I have now progressed to a point where i have created a complete mythos for the world in which i will build the Slenderman Opera, including the purpose of the Slenderman and various other world building details. My post from the other day was a good start and since then it’s progressed well, to the point where i have a complete enough mythos for now.
Also, more importantly, I HAVE THE OVERTURE! In my head. I have to make it of course, but i know what i’m going to do with it. And i like it. I have a thing: the Overture to my operas are a microcosm of the opera itself. Nail the overture, nail the opera. For that reason i will spend extra time on only the overture before i even begin the operas proper. I’ll leave songs in the opera in various states and move on if i think the flow of creation is better served getting an entire act down then going back and properly scaffolding the songs, but not the overtures. The overtures set the entire musical world for the entire piece. Nail the overture, nail the opera.
Now i might as well actually find out what other folks have done with Slenderman.
There are those who tend to get upset and offended by the idea of formulating my own mythos with very, very little knowledge about Slender man (or steampunk when i began the Steampunk Opera). Only after the process is well underway do i bother to do any real research into what the hell the genre already is. I understand how this would be annoying, but alas, i personally find this to be the best way for me. I am interested in creativity, originality and making something interesting, and this works best when my understanding of a genre is superficial and i’m not bound by a million rules and details.
See, it would be different if i were writing fan fiction. If i made something that takes place in another artist’s already established universe then you absolutely cannot break canon. Otherwise, why the hell are you writing in an already established universe? I like steampunk and the other punks and creepypasta because it’s a vague genre with no center and any artist can swing a mythos in any direction they see fit.
I’d rather create a mythos that’s interesting and original, write a story and some characters around it (the actual story and character part i have not done yet, all of this is just a warm up exercise) and THEN dig into other peoples’ takes. I don’t want to create something derivative, i want to create something fresh.
Now that i’m secure in the mythos i’ve made and will set my plot in, i’m ready to slowly start exploring others’ versions of a Slenderman Mythos. (if i’m really far off and really disrespectful to the existent meme i will change the monster to whatever Tall Man variation works best). Also, now that i’m secure in the mythos i’ve made i can start sitting down to write an actual plot. One way that works very well for me is to go somewhere (not my studio) with a notebook, sit down for an hour and simply start free writing. I have a few loose, basic character ideas that could work for either a lead female (probably Lauren) or lead male. I’m not sure if i’ll use this nun idea, but if i go with a variation of it i’d likely use Kayleigh McKnight. On top of this, anyone out there female and have an insanely cool voice? i could also use some fresh blood.
In taking to viewing and posting Slenderman videos (your suggestions are welcome) i feel by far the best place to start is with MarbleHornets. Anyone familiar with Slender Man is undoubtedly quite familiar with this. It is very… subtle. It is committing, all chips in, to the found footage approach and subtle realism. (Something i would not do. In writing an musical opera, i cannot approach this the way a film maker can.)
“Marble Hornets is a YouTube webseries and ARG inspired by the Slender Manonline mythos. The first episode was posted on YouTube on June 20, 2009, following a post its creator Troy Wagner created on Something Awful the previous day. To date, there are 87 entries chronicling the series.”
