Tuesday, July 8, 2008

New Ideas

Well, it must have been too many days without working on Tinder.

New ideas are sprouting in a mushroom like fashion. Particularly while I'm sleeping (they must like the dark).

It's far too early to name them in public, they'll sink back into the rich mud and it will be hell to coax them up again, so I'm just quietly brewing and fomenting.

Back to QTC for workshops next week and then it will be rehearsals and then the reading.

And after the reading comes the judging.

And after the judging comes either euphoria or despair. No, scrap that. Euphoria or determination to find another home for this play. Which I will.

Strangely optimistic today!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Long Silence

I haven't written a post here for a long time.

There've been a few reasons; the illness and then death of a much-loved family member; and also a feeling that I'm saying the same things over and over again.

I have been writing, but it's not that heady surge of writing, where you discover new things and feel euphoric as you get to know your characters. This is the painstaking, steady work of rewriting.

I have submitted my 'final' draft to QTC. I've put final in inverted commas because there will be more changes made. We have two weeks of rehearsals and I'm sure I will be tweaking and changing words as we go.

I knew I was ready to send it when I read through the play three times, once for each character. (Thank heavens I don't have more than three characters in my play!) I read the character I was looking at out loud and read the other characters in my head. This helped find repetition and words that didn't fit in people's mouths. It took me all day to do the three reads and, at the end of it, there were probably only ten lines I changed. This is where it starts getting silly and I worry about the placement of a comma.

There are still big changes I could be making. (I've written an alternate ending and sent that in as well - just because I have such troubles with the natural ending for this play. Why can't I write something happy and cheerful?)

I could start again and change everything. I think there are at least three different plays within the situation I've created. But I've reached the end for this version. The play is done. I think!

If you're reading this, I hope you can make it to the public readings on 1 August. Here's a link: https://www.qtix.com.au/show/QTC_tinder_08.aspx