Blimey, the Radio Times website has posted the first listing for my episode of Doctors! Interesting to see how it's been billed. Of course, my first TV drama credit won't seem official until I see the printed version in next week's Radio Times - naming me as the writer. In the meantime, here's the digital billing to preview A Pill For Every Ill:
Doctors • Wednesday 10 February
1:45pm - 2:15pm • BBC1
A Pill for Every Ill
Simon finds himself out of his depth when treating a woman with extreme PMS symptoms, while Elise invites Immie to spend the night at her house. And Daniel has to apologise to Zara when his jealousy almost gets the better of him.
VIDEO Plus+: 174010 • Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Cast: David Sturzaker, Sally Ann Matthews, Alun Raglan, Charlie Clemmow, Adrian Lewis Morgan, Matthew Chambers
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Apple iPad: is this what Steve Jobs revealed?
Way back in 2007 US sketch show MadTV predicted yesterday's mega-hyped announced by Apple of the iPad. Of course, I'm not sure they got absolute all the details exactly right...
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The penny drops about characters
I'm changing the way I write. More accurately, I'm changing the way I put stories together. Back when I was hacking out novels, I would concentrate on plot and structure. There was less need to focus on characters as I was writing pre-created characters for the most part. It might only be one or two core cast members, but they usually the most important characters.
Writing for Doctors is pushing me to focus more and more on characters ahead of plot. At its core, Doctors is a show about healing. All the medical stuff, that's a vehicle for telling stories about ordinary people facing a crisis point. Doesn't have to be the end of the world, often times the stories are quite small in scale - but that can all the more powerful because of that.
As part of the story development process, you have to create character profiles for each of your proposed guest characters. When I writing the scene by scene breakdown for my episode, some foolish part of me initially resented having to do this. I don't have a lot of patience for lengthy questionnaires detailing your character's favourite sock colour or worst meal ever eaten.
But the profiles for Doctors force you to explore your characters' backstory, why they're behaving the way they do as the episode begins. This proved invaluable when I came to write the first draft, adding an extra depth and meaning to their actions. Just as discovering what your story's really about is crucial, so is finding out what motivates your characters.
Proof positive of this came on two recent story pitches. Both of them had strong central plot hooks, but felt a bit flat on a character level. So I pushed myself to dig deeper into my cast, find the truth lurking behind their behaviour. Once I'd done that, writing the proposals proved so much easier. I knew both the how and the why of my stories, and that helps a lot.
Now all that's no guarantee either of these pitches will be accepted, that's not in my control. But I'm not unhappy with my efforts. And I feel like I've made a little breakthrough in my writing. Digging deeper into characters takes a lot longer, but if people care about your characters, I believe they'll care much more about the story you're telling. Onwards!
Writing for Doctors is pushing me to focus more and more on characters ahead of plot. At its core, Doctors is a show about healing. All the medical stuff, that's a vehicle for telling stories about ordinary people facing a crisis point. Doesn't have to be the end of the world, often times the stories are quite small in scale - but that can all the more powerful because of that.
As part of the story development process, you have to create character profiles for each of your proposed guest characters. When I writing the scene by scene breakdown for my episode, some foolish part of me initially resented having to do this. I don't have a lot of patience for lengthy questionnaires detailing your character's favourite sock colour or worst meal ever eaten.
But the profiles for Doctors force you to explore your characters' backstory, why they're behaving the way they do as the episode begins. This proved invaluable when I came to write the first draft, adding an extra depth and meaning to their actions. Just as discovering what your story's really about is crucial, so is finding out what motivates your characters.
Proof positive of this came on two recent story pitches. Both of them had strong central plot hooks, but felt a bit flat on a character level. So I pushed myself to dig deeper into my cast, find the truth lurking behind their behaviour. Once I'd done that, writing the proposals proved so much easier. I knew both the how and the why of my stories, and that helps a lot.
Now all that's no guarantee either of these pitches will be accepted, that's not in my control. But I'm not unhappy with my efforts. And I feel like I've made a little breakthrough in my writing. Digging deeper into characters takes a lot longer, but if people care about your characters, I believe they'll care much more about the story you're telling. Onwards!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
It was twenty years ago yesterday
In January 1990 I emigrated to the UK, having been granted indefinite leave to stay and work here mainly thanks to fact one of my grandparents was British. [Regulations have changed since then, I believe, but don't quote me on that.] I arrived on an overcast Tuesday with about £3000, one suitcase and a letter from Doctor Who Magazine inviting me to come talk about job prospects. There were no jobs at DWM, but I got a flat and a mate out of it [thanks, John!].
Back home in New Zealand I'd been a daily newspaper journalist, specialising in court reporting and arts coverage [not two areas that often overlap, it has to be admitted]. Having failed to win a permanent place in the New Zealand Herald's features department, I decided to emigrate and spent a year most of 1989 saving up the readies, getting my immigration status in order.
I could have gone to Australia, but that just felt like a larger, louder version of New Zealand. [Not that accurate a portrayal, to be honest]. I might have swung a visa for the US, thanks to relatives in Maryland. But Britain appealed, and I had an idle fantasy of one day writing Doctor Who stories for television [the BBC covertly cancelled three weeks before I arrived.
Within two months of arriving I was near broke, struggling to find work and homesick. Foolish pride meant I couldn't go back to NZ, not until at least a year had passed. But I bluffed my way into a subbing job on a satellite TV listings mag, before stumbling into an assistant editor's job on a soon-to-launch comic called the Judge Dredd Megazine. I was settling in.
Fast forward to January 2010. The Megazine is still going and I'm still here. Haven't fulfilled my idle fantasy of writing Doctor Who for TV yet, but I've had four Who novels published and scripted audio dramas featuring the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and the Daleks. The BBC's broadcasting my first TV drama next month and the dream remains alive, however unlikely it might be.
Looking back, it seems an act of supreme optimism to travel halfway round the world to a country where I knew one person in search of something better. But it's exactly what my relatives did in the 19th and 20th Centuries. They went south from the northern hemisphere, I reversed that journey. One day I'll go back for good - but not just yet. Life is sweet as, bro. Onwards!
Back home in New Zealand I'd been a daily newspaper journalist, specialising in court reporting and arts coverage [not two areas that often overlap, it has to be admitted]. Having failed to win a permanent place in the New Zealand Herald's features department, I decided to emigrate and spent a year most of 1989 saving up the readies, getting my immigration status in order.
I could have gone to Australia, but that just felt like a larger, louder version of New Zealand. [Not that accurate a portrayal, to be honest]. I might have swung a visa for the US, thanks to relatives in Maryland. But Britain appealed, and I had an idle fantasy of one day writing Doctor Who stories for television [the BBC covertly cancelled three weeks before I arrived.
Within two months of arriving I was near broke, struggling to find work and homesick. Foolish pride meant I couldn't go back to NZ, not until at least a year had passed. But I bluffed my way into a subbing job on a satellite TV listings mag, before stumbling into an assistant editor's job on a soon-to-launch comic called the Judge Dredd Megazine. I was settling in.
Fast forward to January 2010. The Megazine is still going and I'm still here. Haven't fulfilled my idle fantasy of writing Doctor Who for TV yet, but I've had four Who novels published and scripted audio dramas featuring the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and the Daleks. The BBC's broadcasting my first TV drama next month and the dream remains alive, however unlikely it might be.
Looking back, it seems an act of supreme optimism to travel halfway round the world to a country where I knew one person in search of something better. But it's exactly what my relatives did in the 19th and 20th Centuries. They went south from the northern hemisphere, I reversed that journey. One day I'll go back for good - but not just yet. Life is sweet as, bro. Onwards!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Yes, spelling matters for screenwriting
I read for a few screen agencies and never fail to be amazed by the dismal quality of spelling, grammar and punctuation in some scripts. If you can't spell, try using a spell-checker. Won't pick up instances where you've put in the wrong word spelled correctly, but it's a step in the right direction. Learning basic rules of punctuation and correct grammar wouldn't hurt either.
Screenplays are written in a very particular format. Commonly held wisdom is that one page of standard format screenplay equates to one minute of screen time, if written right. But the standardised format also serves another purpose - by making all screenplays look the same, it makes their formatting invisible. You see the story, not the layout on the page.
A script littered with spelling mistakes, wildly incorrect punctuation and grammar that would make a schoolmaster weep drives me crazy. Not because I'm a spelling Nazi, but because those basic mistakes keep reminding me I'm a reading a script. Any chance of being swept along by the story gets destroyed by stupid errors that could have been so easily avoided.
If you know you can't spell, are shaky on grammar and have problems distinguishing an apostrophe from a comma - ask a friend for help. If you're dyslexic, get someone to proof-read your screenplays before you submit them. There's no shame in admitting you need a little bit of assistance, no weakness in the fact you're not perfect at these common sticking points.
Trust me, I spent years mistyping the word problem [it was a real probelm for me] and my grasp of grammar is tentative at best. Before I send out an important document, I'll print it out and give the hard copy a proof-read. If it's really important, I'll ask a friend for a second read. Amazing how often your eyes miss an obvious error on screen.
Recently I had one character offering another a bride to look the other way. That would have sense in a story about arranged marriages, but not a narrative about ethics in academia. Another time I had somebody watering their lawn with a hope pipe. And let's not talk about the crowded prison cell that afforded no room for piracy [yo ho ho and a bottle of glum].
Do yourself a favour, scribes - proofread. Onwards!
Screenplays are written in a very particular format. Commonly held wisdom is that one page of standard format screenplay equates to one minute of screen time, if written right. But the standardised format also serves another purpose - by making all screenplays look the same, it makes their formatting invisible. You see the story, not the layout on the page.
A script littered with spelling mistakes, wildly incorrect punctuation and grammar that would make a schoolmaster weep drives me crazy. Not because I'm a spelling Nazi, but because those basic mistakes keep reminding me I'm a reading a script. Any chance of being swept along by the story gets destroyed by stupid errors that could have been so easily avoided.
If you know you can't spell, are shaky on grammar and have problems distinguishing an apostrophe from a comma - ask a friend for help. If you're dyslexic, get someone to proof-read your screenplays before you submit them. There's no shame in admitting you need a little bit of assistance, no weakness in the fact you're not perfect at these common sticking points.
Trust me, I spent years mistyping the word problem [it was a real probelm for me] and my grasp of grammar is tentative at best. Before I send out an important document, I'll print it out and give the hard copy a proof-read. If it's really important, I'll ask a friend for a second read. Amazing how often your eyes miss an obvious error on screen.
Recently I had one character offering another a bride to look the other way. That would have sense in a story about arranged marriages, but not a narrative about ethics in academia. Another time I had somebody watering their lawn with a hope pipe. And let's not talk about the crowded prison cell that afforded no room for piracy [yo ho ho and a bottle of glum].
Do yourself a favour, scribes - proofread. Onwards!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Being a responsible writer
Been working on a particular story pitch for Doctors off and on since Christmas. I never normally take so long to work an idea up into the requisite two page synopsis, but something about this story has defied a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am approach. I won't get into specifics, but it revolves around a condition that destroys lives and can lay waste to entire families.
Maybe it was a mistake to watch a lot of YouTube videos featuring sufferers of this disease, but I needed to see its effects for myself. Writing should come from a place of truth, no matter how much that may hurt. Once I'd see what happens to victims of this disease, my story stopped being a matter of plot points and structural conundrums. Truth trumps fiction, you might say.
As writers we have the power of life and death over our characters [at least, we do until other voices get attached to a project]. Telling a good story well is what we do. But we have another responsibility - to tell the truth about our world, no matter how ugly or unhappy it might be. Hopefully I can do justice to my subject with this pitch - time will tell. Onwards!
Maybe it was a mistake to watch a lot of YouTube videos featuring sufferers of this disease, but I needed to see its effects for myself. Writing should come from a place of truth, no matter how much that may hurt. Once I'd see what happens to victims of this disease, my story stopped being a matter of plot points and structural conundrums. Truth trumps fiction, you might say.
As writers we have the power of life and death over our characters [at least, we do until other voices get attached to a project]. Telling a good story well is what we do. But we have another responsibility - to tell the truth about our world, no matter how ugly or unhappy it might be. Hopefully I can do justice to my subject with this pitch - time will tell. Onwards!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Playing the long game
Watched an advance copy of my first TV drama commission last night. I'm still waaaay too close to my script to offer anything resembling an objective opinion about it, but I couldn't be happier with everybody else's efforts. Fascinating to see what translated from page to screen, and what got cut for time. The episode's due for broadcast on BBC1 next month [exact transmission details to follow].
Spent yesterday at Pacific Quay, the BBC's Scotland headquarters. No, I didn't get a place on the Scotland Writes workshop which was held there yesterday. Nor was I a contestant on Eggheads, A Question of Genius or The Weakest Link - all of which were at various stages of production at Pacific Quay yesterday. [It's a quiz show cavalcade at PQ right now, stressed contestants everywhere.]
Instead I was part of a day-long brainstorming session for a forthcoming BBC project. Can't tell you more than that - not until contracts are signed, etc - but it's an exciting project that offers some exciting storytelling possibilities. Yesterday's gathering was the second time writers have been involved with the process, the first was [to my surprise] way back in May last year.
Both these opportunities underline the fact writing is like playing the long game. My Doctors ep will go out almost two years to the day since I submitted my trial script to the show. [Hopefully it won't be another two years until I get another broadcast.] Yesterday's brainstorming session took place eight months after the first. These things take time to bear fruit.
For every success, there's probably nine other projects that didn't pan out. Being professional means being willing to fail, to fall flat on your face and get back again. There's no such thing as overnight success, merely overnight recognition after years of hard work. That's why writing is playing the long game and patience is a virtue. Onwards!
Spent yesterday at Pacific Quay, the BBC's Scotland headquarters. No, I didn't get a place on the Scotland Writes workshop which was held there yesterday. Nor was I a contestant on Eggheads, A Question of Genius or The Weakest Link - all of which were at various stages of production at Pacific Quay yesterday. [It's a quiz show cavalcade at PQ right now, stressed contestants everywhere.]
Instead I was part of a day-long brainstorming session for a forthcoming BBC project. Can't tell you more than that - not until contracts are signed, etc - but it's an exciting project that offers some exciting storytelling possibilities. Yesterday's gathering was the second time writers have been involved with the process, the first was [to my surprise] way back in May last year.
Both these opportunities underline the fact writing is like playing the long game. My Doctors ep will go out almost two years to the day since I submitted my trial script to the show. [Hopefully it won't be another two years until I get another broadcast.] Yesterday's brainstorming session took place eight months after the first. These things take time to bear fruit.
For every success, there's probably nine other projects that didn't pan out. Being professional means being willing to fail, to fall flat on your face and get back again. There's no such thing as overnight success, merely overnight recognition after years of hard work. That's why writing is playing the long game and patience is a virtue. Onwards!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Introduction to Screenwriting trainer training
Spent Monday through Friday trudging through the snow to attend a course that trains people how to teach an Introduction to Screenwriting. Script development guru Phil Parker devised it all, but our course was taught by four trainers who'd been taught by Phil how to train others. [We came close to an infinite recursion loop at time, but avoided that hapless fate.]
Tomorrow most people are reconvening in Glasgow for another five days, this time getting trained in how to teach a writing for feature films course. For this the wizard will appear from behind the curtain to lead the training. I'd happily have taken part in that [especially as the course is free] but, ironically, I'll be busy teaching in Edinburgh. The academic year resumeth...
Getting back and forth to Glasgow proved quite the palaver. I'd hoped to get trains via Lanark, but recent Arctic conditions scuppered that plan. Not only were rail services cancelled, but the road conditions were deemed too dangerous for a replacement bus service - lightweights! So I drove back and forth, skidding and sliding all the way but never touching the brakes.
Tomorrow it's back to Craighouse to teach a bridging course for two of our creative writing MA students who are pursuing a screenwriting option this trimester. [See, that course in Glasgow was worth all the travel trouble.] Then back to Glasgow on Wednesday for a five-hour brainstorming session on a fascinating project that's still under wraps for now.
Thursday and Friday is week one of trimester two on the creative writing MA course. I'm leading two modules this term, one of which focuses on writing genre fiction. Phil Parker argues there are only four genres in cinema - horror [which must include a supernatural or non-human element], thriller, romance and personal drama. He calls everything else a sub-genre.
Apparently science fiction and fantasy aren't film genres, according to Parker - they're just settings for the four main genres. Ditto the western. I guess that makes the space western genre a complete nonsense, if you buy Parker's theorems. Me, I'm not so convinced - but the course in Glasgow couldn't have been more timely. Now it's time to apply what I learned. Onwards!
Tomorrow most people are reconvening in Glasgow for another five days, this time getting trained in how to teach a writing for feature films course. For this the wizard will appear from behind the curtain to lead the training. I'd happily have taken part in that [especially as the course is free] but, ironically, I'll be busy teaching in Edinburgh. The academic year resumeth...
Getting back and forth to Glasgow proved quite the palaver. I'd hoped to get trains via Lanark, but recent Arctic conditions scuppered that plan. Not only were rail services cancelled, but the road conditions were deemed too dangerous for a replacement bus service - lightweights! So I drove back and forth, skidding and sliding all the way but never touching the brakes.
Tomorrow it's back to Craighouse to teach a bridging course for two of our creative writing MA students who are pursuing a screenwriting option this trimester. [See, that course in Glasgow was worth all the travel trouble.] Then back to Glasgow on Wednesday for a five-hour brainstorming session on a fascinating project that's still under wraps for now.
Thursday and Friday is week one of trimester two on the creative writing MA course. I'm leading two modules this term, one of which focuses on writing genre fiction. Phil Parker argues there are only four genres in cinema - horror [which must include a supernatural or non-human element], thriller, romance and personal drama. He calls everything else a sub-genre.
Apparently science fiction and fantasy aren't film genres, according to Parker - they're just settings for the four main genres. Ditto the western. I guess that makes the space western genre a complete nonsense, if you buy Parker's theorems. Me, I'm not so convinced - but the course in Glasgow couldn't have been more timely. Now it's time to apply what I learned. Onwards!
Friday, January 08, 2010
My PLR Top Ten 2008-09
Every year a wonderful organisation called the Public Lending Right sends registered authors a statement estimating how many times their books were borrowed from British libraries in recent times. To compensate for the lost sale, the PLR pays out about six pence per loan. There's a maximum payment threshold of £6600, to prevent immensely popular authors draining the PLR's coffers.
More than 20,000 authors will get payments for the most recent PLR period [July 2008-June 2009], with around 360 on the maximum amount. I’m a minnow in such matters, but can look forward to a nice three-figure sum in February. Alas, my latest payment is only half the amount it was two years ago - shifting focus to screenwriting means less PLR money for me, it seems.
Unsurprisingly, my most recent novel - A Massacre in Marienburg - was also the most borrowed of my books [fresh books get borrowed more. But two of my Judge Dredd novels from 1993 have been rediscovered in libraries of late, and most of my tomes saw action in the latest PLR period (even the bomb that was my guide to the films of Michael Caine). Here's my top ten tomes for July 2008 - June 2009 (with previous year's placing in brackets):-
1. (-) A Massacre in Marienburg (published Dec 08)
2. (1) Fiends of the Rising Sun (Jul 07)
3. (3) Fiends of the Eastern Front: The Blood Red Army (Apr 06)
4. (4) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Twilight of the Dead (Jul 06)
5. (6) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Omnibus edition (Feb 07)
6. (2) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Operation Vampyr (Oct 05)
7. (13) Ripped From a Dream: Nightmare on Elm St omnibus (Oct 06)
8. (15) From Russia With Lust: Nikolai Dante omnibus (Apr 07)
9. (8) I Am The Law: The Judge Dredd Omnibus (Oct 06)
10. (7) A Murder in Marienburg (May 07)
Bubbling under - Doctor Who: Empire of Death (up from 16th last year); Doctor Who: Amorality Tale (up from 18th last year); and Starring Michael Caine (up from 19th).
A Massacre in Marienburg finally unseated my various Fiends novels from top spot, which they had dominated for three years in succession. But the WWII vampires series continues to dominate the list, taking places 2-6. The other top ten slots go to omnibus editions of my Black Flame tomes and another Marienburg novel [all published by Nottingham's Games Workshop].
Most of my fiction has now slipped out of print, but Kindle owners can download my various Black Flame tomes from Amazon. I don't get any royalties on books that were published by Black Flame, so the PLR money is a nice after-the-fact bonus for me. Thanks to the thousands of readers who borrowed my books last year, and keep supporting your local libraries!
More than 20,000 authors will get payments for the most recent PLR period [July 2008-June 2009], with around 360 on the maximum amount. I’m a minnow in such matters, but can look forward to a nice three-figure sum in February. Alas, my latest payment is only half the amount it was two years ago - shifting focus to screenwriting means less PLR money for me, it seems.
Unsurprisingly, my most recent novel - A Massacre in Marienburg - was also the most borrowed of my books [fresh books get borrowed more. But two of my Judge Dredd novels from 1993 have been rediscovered in libraries of late, and most of my tomes saw action in the latest PLR period (even the bomb that was my guide to the films of Michael Caine). Here's my top ten tomes for July 2008 - June 2009 (with previous year's placing in brackets):-1. (-) A Massacre in Marienburg (published Dec 08)
2. (1) Fiends of the Rising Sun (Jul 07)
3. (3) Fiends of the Eastern Front: The Blood Red Army (Apr 06)
4. (4) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Twilight of the Dead (Jul 06)
5. (6) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Omnibus edition (Feb 07)
6. (2) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Operation Vampyr (Oct 05)
7. (13) Ripped From a Dream: Nightmare on Elm St omnibus (Oct 06)
8. (15) From Russia With Lust: Nikolai Dante omnibus (Apr 07)
9. (8) I Am The Law: The Judge Dredd Omnibus (Oct 06)
10. (7) A Murder in Marienburg (May 07)
Bubbling under - Doctor Who: Empire of Death (up from 16th last year); Doctor Who: Amorality Tale (up from 18th last year); and Starring Michael Caine (up from 19th).
A Massacre in Marienburg finally unseated my various Fiends novels from top spot, which they had dominated for three years in succession. But the WWII vampires series continues to dominate the list, taking places 2-6. The other top ten slots go to omnibus editions of my Black Flame tomes and another Marienburg novel [all published by Nottingham's Games Workshop].
Most of my fiction has now slipped out of print, but Kindle owners can download my various Black Flame tomes from Amazon. I don't get any royalties on books that were published by Black Flame, so the PLR money is a nice after-the-fact bonus for me. Thanks to the thousands of readers who borrowed my books last year, and keep supporting your local libraries!
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