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breakinglight11I was going like gangbusters on my fanfics, post-retirement Captain America and otherwise, at the start of the summer. I’d done several entries of the comedic shorts Texts from Avengers Tower, as well as chapters of the plot-focused adventure novella Boulder in the Stream, and the funny-sweet novelette The Show. I got stalled on them once it got close to shooting time for Mrs. Hawking parts 4 and 5, especially since Boulder in the Stream requires structuring and that’s always a particularly labor-intensive part of writing for me. Even The Show was tricky— because there’s a whole-ass musical going on in the background of it, and I have to figure out what happens in it!
But I have found in the past that sometimes drafting scenes in prose pieces as if they were scenes of drama can sometimes make them easier at least to structure. I’m a big proponent of when writing gets tough, you make it as easy as possible by committing to an iterative process where each round is made as EASY AS POSSIBLE. Then you just go back and add in the next layer of whatever it’s missing until it’s where you want it to be. I find that way more doable than trying to accomplish everything you want in the piece all at the same time. So this method allows me to worry only about structure and dialogue; I can flesh out the bones of it later.
So for today’s piece I took a shot at the next chapter of The Show, which has languished slightly-started for several weeks now. It’s pretty bare-bones, but that’s okay; I do feel like I figured out what the chapter is supposed to DO. While the story’s primary purpose is to be funny bagging on the ridiculousness of the musical they’re watching, the sub-story is about Steve reflecting on a long and full life by comparing his memory to its depiction in the show, which he endeavors to convey to his great-granddaughter. Like, for example, he tells her here one of my favorite things about Steve and Peggy’s relationship. <3
Also, the lyrics suck here and need to be punched up. They’re basically just placeholders for now.
Day #12 – So Damn Lucky
From Forever Captain: The Show
By Phoebe Roberts
STEVE ROGERS, formerly Captain America, now retired and living as Grant Carter
ANGELA CARTER, his sixteen-year-old great-granddaughter
An ACTOR playing Steve Rogers in Rogers! The Musical
An ACTRESS playing Peggy Carter in Rogers! The Musical
New York, 2025
~~~
(STEVE and ANGELA watch ROGERS! The Musical from their seats in the balcony. The curtain opens for act one, scene three to show an ACTOR and an ACTRESS in a recruitment office. The woman sits behind a desk with a clipboard, the man is a beefcake in his undershirt trying to make himself look scrawny.)
ACTRESS: So… let me make sure I have all this straight. You’ve got… asthma, scoliosis, a heart murmur, stomach ulcers, pernicious anemia, and… you’re deaf in one ear?
ACTOR: Just a little deaf. At least my feet aren’t flat.
ACTRESS: Thank heaven for small favors.
STEVE: (scoffing quietly)
ANGELA: Jesus Christ. Were you really that sick? Pernicious anemia sounds really bad.
STEVE: There’s a reason they don’t call it friendly anemia. I don’t miss the raw liver, that’s for sure.
ANGELA: Raw liver? Ugh, really?
STEVE: Take my advice, sweetheart— don’t ever get chronically ill in the first half of the century. Hey, this lady— who is she supposed to be?
(He looks at his playbill, brow furrowing. ANGELA regards him as if he’s a little slow.)
STEVE: What?
ANGELA: Granddad. That’s Grandma Peggy.
STEVE: What? That’s supposed to be Peggy?
ANGELA: That’s what it says in the program.
STEVE: But— she wasn’t at the recruitment office! Did they think she was… some secretary?
ANGELA: Granddad, keep your voice down. People are looking.
STEVE: As if she didn’t have anything better to do? Than… take notes on scrubs like me?
ANGELA: It’s just a narrative expediency. Gets her in the story faster!
STEVE: She was an officer! She was out on the front lines! For God’s sake, she founded an entire intelligence agency. And this little slip of a thing— Peggy could have broken her over her knee—
ANGELA: Granddad!
(STEVE grumpily bites his tongue.)
ACTOR: I just want to do some good. If somebody will give me a chance.
ACTRESS: Well… I know a little bit about being underestimated by folks.
(She steps forward and the music rises.)
ACTRESS: (singing) When nobody sees what you’ve got to give,
What are you supposed to do?
When every eye is turned your way,
And they only look straight through?
ANGELA: Got a nice big voice, at least.
STEVE: I guess. If you can’t even get her accent right.
ANGELA: Guess they have to make her American. You know, to fit with you.
STEVE: Ugh. She wasn’t marrying the shield, for crying out loud.
ANGELA: As far as they know, she didn’t marry you at all. Couldn’t be that unpatriotic, I guess!
ACTRESS: (singing) If nobody else will look our way,
It’s up to us to open the door.
If I see you, and you see me,
Maybe then we can do something more.
(The song finishes and the audience applauds.)
ACTRESS: I’ll go get Dr. Erskine.
ANGELA: See, they’re making it clear she was a huge part of your story. Right from the beginning!
STEVE: Because, what? Her real accomplishments weren’t enough?
ANGELA: Well… A lot of that stuff wasn’t widely documented. So much of it was classified, if you look it up… there’s not that much to find. Even if they wanted to.
(Pause.)
STEVE: Honey, how well do you remember your great-grandmother?
ANGELA: I mean… I remember her, of course. Some things. But… she was over ninety when she died. And I was only eight. I loved her, but… I think I missed a lot of her.
STEVE: Ah. I see.
(STEVE puts his arm around her.)
STEVE: She did amazing things, honey. She never got credit for them the way she deserved. Yeah, partially because it was all covert. But she was also ahead of her time. Women didn’t get to do the things she wanted to do… and she did them all anyway. And she kept doing them, no matter what anybody said. (Chuckling) Hell, I showed up late. I had to run to keep up, so I could be of any use to her at all.
ANGELA: Sounds like Grandma Peggy didn’t need you to save her.
STEVE: She didn’t. She didn’t need me at all.
ANGELA: (Laughing)
STEVE: No, really. She didn’t need anything or anyone. She chose me. She could have had any life she wanted… and she chose to make one with me. Damn, I was lucky… I was so damn lucky.
(ANGELA takes his hand.)
STEVE: Where’s Carter the Musical? And not just because I don’t go by my maiden name anymore.
ANGELA: (Laughing) Not a bad way to be remembered forever.
STEVE: Forever’s a long time, kiddo. And I was married to your grandma… forever.
But I have found in the past that sometimes drafting scenes in prose pieces as if they were scenes of drama can sometimes make them easier at least to structure. I’m a big proponent of when writing gets tough, you make it as easy as possible by committing to an iterative process where each round is made as EASY AS POSSIBLE. Then you just go back and add in the next layer of whatever it’s missing until it’s where you want it to be. I find that way more doable than trying to accomplish everything you want in the piece all at the same time. So this method allows me to worry only about structure and dialogue; I can flesh out the bones of it later.
So for today’s piece I took a shot at the next chapter of The Show, which has languished slightly-started for several weeks now. It’s pretty bare-bones, but that’s okay; I do feel like I figured out what the chapter is supposed to DO. While the story’s primary purpose is to be funny bagging on the ridiculousness of the musical they’re watching, the sub-story is about Steve reflecting on a long and full life by comparing his memory to its depiction in the show, which he endeavors to convey to his great-granddaughter. Like, for example, he tells her here one of my favorite things about Steve and Peggy’s relationship. <3
Also, the lyrics suck here and need to be punched up. They’re basically just placeholders for now.
Day #12 – So Damn Lucky
From Forever Captain: The Show
By Phoebe Roberts
STEVE ROGERS, formerly Captain America, now retired and living as Grant Carter
ANGELA CARTER, his sixteen-year-old great-granddaughter
An ACTOR playing Steve Rogers in Rogers! The Musical
An ACTRESS playing Peggy Carter in Rogers! The Musical
New York, 2025
~~~
(STEVE and ANGELA watch ROGERS! The Musical from their seats in the balcony. The curtain opens for act one, scene three to show an ACTOR and an ACTRESS in a recruitment office. The woman sits behind a desk with a clipboard, the man is a beefcake in his undershirt trying to make himself look scrawny.)
ACTRESS: So… let me make sure I have all this straight. You’ve got… asthma, scoliosis, a heart murmur, stomach ulcers, pernicious anemia, and… you’re deaf in one ear?
ACTOR: Just a little deaf. At least my feet aren’t flat.
ACTRESS: Thank heaven for small favors.
STEVE: (scoffing quietly)
ANGELA: Jesus Christ. Were you really that sick? Pernicious anemia sounds really bad.
STEVE: There’s a reason they don’t call it friendly anemia. I don’t miss the raw liver, that’s for sure.
ANGELA: Raw liver? Ugh, really?
STEVE: Take my advice, sweetheart— don’t ever get chronically ill in the first half of the century. Hey, this lady— who is she supposed to be?
(He looks at his playbill, brow furrowing. ANGELA regards him as if he’s a little slow.)
STEVE: What?
ANGELA: Granddad. That’s Grandma Peggy.
STEVE: What? That’s supposed to be Peggy?
ANGELA: That’s what it says in the program.
STEVE: But— she wasn’t at the recruitment office! Did they think she was… some secretary?
ANGELA: Granddad, keep your voice down. People are looking.
STEVE: As if she didn’t have anything better to do? Than… take notes on scrubs like me?
ANGELA: It’s just a narrative expediency. Gets her in the story faster!
STEVE: She was an officer! She was out on the front lines! For God’s sake, she founded an entire intelligence agency. And this little slip of a thing— Peggy could have broken her over her knee—
ANGELA: Granddad!
(STEVE grumpily bites his tongue.)
ACTOR: I just want to do some good. If somebody will give me a chance.
ACTRESS: Well… I know a little bit about being underestimated by folks.
(She steps forward and the music rises.)
ACTRESS: (singing) When nobody sees what you’ve got to give,
What are you supposed to do?
When every eye is turned your way,
And they only look straight through?
ANGELA: Got a nice big voice, at least.
STEVE: I guess. If you can’t even get her accent right.
ANGELA: Guess they have to make her American. You know, to fit with you.
STEVE: Ugh. She wasn’t marrying the shield, for crying out loud.
ANGELA: As far as they know, she didn’t marry you at all. Couldn’t be that unpatriotic, I guess!
ACTRESS: (singing) If nobody else will look our way,
It’s up to us to open the door.
If I see you, and you see me,
Maybe then we can do something more.
(The song finishes and the audience applauds.)
ACTRESS: I’ll go get Dr. Erskine.
ANGELA: See, they’re making it clear she was a huge part of your story. Right from the beginning!
STEVE: Because, what? Her real accomplishments weren’t enough?
ANGELA: Well… A lot of that stuff wasn’t widely documented. So much of it was classified, if you look it up… there’s not that much to find. Even if they wanted to.
(Pause.)
STEVE: Honey, how well do you remember your great-grandmother?
ANGELA: I mean… I remember her, of course. Some things. But… she was over ninety when she died. And I was only eight. I loved her, but… I think I missed a lot of her.
STEVE: Ah. I see.
(STEVE puts his arm around her.)
STEVE: She did amazing things, honey. She never got credit for them the way she deserved. Yeah, partially because it was all covert. But she was also ahead of her time. Women didn’t get to do the things she wanted to do… and she did them all anyway. And she kept doing them, no matter what anybody said. (Chuckling) Hell, I showed up late. I had to run to keep up, so I could be of any use to her at all.
ANGELA: Sounds like Grandma Peggy didn’t need you to save her.
STEVE: She didn’t. She didn’t need me at all.
ANGELA: (Laughing)
STEVE: No, really. She didn’t need anything or anyone. She chose me. She could have had any life she wanted… and she chose to make one with me. Damn, I was lucky… I was so damn lucky.
(ANGELA takes his hand.)
STEVE: Where’s Carter the Musical? And not just because I don’t go by my maiden name anymore.
ANGELA: (Laughing) Not a bad way to be remembered forever.
STEVE: Forever’s a long time, kiddo. And I was married to your grandma… forever.
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