Knowing What You Want, But Not How To Achieve It

In my last post I talked about being scared of taking the leap into the unknown, in that instance it was turning No Way out into chick lit.

Today I want to share with you news about the other project I mentioned in my rant ‘I don’t have writers block.’

This is a project that also involves taking a leap into the unknown, unlike No Way Out, rather than being unsure I am really excited, desperate to start, but I know deep down I need help.

It has developed from a suggestion of what could be done, into a serious idea. I have six characters that are possibly more developed than any other character I have ever started with before. I can only assume that it is because f my laid back attitude to it.

I fear I am talking in riddles so let me explain.

As a temp I was provided with a spare desk and basically left to get on with the task at hand. this spare desk was within the offices of the senior staffs PAs. using the most basic explanation, I was suddenly thrown into a world I just did not know existed.

Now I have seen and heard stuff that i probably shouldn’t have. I have experienced shocking attitudes, mainly from those not based within this area that have made assumptions about my role. But, and this is the most important thing, none of that will feature in my work. It is important however, as what I have seen and heard has helped me develop my characters.

Classic one liners, snippets of personality, little foibles all have been noted and now I have my magic six.

It hasn’t been easy. I was told, hey you could make a great script out of that, and I thought yes, I can, but how do you take reality and make it into something worth watching. the simple answer was time.

The first thing that worried me was that I would unintentionally reflect a particular member of staff, maybe I would take too much of them. I am confident now this will not happen. The first thing I did was just take the first impression and turn that into a caricature. I then left it. I then added quirky images to these caricatures and they developed further. By then taking snippets of conversations, irritations, removing the unimportant, I ended up with characters that are not reflective of the original people. by recognising the strengths and weaknesses, I then added several more characters that would act as antagonists to the protagonists.

I didn’t have a story when I started. I still don’t, not really. However, I do have a basis for how the characters will interact, I know how the story will be told. I know I have a television comedy series, I know it will be surreal. But I have never written a series script, or a comedy for that matter.

So what should I do? Simple. Look at successful comedy and you will see for most, it has been written by two or more writers. Now all I need to do is find someone who is willing to work closely with me.