Post by Dallas on Dec 13, 2020 10:06:12 GMT -5
***Warning: If you Haven't Read the Most Recent Episodes of ODaaT, the below DOES include Spoilers***
I had to wait a little while to post this because I didn't want to ruin any spoilers about the avalanche and the fallout, but I did want to touch on some of my inspiration to do this arch. This is the first time I've ever done a real natural disaster on the series, which is exciting. I've had storms (rain storms, snow storms, the Ice Storm), but this felt different as it was natural disaster. I think of some soaps that have had these and they are classic stories, I think of the tornado on All My Children, as one example. Because I do pull a lot of my inspiration from the golden years of soaps, I really wanted a disaster.
Now, I didn't initially think that it would be an avalanche. I was thinking of other stories that I wanted to incorporate into ODaaT and I thought of a story on Another World. It was early-mid 1990's when Vicki married Grant and they went on their honeymoon in Banff, Canada. Somehow, Vicki got trapped in a cave on a mountain with Ryan and they had sex. I really wanted this type of storyline on ODaaT. This is where I got the inspiration for Lukas and Craig being trapped together on the mountain side. I also had this Vinny/Daisy/Brett thing going on and thought that the disaster could also help push this story forward. So this combination helped me come up with the avalanche idea. Once I started writing/planning this, I also remembered that Days had an avalanche with Hope and Jude held her hostage in a mountain cabin once it was over. Remembering this, I knew that this type of disaster was the right choice to make!
The setup to this had to be well planned in advance. I specifically had Craig and Lukas have this slow burn attraction and only had them kiss because I wanted the sex piece to happen in the cave on the mountain. I also wanted Donovan and Lukas to be married before this happened because I loved the idea that a newly married man cheats almost instantly but also the loved the dynamic of Donovan getting married and instantly thinking his new husband is dead. Of course, the twist with this storyline is that Craig doesn't remember the sex and this will lead to a different outcome then what people will suspect. Usually with a heterosexual couple, this would have resulted in pregnancy but we can't do down this path this case.
The next piece was the actual writing of the disaster, which was the most difficult piece. If you noticed, there was only 1 episode where we saw the "avalanche", and it was just Lukas/Craig/Vinny/Daisy on the mountain, seeing the avalanche beginning. What you didn't see was all the scrapped material that just wasn't good, at least in my mind. It is really hard writing a natural disaster, so I tried to keep it minimum and just have everyone talking about it from the mountain lodge. I just thought the reactions would be just as dramatic without knowing too much.
Overall, I am proud of this little arch because it was a new challenge for me; the outcome has been pretty good and it pushed the storylines further, which sets up 2021 nicely.
How did you guys like the avalanche?
Dallas
I had to wait a little while to post this because I didn't want to ruin any spoilers about the avalanche and the fallout, but I did want to touch on some of my inspiration to do this arch. This is the first time I've ever done a real natural disaster on the series, which is exciting. I've had storms (rain storms, snow storms, the Ice Storm), but this felt different as it was natural disaster. I think of some soaps that have had these and they are classic stories, I think of the tornado on All My Children, as one example. Because I do pull a lot of my inspiration from the golden years of soaps, I really wanted a disaster.
Now, I didn't initially think that it would be an avalanche. I was thinking of other stories that I wanted to incorporate into ODaaT and I thought of a story on Another World. It was early-mid 1990's when Vicki married Grant and they went on their honeymoon in Banff, Canada. Somehow, Vicki got trapped in a cave on a mountain with Ryan and they had sex. I really wanted this type of storyline on ODaaT. This is where I got the inspiration for Lukas and Craig being trapped together on the mountain side. I also had this Vinny/Daisy/Brett thing going on and thought that the disaster could also help push this story forward. So this combination helped me come up with the avalanche idea. Once I started writing/planning this, I also remembered that Days had an avalanche with Hope and Jude held her hostage in a mountain cabin once it was over. Remembering this, I knew that this type of disaster was the right choice to make!
The setup to this had to be well planned in advance. I specifically had Craig and Lukas have this slow burn attraction and only had them kiss because I wanted the sex piece to happen in the cave on the mountain. I also wanted Donovan and Lukas to be married before this happened because I loved the idea that a newly married man cheats almost instantly but also the loved the dynamic of Donovan getting married and instantly thinking his new husband is dead. Of course, the twist with this storyline is that Craig doesn't remember the sex and this will lead to a different outcome then what people will suspect. Usually with a heterosexual couple, this would have resulted in pregnancy but we can't do down this path this case.
The next piece was the actual writing of the disaster, which was the most difficult piece. If you noticed, there was only 1 episode where we saw the "avalanche", and it was just Lukas/Craig/Vinny/Daisy on the mountain, seeing the avalanche beginning. What you didn't see was all the scrapped material that just wasn't good, at least in my mind. It is really hard writing a natural disaster, so I tried to keep it minimum and just have everyone talking about it from the mountain lodge. I just thought the reactions would be just as dramatic without knowing too much.
Overall, I am proud of this little arch because it was a new challenge for me; the outcome has been pretty good and it pushed the storylines further, which sets up 2021 nicely.
How did you guys like the avalanche?
Dallas