Thoughts from The Shed…

I’ve decided, as a little creative aside, to make some films. This has so far been great fun – getting to grips with film editing software has been fascinating… though I’m a long way from being able to produce anything polished – but too polished is not the intent here. I figured a few meandering ramblings could, perhaps, be used to liven up my blog – to entertain, if nothing else.

From Thoughts from the Shed

Along those lines, this first film is intended as nothing more than a bit of fun. I’ve edited the hour-long version… which was, I now discover, FAR too long for a film. Brevity again. I do need to learn the art. However, this is the first third of the original recording – edited, with songs and a grainy black and white treatment which is far more flattering than reality – though for some reason three minutes got chopped off when I uploaded this, so I end a little abruptly (but am not fiddling with this one any further as it was merely a prototype and will probably be deleted once I’ve done the first proper film).

Subsequent films in the “Thoughts from The Shed” series might involve short excerpts from my manuscripts, themed waffle and perhaps a song or two. I have SO many ideas for these films – but time constraints will not permit over-flooding this page with offerings so I shall need to exercise self-control… ho ho ho.
Advertisement

On a roll…

Short story writing is a lot of fun!

I’ve spent the past week working on a couple for an anthology being prepared by several Authonomites under the capable leadership of Mayor Biggie (Michael Wells). It’s been an interesting and enjoyable deviation from my normal writing and has left me wondering why I haven’t played around with this kind of thing more before now.

The main short – State of Undressed – was written as first draft over four days and I’m pretty pleased with it so far. The shorter short – The Night We Never Danced – was written as first draft in under two hours… one of those glorious frenzied Fully In The Zone sessions that make writing such a drug. I’d slept badly… well, not at all… and finally fell into deep sleep around dawn. This story was my dream – give or take a little artistic licence when writing it up – and so I fairly hammered it out before it was lost.

Before starting the short stories, I’d been suffering a mild case of writer’s block in relation to La Folie. I’m finding mood is vital when trying to write comedy and unless I maintain a high which borders on alarming at times, it’s very difficult to get into ‘farce mode’. Taking a break to work on the shorts was a Good Idea and has left me enthused enough to get back on with the two bigger works.

But… The Tipping Point is still with Osiander and I’m not at all sure when I’ll hear back from him. In the meantime I’ve signed up for York Writers’ Festival in April and have booked two one-to-one sessions with agents at that event. This means I have to submit synopsis and opening chapters in advance – by mid March – and I don’t yet have a synopsis.

They’re awful things to write.

Far more difficult and time-consuming than anyone who’s never tried could possibly imagine. So I guess for the next few weeks I’m going to be grumping around pulling a synopsis together, whilst also editing the stories for the anthology… and the poor old farce may have to take a back seat for a little while.

Unless, of course, I suddenly develop a manic Good Mood high – in which case all else will be abandoned and La Folie will get my full attention… whilst it lasts!