Groundwork: "The Santa Society" part 1: Conceptualization

Welcome to the beginning of my planning series for the story which I am tentatively calling "The Santa Society." At this point all I have is a basic concept about a family who runs a very secret organization based on the Santa Claus myth. I've had a few ideas about how to pursue this story, about characters and plot ideas and such. When I come up with ideas I think that subconsciously I tend to put it into the form of a movie trailer.  But with this one, no matter what I come up with, somehow the trailer seems to play out like TV Movie made for the Hallmark channel during holiday season.

So it's time to come up with a real concept.

So first of all, the business here is a non-profit organization. What exactly does that mean anyway? According to Wikipedia, a nonprofit organization is business or an organization that uses its surplus income to achieve the its larger goals, instead of paying out dividends. The funds could also be used for expansion, or self preservation.

What kind of organization would this be then? Well, the whole idea of this organization is to follow the Santa Clause myth, and perpetuate it's goals and ideals, and to do the whole thing in secret to allow Santa to remain real in the minds and hearts of children. But it's also a huge multinational conglomeration that more or less runs the Santa Claus industry, from administering the rights to the likeness and trademark of Santa Claus, to organizing the department store Santas and running the Santa college. But also organizing and administering an enormous charity that works year round, but but is at its busiest during the time between Thanksgiving and New Years, though in more recent years that's been pushing back closer and closer to Halloween. This means a huge distribution center, and warehouse full of food, medical supplies, toys, games, clothes, school supplies, musical instruments, furniture, etc. This means a massive organization of transportation, logistics, warehouse picking, wrapping,  delivery, and so on and so forth, using lots of automation, requiring lots of oversight.

Meaning lots of people involved. And most of them in the same family. Okay then. So what we're looking at is an ensemble cast of characters, like for example an Aaron Sorkin show like Sports Night or The West Wing. Or that show Parenthood.

Okay, sorted. But of course that's not enough to make a story. Every good story needs conflict. So with a big organization like this they're bound to attract the attention of big greedy corporations hoping to find a way to exploit the organization, legal means or otherwise. So one particular business interest is trying to buy a part of the company, such as the rights to the Santa trademark. They're willing to pay a ton of money for it, but they're willing to use other means of forcing the issue. But of course that's just the backdrop for the melodrama of the family conflict. There'll be some kind of brother vs brother (or sister) thing, where in the end there's some kind of emergency situation that forces them to work together, and they end up resolving their issues. Their sister the geek will be trying to cope with the issues of a family that doesn't understand her, but ends up coming up with a geeky solution to a complicated problem.

Now you know that writing is really about taking ideas and putting them together in different ways. There really are no new or original ideas any more, just new ways of putting those ideas together. I used to agonized for days if I thought that I'd come up with a good idea, then discovered that someone else had come up with it first. Then I saw this series called Everything is a Remix, and realized that many of the people I admired as some of the most creative people in the world, who had created some of the works I loved the most, had actually just remixed those ideas from others. In fact there's an entire website dedicated to these things called "tropes" and how and where they appear in modern popular culture. And it's a writers paradise when you're stuck for an idea. So I have absolutely no qualms whatsoever about borrowing heavily from other works, or at least borrowing their tropes. For example I really like the Prodigal Hero trope, I may have to find a way to incorporate that. I think I could also use Politically Incorrect Villain as an antagonist who thinks that charity work is a chumps game, and has "views" about people who don't care about Capitalism. But keep in mind that while these tropes can help to flesh out a character, they shouldn't completely define that character.

But for now, I think I have a good foundation. The next thing to do is work on history. First the history of the family, and the organization because that will inevitably inform the viewpoint of the characters. Then I'll need a "Dramatis personæ" or at least a basic list of main characters and their roles in the story, relationships to one another etc.  Then I'll create their histories, flesh out their personalities, outline the plot, the basic stuff. Then: We dive into the story.

And of course you're welcome to come along for the ride! Feel free to post any comments, suggestions, thoughts, or ideas in the comments section below, and remember, if I don't use your idea exactly don't feel bad, it might just be a fantastic jumping off point for something else, or it might spark a completely different idea that I wouldn't have had otherwise. That happens all the time. OR it's just possible that you may have your own idea, and want to start writing something for yourself.

I'll be trying to work on this idea, and the Fantasy in the Modern World story, maybe alternating back and forth, between the two just in case some people like the one idea more than the other. I'll also put up some of my other fiction, a little at a time of course. Have to build up that anticipation!

Feel free to share, I'm always eager for more feedback and would love a wide range of viewpoints. But for now, thanks for reading!