1) Put the link of the person who tagged you on your blog. Lianne waited until I was away and then tagged me. I'm going to have to stop all this travelling or who knows what will happen next time I'm away.
2) Write the rules. Please read paragraph above and a few below. Done that? OK Job done.
3) Mention 6 things or habits of no real importance about you. Talk about myself? Hmmm. I wouldn't know where to start. Still, if you insist...
4) Tag 6 persons adding their links directly. Ermmm. Well there's...nope they've been tagged. Right I can do....again someone got there first. I tag Dave, Robin, Colin (if you're still out there), Jon (also a bit quiet), Paul (super quiet) and none blogger Caroline. (Aha. You thought you could escape. Nope. There's still the comments section girl.)
5) Alert the persons that you tagged them. Are you reading this? Good. Then consider yourself tagged. Ha.
So here's my little list.
1 I can make my knees bend backwards. It does tend to make people go yuck followed by retching noises so it is a habit I've worked hard to break. But it is so comfy when you have to stand for ages.
2 I've eaten raw meat. Yes I'm a vegetarian but that happened in my late teens. Before that I was known to partake of animal cadavers occasionally. Mum bought a packet of what she thought was luncheon meat and made our school sandwiches with it. Sadly it was a slab of raw pork. Tasted kind of chewy and sickly sweet. Like you'd imagine the rotting contents of a bin to taste. Just remembering it makes me feel a bit...OK, excuse me. Got to go throw up again.
3 I was called Cannonball when I played hockey. Maybe because my technique relied completely on momentum. Once I was racing down the pitch, anyone who got in my way would make a beautiful trajectory into the distance. And I wasn't averse to hooking my stick around ankles.
4 Every room in my house has piles of books in it. And I mean every room. Last time we moved the removal company had to get a second van because they had considered all the furniture and ignored my comments of : there are books inside there; have you spotted the piles of books?;and under those books there's...well...books. (Yes I know ?; is not a valid punctuation combination but I'm being creative and anyway it's my list.) Lots of moans about not being told it was a bleeding library and did we really read them.
5 I won a limerick competition when I was 10. The judge said it was because I entered more limericks than the rest put together. Well it was a class competition and any limerick that was obscene was binned. In the school I went to that meant nearly every entry got binned. But I was a good girl so I won. And the judge was a real poet too. Little did I know that early success would be followed by years of failure.
6 I want to travel up the Amazon before I die. But first I have to invent the perfect spider detterent. I can handle all sorts of creepy crawlies and actually like snakes and lizards but those 8-legged beasties. I even have to watch Arachnaphobia with my feet off the floor and a cushion to hide behind. And in our old house you get some big, hairy meanies. The sort that bounce back like a facehugger when Dave chucks them out. That carry their own suitcase in when they arrive. That knock plaster off the ceiling when they have their wild parties in the attic. Ever told a weightlifting, steroid enhanced spider to turn the music down? They just give you that unblinking, multi-eyed glare and you find yourself wearing slippers in Tescos at 3am looking for earplugs.
So that's my list done. Hope you enjoyed the read.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Still Busy
Tum, te-tum, te-tum. Now where was I? Oh yes.
I got my 7on7 submission sent off but it didn't get picked. Rats.
I reached the end of my sitcom first episode but realised it was just too early in its development to sent out so I didn't enter Northern Laughs.
Instead I sent my Red Planet piece The Gate out to my faithful PO3s for them to rip to pieces. Seems they like the dark tone, the gory bits and the strong female characters. And I manage it without big guns and clingy T-shirts.
Lots of useful points too on pace problems and each character having its own voice. Also that Landrover winches don't work that fast. Rats. Got to think of another way to make a fast exit. Note to self. Do not rely on John Carpenter vampire films for reference.
I've also knuckled down to my page 1 rewrite of Blood, Sweat and Tears. I have the step outline done so in theory it is just a case or writing what I see in my head.
Ha. How naive is she? Yep I can hear you all thinking it. I'm a Mother. We can read minds.
And of course I am holding my breathe to hear who gets shortlisted for Alfred Bradley but that's the end of April so I may go a bit blue in the meantime.
Back to the keyboard.
I got my 7on7 submission sent off but it didn't get picked. Rats.
I reached the end of my sitcom first episode but realised it was just too early in its development to sent out so I didn't enter Northern Laughs.
Instead I sent my Red Planet piece The Gate out to my faithful PO3s for them to rip to pieces. Seems they like the dark tone, the gory bits and the strong female characters. And I manage it without big guns and clingy T-shirts.
Lots of useful points too on pace problems and each character having its own voice. Also that Landrover winches don't work that fast. Rats. Got to think of another way to make a fast exit. Note to self. Do not rely on John Carpenter vampire films for reference.
I've also knuckled down to my page 1 rewrite of Blood, Sweat and Tears. I have the step outline done so in theory it is just a case or writing what I see in my head.
Ha. How naive is she? Yep I can hear you all thinking it. I'm a Mother. We can read minds.
And of course I am holding my breathe to hear who gets shortlisted for Alfred Bradley but that's the end of April so I may go a bit blue in the meantime.
Back to the keyboard.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Battling Dragons
I feel like I've had a good week writing-wise. Well sort of.
The night before the deadline I decided to have a go at the 7on7 shout. They wanted three topical sketches or two topical with one character.
I had a character sketch already so I ran over it once more then read through the BBC News to see if anything inspired me. Must have been a productive day because I came up with several ideas, two reaching a point I was happy to submit. I read them out to Dave who didn't groan or throw rotten tomatoes so off they went.
I then carried on with my sitcom idea. Can't say it ran smoothly. I have a problem you see. When I try to be funny it is just...duff. When I just write it then things are a lot better. So I should be just plowing ahead but I keep going back on each scene and judging it.
Bad, bad idea. Of course it is a first, rough draft so it isn't going to be funny yet. I'm getting the story sorted first. But I keep losing heart and comparing to all my favourite writers.
So I am currently banning myself from reading back over anything until I get to the end. So what if the characters aren't consistent or the dialogue is on the nose. Just get it done you wassock. It's got me half way through and the plot structure is behaving so maybe it isn't such a stupid thing to do.
Well I've got to get back to battling dragons. Have a productive week.
The night before the deadline I decided to have a go at the 7on7 shout. They wanted three topical sketches or two topical with one character.
I had a character sketch already so I ran over it once more then read through the BBC News to see if anything inspired me. Must have been a productive day because I came up with several ideas, two reaching a point I was happy to submit. I read them out to Dave who didn't groan or throw rotten tomatoes so off they went.
I then carried on with my sitcom idea. Can't say it ran smoothly. I have a problem you see. When I try to be funny it is just...duff. When I just write it then things are a lot better. So I should be just plowing ahead but I keep going back on each scene and judging it.
Bad, bad idea. Of course it is a first, rough draft so it isn't going to be funny yet. I'm getting the story sorted first. But I keep losing heart and comparing to all my favourite writers.
So I am currently banning myself from reading back over anything until I get to the end. So what if the characters aren't consistent or the dialogue is on the nose. Just get it done you wassock. It's got me half way through and the plot structure is behaving so maybe it isn't such a stupid thing to do.
Well I've got to get back to battling dragons. Have a productive week.
Saturday, 21 February 2009
One gone and more to go.
Well the read through of "Don't be Koi" highlighted several passages that sounded great in my head but were a complete nightmare to say. So some work was needed there.
Feedback had also said some passages had the same monotonous rhythm. This was reinforced when they were read aloud so I did a bit of restructuring. The most effective way of doing this was to cut out some chunks and merge others so the process made the script tighter. Always a good thing.
So it went into the post today for the Alfred Bradley Bursary and I need to just forget about it and concentrate on the next project.
I've spent the past few days knocking ideas about for a sitcom. Northern Laughs deadline is coming up and I thought I'd spend a while seeing if anything came together. So I now have a small group of characters who bounce off each other well. There's plenty of opportunity to play with class and status and I can see how each relates to the others.
I've aimed for each to have a family role, even though only two are actually related. So I have a Father, Mother, Daughter, Uncle and Grandad role covered. Mixing the sex and age of the characters for these roles has been quite fun.
I also found a location for them. Two main rooms and one smaller one. I've made sure the characters have to stay in close proximity and the main character is trapped there, wanting to escape. A nice pressure cooker set up. All I have to do now is turn up the heat.
I do enjoy writing for characters that are unstable. I just give them a push and watch what happens. I must remember to be more cruel though. Got that as feedback a couple of times on other pieces. I don't make my characters suffer enough. Well I think this time I should get out the blowtorch and the birdysong cd**.
Lots of writing still to do though and the deadline is frighteningly close.
** I DO NOT and NEVER HAVE owned that item!!!!
Feedback had also said some passages had the same monotonous rhythm. This was reinforced when they were read aloud so I did a bit of restructuring. The most effective way of doing this was to cut out some chunks and merge others so the process made the script tighter. Always a good thing.
So it went into the post today for the Alfred Bradley Bursary and I need to just forget about it and concentrate on the next project.
I've spent the past few days knocking ideas about for a sitcom. Northern Laughs deadline is coming up and I thought I'd spend a while seeing if anything came together. So I now have a small group of characters who bounce off each other well. There's plenty of opportunity to play with class and status and I can see how each relates to the others.
I've aimed for each to have a family role, even though only two are actually related. So I have a Father, Mother, Daughter, Uncle and Grandad role covered. Mixing the sex and age of the characters for these roles has been quite fun.
I also found a location for them. Two main rooms and one smaller one. I've made sure the characters have to stay in close proximity and the main character is trapped there, wanting to escape. A nice pressure cooker set up. All I have to do now is turn up the heat.
I do enjoy writing for characters that are unstable. I just give them a push and watch what happens. I must remember to be more cruel though. Got that as feedback a couple of times on other pieces. I don't make my characters suffer enough. Well I think this time I should get out the blowtorch and the birdysong cd**.
Lots of writing still to do though and the deadline is frighteningly close.
** I DO NOT and NEVER HAVE owned that item!!!!
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Don't be Koi Part 2
All the feedback has been read and acted on and I have done a re-write. Though it didn't seem to need a page 1 one. Thanks to non-bloggers Paul, Wendy, Caroline and Fran. Also thanks to bloggers Elinor and Dave. Yes my PO3 turned into a PO6.
All the advice was helpful and it's shocking how many spelling mistakes Word misses. Not me. It was Word. Honest. Oh and we won't talk about the protagonist changing name half way through. Didn't happen. Just a bad dream. I can't believe I did that!!!! Bottom line, as I tell my trainees: You can't check your own work. You just repeat your mistakes.
I've now got to do a read-aloud of the whole thing. Dave's going to have to dredge up his old acting skills to help me with that one. Then I'll put it aside for a while and read through just before I post it off.
Moving onto a sitcom idea ready for Northern Laughs. Just to see if it comes together in a civilised manner. Or maybe an uncivilised manner seeing as it is comedy. If I don't think it will be ready in time then I just won't enter.
Lots of other stuff to do. And do you find certain keys become faded? Mine are E, R, T H and N. There's no letter on them anymore. Just as well I can touch type. But it does make me wonder what I've been typing in my sleep. THERN? NERTH? Sounds like fantasy characters to me. So I've just got to find where it's hidden on my drive, this nocturnal novel.
All the advice was helpful and it's shocking how many spelling mistakes Word misses. Not me. It was Word. Honest. Oh and we won't talk about the protagonist changing name half way through. Didn't happen. Just a bad dream. I can't believe I did that!!!! Bottom line, as I tell my trainees: You can't check your own work. You just repeat your mistakes.
I've now got to do a read-aloud of the whole thing. Dave's going to have to dredge up his old acting skills to help me with that one. Then I'll put it aside for a while and read through just before I post it off.
Moving onto a sitcom idea ready for Northern Laughs. Just to see if it comes together in a civilised manner. Or maybe an uncivilised manner seeing as it is comedy. If I don't think it will be ready in time then I just won't enter.
Lots of other stuff to do. And do you find certain keys become faded? Mine are E, R, T H and N. There's no letter on them anymore. Just as well I can touch type. But it does make me wonder what I've been typing in my sleep. THERN? NERTH? Sounds like fantasy characters to me. So I've just got to find where it's hidden on my drive, this nocturnal novel.
Friday, 6 February 2009
Don't be Koi
My first page re-write is done and it is now out to PO3. Wooo Hooo (with a good Blur rhythm). I think that deserves a nice hot chocolate. With squirty cream on top. Oh and the script is now a black comedy instead of a romcom. I couldn't help it. It just got darker and darker. Must be the time of the year.
Hope all your entries are going well.
Hope all your entries are going well.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Writing Progress Report
At the beginning of Winter I listed my plans for the chilly months here. I thought I'd give an update on progress. Yes I know there are those fancy sliding progress things but I've not mastered them yet.
The Gate: Horror TV series: The first 10 pages were submitted to Red Planet but didn't get picked. I re-wrote them and completed the first draft of the episode. This involved binning some scenes I really liked but they slowed the pace and had to go. Interestingly I found the supporting characters more fun to write than the protagonist. I don't know if that is typical? The script is now in the feedback loop starting with hubby who likes to track down holes and switches in character. It will head out to PO3 after that.
Don't be Koi: Romcom Radio Play: This is my Alfred Bradley entry. It is a romcom with a very dark twist. It is going through a page 1 re-write after I found the end was more malevolent than the beginning. The protagonist has changed quite a lot and I made a major change to one of the other characters. I'm using the fact it is radio to try something different with her character, basically playing with sound. Still enjoying writing it. Should be out for PO3 soon.
Witch's Stone: Teen Horror Novel: After Laura mentioned children's novels are typically 40,000 words I realised I'd got carried away and actually had a trilogy. The first novel is now well blocked out and ready to write but the overall story arc is still a bit rough.
Blood, Sweat and Tears: Comedy Feature: Some adjustments have been made but basically I need to sit down and write this next draft.
Rain On My Parade: Comedy Drama Feature: Reworked my outline and am now happy with the three main characters. Ready to write the first draft.
No progress in: Life to the Full: Drama TV Special, Solitary Sky: SF Radio Play and Under the Thumb: Horror-Drama Stage Play.
So lots on the go but not all have progressed. I've decided to concentrate on getting things finished so the portfolio is thicker rather than leaving them at step outlines.
Hope all your work is going well.
The Gate: Horror TV series: The first 10 pages were submitted to Red Planet but didn't get picked. I re-wrote them and completed the first draft of the episode. This involved binning some scenes I really liked but they slowed the pace and had to go. Interestingly I found the supporting characters more fun to write than the protagonist. I don't know if that is typical? The script is now in the feedback loop starting with hubby who likes to track down holes and switches in character. It will head out to PO3 after that.
Don't be Koi: Romcom Radio Play: This is my Alfred Bradley entry. It is a romcom with a very dark twist. It is going through a page 1 re-write after I found the end was more malevolent than the beginning. The protagonist has changed quite a lot and I made a major change to one of the other characters. I'm using the fact it is radio to try something different with her character, basically playing with sound. Still enjoying writing it. Should be out for PO3 soon.
Witch's Stone: Teen Horror Novel: After Laura mentioned children's novels are typically 40,000 words I realised I'd got carried away and actually had a trilogy. The first novel is now well blocked out and ready to write but the overall story arc is still a bit rough.
Blood, Sweat and Tears: Comedy Feature: Some adjustments have been made but basically I need to sit down and write this next draft.
Rain On My Parade: Comedy Drama Feature: Reworked my outline and am now happy with the three main characters. Ready to write the first draft.
No progress in: Life to the Full: Drama TV Special, Solitary Sky: SF Radio Play and Under the Thumb: Horror-Drama Stage Play.
So lots on the go but not all have progressed. I've decided to concentrate on getting things finished so the portfolio is thicker rather than leaving them at step outlines.
Hope all your work is going well.
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