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breakinglight11) wrote2021-08-12 08:00 am
breakinglight11) wrote2021-08-12 08:00 am
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31 Plays in 31 Days, #12 - “Should Have Been There”
In looking over my master list of every scene I’ve ever written for the last ten years of 31 Plays in 31 Days, I recalled that every single day 12 was from Mrs. Hawking. It happened incidentally for the first handful of years, but when I noticed it I made sue I maintained the streak. Now day 12 has rolled around again, so I had to make sure this one was Hawking too.
As I mentioned with Day #10 – Come to Grovel, it’s often easier to think of the high-drama important climactic moments from stories before you’ve come up with much in the way of structure or connective tissue. This is such an example, from when Mrs. Hawking and Mary eventually re-confront each other other the conflicts that drove them apart in part VI: FALLEN WOMEN.
I’m not sure exactly when this would occur, though probably no earlier than part VIII, since I know they’re going to have to spend a play apart. I also don’t know what really is supposed to happen in this scene. I just banged a bunch of relevant stuff together, which resulted in an even rougher than usual first draft. Just as with Day #10, I spoil an important scene with too little preparation.
WHATEVER DRAFTING IS A PROCESS
Day #12 - “Should Have Been There”
From the Mrs. Hawking series
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
VICTORIA HAWKING, lady’s society avenger, early fifties
MARY SWANN, once her protégé, now avenger in her own right, early thirties
London, England, 1890
~~~
MARY: Why didn’t you come to my wedding?
MRS. HAWKING: I beg your pardon?
MARY: You should have been there. Why weren’t you there?
MRS. HAWKING: It was years ago at this point. Does really matter anymore?
MARY: It was important to me. One of the most important days of my life.
MRS. HAWKING: Then I’m sure you had greater things to concern you than me.
MARY: It was lovely. And yet I had to worry about you. Because I had to hope that you might be there to share it with me, despite it all. Because I hoped you loved me enough for that. Can you imagine what it meant to find you didn’t?
MRS. HAWKING: For God’s sake, Mary.
MARY: How could you do that to me?
MRS. HAWKING: How could I? Can you imagine if I had come? My hanging over the proceedings, casting the cloud of everything that’s happened? Yes, that’s just what you needed.
MARY: There didn’t have to be a cloud! Couldn’t you have celebrated with me?
MRS. HAWKING: Celebrated what? The end of everything we’d been together?
MARY: Things had to change. They didn’t have to end.
MRS. HAWKING: What else would you call it? Tossing aside all we’ve done to this point to change your whole life and move an ocean away?
MARY: I have a life to live. It can’t be all on your terms.
MRS. HAWKING: Oh, I know. You made it very clear how I failed you. I learned that lesson.
MARY: Have you?
MRS. HAWKING: Enough to know to leave you to your own way. I know you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore.
MARY: Is that what you think? That I hate you now?
MRS. HAWKING: Don’t you?
MARY: Then why would I have wanted you there with me?
(Pause.)
MARY: You should have been there. You should have been there with me.
MRS. HAWKING: You’ve no need of me anymore.
MARY: No. I don’t need you anymore. I am a wife and mother, a detective, a spy, a warrior, and an avenger. Like you, and not like you.
MRS. HAWKING: You have everything you need now.
MARY: I don’t need you. But I want you in my life.
As I mentioned with Day #10 – Come to Grovel, it’s often easier to think of the high-drama important climactic moments from stories before you’ve come up with much in the way of structure or connective tissue. This is such an example, from when Mrs. Hawking and Mary eventually re-confront each other other the conflicts that drove them apart in part VI: FALLEN WOMEN.
I’m not sure exactly when this would occur, though probably no earlier than part VIII, since I know they’re going to have to spend a play apart. I also don’t know what really is supposed to happen in this scene. I just banged a bunch of relevant stuff together, which resulted in an even rougher than usual first draft. Just as with Day #10, I spoil an important scene with too little preparation.
WHATEVER DRAFTING IS A PROCESS
Day #12 - “Should Have Been There”
From the Mrs. Hawking series
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
VICTORIA HAWKING, lady’s society avenger, early fifties
MARY SWANN, once her protégé, now avenger in her own right, early thirties
London, England, 1890
~~~
MARY: Why didn’t you come to my wedding?
MRS. HAWKING: I beg your pardon?
MARY: You should have been there. Why weren’t you there?
MRS. HAWKING: It was years ago at this point. Does really matter anymore?
MARY: It was important to me. One of the most important days of my life.
MRS. HAWKING: Then I’m sure you had greater things to concern you than me.
MARY: It was lovely. And yet I had to worry about you. Because I had to hope that you might be there to share it with me, despite it all. Because I hoped you loved me enough for that. Can you imagine what it meant to find you didn’t?
MRS. HAWKING: For God’s sake, Mary.
MARY: How could you do that to me?
MRS. HAWKING: How could I? Can you imagine if I had come? My hanging over the proceedings, casting the cloud of everything that’s happened? Yes, that’s just what you needed.
MARY: There didn’t have to be a cloud! Couldn’t you have celebrated with me?
MRS. HAWKING: Celebrated what? The end of everything we’d been together?
MARY: Things had to change. They didn’t have to end.
MRS. HAWKING: What else would you call it? Tossing aside all we’ve done to this point to change your whole life and move an ocean away?
MARY: I have a life to live. It can’t be all on your terms.
MRS. HAWKING: Oh, I know. You made it very clear how I failed you. I learned that lesson.
MARY: Have you?
MRS. HAWKING: Enough to know to leave you to your own way. I know you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore.
MARY: Is that what you think? That I hate you now?
MRS. HAWKING: Don’t you?
MARY: Then why would I have wanted you there with me?
(Pause.)
MARY: You should have been there. You should have been there with me.
MRS. HAWKING: You’ve no need of me anymore.
MARY: No. I don’t need you anymore. I am a wife and mother, a detective, a spy, a warrior, and an avenger. Like you, and not like you.
MRS. HAWKING: You have everything you need now.
MARY: I don’t need you. But I want you in my life.