Themes. And 'Young Frankenstein.'

My beautiful partner took me to see 'Young Frankenstein - The Musical' last night. Yeah, she's pretty awesome. So awesome that she deserves her own book of sonnets. Maybe a project for another day.

Anyway.

We all learned in school the basic 'Man vs XYZ' set of themes. And without them, quite frankly all you have is an incoherent rambling plot. If you're lucky (I'm looking at YOU 'Phantom Menace').

What's fun in writing is playing with those themes. For example in my series the over-all theme is 'Man vs. The Supernatural' (further broken down into the basic 'Good vs. Evil').

But the theme for the first three books are each very different. 'The Prodigal's Foole,' for example is Man vs. Himself, very much like the musical I saw last night. The second in the series is (for the moment, anyway....I reserve the right to change stuff at any time. On a whim. Or if I'm feeling ornery) Man vs Man. The third is Man vs. the Supernatural.

"How does this compare to 'Young Frankenstein' and where can I get some of what you've been smoking?" you may ask.

Well, the musical (and movie) is the story of the grandson of the infamous monster creator: Victor von Frankenstein. Or as young Dr. Frederick Frankenstein says: "It's FRAHnk-in-STEEN!" The Doctor, it seems, has spent most of his life distancing himself from his family's legacy.

The story begins with the death of our leads' monster-creating relative, and he has to travel back to Transylvania to make arrangements for his grandfather's estate. During his travels, he discovers he cannot hide from his legacy or his destiny, even finally admitting he is, indeed, Doctor FRANKENSTEIN to the crowd gathered to watch his hanging.

It's about admitting who you are. And apparently nice knockers ('sank you very much!').

'The Prodigal's Foole' is about Symon's rediscovery of who he really is and standing up to finally accept his destiny. He's a practitioner. And he was trained to use magic to fight evil. The book chronicles his journey back to his path.

As the monster in 'Young Frankenstein' said during the Puttin' on the Ritz number: "SUPAH-DOO-PAH!" At least I think so.