Purrfect Progress

I've been writing a lot tonight. I finally have a good character - his name is Dan Thorpe and he's pretty brilliant. He's a screenwriter, he has amazing stories from his childhood and the novel will follow his life as well as the growing plot of the film he is writing alongside each other. It's all about what he draws on for his ideas.

I was inspired a lot by Stephen King's On Writing. It might seem like I was inspired a little too much, but I actually had the basis of Dan already down on paper before I was recommended On Writing by my housemate, so it just seems like an amazing coincidence that King decided to share his experiences in a non-fictional way just like I will be sharing Dan's.

On Writing is an amazing book, even if you have no desire to write a novel.

I've been listening to Harry Potter read by Stephen Fry nearly non-stop for a week - and the combination of lovely story telling and Fry's amazing presence has inspired me a lot. For my Fiction class at uni I have to write 2,500 words of a novel by the end of the year. I'm currently at about 900 and About to ask my classmates and friends for my second round of critical feedback. It's all a bit scary, but always fun at the same time.

Here's a small extract:


It was only a few Christmases ago that Dan had learned what really happened to his beloved Spud, as his drunken mother had laughed out the story over carols and cake. Apparently the neighbourhood tramp had stolen the year old kitten from the back garden in broad daylight while Dan and Stu played in the shed. Their mother had glanced out of the kitchen window just in time to see the almost camouflaged man making his swift exit, Spud poking his fluffy head out of the front pocket of his trench coat. The police were called but the thief was never found, and was presumed to have eloped with his new companion to the next town. Stu had heard half of the truth a few days after while eavesdropping on a telephone call their dad was having with their travelling sister, and had taken it upon himself to drill the Kitten Eater firmly into Dan’s nightmares.



I recently submitted some short film ideas for my Screenwriting module and used the strange man with a kitten in his pocket as the basis of one of those. For some reason that man and that kitten will make it into something I publish one day, if I publish anything, I just know it.