John Woo
Shadowdance - Origins, pt 1 by M Woo
The first foray into the Shadowdance world came in a screenplay titled "Requiem for the Lonely," written back in 1996. In "Requiem," lone vampire Adrienne Dupré gets embroiled in a case of mistaken identity.
Adrienne battles alongside a mortal boy and his friends (her Scooby gang) against the city's vampires. In the end, she stops a sorcerer and his big bad demon, even encountering a little romance along the way.
Thus, the Shadowdance was born.
Sort of.
I conceived what would become Shadowdance circa 1996. I loved my vampires and my action. This was before "Blade," before "Underworld," and a year before the TV version of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
At the time, my inspirations were Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels (though I'd really only read one and a half), White Wolf's "Vampire: The Masquerade" role-playing game and a then little known outside of comic books character named Elektra Natchios.
Oh yeah. And a little John Woo action for spice.
In '96, the actual 'Shadowdance' was still a figment of my imagination. "Requiem" was a story about a fictional city called Midnight that vampires and sorcerers called home. There were hierarchies among the vampires and sorcerers, and tension within those hierarchies.
As for characters, Adrienne remained a short, loner ass-kicking female vampire with a past. She just played a little too nice with people and had way too much dialogue. The relationship with her vampire mother, then named Illya, was there, as was the dark manipulation of Adrienne's past.
(For more on that, check out Adriana's bio at the "Shadowdance" website.)
I also have to admit the script kinda sucked. But, as a friend of mine commented, "Adrienne has the potential to be a good action hero."
Potential. That means you wimped out and never accomplished anything. I wasn't gonna let that happen to Adrienne - er, Adriana.
To be continued...
About the Author
Website: http://shadowdancesaga.com
M Woo, a.k.a. Mark Wooden grew up on comic books and movies, living the dream as writer for Affinity Press