STORY DETAILS
Storyline Creation Date:
Idea: 1980s
First known writing: 1980s
Stories:
Captain Catfood
CONTENT WARNINGS
Generic warnings: Mild violence.
DISCLAIMERS
None.
STORYLINE HISTORY/INSPIRATION
My memory of the creation of this particular storyline is unusually clear, considering how long ago it was. I was in elementary school, probably between fourth and sixth grade, as I seem to recall being a student in "upper hall" (what we called fourth to sixth grades, which were located on one side of the school with the courtyard marking the school's center, while kindergarten through third grade were on the other side in "lower hall"--the two sides of the school even stuck to their own sides of the playground--I used this in the original version of Akhenaton & Nefertiti). I obtained a book on how to draw cats, probably through the Weekly Reader book club flyer. It was one of those oversized but slim, simple paperback volumes for children; I seem to recall it had a white cover, and the drawing style was realistic, not cartoony, e. g., offering tips on depicting different fur textures with pencil, but I can't locate it with a Google search. Anyway, I have a specific memory of sitting on the bus looking at this book with a casual friend, Jason C. (there were two, unrelated Jason C.'s, and their middle names were Edmond and Edward, so...we just called them Big and Little Jason--I was on distant but decent terms with Big Jason, he lived nearby we waited at the same bus stop, whereas Little Jason was a bully), and we were brainstorming ideas for the different cats in the book, with a pirate theme. I drew a tabby in a pirate hat (maybe also a peg leg and/or eyepatch?) and called him Captain Catfood. I later started coming up with ideas for his crew, and they were all named after parts of a ship and/or nautical/pirate terms; the only one I remember for sure anymore is Mizzenmast, but there was a whole list of them eventually.
Now, here's the weird thing about this memory: Jason and I were casual acquaintances, but I didn't hang out with him, and I definitely didn't make up stories with him. I did that only with my closest friends, and often not even with them, as sometimes they were rather dismissive of my interests. (A few times after I summoned the courage to share story/character ideas with my then-close friends, they joked and ridiculed them, so I closed off and didn't discuss it again. More often, they just didn't show any return interest. In all my life, I had only one friend, Mya S., who was genuinely into the characters and stories and collaborated on them, yet she eventually lost all interest and moved on too. From the stories and from our friendship.) So I have NO idea how I would have ended up brainstorming characters with Jason. I can only assume this was more about us having fun and joking around with a new book, and Captain Catfood was the tongue-in-cheek result; this was likely the extent of Jason's involvement in it, and all the rest of the story development, including the other characters, was solely my own.
I came up with a few ideas for a story featuring Captain Catfood and his all-feline crew--I seem to remember a human girl, maybe also a boy (that's my thing, a girl and her male platonic friend, I guess), somehow come into contact with him, and Captain Catfood is not a good guy, so the plot involves the humans trying to escape him--but aside from writing up a character list and maybe doing some character drawings, I don't think I ever wrote anything. In time I lost interest, moved on.
I unfortunately can't remember the names of any of Captain Catfood's crew, aside from Mizzenmast, maybe also there was Crow's Nest. I recall spending a lot of time collecting ship-related names, so those are the most likely characters, BUT there may have also been a few related to pirate concepts, like "Pegleg." Can't be sure. I remember one of the characters was kind of cowardly and nervous and wore a bandana wrapped around his head and knotted like a pirate; this may have been Mizzenmast.
Brief aside to mention that Captain Catfood seems to share similarities with Pharaoh Cat, another vaguely menacing feline character.
OH! Bonus memory suddenly unlocked! Why I was playing around with a pirate theme? I only just now remembered. My elementary school was Black River Elementary and our unofficial mascot was the PIRATE! I can't say for sure that that was the reason, but I was a weird "nationalistic" sort who always got super gung-ho about school mascots, so it's a distinct possibility. Jeez...can't believe I forgot the Black River Pirates until now!
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
Adventure--danger! Capriciousness. Keep on someone's good side as long as you can. Duplicity. Smiles conceal knives. Can you trust anyone to help you or are you on your own...?
Character InformationCharacter profiles and brainstorming infodumps.
Storyline InformationEssays and info.