Horror Story

I'm sorry that I haven't posted here for a while. There wasn't much to report, writing-wise. I was straining for an idea which wouldn't seem to come. This stupid horror-film-for-live-theatre thing that I was desperate to start. I did get ideas, but none of them seemed right. Yet I couldn't bring myself to put it aside and start a different project, either. Nothing else would content me, only this.

 Lately, I've been working on an idea. It's an old idea, and I can't say I was all that wild about it, but I was stuck. As I've mentioned before here, I've been trying to write a horror stage play. The newer, better Woman In Black, as I've thought of it in my more grandiose moments. The stage play which M.R. James might have written. But there are reasons why there are so few horror stage plays. It's that bit more difficult to avoid melodrama (even though I would admit that the whole project is a melodrama), to make the characters convincing.

 I have been trying to get this thing off the ground for at least a year, now, maybe two. But I'm sure I can do it. The natural home for this story idea is probably the printed page or the cinema screen rather than the stage; but I think I can make it stage worthy by the skin of my teeth. So here goes. My first job is probably to create my protagonist. I'm determined this time (although I've said this a million times before, as well) to write his/her biography. That means perhaps writing the biographies of the protagonist's parents first, even though they probably won't appear in the play. Hemingway said that a story should be like an iceberg, with only its tip showing. I'm going to take my time and make a good job of it.

 It's a relief to have an idea. To finally settle on one. And even though this idea didn't seem all that promising to begin with, it's grown on me. I can see possibilities in it. It has the virtue of being simple, which means I can let the characters breathe, and build up the atmosphere slowly