Just a brief but self-indulgent post to share how I’m doing with my entry for the BBC CBBC writing thingy.

I’m making fairly good progress with it, I think, and hope this weekend to sit down with Mrs Soanes and have a ‘table read’, as ’twere a proper script for screen or stage.

As I go along, I’m painfully aware of bits which need work (exposition, though a necessary evil, will need to be pruned – or, rather hacked right back with a metaphorical scythe), but I’m ploughing on, and reminding myself that the fun of redrafting lies ahead – as I keep saying to myself, “get it written, and then get it right” (a saying I’m sure I’ve nicked from someone else, but offhand I can’t recall who it might have been).

Whilst the script’s flaws are currently all too visible to me, one thing I’ve been quite pleased with is the interaction betwene the two main characters – though I’m painfully aware that dialogue can easily be overwritten and end up being more fun for the writer and actors than the audience, I think I’m doing an okay job of capturing the speech patterns of two young people – two girls, no less, as I’m always keen to try to refute the assertion that men can’t write female characters (I don’t believe it any more than I believe the reverse to be true).

Anyway, back to it – how’s everyone else doing? Has anyone sent theirs in yet? I know I’m cutting it fine-ish with the deadline being Wednesday, but I like to think mine won’t be the last entry to arrive at the BBC…