Phoenix!

It’s time to resurrect a dream.

I toyed with (and attempted) the idea of a developing a play in 14 days.

The play I started on ended up with the working title of ‘Elementary, My Dear Harry” and stalled a few days in (7 to be exact).

The problem was the quality of the scenario.

The concept for the play was fine, as was (I feel) the synopsis. But when I came to write the play (and most importantly the dialogue) it started to feel like I had a one-act play on my hands – and I was determined to get a full-length play out of this task.

Why? Because the scenario just wasn’t up to the job.

The detail within the scenario wasn’t strong or detailed enough. To be able to place words to things, you need to know what each character is thinking, feeling and their motivation. Plus you need to know as the author where the counterplot is hidden, where and how you’re going to reveal it. Then comes the tricky part, being a playwright – how you are going to engage the audience enough to remain in their seats and be willing enough to take a seat on your train for the ride.
The scenario I developed wasn’t fit enough for that purpose.

There are no apologies, excuses or real life-issues that cover my failure to complete the play; only mitigation. I had rushed the scenario. Attempting to develop dialogue against that… I was on to a loser.

It’s been far too long before I took my beloved Merlot to the keyboard and created a scene that makes me laugh and entertained me. There are a lot of things that act in mitigation for that (see last post). But it’s time to get back and start creating.

My joy was returning to this blog and realising that people were still reading it… Even though I was not fit enough to assume the position and start writing again.

When I returned, I realised that the only way to be a playwright is to actually make the time and write a play.

But what to write?

I’ve got some 7 plays that I describe as in a ‘Work In Progress’ (WIP) status. I decided to examine each of them in turn to determine which route to take. But as I examined them, one idea kept returning… And I realised that I had 8 plays that were WIPs.

Because I failed to complete ‘Elementary, My Dear Harry’, I took it off the list of possibilities. But over the last few days, I’ve come to realise that it failed because I set myself far too hard a target.
I had an idea – I was determined to make a full-length play – I was determined to present and act in the play myself (within a 12 week period)…

A playwright is supposed to be creative… But to attempt this at this stage was far too formulaic and forgot the fact that writing a play is a craft – and craft often takes more time than we initially bargain for.

So, time for the ashes to be re-examined and find out if there is a bird waiting to be released.
I have all of the notes and first 18 pages of ‘Elementary’ stored on my hard drive.
I’ve locked them.

I have the house to myself on Thursday and Friday night.

Time to revisit this idea – spend the latter evenings of this week recreating a new synopsis and character profiles.

Let’s see if this bird can fly (for the first time?).

Get a spine!

There are two ways to read the title:

Get a grip man and just get out there and pitch your work!

Is there something wrong with your back?

And both are true.

Those of you that have taken the time to look in on this blog on a semi-regular basis will have seen that I haven’t posted for far too long.

The main reason for this is I’ve been under the knife.

About two years ago I was playing with my kids in the back garden when I suddenly found myself locked on all fours unable to move.

I underwent a lot of physiotherapy, which although it didn’t remove the pain, enabled me to move.
Then this Easter, things went from bad to worse. The pain became unbearable, I lost a lot of control of my right leg and found it impossible to walk for more than 100 meters unaided.

My doctor was a star and managed to get me pushed up the list for an MRI (And having one of those is an idea for a play in itself).

I was somewhat surprised to be called in front of the surgeon a matter of days after the MRI, and even more surprised to find myself being admitted to hospital a week after seeing him.

I transpired that the scan showed that I had herniated a disk. That itself sounds bad, but when it was explained to me what it meant, turned my stomach. Many will you will have heard of a slipped disk – this is colloquial name for a prolapsed disk – where strain has been placed on the disk causing it bulge (potentially touching a nerve – dear old sciatica). A herniated disk is where it was once prolapsed, but the pressure never really passed, causing the disk to erupt – and in my case seep around and bond with the sciatic nerve.

Hence my rapid admittance to hospital. I was later told that they were worried that I was soon going to lose control of the big toe on my right foot – leading to instant medical discharge and massive problems walking.

So under the knife I went. When I came around, they informed me that I had to have two disks removed as when cutting in to sight my damaged disk, they discovered the disk above had herniated and was leaking down.

So, two disk removed and I’m now ½ an inch shorter!

The scan was July, the operation in August and recuperation has been ever since.

I was on sick leave for 6 weeks! I thought it was going to be fantastic – just think of all that time to write!

The reality was that I was unable to sit for the first 4 weeks – only lie down or stand. I did try to write, but it was just too painful.

As I write this now, I can comfortably sit for about 20 mins at a time (and I have one of those ‘kneeling’ chairs in my office). I’m just about ready to sit down and write again – but I still can’t make my mind up which of my Work in Progresses I want to attach first. Plus, I have to edit my collaborative effort with Phil, so that it becomes a viable play.

But I seriously need to get out there and pitch my work again. I feel like I’ve been away for far to long – and I feel that I’ve forgotten where to start.

Time to feel the fear and do it anyway I think!