Comments on story lines

Episode submitted by WTBPA on Fri Sep 29 08:36:42 2000
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This is all just my view on things, take with a grain of salt:

If you look at the story lines which have gone places, you might notice that the episodes which tend to have the most ones written after them set up some sort of plot. The very first one, for instance, "Enter the Bitch", set up an antagonist and a story direction -- however that floundered around "A little self-exploration" and became aimless. The "A Thief Caught, A Thief Reformed" branch has sort of the same problem -- events are happening, but where are they going to?

The "Mom's Turn" branch that goes down to Jon becoming a young girl had an implied story of perhaps Jon's mother wanting to see him as a young girl but him trying to resist. Note that this one went on up until the point around "Mom takes a Fall." At that episode, the plot halts. Jon has the rock, he's in control, and now...? It forks into "Karyn the Toy" and the "Sqeak" episode. Where are those going? Beats me.

The "Karyn Wants a Jan Not a Jon..." is suffering from similiar. That episode only arranges a change, but doesn't quite set up a plot. One example of such might be Karyn daring Jon to go to school like that for a day or making such a bet, for instance. The "Nothing Unusual, Really", "Wanted: Girlfriend", and "Heath Education" set (all three in a row written by me) could be an example of that -- they really do not quite set up a plot by themselves. However, then we hit "Mark Hits the Mark" (by Rob) and we start to see a plot about Jon getting stuck going out with Mark and Jon trying to cope/escape/deal with this. Then that branch started taking off.

The "To the Zoo!" branch revolved around Jon getting stuck and pregnant with kittens. The "Anne Becomes a Bigger Keeper" seals/ends that plot and starts a new. In that one, I tried to imply that Anne was going to go do something to a fellow named Larry in revenge for something to try to set up a 'hook' for other people to hang on to, if they wanted.

"Horsing Around" started somewhat aimless, just picking up on the idea that Karyn liked horses. Karyn goes for a ride on Jon, but no plot develops -- they're just riding. With the "Home on The Range" episode, a couple background plots start creeping up -- one being that perhaps Karyn is enjoying Jon being a horse or pet more than a human, and the other is the exploration of the house. Probably the most important episode in that tree has been "Playing it Safe" -- taking the stone out of immediate reach has kept any of the characters from just wishing for something and ending a plot, they are having to cope with events.

And yes, it does seem to have been quite feline recently, though the current "Jonni dating Mark" does have a TG theme as well. Let's see, how could this be addressed...

The "Karyn wants a Jan not a Jon" line could be developed for TG themes. Karyn and Jon could get in a traditional argument about whether or not being of a given gender is easier than the other and make a bet with each other about it. They could even make a wish that neither of them could use the stone for, say, 24 hours, during that bet to avoid cheating -- this lets them get into trouble that they have to work to get out of. "A New Safety Measure" is a sensible idea on the characters' part, for instance, but it kind of makes it harder to get them into trouble at the same time because, well, things are safer.

For non-feline animal transformations, anything could be added after "New Complications" besides "Leopard Spots" and "Horsing Around." It would just be a matter of getting a plot of some sort going (which sometimes takes a while to do, admittedly) -- oh, Jon becomes a dog, and a wish is made to make no one notice anything different about them going to school, and they find that the school is now a canine obedience school where owners and dogs go together, and then maybe Jon does so well that the police/drug enforcement group wants to buy him or etc. etc. Another good branch point for new transforms is "The Grass is Greener... and Tasty." Note that "Home On the Range" implies that perhaps one day Jon becomes a car or other mechanical item -- hanging an inanimate transform off of that episode should not be too hard. Perhaps Karyn would like to have a (Ford) Mustang for a bit, Jon is curious and agrees... but they forget about licence plates and get pulled over, or otherwise in trouble, and so on.

And of course, one can always add a new episode right off the root.

I like the "Home on the Range" story line, particularly after "Playing it Safe", because there are a lot of potential hooks there. What's in the house? What if Karyn found a horse breeding harness -- does that imply she needs it to take care of Jon, or that she would some day have other horses around as well? What do the other people think the house is? Perhaps some night someone breaks into the safe out in the barn and steals the rock, leaving them stuck trying to find that person. I've been debating about taking the "Finding Wearables" episode towards a TG theme -- Karyn gets the maid outfit, but having only found women's clothing of a more old style, Jon ends up becoming a woman, with Karyn ending up being her maid to help her dress, etc. I haven't quite thought of a good plot, yet, though -- it would probably be something with Jon ending up being the lady of the house, Karyn being her maid and trying to help Jon be a woman, and them having to host a large social gathering where everyone expects Jon to be the lady of the house. Just haven't thought of a good plot to drive it, and how to avoid having either character make a dash for the stone and jerk the plot around.

My closing comment would be that I like longer epsiodes more than shorter ones, but I like the ones the best that deal with plot. Just saying "Something happens" is a bit dull (though I have done it myself!) and leaves it to someone else to add to the story part of things. We could have a whole string of "Jon becomes something" episodes, but it's the "Jon becomes something and gets in trouble/makes a bet/wants to accomplish something" ones which get the most interesting to read.

I Agree

An unintended consequence to writing short episodes.

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