The Drama Room

Off to Folkestone this afternoon to have a meeting with Screen South about the film we made at school over the course of the last year.

'The Drama Room' tells the story of two year nine students and how their friendship is threatened by tragedy. A stage production of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' is used as a backdrop to events going on in their real lives.

Local filmaker Bruce Partleton directed the project and the film won Best Drama and Best Actor (Adam Newman) at the Kent Amateur Film Festival 2006. This was some achievement as Adam (one of our year nine students) had never acted before! Many students were involved in the production of the film, either acting, operating sound equipment, lighting equipment or the cameras. It was a real group effort! There's a selection of screenshots on my website.

The film runs for just over an hour, is prduced to a very high standard, and is a great teaching aid for anybody who is studying 'Of Mice and Men' with their students. We're currently arranging for the film to be packaged professionally and when it's ready we'll be making it available for free to all schools that might be interested. Let me know if you're interested in receiving a copy. There's even a cameo role from a very special actress to look out for, but I'm not saying who!

Anyway, Bruce and I will be meeting Screen South this afternoon in order to kick start the arduous process of applying for funding. Bruce wants to do a similar project in another local school. We have a great new story. We just need the green light.

The week that was...

It's a funny thing this writing business. For a while after completing 'Asboville', back in the long days of summer, I was often finding myself at a loss. The book was written, it was going to be published, just a matter of counting down the days. Then the book was printed and eventually it started appearing in stores here and there. Not much else happened...

But the last week has been manic. It started on Sunday when I found myself in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper and continued with a recorded interview with local radio station Invicta FM last Tuesday. Wednesday I was up early to be interviewed live on BBC Radio Kent. I was more nervous for that one but it turned out okay. Then, Wednesday break I got a call from BBC South East. Could they come in Thursday and do a piece? Naturally the answer was 'yes' but then there was the matter of arranging it. I had to pick a bunch of students (I chose my low ability English group and then invited a few sixth formers along too just in case I was met with a wall of silence) and arranged clearance/permission forms to be signed allowing them to be shown on TV etc. Cue much excitement from said students...

My lunch was taken up with a Kent on Sunday interview (which failed to materialise). Thursday morning was BBC South East, Thursday evening the book launch, Friday the BBC South East broadcast (very effective, though I looked as bad on TV as I expected). There were also reviews in The New Statesman and The Guardian...finally today I did a quick interview with BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

And now it's raining and cold. I've got half-term to look forward to, a birth around the corner and I need to start immersing myself in the new book. I want to write some short stories too, just a couple, because I still want to get into Cemetery Dance one day. I bought myself a copy of Best New Horror 17 today. The Waterstones in Tunbridge Wells has a brilliant 'Horror' section and I've always had a soft spot for the genre...

Book Launch Confirmed

I'll be launching the novel at the new Waterstones (old Ottakars) store in Canterbury on Thursday 19th October. 6pm for 6.30pm start.

I've got a few surprises lined up to make it a memorable evening.

Come along if you're close by!

Interviews

I've had the pleasure of doing some of these in recent days and it's been quite good fun. I did something for Scotland on Sunday and an interview with Openwide Magazine who seem to be getting back to business. Then it was Teachers Magazine (who are sending a photographer to the launch) and finally the University of Kent Newspaper, which was earlier this evening and the most in depth by far. It was nice to be able to talk about the book and its issues though how Tara the reporter is going to cut my ramblings down to a short article I can only guess. Jenny, the editor, was very professional about the whole thing from the beginning and in some ways I actually started to feel a little like a writer with something to say.

In a couple of weeks I'm going on the radio (BBC Radio Lincolnshire and BBC Radio Kent) to talk about the book and the school workshops we're planning. Live radio. Uh-Oh.

Richard Matheson 1926 -

I'm no expert. I've only ever read two of his novels, watched a few episodes of 'The Twilight Zone' that were written by him and seen the film 'Duel' that's based upon one of his stories. But I was excited today when I found loads of his work on Amazon that I can get my hands on!

There's usually only two of his books kicking around in the shops:

I Am Legend

and

The Shrinking Man

They're both available in the excellent Science-Fiction Masterworks series from Gollancz/Orion.

Don't be fooled by these titles. Both novels are much more than they first appear. There's plenty of metaphor and subtext to seek out and analyse if you're so inclined, but if you're not you can just sit back and read a master craftsman doing what he does best; telling gripping stories.

I'm off to Amazon to spend lots of money!

Writing

This blog is meant to focus primarily on writing, so while busy on the new book, I've been thinking about the creative process. The analogy I've come up with involves tree trunks and branches.

'Asboville' came together in reverse order. I had lots of leaves on lots of branches and sort of worked backward to the trunk in a bid to join them together. Perhaps this is why the book has 38 Chapters over 214 pages. It's a valid process and one I'm kind of using again with book number two.

I guess what I'm saying is, you don't have to start at the beginning and work towards an end.

I've also been thinking about drafting. One of the stumbling blocks a writer might face is trying to get everything right first time but searching for the perfect sentence is not always the answer. Get stuff down and then re-visit it. If the initial phase is exhausting, coming back to a general something and improving it is far less tiring.