I’ve been more productive in 2015 than the previous couple of years put together. This may have something to do with my son being a couple of years older and thus my brain being slightly less frazzled.
Today I wrote a new short story, called ‘Brain the size of a walnut’. It’s about a sentient mouse. I’ve never written from the point of view of a mouse before.
This came about due to me stumbling across a science fiction contest on Wattpad. It only needed 800 words, which was a good job as the deadline is tomorrow, and gave a choice of opening lines. I opted for:
“My only chance of escape involved a small, dark tunnel guarded by…”
All the usual sci-fi devices popped into my head: a spaceship, a monster, a space monster, a robot, a killer robot, an assassin…a space assassin. Nothing quite worked, so I went with the next obvious choice: a cat.
Really, it was a means to an end. I didn’t want the tunnel to dictate the story or character, and a cat was a good way to just get it out the way. But that clearly got my brain whirring in a peculiar direction, leading me to the natural nemesis of a cat.
And thus Greg the hyper-intelligent mouse was born. I quite like Greg. Though this is probably the one and only time I’ll write about him. It’s perhaps the most overtly comedic story I’ve written, and is inherently very daft.
Also today…
I also wrote my first new screenplay for what seems like (and probably has been) years. It’s called A View From The Gallery and is a one location, one actor short film. It’s designed primarily to experiment with digital set extensions and lighting.
Not sure what I’ll do with it. It’s in the hands of the It’s A Trap chaps at the moment, so I’ll see what they reckon to it. Regardless, it was good to flex the script muscles again after so long, and having been focused on prose for most of the year.
Writing makes me happy. Who’da thunk it?
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