Writing Blog

20220120 What am I working on?

January 20, 2022 4:00pm

This is going back to how my university blog was written – as me admitting what I am writing.

So, I mentioned in my newsfeed that a recent newsletter about horror tropes inspired me to re-examine an old story I started years and years ago.

I had to go back and find it – hand-written in 2012, stored in an old C4 envelope, there it was. A basic beginning of a play, but with the cringiest title ever. Which I’ve got rid of, and gone back to basics. Anyway, I’d written Act 1 Scene 1 and half of Scene 2, and the start of Act II. I didn’t like the way they were written but loved the ideas I had and some of the turns of phrase. So, start again.

Challenge 1: Write a horror play, designed for the stage. But also comedy. Ish.
         Okay, that’s cool. Plays are not my forté. I mean, I’ve written a few and had one performed by an amateur group, but it’s not a strength. But horror is a strength. And I think I’m funny.

Challenge 2: It’s a sequel to an incredibly well-known and popular work in the public domain.
         Which one? No, I’ll leave that as a surprise, but the idea of this as a sequel was what started the initial writing a decade ago.

Challenge 3: Because writing a horror play wasn’t hard enough, I’m doing this in rhyming couplets of 10 syllables per line. The original was in abcb rhyming scheme, 10/8/10/8 syllable count, but that did not sound right, so now it’s aabbccdd… scheme.
         Why would I increase the degree of difficulty? As a tribute to the author of the original. I wouldn’t call what I am writing poetry, but it rhymes.

Challenge 4: Make sure it is at least 60 minutes long.
         First – and I was asked this question after a recent Newsfeed post – how do you know long a play is? A 1.5 spaced A4 page in 12-point font with 1 inch borders is around 1 minute of performance time, as a rough guide. Second, why 60 minutes? Because I reckon I can get this performed, and a standard Adelaide Fringe show is 60-90 minutes long.

And that’s what I’m currently working on! Intrigued? I hope so. I might even post Act I, Scene 1 once it’s been first-run edited.