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?).