it into something complete. While my Sudz experiment isn't a huge success, it's enough to make me happy. It's making me write, forcing me to work with deadlines (I kind of pressure myself to not miss a posting), and most of all, it's really made me love writing again.
It's also taught me to pace myself. I want to do a lot of things, hence announcements for series that have yet to even be written. I've kind of learned to take one thing at a time.
I know it isn't great, but for me, doing these two series has been one of the best experiments of my life.
So! On that sappy note, I should get going. Now I have to buckle down and finally start writing season 2 of Fashion Victims. It is happening! Basically what I had planned for Raw is going to just get thrown into Season 2. Wish me luck... Cuz I'll need it.
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