THE WRITERS OF SUNSHINE: EPISODE SCRIPTS
episode 1
Harlow - All right! Hello everyone, and welcome to the very first meeting of The Writers of Sunshine.
Adrian - Um, Harlow, why exactly are you recording us?
Harlow - Well, maybe you weren’t there, Adrian, but I thought we all decided that it would be a good idea. Didn’t we? To make sure all our reports were accurate. Wasn’t that what you said, Skyler?
Skyler - Wow, did I? I thought it was, like, in case one of us was, like, framed for murder and we could use the recording to, like, show we were here and not, y’know, murdering someone. That’s what David said was a good idea.
David - Uh, no. I thought we were recording because we might all come up with a really great story idea, and then not remember it, so we’d look back at the recording and it would be there.
Adrian - Besides, Skyler, the murdering idea would only work if we were framed on a Wednesday afternoon.
Skyler - So? Isn’t it better to be covered for one day a week than for none?
Harlow - All right, all right. Please come back to order. Because we want accurate records—no matter the purpose—we must all introduce ourselves, and state our reasons for being here.
Adrian - Must we?
Harlow - Thank you for volunteering to go first, Adrian.
Adrian - Oh, no problem. Astonishingly, I am Adrian. Thanks for the introduction, Harlow.
Harlow - And why are you here?
Adrian - I’m not really sure.
Harlow - ...right. Why don’t you go next, Skyler?
Skyler - Sure! Hello everyone, I’m Skyler! I’m here because I’m not, like, the world’s best writer, but I want to learn to write better with all my friends!
Adrian - That’s why I’m here too. Obviously.
Harlow - Please. David, your turn.
David - Uh, right. Yeah, I’m David. I’m here because I like to write stories... and I like to, um, write different things... and stuff... yeah.
Harlow - ...cool! We’ll definitely write lots of different things.
Skyler - Harlow, it’s your turn!
Harlow - I know. I’m Harlow, and I’m here because I really enjoy writing, and I want to enjoy it with my friends, outside of school.
Adrian - Outside of school?
David - School is pretty lame. It’s nice to be able to write whatever we want.
Adrian - School isn’t that bad, is it?
Harlow - No, I like school. But I also like creative writing. And there isn’t a ton of that in English class.
Skyler - What do you do in your English class?
Harlow - Well, we just read books and write papers about the characters and the plot.
Adrian - And we have to discuss the books a lot too. I like that better than writing.
Skyler - Oh yeah, you’re both in the advanced English class. I forgot.
Harlow - It’s not really that advanced. We just read thicker books.
Adrian - Wait, Skyler, you didn’t know I was in that class?
Skyler - Well, you don’t, like, come to school very often.
David - Which is probably why you think school isn’t that bad.
Adrian - Hey. I just don’t think school is, like, the worst thing on the planet or anything.
David - There are just lots of other ways we could use our time that would be better.
Adrian - Maybe.
Harlow - Adrian does those things anyway, because he doesn’t come to school.
Skyler - What do you do?
Adrian - I don’t know. I sleep. And I eat. And I, uh, write.
David - Really?
Adrian - Sure. I do enjoy writing, you know. I did come here for a reason.
Skyler - You didn’t just come because we were all here?
Adrian - That’s mainly why I’m here. But I like writing too.
David - What do you write about?
Adrian - Just stories and stuff. About life. What do you write about?
David - Well, the same thing, I guess. I like to write about people who live in different places, though. I don’t like, um, realistic fiction, or whatever.
Harlow - Neither do I. I like writing about magical worlds, where anything can happen.
Skyler - I like writing about school life.
Adrian - I wouldn’t write stories about school. That’s kind of boring. But I like writing stories about people. Who, you know, live perfectly ordinary lives. But I write the stories because they can find what’s extraordinary about their ordinary lives. If that makes sense.
Harlow - Do you write them about real people?
Adrian - Sure. I like to sit in the park and watch people walk by. Everyone’s interesting to watch. Especially couples and friends. I write a lot about friendship.
David - That sounds really amazing.
Adrian - It’s not that great. I mean, I really just have fun with the writing. But it’s also fun to think about. And people are just... kind of beautiful, I guess.
Skyler - I totally didn’t know that about you, Adrian.
Harlow - Do you sit in the park when you don’t come to school?
Adrian - A lot of the time, yeah. Sometimes I think I learn more sitting in the park watching strangers interact than I do sitting in class.
Skyler - Why?
Adrian - Well, I use my people-watching skills to see interactions, but I still create my own original characters to write about. The characters I create are kind of like a big mash-up of all the interesting traits that I see in real people. So I learn a lot about people and life.
Skyler - Have you, like, based any of your characters off of me?
Adrian - Uh, no...
Skyler - Why not?
Adrian - I dunno. I like really unique traits and relationships. I haven’t based any of my characters off people I know really well, because they’re all pretty boring. The mystery of strangers is what keeps me interested.
Skyler - I’m boring?!
Adrian - There’s nothing new to discover about you, is all. Part of writing is continuously finding out about yourself and your characters. You’re pretty much an open book, Skyler. You want to be popular, you want lots of cool friends and clothes, and you want to be somewhat successful in life.
Harlow - That description works for a lot of people.
Adrian - Right. So I write about the people it doesn’t work for.
Skyler - Does that description work for you, Adrian?
Adrian - Of course not. I have no desire to be popular, I really couldn’t care less about the clothes I wear, and I think success will come to me if I want it enough. Which I don’t yet.
Skyler - You still want friends, though?
Adrian - Well, pretty much everyone wants friends. I haven’t seen a person yet who didn’t want friends.
Skyler - You’re not doing a very good job of keeping your friends.
Adrian - What?
Harlow - It’s true. You just called us all boring and said we all wanted the same things in life.
Adrian - Er, sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. Why don’t we stop talking about me now? Skyler, what kinds of school stories do you like to write?
Skyler - Well, I like to write about kids just like us. And they, like, do sports and are in relationships and hang out with each other. Just like us, I guess. I don’t know. It’s fun to just write about, like, normal things. Like Adrian said, it’s kind of like finding the cool stuff in the not-so-cool stuff.
Harlow - That’s a good thing to write about.
Skyler - I also sometimes like to write stories about humans and mythical creatures. Like vampires and werewolves and stuff.
David - Huh.
Skyler - What?
David - I guess I should have realized you liked those kinds of books, is all.
Skyler - What kinds of books?
David - You know. Vampire books.
Skyler - They’re not all about vampires. Some are about magicians, or, like, other mythical creatures.
Harlow - Well, what are those stories about, generally?
Skyler - I write those about teenagers who get lost in the woods, and they find out that one of their classmates is actually a werewolf, or a vampire, and then they have to, like, swear to secrecy, but then they actually become, like, best friends.
Harlow - Interesting.
Adrian - It doesn’t get boring to think about after a while?
Skyler - What do you mean?
Adrian - Well, all those stories have pretty much exactly the same thing happen. Like, there’s the girl, who meets someone supernatural, and then they become best friends or lovers, depending on the supernatural being’s gender.
Skyler - Hey! I haven’t said a single bad thing about the books that you like to read, Adrian!
Adrian - I’m not saying bad things, it’s just...
David - But it doesn’t matter what we think, because you like them. So whatever. It’s okay. You can like whatever you want. And I’d really like to read your the stories you write sometime!
Skyler - Thank you, David. Maybe next week I’ll bring the one I’m working on now.
David - And Adrian, you should bring some of your stories. I really want to read yours too.
Adrian - Sure thing. Hey, Harlow, we haven’t heard about the stories you write. What’s your favorite thing to read or write?
Harlow - Hmm. Well, I did say already that I liked writing about fantasy worlds. And that’s definitely my favorite thing to read and write. I love books that can just transport me out of reality. I especially love magical things in fantasy worlds.
David - Is that mainly what you write about, then?
Harlow - Yeah. I like writing about knights, and magic, and mysteries.
Adrian - What about science fiction?
Harlow - I don’t really like it. It’s not as fun to write or read.
David - Really? That’s funny.
Harlow - I don’t know. I think it’s boring.
Adrian - I vastly prefer science fiction to fantasy. But I think it’s best when they’re mixed together.
David - Mmm, yeah. But science fiction is still kind of, like, a perfect genre.
Skyler - I can see those are the kind of books you write.
David - Um, kind of, I guess.
Adrian - What kind of books do you write? You’re always scribbling away in your notebook. You must have hundreds of pages by now.
David - I don’t know. It’s kind of... everything? I’m bad at describing it. If you ask me questions, I can answer them specifically.
Skyler - Do you think we could read it at some point?
David - Um, I don’t know. It’s really bad.
Adrian - Well, mine’s really bad too, but I’m going to let you read it.
David - I’ll have to think about it. And possibly rewrite it. But that’ll be next week, right?
Harlow - I think we should all just bring in a sample of our writing to share next week.
Skyler - All right!
Adrian - We didn’t get much writing done today.
Harlow - That’s okay. We’ll do lots more in the coming weeks. Next week, we can give feedback on each others’ stories.
David - I don’t know about that...
Harlow - It’ll be okay. All right everyone, thank you for coming!
Skyler - It’s over already?
Harlow - Yup. The first meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is closed at 3:58PM on Wednesday, April 2nd.
[recording stops]
Adrian - Um, Harlow, why exactly are you recording us?
Harlow - Well, maybe you weren’t there, Adrian, but I thought we all decided that it would be a good idea. Didn’t we? To make sure all our reports were accurate. Wasn’t that what you said, Skyler?
Skyler - Wow, did I? I thought it was, like, in case one of us was, like, framed for murder and we could use the recording to, like, show we were here and not, y’know, murdering someone. That’s what David said was a good idea.
David - Uh, no. I thought we were recording because we might all come up with a really great story idea, and then not remember it, so we’d look back at the recording and it would be there.
Adrian - Besides, Skyler, the murdering idea would only work if we were framed on a Wednesday afternoon.
Skyler - So? Isn’t it better to be covered for one day a week than for none?
Harlow - All right, all right. Please come back to order. Because we want accurate records—no matter the purpose—we must all introduce ourselves, and state our reasons for being here.
Adrian - Must we?
Harlow - Thank you for volunteering to go first, Adrian.
Adrian - Oh, no problem. Astonishingly, I am Adrian. Thanks for the introduction, Harlow.
Harlow - And why are you here?
Adrian - I’m not really sure.
Harlow - ...right. Why don’t you go next, Skyler?
Skyler - Sure! Hello everyone, I’m Skyler! I’m here because I’m not, like, the world’s best writer, but I want to learn to write better with all my friends!
Adrian - That’s why I’m here too. Obviously.
Harlow - Please. David, your turn.
David - Uh, right. Yeah, I’m David. I’m here because I like to write stories... and I like to, um, write different things... and stuff... yeah.
Harlow - ...cool! We’ll definitely write lots of different things.
Skyler - Harlow, it’s your turn!
Harlow - I know. I’m Harlow, and I’m here because I really enjoy writing, and I want to enjoy it with my friends, outside of school.
Adrian - Outside of school?
David - School is pretty lame. It’s nice to be able to write whatever we want.
Adrian - School isn’t that bad, is it?
Harlow - No, I like school. But I also like creative writing. And there isn’t a ton of that in English class.
Skyler - What do you do in your English class?
Harlow - Well, we just read books and write papers about the characters and the plot.
Adrian - And we have to discuss the books a lot too. I like that better than writing.
Skyler - Oh yeah, you’re both in the advanced English class. I forgot.
Harlow - It’s not really that advanced. We just read thicker books.
Adrian - Wait, Skyler, you didn’t know I was in that class?
Skyler - Well, you don’t, like, come to school very often.
David - Which is probably why you think school isn’t that bad.
Adrian - Hey. I just don’t think school is, like, the worst thing on the planet or anything.
David - There are just lots of other ways we could use our time that would be better.
Adrian - Maybe.
Harlow - Adrian does those things anyway, because he doesn’t come to school.
Skyler - What do you do?
Adrian - I don’t know. I sleep. And I eat. And I, uh, write.
David - Really?
Adrian - Sure. I do enjoy writing, you know. I did come here for a reason.
Skyler - You didn’t just come because we were all here?
Adrian - That’s mainly why I’m here. But I like writing too.
David - What do you write about?
Adrian - Just stories and stuff. About life. What do you write about?
David - Well, the same thing, I guess. I like to write about people who live in different places, though. I don’t like, um, realistic fiction, or whatever.
Harlow - Neither do I. I like writing about magical worlds, where anything can happen.
Skyler - I like writing about school life.
Adrian - I wouldn’t write stories about school. That’s kind of boring. But I like writing stories about people. Who, you know, live perfectly ordinary lives. But I write the stories because they can find what’s extraordinary about their ordinary lives. If that makes sense.
Harlow - Do you write them about real people?
Adrian - Sure. I like to sit in the park and watch people walk by. Everyone’s interesting to watch. Especially couples and friends. I write a lot about friendship.
David - That sounds really amazing.
Adrian - It’s not that great. I mean, I really just have fun with the writing. But it’s also fun to think about. And people are just... kind of beautiful, I guess.
Skyler - I totally didn’t know that about you, Adrian.
Harlow - Do you sit in the park when you don’t come to school?
Adrian - A lot of the time, yeah. Sometimes I think I learn more sitting in the park watching strangers interact than I do sitting in class.
Skyler - Why?
Adrian - Well, I use my people-watching skills to see interactions, but I still create my own original characters to write about. The characters I create are kind of like a big mash-up of all the interesting traits that I see in real people. So I learn a lot about people and life.
Skyler - Have you, like, based any of your characters off of me?
Adrian - Uh, no...
Skyler - Why not?
Adrian - I dunno. I like really unique traits and relationships. I haven’t based any of my characters off people I know really well, because they’re all pretty boring. The mystery of strangers is what keeps me interested.
Skyler - I’m boring?!
Adrian - There’s nothing new to discover about you, is all. Part of writing is continuously finding out about yourself and your characters. You’re pretty much an open book, Skyler. You want to be popular, you want lots of cool friends and clothes, and you want to be somewhat successful in life.
Harlow - That description works for a lot of people.
Adrian - Right. So I write about the people it doesn’t work for.
Skyler - Does that description work for you, Adrian?
Adrian - Of course not. I have no desire to be popular, I really couldn’t care less about the clothes I wear, and I think success will come to me if I want it enough. Which I don’t yet.
Skyler - You still want friends, though?
Adrian - Well, pretty much everyone wants friends. I haven’t seen a person yet who didn’t want friends.
Skyler - You’re not doing a very good job of keeping your friends.
Adrian - What?
Harlow - It’s true. You just called us all boring and said we all wanted the same things in life.
Adrian - Er, sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. Why don’t we stop talking about me now? Skyler, what kinds of school stories do you like to write?
Skyler - Well, I like to write about kids just like us. And they, like, do sports and are in relationships and hang out with each other. Just like us, I guess. I don’t know. It’s fun to just write about, like, normal things. Like Adrian said, it’s kind of like finding the cool stuff in the not-so-cool stuff.
Harlow - That’s a good thing to write about.
Skyler - I also sometimes like to write stories about humans and mythical creatures. Like vampires and werewolves and stuff.
David - Huh.
Skyler - What?
David - I guess I should have realized you liked those kinds of books, is all.
Skyler - What kinds of books?
David - You know. Vampire books.
Skyler - They’re not all about vampires. Some are about magicians, or, like, other mythical creatures.
Harlow - Well, what are those stories about, generally?
Skyler - I write those about teenagers who get lost in the woods, and they find out that one of their classmates is actually a werewolf, or a vampire, and then they have to, like, swear to secrecy, but then they actually become, like, best friends.
Harlow - Interesting.
Adrian - It doesn’t get boring to think about after a while?
Skyler - What do you mean?
Adrian - Well, all those stories have pretty much exactly the same thing happen. Like, there’s the girl, who meets someone supernatural, and then they become best friends or lovers, depending on the supernatural being’s gender.
Skyler - Hey! I haven’t said a single bad thing about the books that you like to read, Adrian!
Adrian - I’m not saying bad things, it’s just...
David - But it doesn’t matter what we think, because you like them. So whatever. It’s okay. You can like whatever you want. And I’d really like to read your the stories you write sometime!
Skyler - Thank you, David. Maybe next week I’ll bring the one I’m working on now.
David - And Adrian, you should bring some of your stories. I really want to read yours too.
Adrian - Sure thing. Hey, Harlow, we haven’t heard about the stories you write. What’s your favorite thing to read or write?
Harlow - Hmm. Well, I did say already that I liked writing about fantasy worlds. And that’s definitely my favorite thing to read and write. I love books that can just transport me out of reality. I especially love magical things in fantasy worlds.
David - Is that mainly what you write about, then?
Harlow - Yeah. I like writing about knights, and magic, and mysteries.
Adrian - What about science fiction?
Harlow - I don’t really like it. It’s not as fun to write or read.
David - Really? That’s funny.
Harlow - I don’t know. I think it’s boring.
Adrian - I vastly prefer science fiction to fantasy. But I think it’s best when they’re mixed together.
David - Mmm, yeah. But science fiction is still kind of, like, a perfect genre.
Skyler - I can see those are the kind of books you write.
David - Um, kind of, I guess.
Adrian - What kind of books do you write? You’re always scribbling away in your notebook. You must have hundreds of pages by now.
David - I don’t know. It’s kind of... everything? I’m bad at describing it. If you ask me questions, I can answer them specifically.
Skyler - Do you think we could read it at some point?
David - Um, I don’t know. It’s really bad.
Adrian - Well, mine’s really bad too, but I’m going to let you read it.
David - I’ll have to think about it. And possibly rewrite it. But that’ll be next week, right?
Harlow - I think we should all just bring in a sample of our writing to share next week.
Skyler - All right!
Adrian - We didn’t get much writing done today.
Harlow - That’s okay. We’ll do lots more in the coming weeks. Next week, we can give feedback on each others’ stories.
David - I don’t know about that...
Harlow - It’ll be okay. All right everyone, thank you for coming!
Skyler - It’s over already?
Harlow - Yup. The first meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is closed at 3:58PM on Wednesday, April 2nd.
[recording stops]
episode 2
Harlow - The second official meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is called to order at 2:56PM on Wednesday, April 9th.
Adrian - I see we’re still recording these meetings.
Harlow - If we can go around and state our names, so we know who’s present today?
Skyler - We’re all here, though.
Adrian - It doesn’t matter, Skyler. Remember that official rules are more important than common sense.
David - It makes sense though, guys. Imagine years and years from now, when we listen to these recordings. It’ll be good to have them, so we bring back nice memories.
Adrian - The best memories are made during freshman year of high school, after all.
Harlow - Well, even if the memories aren’t the best, I still want to remember.
David - Yeah. Someday, we’ll all meet up again. You know, after college. And it’ll be awesome to listen to these and remember how we used to be.
Adrian - Before we were trampled down by society.
Skyler - I want to listen to them again! I think that would be fun.
Adrian - I guess I’m outnumbered, then.
David - You’ll thank us one day.
Harlow - Moving on, though, I think our plan this week was to share some of our writing, right?
David - Your plan.
Adrian - David doesn’t want to share. But the rest of us want to hear everyone’s writing.
Harlow - Well, it’s up to David whether he wants to share or not.
Skyler - I’ll go first!
Harlow - All right! Go ahead. Do you want to give us some background information about your story first?
Skyler - Uh, I guess... Let’s see... I’ve been reading a lot of good books about, like, magical beings and the, like, supernatural, so I decided to write my own. So, it’s, uh, about a vampire girl and a human girl, and they, like, adventure around because they want to find a safe place to stay.
Adrian - And love, I presume?
Skyler - Well, yeah. They have to deal with lots of, like, problems and stuff.
David - Why don’t you read us some? I think that’s prolly enough background.
Skyler - Okay! Here goes. And remember, I’m not the world’s best writer, so don’t get mad at me for, like, mistakes and stuff...
Harlow - Don’t worry.
Skyler - Ohmigosh, I’m so nervous now!
Adrian - We won’t care. Just read us something!
Skyler - Okay. Here’s the beginning...
Phillipine saw the mysterious man approach. He was wearing a dark suit, and his face was covered by a dark mask.
“May I have this dance?” he said. He held out a hand.
"Of course!” Phillipine looked down as he helped her up. He was so handsome. She didn’t know why he had picked her to dance with. There were so many other girls who were much prettier than her.
Adrian - How does she know he’s handsome?
Skyler - What?
Adrian - Well, he’s wearing a mask. How does she know he’s so handsome?
Skyler - I don’t know, it just seemed right to put in. Masquerade balls are supposed to be mysterious and beautiful. So it made sense that the man would be handsome.
David - Is he a vampire?
Skyler - You’ll find out.
Harlow - Well, keep reading. It’s good so far.
Skyler - Thanks! I really like it.
Phillipine knew that Marguerite was watching them dance the whole time. Her best friend was sitting by her empty chair. Phillipine would have to tell her friend all about this mysterious man.
“What is your name?” Phillipine said to the man.
“I cannot give my name at a masquerade ball,” the man said back. “You must guess my identity.”
Phillipine’s face blushed. The man danced around the room, but all Phillipine could see was his dark mask. His suit smelled flowery and spicy. His arms held her--
David - Uh, you know--
Skyler - What?
David - You should, uh, try using other words besides “said.” There are so many other words that would make your story sound really nice. Right now it’s kind of like a robot, or something. Just repeating the same thing over and over.
Skyler - Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.
David - Also could we maybe skip this part?
Skyler - What? Why? This is one of the best parts.
David - Well, do you have other favorite parts? I’d like to hear them too.
Adrian - David doesn’t like love scenes in books or movies. That’s for the recorder to remember, so he can look back fondly on these years of teenage angst.
David - Adrian...
Adrian - Yes?
Harlow - Don’t be a jerk, Adrian. That was rude. Remember that you are the peasant of this club, and therefore the most easily exiled.
Adrian - I’m only the peasant because I wasn’t at the secret lunch meeting you three had!
Skyler - Well, you weren’t at school.
Harlow - The peasant may need to take a vow of silence if he can’t stop interrupting and being a jerk.
David - The president has spoken. All right, Skyler, what’s another one of your favorite parts?
Skyler - Well, one part further in is when one of the vampires falls in love, but the guy is really a vampire hunter. But I haven’t written that yet.
Harlow - How far have you written?
Skyler - Not very far at all. Writing for a long time about, like, the same thing is really hard!
David - Is it?
Skyler - You can write the same story for a long time?
David - Well, I have been. That’s what my notebook is filled with.
Adrian - Will you read us some of that one?
David - Umm...
Skyler - Please, David?
David - I guess so.
Harlow - What’s your story about?
David - It’s about a harpy.
Skyler - A harpy?
David - Yeah. You know. Like out of Greek mythology.
Harlow - Aren’t they kind of... scary?
David - Well, they are in Greek mythology, yeah. But my harpy isn’t. He grew up on a floating apple farm, and his parents sent him to the city so he could have a coming-out party and hopefully get married. But then he gets dragged into black market dealings because he had an accidental interaction with a siren.
Skyler - That all sounds really complicated...
Adrian - But really awesome! I really want to hear it!
David - Okay, here goes. I’ll read from the beginning.
It was absolute madness. Muzz held on to his bags a little tighter as he disembarked from the airship. Creatures swarmed around him, speaking hundreds of different tongues, not one of them sparing a second glance for the bewildered harpie.
Muzz looked up at the signs, trying in vain to pick one out that would tell him where to go. He settled for being pushed along with the crowd, eyes wide in wonder as he tried to see everything. His parents had promised him that Albie would pick him up at the airship docks. They told him to keep an eye out for a flamboyant dragon.
Skyler - The harpy’s name is Muzz?
David - It is, yeah. I thought it was a good, meaningless name for a country harpy.
Harlow - Are there humans in this story?
David - Nope! These kinds of stories always focus on the one human who’s thrust into a mystical world. So I decided to write a story about just the mystical world.
Adrian - Read a little bit more!
David - Er, okay. I’ll just finish off this part. And then you can go.
Adrian - Take your time.
David - Heh, okay. Here’s the rest:
There were flamboyant dragons everywhere. Multicolored scales, feather dresses and scarves, hats and headdresses. It was like a fireworks display. Around the dragons, other creatures called out to each other. Vampires wore their large hats and black cloaks to protect them from the lights, and dwarves shoved through the crowds with their large bellies and larger beards.
Muzz finally found an abandoned bench by a snack and information bar and sat down. He was completely lost, but the parade of interesting and beautiful creatures kept him occupied and unafraid of what might happen to him.
David - That’s just the beginning part. And then it switches to Albie’s perspective. She’s the dragon who’s going to take care of him. And then I talk about the siren, whose name is Sherman.
Harlow - You’re really good at writing, David! I really want to hear more!
David - Not now. Now it’s someone else’s turn.
Harlow - Do you want to go, Adrian, or shall I?
Adrian - Oh, I’ll go first. I’m excited to hear what you guys have to say about it.
David - Wait! Before you read, tell us your plot and ideas.
Adrian - Oh yes. Um, it’s a story about a circus, and two kids who live and work in the circus, in the backstage, or whatever. One of them is lazy but happy, and the other one is motivated and unhappy. But they just sort of... live life, I guess.
Harlow - Cool. Read us some!
Adrian - Well, I’ll skip the introduction, because it’s sort of long. Here’s a beginning part.
Augie hadn’t decided what he would die doing yet, but he was sure he could figure it out later. He still had a while before he started falling apart. He hoped that something new and glamorous would come along and then he could die riding a clockwork dragon, or fall out of the sky when his jet-propelled ornithopter exploded.
There were lots of options and lots of time left. In the meanwhile, he enjoyed the night sky and shied away from the judging sun. He breathed in smoke and sparks and swallowed fire with the magicians. Sometimes he’d ride a dragon and let himself be thrown into the stars. He set off fireworks with the engineers in their free time and let the dying sparks of solid chemicals fall into his hands. The light would burn his eyes like an artificial sun he wasn’t scared of.
Life was beautiful, and Augie wasn’t going to let it get the best of him. He was going to win the game he was meant to lose. His life would be like a firework, like the light in a dragon’s eyes. Short, dream-like and absolutely brilliant. His life would be like the circus.
Skyler - That’s really pretty.
David - Adrian, that’s really good.
Harlow - Why do you tell everyone you’re a bad writer?
Adrian - I don’t know. I just know it’s not as good as it could be, I guess.
Skyler - But it is really good.
David - I really like all the dragon parts and stuff.
Adrian - Thanks. I actually haven’t written much more than that part. But I keep revising it to make it better and better.
Skyler - You should, like, write more, though. Don’t spend too much time, like, changing it.
David - I agree. Finish the whole story, and then you can go back and edit everything. Write it now, while you’re still thinking of the story.
Adrian - Well, yeah, but while I’m not writing it, I keep thinking of better and better ways for the story to go.
Harlow - That’s what drafts are for, right?
Adrian - I just want to know how the story will go in the end, and then I’ll be able to write it. Anyway, Harlow, it’s your turn to read us some of your story.
Skyler - Ooh, yes, it is! What’s yours about, Harlow?
Harlow - Well, it’s about a girl who is sailing the seas. Because she’s going to visit her father who’s in India. But pirates capture her, and then she becomes a pirate.
Skyler - Sounds exciting!
David - That really does sound good.
Harlow - Okay, well, I’ll read you the beginning for now. I haven’t written a ton, like David did, but I have a few pages.
Adrian - David has a whole novel already.
David - Just two notebooks. And it’s all really bad, so it doesn’t even count.
Skyler - Shush, guys! I want to hear Harlow’s story.
Harlow - Okay, here goes. [clears throat]
Aster was really excited. Not only had she seen her first pirate ship a few hours ago, she was now in the pirate ship. With all her friends from the boat, no less. She had been on the way to India, where her father was, because her mother had died. Because her father was hired by the government, they decided it would be easier to send Aster to India than to bring him back to take care of her.
David - What time period does this take place in?
Harlow - Well, you know. Pirate times.
David - So, like, the 1700’s, maybe?
Harlow - Sure, I guess.
David - Did you do any research about the times, though?
Harlow - Uh, no, not really.
David - Well, it might be good. That way you’d know if sending a young girl by herself on the high seas to meet her father in an undeveloped nation is really what the government would deem as the best course of action.
Adrian - Research is good, it’s true.
Skyler - Research is hard! I thought, like, writing fiction was something that you didn’t have to, y’know, research...
David - You have to research everything. I mean, if you want to be an informed citizen. And do smart things.
Harlow - Okay, well, maybe my story takes place in a different world, where the government would send a young girl off to an undeveloped nation.
Adrian - The government can be stupid sometimes.
Harlow - Yeah, see?
David - I wasn’t saying anything was bad about it, I just wanted to know if you were making this historical fiction or something. Because if you were, it wouldn’t work.
Harlow - Well, I’m not. So it’s fine.
Skyler - Guys! Don’t fight! I want to hear more of Harlow’s story!
David - Okay, okay. Sorry, Harlow. Your story is really good.
Harlow - Fine, whatever. Okay, I’ll keep reading.
Aster wasn’t scared, because she wanted an adventure. Her friends who had been captured were very quiet around her, and some of the little boys from her ship were crying. One of her friends, a boy named Isaac, was sitting next to her. When the lookout had seen the pirate ship, Isaac had taken her down into the cabins and made her change into some of his sailor clothes. There were breeches and a plain shirt. After that, he’d given her a leather tie to tie back her hair. He had disguised her as a boy.
Skyler - Oh, wow! That’s exciting! I can’t wait to hear more!
David - It is good. What do you plan on happening to her?
Harlow - She’ll just sort of have adventures with the pirates. Because, you know, the pirates will take them and make them all pirates, and then they might get marooned on an island and build a ship... I haven’t decided yet. But it’s fun to write about!
Adrian - It seems like it. Who’s going to figure out that she’s actually a girl?
Harlow - One of the pirates. He might fall in love with her or something.
David - Do you know the story about Anne Bonny and Mary Read? Maybe you should write something like that.
Harlow - I don’t know about them...
David - Well, basically they were girls disguised as male pirates, but then they met each other on the same ship. A lot of people think they were, you know, together.
Harlow - So... I should have another girl on board?
David - Maybe, yeah.
Adrian - Or you could have the pirate fall in love with her because she’s disguised as a boy, and then he discovers that she’s actually a girl.
Harlow - I don’t really know if I could write that...
Skyler - I never thought about something like that happening! That’s amazing that you guys did!
David - Well, along with research, writing is kind of about thinking up new ways of approaching things. Which is why I don’t like those vampire books, because the authors didn’t really bother being original.
Skyler - But all the stories are different! And they all happen in different, like, worlds or whatever!
David - I’m just saying what I think. I told you last week you’re allowed to like whatever you want. I just don’t like it.
Harlow - Well, I’ll think about changing the story, I guess. I won’t promise anything, though.
Adrian - Stories take a lot of development, Harlow. That’s kind of why I don’t want to move ahead with my story, because I know everything will change when I get another good idea.
David - But at the same time, you’ve still got to keep writing so that you get better at it.
Skyler - So maybe, like, you have to, like, find the way that you like the best, maybe?
Harlow - That’s probably it. I kind of wish we could learn this stuff in our English classes.
David - I dunno. I kind of like learning it here. We’re going to be the best writers in the whole world by the time we graduate!
Adrian - We can try, I guess.
Harlow - That’s probably a good ending point. We went later this time.
Adrian - That’s okay. I have nothing else to do.
David - Well, my brother is going to take me to the movies later, so I should probably go.
Skyler - And I have a viola lesson.
Harlow - You guys sure are busy. I reserved my Wednesday afternoons for this club. Then I get all my homework done.
Adrian - And I never do anything.
Harlow - Well, bye everyone. Maybe you can stick around, Adrian, and we can do the English homework.
Adrian - I suppose so... I can’t promise I’ll be at school tomorrow...
Harlow - Well, anyway. The second official meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is closed at, uh, 4:22PM on Wednesday, April 9th.
Adrian - I see we’re still recording these meetings.
Harlow - If we can go around and state our names, so we know who’s present today?
Skyler - We’re all here, though.
Adrian - It doesn’t matter, Skyler. Remember that official rules are more important than common sense.
David - It makes sense though, guys. Imagine years and years from now, when we listen to these recordings. It’ll be good to have them, so we bring back nice memories.
Adrian - The best memories are made during freshman year of high school, after all.
Harlow - Well, even if the memories aren’t the best, I still want to remember.
David - Yeah. Someday, we’ll all meet up again. You know, after college. And it’ll be awesome to listen to these and remember how we used to be.
Adrian - Before we were trampled down by society.
Skyler - I want to listen to them again! I think that would be fun.
Adrian - I guess I’m outnumbered, then.
David - You’ll thank us one day.
Harlow - Moving on, though, I think our plan this week was to share some of our writing, right?
David - Your plan.
Adrian - David doesn’t want to share. But the rest of us want to hear everyone’s writing.
Harlow - Well, it’s up to David whether he wants to share or not.
Skyler - I’ll go first!
Harlow - All right! Go ahead. Do you want to give us some background information about your story first?
Skyler - Uh, I guess... Let’s see... I’ve been reading a lot of good books about, like, magical beings and the, like, supernatural, so I decided to write my own. So, it’s, uh, about a vampire girl and a human girl, and they, like, adventure around because they want to find a safe place to stay.
Adrian - And love, I presume?
Skyler - Well, yeah. They have to deal with lots of, like, problems and stuff.
David - Why don’t you read us some? I think that’s prolly enough background.
Skyler - Okay! Here goes. And remember, I’m not the world’s best writer, so don’t get mad at me for, like, mistakes and stuff...
Harlow - Don’t worry.
Skyler - Ohmigosh, I’m so nervous now!
Adrian - We won’t care. Just read us something!
Skyler - Okay. Here’s the beginning...
Phillipine saw the mysterious man approach. He was wearing a dark suit, and his face was covered by a dark mask.
“May I have this dance?” he said. He held out a hand.
"Of course!” Phillipine looked down as he helped her up. He was so handsome. She didn’t know why he had picked her to dance with. There were so many other girls who were much prettier than her.
Adrian - How does she know he’s handsome?
Skyler - What?
Adrian - Well, he’s wearing a mask. How does she know he’s so handsome?
Skyler - I don’t know, it just seemed right to put in. Masquerade balls are supposed to be mysterious and beautiful. So it made sense that the man would be handsome.
David - Is he a vampire?
Skyler - You’ll find out.
Harlow - Well, keep reading. It’s good so far.
Skyler - Thanks! I really like it.
Phillipine knew that Marguerite was watching them dance the whole time. Her best friend was sitting by her empty chair. Phillipine would have to tell her friend all about this mysterious man.
“What is your name?” Phillipine said to the man.
“I cannot give my name at a masquerade ball,” the man said back. “You must guess my identity.”
Phillipine’s face blushed. The man danced around the room, but all Phillipine could see was his dark mask. His suit smelled flowery and spicy. His arms held her--
David - Uh, you know--
Skyler - What?
David - You should, uh, try using other words besides “said.” There are so many other words that would make your story sound really nice. Right now it’s kind of like a robot, or something. Just repeating the same thing over and over.
Skyler - Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.
David - Also could we maybe skip this part?
Skyler - What? Why? This is one of the best parts.
David - Well, do you have other favorite parts? I’d like to hear them too.
Adrian - David doesn’t like love scenes in books or movies. That’s for the recorder to remember, so he can look back fondly on these years of teenage angst.
David - Adrian...
Adrian - Yes?
Harlow - Don’t be a jerk, Adrian. That was rude. Remember that you are the peasant of this club, and therefore the most easily exiled.
Adrian - I’m only the peasant because I wasn’t at the secret lunch meeting you three had!
Skyler - Well, you weren’t at school.
Harlow - The peasant may need to take a vow of silence if he can’t stop interrupting and being a jerk.
David - The president has spoken. All right, Skyler, what’s another one of your favorite parts?
Skyler - Well, one part further in is when one of the vampires falls in love, but the guy is really a vampire hunter. But I haven’t written that yet.
Harlow - How far have you written?
Skyler - Not very far at all. Writing for a long time about, like, the same thing is really hard!
David - Is it?
Skyler - You can write the same story for a long time?
David - Well, I have been. That’s what my notebook is filled with.
Adrian - Will you read us some of that one?
David - Umm...
Skyler - Please, David?
David - I guess so.
Harlow - What’s your story about?
David - It’s about a harpy.
Skyler - A harpy?
David - Yeah. You know. Like out of Greek mythology.
Harlow - Aren’t they kind of... scary?
David - Well, they are in Greek mythology, yeah. But my harpy isn’t. He grew up on a floating apple farm, and his parents sent him to the city so he could have a coming-out party and hopefully get married. But then he gets dragged into black market dealings because he had an accidental interaction with a siren.
Skyler - That all sounds really complicated...
Adrian - But really awesome! I really want to hear it!
David - Okay, here goes. I’ll read from the beginning.
It was absolute madness. Muzz held on to his bags a little tighter as he disembarked from the airship. Creatures swarmed around him, speaking hundreds of different tongues, not one of them sparing a second glance for the bewildered harpie.
Muzz looked up at the signs, trying in vain to pick one out that would tell him where to go. He settled for being pushed along with the crowd, eyes wide in wonder as he tried to see everything. His parents had promised him that Albie would pick him up at the airship docks. They told him to keep an eye out for a flamboyant dragon.
Skyler - The harpy’s name is Muzz?
David - It is, yeah. I thought it was a good, meaningless name for a country harpy.
Harlow - Are there humans in this story?
David - Nope! These kinds of stories always focus on the one human who’s thrust into a mystical world. So I decided to write a story about just the mystical world.
Adrian - Read a little bit more!
David - Er, okay. I’ll just finish off this part. And then you can go.
Adrian - Take your time.
David - Heh, okay. Here’s the rest:
There were flamboyant dragons everywhere. Multicolored scales, feather dresses and scarves, hats and headdresses. It was like a fireworks display. Around the dragons, other creatures called out to each other. Vampires wore their large hats and black cloaks to protect them from the lights, and dwarves shoved through the crowds with their large bellies and larger beards.
Muzz finally found an abandoned bench by a snack and information bar and sat down. He was completely lost, but the parade of interesting and beautiful creatures kept him occupied and unafraid of what might happen to him.
David - That’s just the beginning part. And then it switches to Albie’s perspective. She’s the dragon who’s going to take care of him. And then I talk about the siren, whose name is Sherman.
Harlow - You’re really good at writing, David! I really want to hear more!
David - Not now. Now it’s someone else’s turn.
Harlow - Do you want to go, Adrian, or shall I?
Adrian - Oh, I’ll go first. I’m excited to hear what you guys have to say about it.
David - Wait! Before you read, tell us your plot and ideas.
Adrian - Oh yes. Um, it’s a story about a circus, and two kids who live and work in the circus, in the backstage, or whatever. One of them is lazy but happy, and the other one is motivated and unhappy. But they just sort of... live life, I guess.
Harlow - Cool. Read us some!
Adrian - Well, I’ll skip the introduction, because it’s sort of long. Here’s a beginning part.
Augie hadn’t decided what he would die doing yet, but he was sure he could figure it out later. He still had a while before he started falling apart. He hoped that something new and glamorous would come along and then he could die riding a clockwork dragon, or fall out of the sky when his jet-propelled ornithopter exploded.
There were lots of options and lots of time left. In the meanwhile, he enjoyed the night sky and shied away from the judging sun. He breathed in smoke and sparks and swallowed fire with the magicians. Sometimes he’d ride a dragon and let himself be thrown into the stars. He set off fireworks with the engineers in their free time and let the dying sparks of solid chemicals fall into his hands. The light would burn his eyes like an artificial sun he wasn’t scared of.
Life was beautiful, and Augie wasn’t going to let it get the best of him. He was going to win the game he was meant to lose. His life would be like a firework, like the light in a dragon’s eyes. Short, dream-like and absolutely brilliant. His life would be like the circus.
Skyler - That’s really pretty.
David - Adrian, that’s really good.
Harlow - Why do you tell everyone you’re a bad writer?
Adrian - I don’t know. I just know it’s not as good as it could be, I guess.
Skyler - But it is really good.
David - I really like all the dragon parts and stuff.
Adrian - Thanks. I actually haven’t written much more than that part. But I keep revising it to make it better and better.
Skyler - You should, like, write more, though. Don’t spend too much time, like, changing it.
David - I agree. Finish the whole story, and then you can go back and edit everything. Write it now, while you’re still thinking of the story.
Adrian - Well, yeah, but while I’m not writing it, I keep thinking of better and better ways for the story to go.
Harlow - That’s what drafts are for, right?
Adrian - I just want to know how the story will go in the end, and then I’ll be able to write it. Anyway, Harlow, it’s your turn to read us some of your story.
Skyler - Ooh, yes, it is! What’s yours about, Harlow?
Harlow - Well, it’s about a girl who is sailing the seas. Because she’s going to visit her father who’s in India. But pirates capture her, and then she becomes a pirate.
Skyler - Sounds exciting!
David - That really does sound good.
Harlow - Okay, well, I’ll read you the beginning for now. I haven’t written a ton, like David did, but I have a few pages.
Adrian - David has a whole novel already.
David - Just two notebooks. And it’s all really bad, so it doesn’t even count.
Skyler - Shush, guys! I want to hear Harlow’s story.
Harlow - Okay, here goes. [clears throat]
Aster was really excited. Not only had she seen her first pirate ship a few hours ago, she was now in the pirate ship. With all her friends from the boat, no less. She had been on the way to India, where her father was, because her mother had died. Because her father was hired by the government, they decided it would be easier to send Aster to India than to bring him back to take care of her.
David - What time period does this take place in?
Harlow - Well, you know. Pirate times.
David - So, like, the 1700’s, maybe?
Harlow - Sure, I guess.
David - Did you do any research about the times, though?
Harlow - Uh, no, not really.
David - Well, it might be good. That way you’d know if sending a young girl by herself on the high seas to meet her father in an undeveloped nation is really what the government would deem as the best course of action.
Adrian - Research is good, it’s true.
Skyler - Research is hard! I thought, like, writing fiction was something that you didn’t have to, y’know, research...
David - You have to research everything. I mean, if you want to be an informed citizen. And do smart things.
Harlow - Okay, well, maybe my story takes place in a different world, where the government would send a young girl off to an undeveloped nation.
Adrian - The government can be stupid sometimes.
Harlow - Yeah, see?
David - I wasn’t saying anything was bad about it, I just wanted to know if you were making this historical fiction or something. Because if you were, it wouldn’t work.
Harlow - Well, I’m not. So it’s fine.
Skyler - Guys! Don’t fight! I want to hear more of Harlow’s story!
David - Okay, okay. Sorry, Harlow. Your story is really good.
Harlow - Fine, whatever. Okay, I’ll keep reading.
Aster wasn’t scared, because she wanted an adventure. Her friends who had been captured were very quiet around her, and some of the little boys from her ship were crying. One of her friends, a boy named Isaac, was sitting next to her. When the lookout had seen the pirate ship, Isaac had taken her down into the cabins and made her change into some of his sailor clothes. There were breeches and a plain shirt. After that, he’d given her a leather tie to tie back her hair. He had disguised her as a boy.
Skyler - Oh, wow! That’s exciting! I can’t wait to hear more!
David - It is good. What do you plan on happening to her?
Harlow - She’ll just sort of have adventures with the pirates. Because, you know, the pirates will take them and make them all pirates, and then they might get marooned on an island and build a ship... I haven’t decided yet. But it’s fun to write about!
Adrian - It seems like it. Who’s going to figure out that she’s actually a girl?
Harlow - One of the pirates. He might fall in love with her or something.
David - Do you know the story about Anne Bonny and Mary Read? Maybe you should write something like that.
Harlow - I don’t know about them...
David - Well, basically they were girls disguised as male pirates, but then they met each other on the same ship. A lot of people think they were, you know, together.
Harlow - So... I should have another girl on board?
David - Maybe, yeah.
Adrian - Or you could have the pirate fall in love with her because she’s disguised as a boy, and then he discovers that she’s actually a girl.
Harlow - I don’t really know if I could write that...
Skyler - I never thought about something like that happening! That’s amazing that you guys did!
David - Well, along with research, writing is kind of about thinking up new ways of approaching things. Which is why I don’t like those vampire books, because the authors didn’t really bother being original.
Skyler - But all the stories are different! And they all happen in different, like, worlds or whatever!
David - I’m just saying what I think. I told you last week you’re allowed to like whatever you want. I just don’t like it.
Harlow - Well, I’ll think about changing the story, I guess. I won’t promise anything, though.
Adrian - Stories take a lot of development, Harlow. That’s kind of why I don’t want to move ahead with my story, because I know everything will change when I get another good idea.
David - But at the same time, you’ve still got to keep writing so that you get better at it.
Skyler - So maybe, like, you have to, like, find the way that you like the best, maybe?
Harlow - That’s probably it. I kind of wish we could learn this stuff in our English classes.
David - I dunno. I kind of like learning it here. We’re going to be the best writers in the whole world by the time we graduate!
Adrian - We can try, I guess.
Harlow - That’s probably a good ending point. We went later this time.
Adrian - That’s okay. I have nothing else to do.
David - Well, my brother is going to take me to the movies later, so I should probably go.
Skyler - And I have a viola lesson.
Harlow - You guys sure are busy. I reserved my Wednesday afternoons for this club. Then I get all my homework done.
Adrian - And I never do anything.
Harlow - Well, bye everyone. Maybe you can stick around, Adrian, and we can do the English homework.
Adrian - I suppose so... I can’t promise I’ll be at school tomorrow...
Harlow - Well, anyway. The second official meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is closed at, uh, 4:22PM on Wednesday, April 9th.
episode 3
Harlow - Hello, everyone. The third meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is called to order at, uh, 3:01PM on Wednesday, April 16th. If we could go around and state who’s here for the recorder?
Skyler - Skyler is present!
David - And David as well.
Adrian - And Adrian...
Harlow - And me, Harlow. Excellent. All present.
Adrian - Because none of us have anything better to do on a Wednesday afternoon.
Skyler - I was actually going to have cheerleading practice.
David - You were going to become a cheerleader?
Skyler - I thought about it, yeah. I wanted to, y’know, make more friends!
Adrian - Are we not good enough for you?
Skyler - No, I just wanted more. So that when you guys are all busy, like, being by yourself, I could have more people to hang out with who wouldn’t, like, get mad at me for talking.
Harlow - Skyler can have as many friends as she’s willing to make.
David - Adrian’s just jealous of your new friends.
Adrian - I am not! And you were the one who was all amazed because she was going to become a cheerleader!
David - I was just asking.
Skyler - It doesn’t matter, because I’m not being a cheerleader anymore.
Harlow - Why not?
Skyler - All the cheerleaders were mean because I sit with you guys at lunch.
David - Ooh, do we have social stigma? I thought we escaped all that by sitting in the corner of the lunchroom.
Adrian - What do they say about us?
Skyler - I dunno. They just said you were, like, weird. I mean, they said I was weird because I, y’know, sat with you guys. So I guess that means you’re weird probably.
Harlow - I guess there are a lot of other things we could be that are worse than weird.
Skyler - And they said other stuff too... I’m not really sure what a lot of it meant, actually. But it didn’t, y’know, sound very nice.
David - I’m glad you decided not to be a cheerleader, Skyler.
Adrian - Although it’s annoying that they scared you away. They shouldn’t bully you out of doing something you want to do.
David - Adrian skips school so much, he forgets what it’s like sometimes.
Adrian - What do you mean?
David - That’s just sort of how school works. And also life, kind of. Except in real life, I think you can actually be like us and be successful. Cheerleaders can only be cheerleaders in high school.
Adrian - Except if they’re hired by the NFL or whatever.
David - But relative to the number of high school cheerleaders in the world? There are very few professional cheerleaders.
Skyler - I just don’t see what makes us, like, so different from the rest of everyone.
Harlow - We’re just quieter. And we make better friends.
David - That’s true. Do you think the cheerleaders will stay friends after they graduate?
Adrian - Well, they do in Glee.
Harlow - Glee is not real life.
Adrian - Unfortunately.
David - But we’ll stay friends! Our souls have been bonded together.
Skyler - They have?
David - Sure. We’ve had all sorts of deep discussions at the lunch table. It means our souls are bonded and we’ll be friends forever.
Adrian - I don’t want my soul bonded to Harlow’s.
Harlow - Gee, thanks.
Skyler - Hey, I don’t want my soul to be bonded to Adrian’s.
David - Too bad, it happened already. Unless you betray each other in your darkest hour, we will all remain best friends. Through thick and thin, through our failures and successes.
Harlow - I like that. It’s like we’re a magical cult or something.
Skyler - We should, like, come up with a vow of friendship.
Adrian - Ugh, please.
David - I think a deep discussion once and a while is good enough. It’ll remind us all that our friends are human and need our support sometimes.
Adrian - Should we change the club name to The Sunshine Support Group?
Harlow - I think our name is fine the way it is, Adrian. I’ll remind you that David and I cheered you up after you were rejected from that summer program you applied to. You can be a little thankful, I think.
Skyler - Wait, you were rejected from something?
Adrian - We don’t need to talk about it.
Skyler - You can’t just leave me out of stuff, guys! I thought we were soul bonded!
Harlow - He applied to a writing program, but was rejected.
Adrian - It’s not really that big a deal. I’ll find something else.
David - Have you decided to be successful? I remember you told us that you would succeed when you decided to.
Adrian - I thought I could try it out for a little while. It isn’t really going well so far.
Skyler - Do you want to be a writer when you grow up, Adrian?
Adrian - I think I do. I like writing and I like talking about writing with you guys. But I’m almost grown up already, and I haven’t done a very good job becoming a writer.
David - We still have three years left before we graduate.
Harlow - I’ve already decided what I’m going to do.
David - Unless you’re Harlow, in which case, you already have your life planned out and don’t need to worry about anything.
Harlow - We all worry about stuff. I just like to have a future that’s figured out, so I don’t have to worry about that part.
Skyler - What’s your plan for the future?
Harlow - I’m going to go to an excellent college and major in some kind of science or technology field, because they lead to the most successful and well-paying jobs. And then I’ll get a job that I love, and I’ll probably get married and have kids.
Adrian - How many kids?
Harlow - Twins. A boy and a girl.
Skyler - Wow, that’s really impressive that you’ve, like, figured everything out!
Harlow - Haven’t you thought a little bit about what you want to do in life?
Skyler - Umm, I want to, like, join a boy band and then live in a castle, like the characters in my books do.
David - Do you know what you want for a job?
Skyler - Maybe a vet. I don’t know, really. Do you know?
David - I don’t really know either. But I want to... I don’t know. I guess... be famous for something.
Skyler - Like an actor? That would be fun.
David - No, no. I would never want to be an actor. I wouldn’t have any privacy or anything. But I still want to, y’know, make people happy when I talk to them. I want to be able to light up people’s days just by waving or smiling at them.
Adrian - You’d have to be pretty famous for that to happen.
David - Well yeah, that’s my plan. I just want to create something really amazing. But I don’t really know what.
Adrian - I guess we can’t all be as figured out as Harlow is.
Harlow - I’ve got to figure it out at some point. Why not now? It’s good to be productive.
Adrian - It’s hard to be sometimes.
Harlow - If you’re not productive now, when will you be?
Adrian - I’ll be productive in college.
David - What if you’re not?
Adrian - Well, I get worried about it sometimes, it’s true. But I worry about a lot of things to do with college and the future and everything.
Skyler - The future is kind of really scary.
David - It’s a long way away, though, guys. We don’t really need to worry about it...
Skyler - Do you worry about the future, David?
David - Of course I do.
Skyler - What do you worry about?
David - You know, I worry that I’m not going to be good enough to do what I want to do.
Harlow - Are you going to apply to college?
David - Maybe. I don’t even know if I want to. But if I don’t go to college, I won’t be able to get a good job. So I pretty much have to go to college, don’t I?
Adrian - Well, when you put it that way.
David - But what am I going to do in college? I’m weird, and I have social stigma. All I do is write stories and I can’t get my work done when I worry about it, and when I go to college I’m going to leave everything I know behind.
Skyler - That’s what I worry about to. I’m really scared to leave everything behind. But sometimes I think that maybe, like, two years from now, we’ll all understand what it means to be, y’know, an adult. Because, like, all the upperclassmen seem like they know how to live and stuff.
David - That’s true. Maybe when we turn sixteen, we’ll understand how the world works.
Adrian - *slightly sarcastically* It’s probably a secret that’s passed down through the generations and on our sixteenth birthday, we’re told the secret of being a successful adult.
Skyler - YEAH! That’s probably exactly what it is!
Adrian - No, I really don’t think so. It’s probably just knowledge gained through experience. Upperclassmen have lived longer than us, so they’ve had more time to understand how everything works.
David - That’s not a lot of time. They must all learn pretty quickly.
Skyler - They learn to drive in, like, a year. Probably once you can drive you’re really an adult.
David - No, I know that’s not true. Because my brother can drive, and he’s not an adult.
Skyler - Are you sure?
David - I’m pretty sure.
Adrian - I guess it’s a mystery. But one that we’ll solve in a few years, hopefully.
Skyler - I don’t know if I want to, y’know, solve it. Being an adult is going to be scary!
Harlow - It’s just a new adventure!
David - *darkly* Yeah, filled with debt and global warming and responsibility.
Skyler - But isn’t it up to us to fix all that?
Adrian - That’s what the adults tell us.
David - So we somehow have to focus on getting ourselves through college and becoming productive members of society, and at the same time, we have to worry about fixing all the problems that older generations made. That’s pretty lame, actually.
Harlow - It’s a noble calling.
Adrian - It would make a good story, that’s for sure. But this is real life. I don’t want to fix everyone else’s problems. I have enough problems of my own.
David - Exactly. And for some reason, adults are really concerned about us, because we’re all so lazy and apathetic. But I think that’s because we want to focus on ourselves, and not on the stuff they want us to fix.
Adrian - I think a revolution is in order.
Harlow - I don’t think it needs to be that drastic, does it?
Skyler - All we have to do is, like, just do what we want. Maybe some time they’ll all, y’know, realize that we don’t have time to fix their problems.
Harlow - That’s true. I mean, I’d much rather work on becoming a better person and learning as much as I can about life than tackle problems that aren’t even mine.
Adrian - Plus we’re going to have lots of different ways of dealing with life. We’re definitely not the same kind of people as the adults.
David - Technology has seen to that, yeah. We’re definitely really different. But I think better, in a lot of ways.
Harlow - Technology just makes the world better. We’re living in the most advanced age of mankind.
Adrian - Yet somehow we can’t even fix simple problems.
David - Maybe someday the adults will learn.
Adrian - I feel like we’re just sort of looking at the world through sad, apathetic eyes.
Skyler - That’s just because we’re too, like, busy to worry about everything. I liked what Harlow said: I want, y’know, to exercise and eat better and learn about things I like and be able to, like, sleep for a whole year.
David - So instead, we watch everyone else’s problems with sad eyes and turn to better ourselves, like every other generation ever.
Adrian - We can’t do everything.
Harlow - I’d like to try to fix some problems, though. I don’t know. I feel like we owe it to someone.
Skyler - To who?
Harlow - Our kids? The world? I don’t know.
David - Maybe if I have free time, I’ll focus on changing the world.
Adrian - But right now, everyone wants us to go to college and get a job. You know. Play the Game of Life. Take my plastic cars around the board. Put a little pink figure in my little plastic car if I land on the “get married” square.
David - And if you don’t land on it?
Skyler - You have to land on it. There’s a big stop sign on the board.
David - What if you don’t want to get married right away?
Skyler - It’s just a game. And besides, everyone wants to get married, because adding extra people to your car, is, like, the best part of the game.
David - Yeah, well, the world isn’t as perfect as The Game of Life thinks it is.
Harlow - We all know that. I don’t think love is as easy as putting a blue man in your car. Not that I know, or anything. But my sister always mopes around because of love.
Skyler - Love might not be easy, but it’s still nice!
Adrian - What experience do you have with love?
Skyler - Uh, none, really. But the books I read all have, like, love stories in them.
Adrian - You know, those stories are about as far from reality as you can get. Which means you have, like, negative experience with love.
Skyler - I do not! And anyway Adrian, it’s not like you have experience with love either.
Adrian - That’s true. But I spend a lot of time watching friends and couples, so that I can write believable characters. So I know what love looks like. And what it doesn’t look like.
Skyler - Well, I know what true love is too. And that’s because I’ve read so many books.
Harlow - Some people write really good love stories. But Skyler, make sure you don’t believe them all the way, because life usually doesn’t end up like in stories.
Skyler - I know that. Obviously.
Adrian - So none of us have any experience with love, basically. Unless... David?
David - Ha, you think I’m the one who’s going to have experience with love?
Adrian - Not really, no. But I wanted to make sure.
David - Sorry to disappoint.
Harlow - We are only 14, guys. We have plenty of time left for love. And for learning about life.
Adrian - That’s true.
David - We just need to relax and enjoy life.
Adrian - That’s hard to do a lot of the time.
Skyler - I think when we, like, have time to, we can think about nice things. Just like how David is going to save the world in his spare time.
Harlow - I like that philosophy.
Adrian - “Work hard and do your best, and when you have some free time, enjoy life.” Maybe that should be our motto for the club.
David - It’s a good motto.
Skyler - I like it too.
Harlow - We’re out of time again, guys. But that’s a good thing to end with.
Adrian - Another deep discussion to deepen the bonds in our souls.
Harlow - The third meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is closed at 4:16PM on Wednesday, April 16th. Bye everyone! Thanks for coming!
[recording stops]
Skyler - Skyler is present!
David - And David as well.
Adrian - And Adrian...
Harlow - And me, Harlow. Excellent. All present.
Adrian - Because none of us have anything better to do on a Wednesday afternoon.
Skyler - I was actually going to have cheerleading practice.
David - You were going to become a cheerleader?
Skyler - I thought about it, yeah. I wanted to, y’know, make more friends!
Adrian - Are we not good enough for you?
Skyler - No, I just wanted more. So that when you guys are all busy, like, being by yourself, I could have more people to hang out with who wouldn’t, like, get mad at me for talking.
Harlow - Skyler can have as many friends as she’s willing to make.
David - Adrian’s just jealous of your new friends.
Adrian - I am not! And you were the one who was all amazed because she was going to become a cheerleader!
David - I was just asking.
Skyler - It doesn’t matter, because I’m not being a cheerleader anymore.
Harlow - Why not?
Skyler - All the cheerleaders were mean because I sit with you guys at lunch.
David - Ooh, do we have social stigma? I thought we escaped all that by sitting in the corner of the lunchroom.
Adrian - What do they say about us?
Skyler - I dunno. They just said you were, like, weird. I mean, they said I was weird because I, y’know, sat with you guys. So I guess that means you’re weird probably.
Harlow - I guess there are a lot of other things we could be that are worse than weird.
Skyler - And they said other stuff too... I’m not really sure what a lot of it meant, actually. But it didn’t, y’know, sound very nice.
David - I’m glad you decided not to be a cheerleader, Skyler.
Adrian - Although it’s annoying that they scared you away. They shouldn’t bully you out of doing something you want to do.
David - Adrian skips school so much, he forgets what it’s like sometimes.
Adrian - What do you mean?
David - That’s just sort of how school works. And also life, kind of. Except in real life, I think you can actually be like us and be successful. Cheerleaders can only be cheerleaders in high school.
Adrian - Except if they’re hired by the NFL or whatever.
David - But relative to the number of high school cheerleaders in the world? There are very few professional cheerleaders.
Skyler - I just don’t see what makes us, like, so different from the rest of everyone.
Harlow - We’re just quieter. And we make better friends.
David - That’s true. Do you think the cheerleaders will stay friends after they graduate?
Adrian - Well, they do in Glee.
Harlow - Glee is not real life.
Adrian - Unfortunately.
David - But we’ll stay friends! Our souls have been bonded together.
Skyler - They have?
David - Sure. We’ve had all sorts of deep discussions at the lunch table. It means our souls are bonded and we’ll be friends forever.
Adrian - I don’t want my soul bonded to Harlow’s.
Harlow - Gee, thanks.
Skyler - Hey, I don’t want my soul to be bonded to Adrian’s.
David - Too bad, it happened already. Unless you betray each other in your darkest hour, we will all remain best friends. Through thick and thin, through our failures and successes.
Harlow - I like that. It’s like we’re a magical cult or something.
Skyler - We should, like, come up with a vow of friendship.
Adrian - Ugh, please.
David - I think a deep discussion once and a while is good enough. It’ll remind us all that our friends are human and need our support sometimes.
Adrian - Should we change the club name to The Sunshine Support Group?
Harlow - I think our name is fine the way it is, Adrian. I’ll remind you that David and I cheered you up after you were rejected from that summer program you applied to. You can be a little thankful, I think.
Skyler - Wait, you were rejected from something?
Adrian - We don’t need to talk about it.
Skyler - You can’t just leave me out of stuff, guys! I thought we were soul bonded!
Harlow - He applied to a writing program, but was rejected.
Adrian - It’s not really that big a deal. I’ll find something else.
David - Have you decided to be successful? I remember you told us that you would succeed when you decided to.
Adrian - I thought I could try it out for a little while. It isn’t really going well so far.
Skyler - Do you want to be a writer when you grow up, Adrian?
Adrian - I think I do. I like writing and I like talking about writing with you guys. But I’m almost grown up already, and I haven’t done a very good job becoming a writer.
David - We still have three years left before we graduate.
Harlow - I’ve already decided what I’m going to do.
David - Unless you’re Harlow, in which case, you already have your life planned out and don’t need to worry about anything.
Harlow - We all worry about stuff. I just like to have a future that’s figured out, so I don’t have to worry about that part.
Skyler - What’s your plan for the future?
Harlow - I’m going to go to an excellent college and major in some kind of science or technology field, because they lead to the most successful and well-paying jobs. And then I’ll get a job that I love, and I’ll probably get married and have kids.
Adrian - How many kids?
Harlow - Twins. A boy and a girl.
Skyler - Wow, that’s really impressive that you’ve, like, figured everything out!
Harlow - Haven’t you thought a little bit about what you want to do in life?
Skyler - Umm, I want to, like, join a boy band and then live in a castle, like the characters in my books do.
David - Do you know what you want for a job?
Skyler - Maybe a vet. I don’t know, really. Do you know?
David - I don’t really know either. But I want to... I don’t know. I guess... be famous for something.
Skyler - Like an actor? That would be fun.
David - No, no. I would never want to be an actor. I wouldn’t have any privacy or anything. But I still want to, y’know, make people happy when I talk to them. I want to be able to light up people’s days just by waving or smiling at them.
Adrian - You’d have to be pretty famous for that to happen.
David - Well yeah, that’s my plan. I just want to create something really amazing. But I don’t really know what.
Adrian - I guess we can’t all be as figured out as Harlow is.
Harlow - I’ve got to figure it out at some point. Why not now? It’s good to be productive.
Adrian - It’s hard to be sometimes.
Harlow - If you’re not productive now, when will you be?
Adrian - I’ll be productive in college.
David - What if you’re not?
Adrian - Well, I get worried about it sometimes, it’s true. But I worry about a lot of things to do with college and the future and everything.
Skyler - The future is kind of really scary.
David - It’s a long way away, though, guys. We don’t really need to worry about it...
Skyler - Do you worry about the future, David?
David - Of course I do.
Skyler - What do you worry about?
David - You know, I worry that I’m not going to be good enough to do what I want to do.
Harlow - Are you going to apply to college?
David - Maybe. I don’t even know if I want to. But if I don’t go to college, I won’t be able to get a good job. So I pretty much have to go to college, don’t I?
Adrian - Well, when you put it that way.
David - But what am I going to do in college? I’m weird, and I have social stigma. All I do is write stories and I can’t get my work done when I worry about it, and when I go to college I’m going to leave everything I know behind.
Skyler - That’s what I worry about to. I’m really scared to leave everything behind. But sometimes I think that maybe, like, two years from now, we’ll all understand what it means to be, y’know, an adult. Because, like, all the upperclassmen seem like they know how to live and stuff.
David - That’s true. Maybe when we turn sixteen, we’ll understand how the world works.
Adrian - *slightly sarcastically* It’s probably a secret that’s passed down through the generations and on our sixteenth birthday, we’re told the secret of being a successful adult.
Skyler - YEAH! That’s probably exactly what it is!
Adrian - No, I really don’t think so. It’s probably just knowledge gained through experience. Upperclassmen have lived longer than us, so they’ve had more time to understand how everything works.
David - That’s not a lot of time. They must all learn pretty quickly.
Skyler - They learn to drive in, like, a year. Probably once you can drive you’re really an adult.
David - No, I know that’s not true. Because my brother can drive, and he’s not an adult.
Skyler - Are you sure?
David - I’m pretty sure.
Adrian - I guess it’s a mystery. But one that we’ll solve in a few years, hopefully.
Skyler - I don’t know if I want to, y’know, solve it. Being an adult is going to be scary!
Harlow - It’s just a new adventure!
David - *darkly* Yeah, filled with debt and global warming and responsibility.
Skyler - But isn’t it up to us to fix all that?
Adrian - That’s what the adults tell us.
David - So we somehow have to focus on getting ourselves through college and becoming productive members of society, and at the same time, we have to worry about fixing all the problems that older generations made. That’s pretty lame, actually.
Harlow - It’s a noble calling.
Adrian - It would make a good story, that’s for sure. But this is real life. I don’t want to fix everyone else’s problems. I have enough problems of my own.
David - Exactly. And for some reason, adults are really concerned about us, because we’re all so lazy and apathetic. But I think that’s because we want to focus on ourselves, and not on the stuff they want us to fix.
Adrian - I think a revolution is in order.
Harlow - I don’t think it needs to be that drastic, does it?
Skyler - All we have to do is, like, just do what we want. Maybe some time they’ll all, y’know, realize that we don’t have time to fix their problems.
Harlow - That’s true. I mean, I’d much rather work on becoming a better person and learning as much as I can about life than tackle problems that aren’t even mine.
Adrian - Plus we’re going to have lots of different ways of dealing with life. We’re definitely not the same kind of people as the adults.
David - Technology has seen to that, yeah. We’re definitely really different. But I think better, in a lot of ways.
Harlow - Technology just makes the world better. We’re living in the most advanced age of mankind.
Adrian - Yet somehow we can’t even fix simple problems.
David - Maybe someday the adults will learn.
Adrian - I feel like we’re just sort of looking at the world through sad, apathetic eyes.
Skyler - That’s just because we’re too, like, busy to worry about everything. I liked what Harlow said: I want, y’know, to exercise and eat better and learn about things I like and be able to, like, sleep for a whole year.
David - So instead, we watch everyone else’s problems with sad eyes and turn to better ourselves, like every other generation ever.
Adrian - We can’t do everything.
Harlow - I’d like to try to fix some problems, though. I don’t know. I feel like we owe it to someone.
Skyler - To who?
Harlow - Our kids? The world? I don’t know.
David - Maybe if I have free time, I’ll focus on changing the world.
Adrian - But right now, everyone wants us to go to college and get a job. You know. Play the Game of Life. Take my plastic cars around the board. Put a little pink figure in my little plastic car if I land on the “get married” square.
David - And if you don’t land on it?
Skyler - You have to land on it. There’s a big stop sign on the board.
David - What if you don’t want to get married right away?
Skyler - It’s just a game. And besides, everyone wants to get married, because adding extra people to your car, is, like, the best part of the game.
David - Yeah, well, the world isn’t as perfect as The Game of Life thinks it is.
Harlow - We all know that. I don’t think love is as easy as putting a blue man in your car. Not that I know, or anything. But my sister always mopes around because of love.
Skyler - Love might not be easy, but it’s still nice!
Adrian - What experience do you have with love?
Skyler - Uh, none, really. But the books I read all have, like, love stories in them.
Adrian - You know, those stories are about as far from reality as you can get. Which means you have, like, negative experience with love.
Skyler - I do not! And anyway Adrian, it’s not like you have experience with love either.
Adrian - That’s true. But I spend a lot of time watching friends and couples, so that I can write believable characters. So I know what love looks like. And what it doesn’t look like.
Skyler - Well, I know what true love is too. And that’s because I’ve read so many books.
Harlow - Some people write really good love stories. But Skyler, make sure you don’t believe them all the way, because life usually doesn’t end up like in stories.
Skyler - I know that. Obviously.
Adrian - So none of us have any experience with love, basically. Unless... David?
David - Ha, you think I’m the one who’s going to have experience with love?
Adrian - Not really, no. But I wanted to make sure.
David - Sorry to disappoint.
Harlow - We are only 14, guys. We have plenty of time left for love. And for learning about life.
Adrian - That’s true.
David - We just need to relax and enjoy life.
Adrian - That’s hard to do a lot of the time.
Skyler - I think when we, like, have time to, we can think about nice things. Just like how David is going to save the world in his spare time.
Harlow - I like that philosophy.
Adrian - “Work hard and do your best, and when you have some free time, enjoy life.” Maybe that should be our motto for the club.
David - It’s a good motto.
Skyler - I like it too.
Harlow - We’re out of time again, guys. But that’s a good thing to end with.
Adrian - Another deep discussion to deepen the bonds in our souls.
Harlow - The third meeting of The Writers of Sunshine is closed at 4:16PM on Wednesday, April 16th. Bye everyone! Thanks for coming!
[recording stops]