Unwise projects, failed attempts and other embarrassing things we created

[vothnthorvaldson]

Let's discuss our worst projects! More precisely those which were a bad idea from the beginning, and that we look back at with embarrassment (but also maybe with benevolence and tenderness... Depends how much time passed, I suppose! )

This idea is from this thread : https://forums.tapas.io/t/the-importance-of-thinking-short/55603/22

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In my case, the first bad ones I remember were poems heavily influenced by (plagiarized from?) Gerard de Nerval (French poet and novelist who wrote a lot about (and with) mental illness and with who I used to identify a lot).

I was obsessed by this author during my 11-14 yo period but obviously was entirely missing the necessary life experience and poetry skills. I wrote dozens of poems in his style which were absolutely terrible. What's a bit sad is that I stopped writing poetry entirely after a few years because I never got free from that influence even after realizing it was no good (I suppose because I was so young? Or maybe I did not try enough).

More fun: My other obsession in these years was Monkey Island 2. And yes, I totally wrote a Nerval and Monkey Island 2 crossover. WTF was I thinking?

Other later errors:
- writing modern day teen stories, but in a general Beat Generation mood (probably would be excellent if made well but nope when I was a older teen/young adult);

• thinking Proustian sentences are versatile and can be used everywhere (including scientific literature; I feel so sorry for my first advisor);

• trying to emulate Faulkner's style for intellectually handicapped Benjy into French for one of my character (the way I did it would probably have been very offensive... if it was not an autobiographical character! Again, what was I thinking?). There were many more but these ones are the most embarrassing.

My latest one, that is just a few years ago and still stings a bit, is of another kind.
It was an illustrated novel that was really too ambitious. Maybe not theoretically a bad idea, but anything that is so ambitious that it is not possible to implement, is somewhat a mistake.

It was a story about two characters of different social classes in Sumer as discovered in a Medieval French manuscript adapted from an older Arabic manuscript. By the time I would have done enough research to make that work I would probably have had time to write a PhD thesis. BAD idea!
But it still stings because I loved the idea and already had passed a lot of time working on it when I realized it was silly.

Ok now, I'd like to hear all YOUR embarrassing stories!

[therosesword]

Shakespeare meets dystopian apocalypse stage play complete with witches, weird creatures and... OMG I'm laughing thinking about. And dang I was an adult, I can't even claim youthful exuberance!

hahahahahahahahah

I went so far as to produce it for a playwright festival and a local sci-fi group let me put it on.

this is why I drink (just joking).

I still have one of the costume pieces that overlook my workstation... a little sword of Damocles, if you will, lest I get a little too cocky for my own good.

(oh, and let's not even mention my Tennessee Williams phase in high school)

[vothnthorvaldson]

Well, I don't know how the play was, and will trust you on the fact is was not the best idea in the world...
BUT. I love the mask! I have a special place in my heart for these kind of homemade costumes and decors
I'm actually working on a model scale theater with such kind of decor

[therosesword]

It was meant to be some sort of statement on the dire consequences of rampant pollution, thus ended my meaningful writing.

I think the director suggested a sex scene to liven things up a bit, oh dear, the memories are flooding back. I had some really terrific actors and they did their level best, the whole festival had over 200 plays in it so a LOT of experimental (good and bad) stuff. I remember one of the guys chewing on the heroine's costume... damn I'm out of bourbon.

Every now and then someone in the group of friends will say something and there will be this dead silence and then we all fall over laughing.

Frankly, I truly think we should ALL have something like this in our background: that one thing that is so cringeworthy it becomes a legend.

Hail all ye sinners to The Weir (oh phoey I remembered the title) ahahahahahahah

I'm a firm believer in being able to laugh at yourself.

[vothnthorvaldson]

I remember one of the guys chewing on the heroine's costume...

Now I feel like adding it to my list of 'shows I'm upset I missed'

I'm a firm believer in being able to laugh at yourself.

Absolutely. It is so much healthier than remaining upset over past errors. Plus, it's a good way to assess our progress.
That's in theory. Sometimes it's harder than others. But whatever little/lot we can laugh about is better than nothing

[therosesword]

Now I feel like adding it to my list of 'shows I'm upset I missed'

This is why I love the movies Noises off and.... oh this one, really this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZnqXhgKA0k

[Undertaildoof34]

one poor story idea I somewhat wrote was a story called clock hero. It had potential....I guess. It was a story idea where magic creatures had taken refuge from humans deep underground and to keep the piece the great wizard merlin bestowed each elemental kingdom with a hero weapon that would choose a hero. now the sixth weapon that merlin made unlike the others was not to choose a hero unless things go to hell in a handbaskit. In which the sixth weapon is the clock. The actual story began with how a human got chosen to be the clock hero instead of a mystical creature. Then it goes in how he getts involved in the magic world and how there are demons and all..... My idea i geuss was what if there was a hero for dark creatures to. But i just see it as a flop so i stopped working with it.

[cherrystark]

I didn't "create" it, but I stage managed a show where the director wanted the actors to have complete "free expression". I directed a third of the show because he and his wife/co-director needed to "coach" the actors on their acting styles. He never required the actors to learn their lines, they could adapt their monologues anyway they saw fit because according to the director, they were "storytellers". Storytelling is different than regular theatre. The shows I've been to, the storyteller usually just goes on stage and tells the story. No change of light cues required.

Overall, it was a shambles of a production even on the standards of a college-level children's theatre production. It was embarrassing to work with that director. I did double-duty that semester and worked as a costume manager on another show in the department, just to work on a more "professional" show.

[therosesword]

Sounds rather intriguing. why shouldn't the dark creatures have a hero?

I'd go with it. Maybe try a different approach that appeals to you better, this one sounds like you're not all that fond of it, but the core part, dark creatures having their own hero, that seems to stick.

[Undertaildoof34]

Yeah i probably should use a different approach. But yeah i thought about that. Cuz if you notice what creatures are abused the most through a lot of stories shadow demon type of creatures. Like i thought what if not all shadow creatures are mindless.
I did human for the clock hero because i thought it would fit most. Humans are innovative and adaptive. The clock gives the user the ability to create whatever machines they want. The hero's only limit is imagination. Like one idea i had was if the hero created a mechanical dragon that had it's own thoughts.

[vothnthorvaldson]

Yep, from what I understand of this, this is not necessarily a bad idea, but can go into the 'failed attempt' category, @Undertaildoof34. Could probably have a later 'successful attempt' if you are still enthusiastic about it.

@cherrystark I can't imagine having to work with ANOTHER PERSON's bad idea Sounds horrible.
I mean, maybe not the idea in itself... I think it can work when people really know each others and their acting style etc and are all enthusiastic about the idea.. The fact you said the director had to coach the actors for that makes me feel it was not the case

[therosesword]

I can't imagine having to work with ANOTHER PERSON's bad idea

I feel called out, LOL

[cherrystark]

The majority of the actors were green freshmen so they were completely on board with everything that happened. My assistant SM and I would sit there dumbfounded by some of the things he approved. On top of everything, he was the playwright too.

[therosesword]

Some day we need to get together and go over theatrical disasters.... lol

[vothnthorvaldson]

You already got tarred and feathered earlier on the thread so this is forgiven

[therosesword]

On top of everything, he was the playwright too.

oh hell, I'm totally called out!!! hahahahahaha

[crowstories]

I mean I knew my current project was probably a bad choice before I started it, but it's my learning-to-make-a-comic project, so I wanted to use a story I wasn't TOO invested in.... those are for after I learn to draw.

[pilot-obvious]

I was really into animating when I was a kid. My series was originally going to be an animated series. 12 year old me eventually realized that a 24 episode series wasn't very practical, so by the time I was 14, I thought, "Hey... maybe a movie is more realistic."

Part 1 took me 5 years to make. Here's the result: (warning for some major violence in the beginning) https://youtu.be/Iph2qZst3M8

I gotta give teenage me credit for making that, but I do kind of look back in embarrassment. Part 2 never got finished.

I would categorize this under a failed attempt that was super unwise and slightly embarrassing. I feel like a webcomic is much more fun and manageable, but if I were to do an animated story again, I would make it a short one off film (~5 minutes max)

[cherrystark]

We should! haha. You'd probably the laugh and cringe about some of the stories I could tell you about this director

[sevenstarsofeightIam]

I cannot say it was actually a bad idea or that I am embarrassed, but I must confess I might have never been able to finish it. The idea was a post-apocalyptic adventure/mystery done completely in verse. The verse was meant to emulate famous poets. I could knock out a poem in another's style but they did not come across. All of my poetry and songwriting attempts have come from my head rather than my heart. I wrote parts of it, then, time and tide washed in and erased the effort. Decades later, it is a vague memory. I did, however, preserve a verse of one poem done in the style of The Raven by E. A. Poe.

Drones in form a bit uneven,
Ride upon the winds of heaven,
Searching through the lost and pitiful people of our time,
And at times I almost wonder,
What we have they've need to plunder,
They're the ones that have the lives that seem so full and fine.
But I go on with my task,
And never think upon nor ask,
Another why it is we bask in light that's dead and gone.
I tell myself I must run on.

Something like that.