Updates to, "Driven to Abstraction"

July 11, 2011

This is a document that I did up in order to, "update," the radio drama story I wrote and sent in to the competition.

July 11-12, 2009

Some day I hope to rewrite this script, "Driven to Abstraction," in novel form calling it, "To Then That's Left". I want to add to and expand the story in this script. I originally wrote this for a BBC World Service competition. I didn't win, but it showed me that I can finish something that I start. There are probably a lot of flaws to this script. This document outlines the flaws I can think of off hand. I also list some things that will change when this story gets put into book form.

The back drop (main story) in, "To Them That's Left," is Josephine Argyle and her family. I had to take most of that out from, "Driven to Abstraction" in order to get the story down to an hour. This script was supposed to start with a bang. Josephine was offered this job in London out of the blue. Her boss wants her to help a British actor, Nigel Mumford, write his autobiography. She is a fish out of water in a way. And then there's her family looming large in the background. Josephine's parents are going through marital difficulties. Her grandfather is dying. She might have to leave London on short notice, to attend the funeral. The family "back home" (in Texas) is in the process of selling the grandparent's home. It is not an easy time for Josephine, as visiting this house was like "crawling back into the womb". It is not an easy time for the rest of the family either.

I have to figure out a better way of getting Josephine the job working with Nigel. It wouldn't really happen the way I write it in this script.

There's a problem with how I have Nigel "wriggling" out of the play he is in. Things probably couldn't happen the way I write it here. I think it would work better for Nigel to start working on the movie when the play is finished. "As soon as this play finishes, I start working on..."

At the end of, "To Them That's Left", Josephine decides to move back to Lums Chapel. Also, "The Flower Petal War" movie doesn't get made because of the "political climate". The director decides to make another movie instead, "At the Other End of Rhubarb". Nigel signs up to star in that movie. This makes for the second book in the series. "Lums Chapel Whoop-de-do," which is about Josephine's family. It is the story I was originally writing for the competition. In that story, "Hollywood" comes to Lums Chapel, Texas to film, "At the Other End of Rhubarb". The author of the book, "At the Other End of Rhubarb," is originally from Lums Chapel. He is Josephine's cousin's brother-in-law.

In, "To Them That's Left", Nigel doesn't have any "mother" issues. He has no skeletons in his closet. He had a very idyllic childhood. He was not traumatized by anything. He is just a very private person. So, writing his autobiography is difficult from that standpoint.

Side notes...

In the book(s), Josephine's Aunt Margaret is the one who collects Harvey Macintosh. Nigel collects "British Blues" records, so he wouldn't know anything about, "The Woodward Avenue Freeze"-- I mean he wouldn't know anything about it "bibliographically" like it is written in "Driven to Abstraction".

July 15, 2009

I was looking up a word I heard in a radio interview. An actor and actress were being interviewed about a play they were starring in. The actor used the word, "infelicitous". Because of the context of the sentence, I became curious as to what the word meant. When I looked up that word and the root word, I was reminded of something I wish I had stuck on here the other day.

Douglas and I very labouredly read this script aloud so that I could tell how long it was. (Some things should be left to professionals!) We did two versions, a long one and a short one. I recorded both versions.

Douglas read "his" lines similar to the way he would speak them. In many cases, by habit, he did not read what was written. It was as if he didn't see what I wrote, but he saw what he normally said. A good many of the sentences are difficult to read aloud.

Had I been "smart," and if I had allowed more time, I should have taken what Douglas and I read, and re-arranged the sentences accordingly.

Looking up this word, "infelicitous," reminded me of something I want to keep in mind. If I write scripts I want to write them in such a way that they are not a burden to the actors or actresses. I also want to think of the audience and write sentences that can be easily heard (or read, in the case of books).