WHY I MADE THIS
There’s this story that has bumping around in my brain for years now.
I was living in Beijing at the time, and I remember sitting at my desk thinking about all my favorite books, movies, and stories of all time. While I sat there I realized how little of the media I consumed was diverse in any way. Many of my best friends in middle and high school were Asian, and they were awesome, smart, and oh so funny! But there were next to no movies or popular books (that I knew of) with these kinds of protagonists. A story began to form in my head staring a strong, kind, Chinese girl in early 1900’s western United States. I did a lot of digging into what life was like for Chinese immigrants in those days. I learned a lot of sad things that I was not taught in my US history classes.
The story was originally intended to become a musical film, but while I was writing the screenplay I fell so in love with the characters that I felt they needed more development.
SYNOPSIS
Daniel doesn’t feel like he belongs in New York, he yearns to venture west in search of gold and experience.
Its a shame he is 30 years late to see that dream come true.
In a small town in eastern California lives a Chinese girl who belongs more to the town than in it. With no family and no name, she is as good as invisible to the world; sometimes she even wishes she was.
When Daniel passes through her town, he sees her. Not just her foreign face and dirty dress, but her. And for the first time in her life, she is not alone.
Together and apart, they learn to toe the line between contentment and never ending hunger for adventure. They deal with the fallout of the 1906 Earthquake of San Francisco. They uncover terrifying truths about the history of her people.
In the end, they are left to wonder who, where, or to what cause, if any, their hearts should belong.
I submitted CHAPTER 8 of the book.
