Problems for Tomorrow (Vol. II): Thirteen Orphans
Problems for Tomorrow are projects that I haven't been able to figure out how to complete, posted so they wouldn't go forgotten and to document my process. Suggestions and ideas are greatly encouraged and appreciated.
The world doesn't know what to do with people like us.
Four sickeningly toxic, traumatized young women, alienated from normal society by their own destructive behavior, find themselves locked in a permanent, high-stakes Mahjong rivalry. They routinely bleed each other of money, hurl vicious insults, and sabotage each other's lives. Yet, Mahjong requires exactly four players. No more, and no less.
(rue is my favourite character, but I consider Emily an icon and a staple of the universe. shes too girlboss)
Sometime around march this year, I had this conversation in my friends Discord server.
Me:
m planning a Canon ill be working on after tlh And its just a bunch of asshole nutjob women If I gave you a character description and told you to take every creative liberty you hage to come up witj their character design would you do ut
Lemy
AMi mean i could Try
(please ignore the god awful typing. i think i was on my phone)
And like every single good idea I've ever had (I don't think I've ever had a good idea), I stole one of Lemys OC's and shoved her into the story as a creative pivot for the rest of the characters.
Present
Thirteen Orphans (13o) is a psychological drama centered on four broken women living in a dilapidated two-room apartment above a failing dry cleaner. The narrative is anchored by their collective competitiveness in Mahjong.
The characters are named after the cardinal directions to the Mahjong wind tiles, each representing a different failure of the traditional world.
Emily is a warden. A hyper-vigilant manipulator with a god complex who grew up as the secret adult for addict parents. She keeps the others caged and broken because she only feels useful when fixing a crisis.
Vivienne is a surgical instrument. She is a disgraced high-society heiress and a data auditor who views people as variables. She is secretly their financial shield that keeps them afloat while maintaining her icy elitism.
Wren is the scavenger. A pathological liar and grifter with Dissociative Identity Disorder (alters: Raine and Ora). She survives by mirroring the needs of others, acting as the houses social lubricant while secretly hoarding for her own survival.
Rue is a black hole. A self-destructive addict seeking punishment for the accident that left her brother brain-damaged. She is the group's scapegoat, wielding her nihilism like weapon to drag the others into her despair.
As a continued pattern in trope defiance in my writing, 13o explores survival through utility as opposed to a found family where characters heal each other with love. These women don't necessarily like each other, in fact, they are often cruel, elitist, or manipulative. However, they are psychologically locked together by their trauma-induced roles.
Traditionally, a story's goal is for characters to get better. This is technically true in the case of 13o, however their history and trauma prevent them by healing in a traditional manner. The separation that the characters face leave them utterly incompatible with most of society. Each characters worst traits are the only things keeping them alive, which means healing said things would leave them exposed and vulnerable to the outside world, which is a far more complex conflict than "will they be happy?"
The Wall
It's an uncommon occasion where I find myself stuck at a wall not because I don't have an idea, but because I am struggling to maintain the thematic integrity of the characters. In my projects I continue to feel the desire to create a Hero's Journey once again, to send the characters away on a grand expedition, but every time I force the girls out the apartment, they have to come back.
As I was going through my Rue high (she's my favorite) I built a complete, compelling story line written specifically for her. It works for her character, it has an emotional and narrative direction, but the moment it is implemented, the other three characters fade into the background.
The intention has always been to create an ensemble piece. This is a compromise I am not willing to make. These four characters are a very intentionally built chemical compound.
The real wall is the core thesis of the story itself: these women shouldn't leave these walls. It is a study of why society can never truly accept them. They are not "lovable rogues" or "misunderstood victims" waiting for a hug and a reception arc. They are functional monsters forged by a world that views them as faulty or unwashed. If they step outside, they are asked for a level of humanity they have already traded for survival.
The Future
I need a crisis that demands the absolute worst from all the women. What is the one thing that all four monsters would be willing to fight for, or the one thing they are all equally afraid to lose?
But these characters have traded happiness for survival. If I refuse to give them a traditional redemption arc, what does a victory look like for them? Is "we managed to stay in this room for another year" a satisfying ending, or do they need to collectively burn down the world that rejected them?
Thirteen Orphans is about being broken and stuck. If not incredibly pretentious, maybe my own struggle to unstick them is simply a reflection of the narrative's own truth. To force them out into the traditional Hero's Journey would be to kill the very things that make them breathe.
The question I need to ask myself is what I want for these characters. But until that storm arrives to sweep them away, they stay behind a double-bolted door, sitting in a two-bedroom apartment above a dry cleaner, watching the winds of their dingy neighborhood. They are a problem for tomorrow, because today, they are simply trying to endure.
