I’m using the collective juju of NaNaWriMo to finally write my sketch comedy musical.

The plan is to write 2-3 pages of script a day, leading to a 60-90 page script, which is more than enough to mount a show.

Once I committed to the project, ideas and plans began pouring out, mostly comedy/musical.

But today I started with a fight. Because my day started with a fight.  Things were said that were painful and honest about the topic which is, coincidentally, the theme of the show.

I wrote them down as I remembered them, once the fight meandered into “uneasy truce” territory.  My initial idea was to revisit this scene at the end of the month and add humor. That’s the formula…pain + time = comedy.

Two small but significant truths came to light as I wrote these three sad little pages of script. First, I really got behind the other person’s point of view. To make it real, I had to fully explore it, give it compassion, love, and dimension. It absolutely didn’t change my mind or my view point, but it gave me perspective.

Second, it may not be such a bad thing to have a real scene, an honest scene, a painful scene where two characters aren’t particularly likable for three minutes.  It not only grounds the funnier pieces, but I think it adds honesty.

It was not how I wanted to start. I wanted to start off with hijinks and merriment, with perhaps a guffaw or a knee-slapper. But I cannot and will not fight where the writing wants to go at the draft stage. That is not going to get this done.

Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

Day 1 Done.