Update

It was brought to my attention recently that I haven't posted for a few months.  All I can do is apologise.  If it would help, I could provide a rather feeble excuse combined with some outlandish story about the dog eating my laptop, or something, but somehow I don't think you would believe me.

So, what has really been happening?  I've been writing!

Last summer the drama group that I belong to performed some medieval plays at a couple of medieval festivals.  Being on the inside looking out was an interesting experience.  The surrealest part was when I was wandering around the castle grounds and catching people taking photo's out of the corner of your eye.  The immediate reaction is to think you need to get out of their way so you don't spoil the photo, and then you realise that you are the photo!

The performances were of a good enough level, that we have been invited back to the England Medieval Festival to perform again.  Realising that we need some new material, I have managed to write a short medieval play based on a legend called The Lambton Worm.  Rehearsals start next week. 
It's quite a rush thinking that people are going to be watching, and reacting to my work.

We've also started production meetings for the Pantomime Cinderella that I've written for this years main production.  The publicity has already started, and I was jumping up and down when I saw that the drama website is already naming me as the author :o)

At the risk of getting boring, there's more to tell you...  

I've been writing the new book, Ghost School, and I'm about half way through the first draft.  It's been slow going, but I'm pleased with how it's going.
I've also finally produced a list of agents for me to start sending Odd Squad to.  Hopefully next week I'll get the first batch sent.

What have you guys been up to?

Surprise progress

I've felt for the last six to nine months that I've struggled with my writing.  That the mucked up routine, and general 'ups and down' that life threw at me, slowed me down.

Last night, I caught up with a friend whom I hadn't seen for ages.  I mentioned that I had an MS out with a handful of Lit Agencies, and she asked if it was a couple of chapters, or a whole book.  I explained that the book had been through 8 revision/edits, and was as polished as I could get it.

I then remembered that so far this year I've written a pantomime (including two revisions), a radio play, and I'm a quarter of the way through the first draft of my new book.

It turns out that I'm doing a lot better than I originally thought.

How are you guys doing with your projects?

NOT a drunk in a ditch post!

I know I've been conspicuous by my absence, but rest assured, I've not been lying in a ditch somewhere with a bottle in my hand.
(Well... there was that one time, but I'm claiming that it was in the name of research, and I'm sticking to that story no matter how insistent you might be that it wasn't)
 I've been spending my time writing like crazy, finishing the Pantomime.  (for those of you who are unsure what a Pantomime is, see this earlier post.)  From start to finish, it's taken exactly two months!  I'm shocked at how quickly it happened.  This now gives me about a year to spell check it and get some beta readers to give it the once over.

Hopefully, I've got a few new ideas for some posts, so I'll probably be posting a bit more regularly again. (Not that I've found a new routine yet)

Vague routine related post.

It's surprising how routine can set us up for tasks ahead. 

I had a routine for when I would try and write, or at least think of an idea for my next post, when I would write the next part of my MS.  Unfortunately, circumstances have meant that my routine has been turned on it's head, and now I'm finding it a bit difficult to find a new one. 

Luckily, I had already mapped out the scenes for the Panto, so I'm still able to do a little bit on that, but where as before, when I sat down to write, I knew that this was writing time, and it just seemed to flow out of me.  Now, I find that even when I am sitting down to write, that other things are competing for my attention, and inspiration for blog posts are not appearing. 

Looks like I need to get a new routine in place as soon as I can.

(I've just found out something that amused me.  The spell checker in Blogger doesn't recognise the word blog)

Unexpected differences.

It turns out that writing a stage play is quite a different kettle of fish to writing a book.  It's probably easier if I list the the differences that I've experienced so far:

1) There's a deadline.  Yes, I know that once you get a publishing deal that deadlines start to appear, but for me this is a new thing. I know it's a year away, and that I should have the first draft in place well before then, but it's still there, popping it's head up over the horizon, shouting "Cooee", giving a little finger waggling wave and then dipping back down again.  He's an odd little thing, and I'm sure there's a more menacing side to him that will become apparent as he gets nearer.

2) The pressure of high expectations. I'm actually writing this for people that I know.  The whole of the cast will received their copy of the script and then be judging it against previous productions to see how good (and funny) it is.  When I write a book, I try and make it the best I can, but it will be someone who doesn't know me who will deciding whether it has publishing potential.

To add to the pressure, several people have told me that they are more excited about this script than any previous Panto script.  It seems that they think that I'm funnier than I really am.

4)  Where's number 3?

5)  Being funny on demand is not easy.  When I'm with friends, feeling relaxed, and with no expectations for me to make them laugh, (I like to think that) I can be quite amusing.  I can make jokes about incidents, or a comment that someone makes, and run with a theme.  If something doesn't work, I'll get a small amount of humorous abuse, but it's forgotten quite quickly.  

This, however, is a bit more clinical.  I can't just write a load of jokes, and hope for the best.  I have to make the characters funny, and everything needs to work.

6)  The characters are a lot different.  They are all a bit shallower, but the traits that they have are larger than life.  There are about ten main characters in my story.  The cast of actors is around twenty five!  This means that I have to find a further fifteen characters, give them lines, and make them interesting.  They have to pop up a few times, so that they feel a part of the whole production.

3)  Ahh, here it is.

7)  Writing for an audience reaction.  When I'm writing a novel, I find that I can build up the story line as I go along.  With Panto, the characters have to illicit cheers or boos from the audience, and interact directly with them.  It's odd writing something to get an instant reaction.

Have you tried writing for different mediums?  Was it odd for you too?

A Commission! (of sorts)

Before I start, I fear that this post is going to be a little bit long winded.  Can I ask that you try to bare with me while I ramble on, and eventually get to the point.  Hopefully, it will be worth trawling through the waffle to hear the news at the end.  (For those of you who can't wait for the news, or can't cope with me bleating on, then I won't hold it against you if you just scroll down.)  Now that I've cleared that up, here's the post:

Some of you may know from earlier posts, that I belong to an Amateur Dramatic Group.  The productions that we put on over the year follow the same pattern.  In the summer (June/July) we put on a sensible(ish) play, and in the winter (January), we put on the annual pantomime.
The Pantomime is one of the more surreal British traditions that hasn't really made it past our shores.
Knowing that a fair few of you guys are not in the UK, I feel that an explanation (with the assistance of Wikipedia) of what a pantomime consists of is required:

Pantomime story lines and scripts are almost always based on traditional children's stories, like Aladdin, Peter Pan, and Cinderella.

While the familiarity of the audience with the original story is generally assumed, plot lines are almost always 'adapted' for comic or satirical effect, it being common for characters and situations from other stories to be interpolated into the plot. Certain familiar scenes tend to recur, regardless of plot relevance, and highly unlikely resolution of the plot is common. Straight re-tellings of the original stories are rare in the extreme

There are a number of traditions that a Pantomime follows.  Here are a few (with pictures from some of our past performances.):

The leading male juvenile character (the principal boy) - is traditionally played by a young woman, usually in tight-fitting male garments (such as breeches) that make her female charms evident.

An older woman (the pantomime dame - often the hero's mother) is usually played by a man in drag.

Risqué double entendre, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases. This is, in theory, over the heads of the children in the audience.

Audience participation, including calls of "He's behind you!" (or "Look behind you!"), and "Oh, yes it is!" and "Oh, no it isn't!" The audience is always encouraged to boo the villain and "awwwww" the poor victims, such as the rejected dame, who usually fancies the prince.

Music may be original but is more likely to combine well-known tunes with re-written lyrics. At least one "audience participation" song is traditional: one half of the audience may be challenged to sing 'their' chorus louder than the other half.

The good fairy enters from stage right (from the audience's point of view this is on the left) and the villain enters from stage left (right from the point of view of the audience). This convention goes back to the medieval mystery plays, where the right side of the stage symbolised Heaven and the left side symbolised Hell.

Sometimes the story villain will squirt members of the audience with water guns or pretend to throw a bucket of 'water' at the audience that is actually full of streamers.

A slapstick comedy routine may be performed, often a decorating or baking scene, with humour based on throwing messy substances.

The Chorus, who can be considered extras on-stage, and often appear in multiple scenes (but as different characters) and who perform a variety of songs and dances throughout the show. Due to their multiple roles they may have as much stage-time as the lead characters themselves.

Are you still with me?  Phew!  So, why am I telling you all of this?  Well... last week, we decided the title of the January 2014 panto.
Cinderella.
We then looked for volunteers to write the script.  Yes, you guessed it.  I got the gig.  I now have a year to produce the first draft of a full length (minimum 90 minutes) pantomime, and a polished script by May/June when we start auditions.
At the moment, my head is full of plot lines, one liner jokes, and silly situations.  Excited isn't the word!