Thursday, September 30, 2004

(24AUN) Status 9/30

Wow! 7 posts in one day! Seriously, I hope you check out the Origins series. They give the basic origins of 24:AU, right up to right now. Start at Episode I and work your way through. Kinda like Star Wars!

As of today:
-Started handwritten outline of ep 14.
-Started typed outline of ep 3.
-Finished origins for this blog.

See you next post!

(24AUN) Origins Episode VI: Return of the Ideas

September 2004.

I started the new school year and I got back to writing. I wrote the outline of episode 13 in less than a week. That brings us to today, and things are back to normal. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this series soon, but I'll let you know how it goes.

(24AUN) Origins Episode V: The Writer's Block Strikes Back

In early May 2004, with school out of the way, I was perfectly ready to start on 24:AU again. This time, instead of writing scripts for it, I started a massively detailed outline--so that I could write the scripts later. I worked all summer on it, completing outlines for episodes 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 by the beginning of August. August was a problem, though. With the new school year approaching and work just as hectic as ever, I couldn't get any ideas for the series. I hit another writer's block, halfway through episode 12. It annoyed the hell out of me, since I was carrying around my drafts but I couldn't get to working on them. At the same time, I was working on outlines for the first five scripts that I had written, to make them mesh better with the episodes of the summer. The problem was, I had only written about 20 minutes of material for episode 2. I had to re-write the episode completely, and that was a major pain in the ass. I was getting jaded out of the series.

(24AUN) Origins Episode IV: A New Beginning

January 2004-April 2004

During this time, I worked hard on 24: AU. I was writing the scripts to the first 5 episodes, and working at a pretty decent pace considering that I was working and going to school at the same time. (Eventually I will post some of my early outlines for that time). I was rocking--right up until April 2004. Then I hit a brick wall. A writer's block. I didn't have any more ideas for the series. I had finished the scripts right up to episode 5, but I was burned out. Plus, it was finals time at school, and I was working more than ever. I was just done with the series. I was determined to finish it, but I had nowhere else to go.

(24AUN) Origins Episode III: Revenge of the Ideas

December 2003. This is when 24: AU would really begin. Sometime during the first week of that month, I typed up a quick outline of the first five hours of 24:AU. It was extremely basic (perhaps I'll post it once the fan fic is finished), but it served my purposes. When the internet crashed at work one day that month, I began working on a script. In two days, I had a ten-page script that would eventually become the first episode of the season. I was off to a rolling start. Ideas were starting to come to me, and in January 2004, 24: Altered Universe officially began.

(24AUN) Origins Episode II: Attack of the Ideas

Okay, so now you know basically how I became a 24 fan--the history right up through 2002. Now we come to January 2003, but I need to give you a little more background first.

I'm a huge Star Wars fan. I have been since long before I was ever a 24 fan, and I will be for long after. Therefore, it stands to reason that a massive 24-related project of mine would also have ties to Star Wars.
During the years between the release of the films Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Lucasfilm, in association with Dark Horse Comics, put out three series of comics that were "off the beaten path," shall we say. These are called Infinities. Specifically, Infinities: A New Hope, Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back, and Infinities: Return of the Jedi. These series take one plot point from the movies and alter it, showing a kind of "what if?" scenario within the Star Wars universe. I first discovered them in late 2002/early 2003, and I was hooked. I:ANH changes the end of the original film--showing what would happen if Luke's proton torpedoes did not destroy the Death Star. It's a very well done series--if unusual at times. I:ESB is a worse series, because I noticed that they began altering things in the story that WOULD NOT have been affected by the storyline change (in this case, Luke dies on Hoth). This bothered me immensely, and it's a rule I tried very hard to stick to with AU. Only events that would have been effected by the change are. Either way, I:ANH put the idea into my head of changing an event in a major existing timeline.

Back to 24. In late January 2003, FOX produced an "official" (yeah, real official!) book, called 24: The House Special Subcommittee's Findings at CTU. It's a work of fiction that follows a Congressional hearing on the events of the first season, and in one part, Jack Bauer is discussing the portion of the day where he shot Nina, and wonders what would have happened if he hadn't saved her--would Teri still be alive? When I read that, a lightbulb clicked on in my head. I have GOT to do that!

Unfortunately, at the time I was rather busy with my senior year of high school, a new job, and a major story that I had to write for one of my classes. Although the ideas percolated in my head, 24:AU would have to wait.

Sometime during the summer of 2003, I gave it a shot to start writing 24:AU. I got a few notes here and there, a few extremely basic outlines, but nothing serious at all. In Fall of 2003, I about gave up on it. You see, my original plan was to write it as a novel and write all 24 episode of the first season, and every episode that followed. Ambitious little thing, wasn't I? Well, I realized exactly how much writing that meant, and I just about gave up. 24:AU was a dream that would never become a reality.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

(24AUN) Origins Episode I: The Phantom Beginnings

I promised you that I'd reveal the origins of 24: Altered Universe, so here's the first part. I'll try to keep it as simple as possible.

For this part of the origins, I'll just give you a timeline of 24 events up to January 2003.
April 2001- FOX2 (WJBK) in Detroit went on the air to say that there would be a television show coming in the fall that would be in real-time. I was already intrigued.
April 2001-August 2001- Commercials for 24 and more news on the show get me excited to see it. By the beginning of September, I can't wait for it to start.
November 2001- The show finally aired. I was instantly hooked.
December 2001- On a school vacation, I searched for a website on 24. I found the official site, fox.com/24.
January 2002- I started lurking on the Official 24 Forum at prospero.com.
February 2002- I joined the forum. I'm officially a 24 nut.
October 2002- The second season of the show starts. I'm such a huge fan at this point, I'm typing more and more on the 24 forum.

That's all for this post. The next one will have the actual beginnings of the fanfic.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

(24AUN) Status 9/28

Okay, my status so far:

Just finished the handwritten outline draft for episode 13. Moving right along to episode 14.

Have yet to start on the typed outline draft for episode 3.

Soon, I'm going to start a series of posts on the origins of the series, which date back to April 2001.

Don't have much to say right now, so I'll talk to you all later.

Monday, September 27, 2004

(24AUN) Format info

Hey, I just thought I should post this so you understand what I'm talking about--the writing processes and the formatting I use.

First, there were several "phases" of writing on 24: AU.

Phase 1: Typed and handwritten ideas and outlines on 24AU, created between February 2003 and November 2003. Nothing has survived of this phase.
Phase 2: Early outlines and script drafts on 24AU, written between November 2003 and January 1, 2004. Only a few copies remain, and only two text documents remain.
Phase 3: First drafts of the scripts for episodes 1-5, outlines and notes to correspond. All manuscript. Written between January 2004 and April 2004. All documents have survived.
Phase 3.1: An abandoned idea for a separate story The Alternate Versions of 24: Altered Universe, which would have chronicled the writing process of the series. Written in April 2004.
Phase 4: Typescript outlines for episodes 6-8. Written in April 2004.
Phase 5: Handwritten outline for episode 6 through the end. Begun in May 2004, and still active (at episode 13). This includes several typescript drafts of the outlines as well, but the most current version is a handwritten set of papers that number well over 100 as of right now.
Phase 6: 24: Altered Universe- THE COMPLETE OUTLINE. File typed on the computer from August 2004 to present, which will be the final outline for the series. Currently complete to the beginning of ep 3.
Phase 7: The scripts for the show--not yet started.

So I'm working on two different portions of 24AU at the same time right now. Handwritten outlines for the final episode of the series, and a typed outline for the entire series. The handwritten portion is up to about halfway through episode 13. The typed outline is at the beginning of episode 3. I've still got a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm making progress.

Yes, that date said February 2003. That was when I first had the idea to do 24AU. I didn't actually start working on it with any kind of dedication until the end of the year, but yeah, I have been doing this for about a year and a half already. Hopefully it will be up to expectations!

Sunday, September 26, 2004

(24AUN) Preview #2

Hey, welcome back. Just had to post this. This is a preview of an episode of 24AU. I'm not saying which episode, but check it out anyway. Episode numbers have been hidden to protect the episode.

Next time, on 24: Altered Universe....

For xx hours, Jack Bauer has fought to stop an assassination attempt.
Events have changed...
His destiny altered...
And now, the unthinkable will happen.
Jack Bauer will fail.

"The senator is down! I repeat, the senator is down! Get him out of there now!"

Only xx more episodes remain in the fan fiction in which nothing is certain, and the future of 24 will be changed forever.

Coming soon to the 24 Forum.

Friday, September 24, 2004

(24AUN) Weekend

Well, I just thought I'd say where I'm at going into the weekend. No progress on the final outline for ep 2, but I'm about 1/2 through the rough draft outline for episode 13.

Next week, I hope to post on this site--
--futher updates on the progress
--details on the processes I'm using to write this, so you know what I'm talking about when I say "notes" or "outline," etc.
--another preview of the series; in one form or another.
--proof that I'm legitimately insane.

See you next week!

Thursday, September 23, 2004

(24AUN) Status 9/23

Hey, I got started on outlining episode 13. At the rate I'm working on it, I should be done with it at the latest by next weekend.

I'm telling you guys, this project is big! I once estimated the total possible script pages for the finished project at over 1000. We'll see if it actually gets to be that long.

I'm still working on my final outline for episode 2. You see, I originally wrote the script for episode 2 back in January, but I really screwed up the times. As it turns out, I had about 40 minutes to fill in the episode! I had only written a 20 minute episode. So I'm reworking that. Fortunately, going back at this point gives me the benefit of knowing the full storyline from that point on, so I can place more plot threads back there that will eventually pay off. Well, it's back to work for me--both to earn money, and to finish this project.

Another day, another dollar.

Better cliche:
Same shit, different day.

--JackBauer24

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

(24AUN) Preview #1

The following is a preview of one scene of 24: Altered Universe.

After Jack and Nina go missing in the morning, Tony calls Mason to take charge of CTU, but Mason is defending Jack rather than hunting him down. In this scene, Tony has entered Jack's office, where Mason has set himself up.

Mason: I don’t remember calling you up.

Tony: Look, you can cover it up in front of everyone else out there, but I know what’s been going on today. I know that there’s something else going on with you and Jack. Why are you covering for him?

Mason: I told you before. I have some information that might change things.

Tony: What is it?

Mason: Tony, do I need to remind you who’s the superior here? I do not need to explain myself to you.

Tony: I think in this case, you might have to. Come on, George. You don’t fool me. You don’t care about procedure any more than Jack does as long as you can cover your own ass. How does helping a potentially rogue agent help you?

(Mason sighs, frustrated)

Mason: If I tell you, will you get out of my office?

(Tony pauses)

Tony: Yeah. Okay.

Mason: Fine. Let’s just say that the loss of Nina Myers may not be as detrimental to CTU as you would think.

Tony: What do you mean?

Mason: I mean that Jack gave me some information earlier today that makes this whole thing look very bad for Nina. If Jack’s doing what I think he’s doing, then we need to give him all the support we can, instead of sending everybody down his back.

Tony: Are you saying that Nina was working against us?

Mason: All I’m saying is that we could give Jack the benefit of a doubt in this case. Whatever your feelings toward Nina might be.

(Tony bristles at that, but says nothing about it)

Tony: He’s not making it easy, by staying out of contact.

Mason: Look at it from his perspective. He had to know that someone would catch him on tape, and it would look pretty bad for him. Hell, you called me in because of it. We will find him, and he will be able to explain this.

Tony: What if he can’t? What if he really is working against us?

Mason: You know him as well as I do. You tell me.

(24AUN) Status 9/21

Okay, here's the status of 24AU as of today--

I'm working on it in two phases: One is a handwritten first draft outline, and the other is a typed final draft of the outline, and I work on them quite regularly.

The typed final is currently at about 8:40, which is the end of the second episode.

The first draft complete for the first 12 episodes, and I have notes preparing me for the final 5.

Just to let you know how long this fan fic will be, the outline alone is more than 100 handwritten pages SO FAR. I'm not done yet.

Just to get you started, my next post will give you a preview of a scene from the series. Until the next update, this is JackBauer24.

Monday, September 20, 2004

(24AUN) What is 24: Altered Universe?

Early in the first season of the FOX show 24, federal agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is ordered to kill fellow agent Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke). He fools the terrorists controlling him by giving her a protective jacket, and she survives the gunshots. Later in the season, she is revealed as a mole in the agency working for the terrorists and kills Jack's wife Teri.

What if he had never given her the flak jacket that saved her life?

That's the premise of 24AU. I am re-writing the first season of 24 from that point, to show just how different things may have been. It's a fun way to bring back characters from the first season, and hopefully, you will all enjoy it when it is finished. In this blog, you can follow the progress (albeit slow) on this audacious work of fan fiction.