A little bit of this...

...a little bit of that, so they say.  So after an amazing time away in London, life quickly slots back into its routine.  So, I thought I would do something a bit different for May...I have made a list of 20 things I want to do with the month.  All are very achievable and all are very beneficial to what could lay ahead. 
For example: JOB HUNTING, FINISH QUAKE 4, TRIP TO MARTIN MERE, DEDICATED GYM etc.  The one which has re-energised my writing though is: RE-START BERLIN SCRIPT.


Lou Reed's 'Berlin' album is one of the greatest, harshest, vivid, beautiful, haunting albums EVER!!  It was written in direct response to the commercial success of the album 'Transformer' which contained the hits Walk On The Wild Side, Satellite Of Love and Perfect Day, and is fuelled by that albums success and the need to create the flip side of it.  It's 2 main characters, Jim and Caroline, are tragic and sorry figures and the album takes us through their lives and the world they live in.  It is stunning in its story, its gorgeous in its music and its brave in its subject matter...an absolute classic that really needs to be heard.


Anyway, it is one of my favourites and I have always wondered what it would be like as an actual book.  First I discussed turning it into a graphic novel with a friend but that idea fizzled out so I thought, why not turn it into a script?  So I have.  I have scripted the entire album and then some because there is a point in the story where Caroline has her children taken away and I thought about their story so decided to continue the script and create a new original story focused around the children.  Roughly around half way through at this stage, I have pushed my own limits in storytelling by delving into the darkest corners of what can happen to children and the depraved actions of some adults trusted with the care of such children.


So, as a little teaser, I have attached parts of my script to Berlin and beyond:


Act Seven

Bare, let the actions tell the story

Jim finishes his attack and slumps down in the corner, his vision returning to normal.  We now focus on Caroline who gets up off the floor. We see the hotel room dissolve into a snow landscape, but with the furniture still there, all brilliant white, Caroline’s breath visible, Jim’s not.  When Caroline puts her hand through the windowpane and we see blood, it drips onto the snow and we slowly fade back into the hotel room.


Caroline
‘Why is it that you beat me, it isn’t any fun’


She slowly moves over to a dressing table, which has a mirror on it and we watch as she begins to make up her eye.


Caroline
‘You ought to learn more about yourself, think more than just I’


She stands up and walks over to Jim who is still slumped in the corner.  She then reaches into his pocket and finds the tablets of speed he took just as he retaliates and pushes her over before banging the back of his head on the wall repeatedly a few times.  Again Caroline gets up off the floor.


Caroline
‘You can hit me all you want, but I don’t love you anymore’


She bites her lip and moves over to the window.


Caroline
‘Life is meant to be more than this, and this is a bum trip’


She takes the tablet of speed munching on it and we hear whispers of voices asking ‘what is in her mind?’.  Caroline suddenly laughs and puts her hand through the windowpane.

ACT ONE

We open in a wonderful universe.  Stars, planets, explosions, comets, black holes – a wondrous scene is taking place and we are being pulled backwards through it.  We slow down, we speed up, supernovas decimate the screen, and intense fire rips through this galaxy.  We pull back and come out of a human eye and linger on it as tears stream out of it.  We slowly pull back some more and see a young girl Chloe(under 20) sat on the floor.  She is holding a razor at her wrists and staring directly at us.  We see on the wall behind her, 2 painted wings either side of her shoulders and begin to pan around the room she is in.  Everything is smashed, destroyed, books are on the floor, posters are ripped and the bed covers are on fire.  The door to this room is full of locks and padlocks and bolts – most of which have been battered and are swinging loose.  The scene is just pure chaos as we finish panning all the way around and end up back facing this young girl.  We move very slowly towards her again until all we can see is her face and shoulders – everything is silent and suddenly still.  She makes a slight move with her shoulders and a spray of blood shoots up and strikes her face.


Everything fades out apart from the spray of blood which just crawls and morphs into more streaming tears coming from Chloe but 10 years younger as she is being carried off, arms stretched out towards us and screaming ‘Mummy’ as loud as possible.  We pull back to see her mummy being held back by a man in a suit as she desperately tries to break free and get to her children as we can now see a young boy being carried off as well.  We move round to behind mummy and watch as the children are taken out of sight, we can hear the man in the suit screaming for Caroline to calm down.  Caroline continues to struggle as she focuses her anger on a man curled up in the corner screaming for Jim to do something.  The children disappear behind a slammed door which stops the entire scene entirely…before Caroline screams at the top of her voice ‘NO!!’


We are now outside as the children are put into separate vans, their little faces pressed up to the windows of the vans facing each other, tears still streaming, fists banging on the glass the 2 vans drive off and go opposite ways.

London...

...so, start of this week I was at London with Michelle for a few days.  The main reason was to see the mighty Devin Townsend Project at The Royal Albert Hall but we then decided to make a few days away and do the London rounds: Museums, London Eye, Thames cruise etc.


First off, The Devin Townsend Project was simply stunning!  A night to remember as the first set was the entire Z2 Dark Matters album played in full and turned into a show of sorts which included several big screens moving the story along, a giant ball bag with eyes running around on stage (really!), men firing merchandise from air powered bazookas, Chris Jericho popping up on screen as Captain Spectacular and Devin and the band supported by the gorgeous War Princess herself Dominique Lenore Persi playing a faultless set.  Amazing on its own but then after a 20 minute interlude, out the band come and play a "by request" set of tracks from his entire catalogue and including songs I have never heard live before (this is my 4th time seeing him), some of which blew my face off - Earth Day and The Death Of Music especially!  To say it was special is an understatement.  To say it was a unique one off doesn't even come close.  It will be something that will live with me forever and was 3 hours worth of my life which will remain an absolute highlight.


Then we come to London itself...our capital!  Impressive is a word I would use.  Busy is another word I would use. 


We went to the 2 main museums...History and British.  For me, the History museum is the better...full of dinosaur bones and displays of us and our place on this planet, it really blew me away.  We went on the London Eye which was a lot higher than I expected and I spent the majority of the 30-40 minute trip pretty much shitting myself...but the view was absolutely worth it (the skies were cloud free) as you could see for miles.  Similarly worth it was the Thames boat trip which meant we could see, and pass, all the main attractions of London.


Our Hotel was literally just outside Kensington Gardens which was stunning.  The Underground was easy and not as hellish as I had been led to believe.  The food we had was spot on...room service, eating pizza after midnight is always amazing!!  All in all, I couldn't find fault and overall, for the time we were away, we crammed in so much and enjoyed every moment of it.

Writing update...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

This heat...its hell closing in on me...

....is the title for my first proper novel.  I finished my 'two zero one four' writing project on the 31st December last year and am pleased with the outcome.  More than anything, it forced me to write every day.  Anyway, moving forward to 2015, I have given myself a whole year to write my first proper novel.  It is basically a culmination of everything I have been through with a view of finally putting a lid on it all and starting a fresh in 2016.


What I am trying to do though is push the boundaries of what a novel should be.  Using inspiration from films like Birdman and Interstelllar through to TV shows like American Horror Story and The Walking Dead to music from the likes of Devin Townsend and Aphex Twin...my intention is to create something that is visceral and real but also fantastic and out there.  So far, it is going well and I am following a natural story and feel.


Other exciting things happening is my continued success from my erotic/naughty writings - a current short story accepted by The Erotic Woman and available for your reading pleasure by the end of the month.  I have already been to 2 amazing concerts this year...Queen with Adam Lambert and Slipknot supported by Korn.  Both were bloody awesome but Slipknot just killed it...visually and sonically!  I have also finally re-joined the gym and my absolute intention is to lose weight and add some more years to my life through fitness and good eating (I am now meat free as well).  I went to see Fantasia live with an orchestra, watched Whiplash and Birdman in the cinema (both bloody awesome films), continue to be fascinated with Twitter and have just joined Goodreads.  All in all, a good start to 2015.  Anyway, I will leave you all with an excerpt from my new novel 'This heat...its hell closing in on me'.

'A lone saxophone draws me awake and eases me into the land of the living.  A soft whispering wall of background noise caresses my tired eyes allowing light to creep in.  I begin to stretch my bones and muscles and feel my heart beat to the sound of rhythm bass; steady and strong.  My breathing is calm and regular which just a very slight skip to it, accompanied by a foghorn of music that combines into one glorious chorus.

My soul is becoming bright and warm with every passing second, a rainbow of joy and complication with its own specific dance and sway; a click of the fingers, a shift of the hips.  I stand tall and stiff reaching up to the very stars that adorn my surroundings and reach for one that is engulfed by flame and pulsating with energy; is this Eden?  I jump high, I jump higher, I jump as high as I have ever done and I am off, floating towards this possibility of peace and desire. 

I drift past the lost ones, the ones who need someone to live by; the rockers and the rollers.  I see the young…no!  I see the ‘far too young to be here’ with their painful expressions and forced smiles clawing their way upwards.  I see them as they see themselves and it breaks my heart.  I see the marks on their arms and the trail of tears they leave behind.  Their soundtrack is one of string and organ, melancholy and sad but with a sharp bite that hits hard.  Whatever led them here in life begins to peel away the skin they cling onto and a new one forms; divine and beautiful.  And they sore with a purpose once missing, now reclaimed; god speed'.