Chapter Three – The Joshuas lives unpacked

The initial shock of arriving in Much Bickering is intensified somewhat as the removals men unload the Joshuas’ pantechnicon into their new house – Beckside House. The house, empty and cold for some weeks, no longer exhibits the allure to Nick and Kate of a property in need of some renovation; it looks like a broken-down wreck in need of major and expensive surgery.

The 3 girls however are very excited not only by the size of the house but also by the extent of the gardens and outbuildings and the sense of great space.

Throughout a long day’s unloading and unpacking Nick and Kate keep reminding each other, rather unconvincingly, of the ENORMOUS potential that they’ve bought.

With the departure of the excellent removals men Nick and Kate are ready to collapse where they sit, but they haul themselves up to their sparse bedroom and by 9 the entire family are fast asleep......

But within a few minutes Nick is awoken by intruders....who turn out to be neighbours – the Reverend Julia and her Scots boyfriend Archie – with a tureen of soup to welcome the Joshuas. (Nick and Kate realise that none of their doors have any locks)

At the end of my day I decided to sketch out a ground plan of the property in relation to its place in the village and the north York Moors.

4½ pages : 1180 words

Chapter Two - On the road north

As the Joshuas are loaded into their car with all their emotions and memories of their past life each family member has a flashback to a distinct memory of their past. And straightaway I wrote this extended scene in ‘screenplay’ form. Bugger!

This road scene is one full of placement of memory, finality, emotion and expectation. It also gives a physical description of each member of the Joshua family and their characters – with particular reference to Nick often up against the might of 4 different females.

The chapter ends descriptively with the Joshuas estate car rolling into the quiet Yorkshire village of Much Bickering – quite a polar opposite to the bustle and noise of inner-city London: it’s a shock!

4½ pages : 840 words

Chapter One – Goodbye House

“This a story that begins with tears and ends with tears”....is how I started the book. I rather liked the idea that the tears were of totally different emotions from completely different situations. But then I left the opening paragraph as I wrestled again with the names and the ages of the main family.

As I began again with a new opening line I also had new protagonists – Nick Joshua and his wife Kate. I managed half a page of descriptive prose about the Joshuas leaving their home in London. But as soon as I started on dialogue between Nick and his daughters I reverted to writing in ‘screenplay’ mode.

As a result I finished the day with a page of narrative, a half-page of dialogue and a lot of crossings through and scattered notes: in all a rather unsatisfactory first day’s work.

1½ pages : 350 words

The hard work starts next week......

After the dramatics of Act 3’s conclusion, today was one of reflection and contemplation.

What began as a one-word throwaway idea and then 8 simple sides of concertina paper has now become 11 complex sides of concertina paper. What started as 15 chapters is now looking to end up as 25-30 chapters. I’m happy with about 80% of the plotline and I hope to solidify the remaining 20% next week.

When I started out, there was one aspect of the project of which I had doubts – whether I could convert my natural instincts for ‘screenwriting’ into a narrative style. I’ll find out on Monday when I start Chapter One, the narrative, in earnest.

Lights...camera...Action!

Reflecting on Tuesday’s introduction of the 3rd villain, the manner of his introduction seems rather contrived so I’ll have to get those tiny brain cells energised in the coming weeks.

There is then an inexorable 10-minute concluding scene with a dramatic, life-or-death climax.
Cue – Rainstorm...turbulent sea...villains...Sarah and Bella in peril...stunt persons...police...Nick missing...storm building ...lights...can we afford a helicopter...and of course Murphy – makeup...lights...crayfish sandwich ...cameras...ACTION!

The End!

Act 3 – the stakes ratchet up

At the start of Act 3 the villains come to the fore. They have a decision to make and they don’t need much time to take it. Murphy goes missing. The Nickkates are very distraught as Murphy holds a secret. How will it end? Happily?

Originally, I saw some of Act 2 in act 3 leading to a fairly linear conclusion. Now, the villains bring in a new character who is delighted to get his mitts on Murphy. The introduction of this character throws a curve into the plot and adds another element to the outcome.

Act 2 – with Murphy centre-stage throughout

Act 2 is really Murphy’s Act. All the other characters appear to be secondary to Murphy as he is at the centre of the action and he drives the plot along.

The action is cranked up during this Act and becomes more dramatic. Towards the end of Act 2 there is a large set-piece – the village summer fete – at which one of the girls lets something slip...and Murphy is put in potential harm’s way. I have 2 plot-points that look a little creaky but I’ll deal with those later. Right!?

Summertime, and the living is easy

Well, it certainly is not for the Nickkates, as Act 2 begins.

It is May and the first few scenes of Act 2 involve Murphy’s integration with the Nickkates and the village. Murphy’s character is paramount. As Act 2 rolls along the plotline seems to be a simple sequence, but a revelatory scene puts a great deal of pressure on the family; this propels the plot in a different direction and towards further problems by the end of the Act.

Murphy introduced

Within a week of starting the project I wrote a complete scene that introduced Murphy. Now, as Act 1 has been completed in sketchy form I’ve had to spike that scene. The crux of the scene is right but I’ll need to place it a scene or two later and carry out a major rewrite of it.

Murphy’s intro is the most crucial scene of Act 1 and the tenor of it has to be right. Murphy and his meeting with the Nickkates throws them off kilter. There is a great deal of family resistance to ‘rescuing’ a dog and it is Bella’s surprising insistence that sways their decision. That decision ends Act 1.

Not just one villain...but two!

As the story unfolded I clearly saw the villain of the piece – he was an old Etonian/Harrovian Yorkshireman and landowner (stereotypes abound!?). The man is like many who get boarded from the British shires to Eton (or Harrow or Stowe or Radley) many of these men return to take over daddy’s estate. Our villain is one such.

I had intended him as a socio-cultural villain who is just a bit irksome in his lordly/xenophobic way towards Nick and Kate, which made the relationship between the family and Murphy difficult, but...now I have an extra plot twist which makes him dangerous. He also has a compliant footsoldier who carries out all the dirty chroes.

As Act 1 closes, in mid-April, so the villain’s intentions are ramped up.

Act 1 becomes weightier

I’m having to write this blog summation of the novel in 3-Act form rather than chapter form as, in my mind, the plot follows a typical 3-Act screenplay: this may change when I start to write the book itself in Chapter form.

Now that the 5 main (family) characters have been fleshed out, I’ve rewritten the supplementary characters and some of their characteristics. The plotline is developing with further details and character notes as I reach the conclusion of the Act 1 plotline.

Act 1 – the narrative tightens

By the end of the week I have filled 5-6 pages of concertina paper sketched out in much firmer detail than the first draft.

I began by looking again at the 5 main (family) characters and I have now written out full character notes. So they are......

NICK, early 40’s, photographer
KATE, late 30’s, journalist
SARAH, 11 years old
BELLA, 9 years old
SCARLETT, 7 years old

I then spent time looking at the opening scene, which lays the foundation for the entire story. This scene runs through Chapter 1 and it needed to introduce the characters, it needed to explain the premise for the story and in needed to make an impact.

At the same time I had to look at the time of year for the setting of the story and that has to be the Spring so that the story concludes at the end of summer/beginning of autumn.

I also started to alter some of the peripheral characters. For example, the ‘retired reverend’ has departed to that cast in the sky and been replaced by a young female vicar and her boyfriend.

One character that I’m not happy with is the villain and I’ll have to deal with this next week. Do I really need a villain!?

What a day, What a man

I defy ANYONE to watch the entire film of Barack Obama speaking in Chicago in the early hours of this morning, and NOT be moved by the man and his words.......

The SECOND concertina draft begins

This was my desk first thing this morning......

Today it was back to a lot of making tea, sitting and staring, thinking, making tea, staring, thinking intensely, making more tea.

It reminded me of a reply that Raymond Chandler gave to someone who asked him about his writing inspiration....... “Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

Now, where’s that box of Elastoplast?

A cast of characters

After last week’s efforts and with the young Refugees back at school, today is the beginning of the second stage of the novel.

A leisurely day it turned out - I looked again at my 7 sides of concertina paper – much scrawled in pencil and red pen – and felt good about what I’ve done so far. Then, I started using my new Murphy-headed Exercise Book. On the first page I wrote out the 15 Chapter headings. Page 2 has a list of characters and 2-line sketches of each of them: the list includes a retired reverend, a know-it-all family, an elderly widow with cats, an emotional vet(!?), a goth postman, a local squire/landowner and 3 generations of a family of farmers....none of which may finally end up on the page.

Now, for a fresh sheaf of concertina paper and the REAL plotting will begin.

Act 3 sketched out - preliminary story completed

Not much more to write as I’m feeling quite exhausted after a very intense writing week (as well as busy half-term break).

What has been important in completing the first draft of the plot is that the ENTIRE plot from Act 1 through Act 2 to the climax in Act 3 hangs together and is credible. So, I’m fairly satisfied that 90% of the whole looks okay. Phew!

Exercising an Exercise Book

Whilst hoping to complete the entire first rough sketching of the novel by the end of the week, I’m beginning to think that I’ll break with my traditional writing processes. Rather that ‘write’ onto endless sheets of loose A4 paper I’m looking to write the story into an Exercise Book.

It will mean transcribing any of my A4 sheets into the book...and I hope that it will work well. Writing in an exercise book will be the first time that I’ve done anything like this since I was at school.

2 major scenes written...and into Act 3

A large amount of my working/writing time in the past month – contrary to my blog scribblings –has been spent sitting (and standing), thinking deeply and deeper, staring at the wall opposite or through the window to my side and looking as if my mind’s possessed. I’ve always found this ‘idle’ part of writing paramount to the whole process – it’s a time when there’s no scratching of pencil on paper or clattering of computer keyboard, but a very silent formulative process that pushes the scene through my mental process. This is followed invariably by a burst of intense pencil on paper.

And so it was today when I suddenly internalised 2 crucial scenes and then scrawled the action and dialogue on paper – my writing is too slow to keep up with my thoughts.

One scene that I wrote out took place at the end of Act 1 where Bella meets Murphy – a very simple scene but critical as to the manner of their meeting and suggestive as to the future.

The second scene that I wrote out was the dénouement in Act 3 – a series of action sequences underscored by a good deal of emotion.

In the meantime, I was now well into roughing out Act 3, which still needs one or two plotpoints sorting out so that the whole story hangs together tightly.

My kinda town...London is

What a weekend! This was our first family visit to the great metropolis in 7½ years and we stayed with Mrs R’s little brother, his wife and 2 young children in rather nice Tulse Hill.

We arrived in London on Friday evening and found a city buzzing at the start of the weekend; whilst Saturday morning was a breezy, bright morning spent walking around autumnal Brockwell Park.In the afternoon it was a la recherché du temps perdu as drove the 2 or 3 miles up to Balham. What had been a run-down, seedy suburb in the 80’s and a villagey yet vibrant area in the 90’s has now been made over into a yuppified playground. And Mrs R and I were shocked and a little saddened.

Our arrival in Balham was met with a parking meter but also by our wonderful and unique postman, Cliff – much hugging and reminiscing of neighbours. We then walked around Balham and a few ‘old’ shops remained – second-hand books, hairdresser, Afro-Asian products, jeweller – but now there were also up-market restaurants and shops, Waitrose, As Nature Intended and numerous coffee bars!
Later we had tea with 2 sets of friends (way back from antenatal classes) and saw how their children had grown and developed and heard about the vicissitudes of local schooling.

The highlight of the weekend for me was waking up on Sunday morning – the sky was overcast and the drizzle was steady. My favourite evocation of London is rainy Sunday mornings – shivery, grey and peaceful apart from the sound of the rain. Oh joy!

Then we packed up and headed for South Kensington and the Natural History Museum via a wander along Knightsbridge. The museum was heaving, even at 10 in the morning, with half-term families and overseas visitors. Lunch was taken with my elderly and delightful aunt in Kentish Town, before we headed back up the motorway to Yorkshire again.

Both Mrs R and I reminisced about how little the atmosphere of London had changed and mooted how easily we’d like to live there again. The young Refugees had different ideas; they were – to a girl – steadfast in their desire to live in Great Bickering and away from the ugly, demon metropolis.

And my final conclusion about our visit – there IS a North-South divide.

A crucial character: Act 2 roughed out

At the beginning of the week we, and then I, decided upon Murphy’s name. As the week has worked its way through and as I approached the start of Act 3 I thought it was important that I sort out which of the 3 children acts as a counterpoint to the introduction of Murphy. Originally, I had the feeling that I knew which of the 3 children should be; and so it has turned out to be BELLA who is to be inextricably linked to Murphy and the climax of Act 3.

As a result, I’ve managed to complete the rough sketching of Act 2 and, as we’re heading to London for the weekend, Act 3 beckons next week – with all the complexities of tying up ALL the loose threads.