Time travel is possible through genuine voices
Published by on July 2nd, 2007
It’s difficult for me to remember exactly when Doctor Matthew Keynes first entered my life. Must be six or seven years ago now, maybe more - so much has happened since then. After some time away, he’s back, and back in a new and interesting guise.
Keynes is the lead protagonist of a TV series concept I devised, and wrote, over a period of several years. As with all typically naive wannabie screen writers, I presumed that good ideas well executed - plus a lot of hard work and a big chunk of time - was all it would take to get from idea to screen. I then spent some time with Jim Hill, television writer, director and creator of the hugely successful UK TV series Boon. The trials and tortures of breaking in as a TV writer which Jim quite accurately described, served only to inspire and fuel me at the time and not dampen my enthusiasm one ounce. So I armed myself with two full screenplays, multiple forms of outlines, treatments, character descriptions (bound together into a properly structured series ‘bible’), and proceeded to collect as many rejection slips as possible. I received plenty to paper my office wall, of course, but enough of them offered some very useful and constructive advice that the work continued.
What brought my activity to a halt was the sudden appearance of similarly focused TV dramas on both BBC and ITV. I realised that my work would now be considered derivative and too similar to current programming and would therefore be even less likely to be considered. Nonetheless it had been a superbly rewarding and enriching labour which I do not regret for one moment.
Now, Keynes and his merry band of netherworld adventurers are back in my life. This time, the aim is to write a series of novels. You know the type: light, coffee table style books, easy to read, yet with characters rich and deep enough to keep you coming back to follow their respective and collective journeys. That’s the plan at least, and it’s a plan which is now building a little momentum.
Anyway, finally to the point of this post after more waffle than I had originally planned…
The stories are set in a pseudo-historic Edwardian period - the early part of the 20th century. Research into the details of the time such as dress, events, style, society, etc. as not tough to come by, but grasping the essence of real people and their every day lives, is.
Jen may have found the answer in a very unique book she purchased yesterday. Lost Voices of the Edwardians by Max Arthur, is packed with snippets of real people born during or before the Edwardian period as they describe one aspect of their lives from that time. This is just like peering into a time travelling magnifying glass, a dazzlingly rich tapestry of those minute details which can only ever be discovered through genuine, every day experience. Reading through just a handful of these passages this morning gave me several details for specific scenes in the current story, plus an entire setting for a future one. I am buzzing with anticipation as to what inspiration and colour lies buried in the rest of this book.
It will be a great deal of time before the first book of Dr. Keynes’ tortured adventures is even close to completion, but each week a bunch of pages of the first draft are being covered in inked words - that’s real ink, more on how and why in a future post.
2 Responses to “Time travel is possible through genuine voices”
July 13th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Oooh! Like this concept a lot.
Am currently rekindling my interest in Cthulhu by Gaslight, horror roleplaying at the end of the Victorian era, so this kind of thing is of considerable interest.
Will definitely follow this project with interest.
- Neil.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
[...] The focus of my information, apart from web searches of course, consists of two books. The first (mentioned here ) is Lost Voices of the Edwardians, joined more recently by After the Victorians . That book covers [...]