The Tennant of H41

Hi! Sorry it's been a while! I'm sorry (over the moon) to report that I've been cheating on this blog with online retailer James Samson, writing their Magazine blog: http://www.jamessamson.co.uk/insiders-guide-bath-christmas-shopping/

I'll be posting each of my articles every week as they come out.

Today I FINALLY finished the Year of the Sheep programme booklet for the Museum of East Asian Art. All 25 pages taught me so much about traditional Asian culture, but most importantly of enthralling stories and legends! To fill in my diary once more, I've now been asked to write an article for a Dutch student publication. I was housed with a load of Dutch girls during my trip to India, and I've been asked to write an article about my experiences working in the hospital. 

Noughts and Crosses Fan Fiction

Books4lyf92:

Sephy stepped out of the docks, gazing around only briefly. She wished that this place was non-existent. The sky was grey, the sea was grey, and even the streetlamps fizzed with a certain apathy. She walked around the corner, down Rue Boiardo, left onto Rue Arbour, and at the very end of the street on the right was a tiny terraced house barely better than a hovel. And inside was Callum. Her pace quickened, her shoes clicked faster, and rain started to drip from the clouds. Callum opened the front door before she even reached it; it was 2pm after all. On the first of December every year for the last sixteen years Sephy and Callie Rose had visited the exiled Callum in France, at 2pm. “Where’s Rose?” Callum asked, as soon as the pale green door was shunted open. Sephy smiled at his usual impatience to see his daughter whom he loved so much, and could see so little.

“Just let me in first”

They kissed, as innocently as when they had first. Sephy kept her coat on, made her way into the living room, and sunk into a new grey sofa. Patches of mould spotted the ceiling, the floor was bare and rough, and the fireplace spewed the cold wind from outside. It looked better than it did last year, Sephy thought. Callum sat next to her, rested his chin on her head and pulled her closer with one arm. “She didn’t want to come, Callum. She knows”. Callum withdrew from Sephy, a furrowed look upon his brow.

“She…knows? You told her?”

“Of course not! You really think I would?”

Sephy swept into the kitchen. The cathedral at the center of town rang, which scattered the seagulls off from Callum’s roof and sent them cascading in front of the small kitchen window. As the darkness drifted over the kitchen she filled a copper kettle as best she could with the dribble of water coming out the tap, and rested it firmly on the stove. Five…six ticks, and the gas lit. “I haven’t got any tea bags” Callum commented, leaning against the doorframe. “They cut my pay again. Not that mining pays anyway.”

“Have you got toilet roll, at least?”

“Yes”

“Thank God”.  Sephy turned to face Callum, and looked at him properly for the first time in a year. His hair was thinner, his body too. It made her heart swell with sadness.  But, she noticed, the creases around his mouth were deeper, he’d been smiling more this year. Sephy threw herself into his labouring chest, “Jude found Callie Rose, Callie found Jude. She’s joined the Liberation Militia, and… I know he’s up to something more. I know he has Callie Rose groomed for something more”. The kettle on the stove started to whistle. Callum moved away from her to move it off the stove, but didn’t drain the water- it would be valuable to his shower later.  “He’s still in the Militia? I suppose I can’t say I’m surprised. He manipulated me, turned me against you, how could I trust him? Jude won’t hurt Rose, Sephy, I won’t let him”

“I never trusted him” Sephy whispered. She moved into the kitchen and leant against the plastic countertop. As spits of sun poked through the cloud she felt an overwhelming desire to just hold Callum. She always did on these visits, but held back for Callie Rose. She thought it would be best for Callie if she spent as much time with her father as possible, but it clearly wasn’t enough. “I thought I might ask my mother for help, somehow…”

“How could she help? Pay for some useless therapy that Rose won’t even consider? You don’t know how strongly the Militia can suck you in”

“Don’t talk to me like that! He’s training her to become a suicide bomber, okay! I didn’t want to tell you! She’s lucky I’m a nosey mother”. Callum was stunned, he fell back against the fridge went weak at the knees. “He really does hate my guts, doesn’t he?” he shuddered. Sephy softened, and ran to catch him in her arms. She buried her face in his limp hair and held him as tight as she could, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pull that out on you like that”.

“How could he?” Callum moaned, and Sephy slid to the floor with him.

“I need your help Callum, I can’t stop her on my own”. And there they sat, for countless minutes. Each time the clock ticked, Sephy became aware that she had to leave France by the end of the day. Finally, Callum stirred. “You can stop her, Sephy. This is going to sound harsh, but it’s what we’d do to soldiers who had second thoughts in the Militia. Just lock her in, physically stop her. I know it’s harsh; I don’t want to hurt our Rose. But it is because I don’t want her to get hurt that you have to do this, Sephy”.

“No, I know Callum”. They looked into each other’s eyes, filled with sorrow and fear and love.

  teamjacobjenny:

WhoahwhoahwhoahwhoahWHOAH. Where the hell is Sonny? Sonny is so much better for Sephy than Callum, you know it. Everyone knows it! And let’s face it, kinder, nicer, and probably hotter :P

  Books4lyf92:

Why would Sonny come into this? If Callum is still alive then she doesn’t need Sonny! DUH

  MeandTotoro:

What about Nathan? They were engaged, surely that’s enough to secure him permanently as the guy Sephy ends up with? I liked Nathan…

  teamjacobjenny:

Nobody likes Nathan

  Books4lyf92:

Nope, nobody :P Sorry Blackman.

  teamjacobjenny:

And what’s with all this messing about anyway? All this damn description. We do have imaginations too you know. Get with the times, we’re used to reading stuff in 160 characters, hurry up the plot! I’m sorry but

      teamjacobjenny:

Wait, no. No I’m not. I’m nicking that beginning… and Sephy is telling Callum that she is running away to be a rock star singer with Sonny! We all knew it! Let Callie blow herself up, I don’t think anyone liked her anyway, little whiney bitch.

  Books4lyf92:

No fucking way! Do you know how long I worked on that for? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA?? I should have been doing my essay! Go write your own story, some crappy story which doesn’t consider the clear issues of race and terrorism which need to be addressed. It was going to get so much better if you’d just waited, stupid. Nope, no way, I’m taking it down NOW NO WAY YOU ARE STEALING MY BABY!!!

Finding Solace

12/10/2014 Treatment

Concept:

Finding Solace is a shadowy drama, with elements of the supernatural. Set in a small town on the northern coast of Cornwall, Solace (commonly known as Lacey) Smith has been found after five years missing. As Solace struggles to fit into her former life, the town is ravaged by a ruthless thief. It slowly becomes apparent that this is not the same Solace who disappeared, but a [mermaid] who has [possessed Solace/taken on Solace’s appearance] to gather treasure. This drama may work best as a mini-series or feature

Theme:

The feel of Finding Solace is very mysterious, and curiosity of Solace’s whereabouts should be enhanced by the remote and wild landscapes of Cornwall. Finding Solace is ultimately about the fragility of hope, and the relationship between the truth and deception. The theme could be expressed as:

‘The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions’- Leonardo da Vinci

Characters:

Solace (Lacey) Smith – Solace is a quietly spirited young woman with a wicked sense of humour. Lookalike would be Lissie, Solace has a habit of plaiting her long hair when she’s bored or anxious. Before her disappearance, aged 16, she is a prominent member of the community as a popular student and part-time assistant in Mr Ball’s antique shop. Solace is itching to leave Cornwall and study history abroad. She believes she is in love with Max, and is subconsciously aware her friends are not the best influence on her. After her reappearance Solace is cunning, short tempered and pessimistic like a moody teenager, and notably distanced from her old habits like plaiting. However, in order to gain sympathy and to avoid suspicion, she puts on an innocent and fragile persona when threatened.

[Officer] Nez – [Officer] Nez is a youthful looking thirty-something of Asian descent, who moved to Cornwall for the case of Solace’s disappearance and reluctantly stayed. He much prefers city life, and is clearly untrusting of the rural way of life. Because he is untrusting he is also quick to judge and prejudiced. Solace’s reappearance forces [Officer] Nez to reengage with his job again, which he has let stagnate. The mysterious burglaries and violent attacks revitalise Nez’s passion for his job and sharpens his brain into the weapon it once was. He is critical and very intelligent once he puts his mind to it.

Max Sacarto – Max is the love interest of Solace, aged 19 at the time of her disappearance having recently graduated from her school. He is tall and broad, tanned with black curly hair, half British half Latin descent. Lazy and irresponsible, Max is a junior mechanic at the local garage who doesn’t mind slacking off. Before her disappearance, Max uses Solace’s adoration shamelessly to his advantage, and this makes him arrogant. As the last person to see Solace before her disappearance, Max has been repeatedly accused of murdering her, despite being found innocent. So upon her return Max, now aged 24, has become an outcast from the community, and has lost his arrogance and confidence. He is desperate to ‘redeem’ himself, and to do so he tries to pick up his relationship with Solace from where they left off.

Laura Pencavel– Before Solace goes missing, Laura and Solace are best friends in the same year at school. Laura is from a very privileged background, her family own a yacht, horses and much land. She could be described as a ‘Hollister’ or ‘Jack Wills’ (clothing brands) girl, lookalike Anna Kendrick. While Laura is instilled with a British ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ mentality, she is secretly neurotic and repressed. She longs to be more carefree like Lacey, but feels great pressure to succeed in life. Upon Solace’s return, Laura aged 22 is engaged and set up to be the perfect 21st century housewife.  During Solace’s disappearance Laura constructed an unrealistic idea of what her friend was like, so she is greatly disappointed with Solace’s distant behaviour. After her finger is removed by Solace, Laura becomes poisonous and vicious.

Finding Solace is a film treatment I wrote for my creative dissertation, and I managed to write a few short scenes for it too. Now, no longer constrained by university word limits, I'm reworking it to (hopefully) present to BBC Writers Room. At my graduation, my dissertation tutor Nicky said she'd love me to sit in on a visit at the university by the BBC, and after working overtime at TK Maxx all week the idea sounds like salvation.

My treatment and scenes were worthy of a first, but there WERE some comments that the format wasn't standard, and didn't contain enough information about the characters. I could see exactly what they meant, but I was only following the treatment set up I had learnt in my screen writing module (in second year).

So when it came to rewriting, the first step was research. I found this website, which was scribbled down in the back of my textbook anyway:

  http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp37.Proper.Treatment.html

I decided to use the same film treatment structure as Disney's Sinbad, a film I watched as a kid and honestly can't remember. Is this a good idea then?! 

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp37-xtras/wp37x.SINBAD.html