Fi Phillips

Back in January and February, I returned to an old love of mine - acting. It was a small part in a pantomime, and it's definitely not the most attractive I've ever looked, but I enjoyed it immensely. It wasn't until after the show had finished that I realised how acting on the stage had sharpened my scriptwriting skills, reminding me how my plays felt to perform and looked to the audience. Fellow writer Nick Cross came to a similar conclusion recently. His blog post Can Acting Make You A Better Writer?  appears on the Notes from the Slushpile site. Have a look.

With thanks to BADG Can you see me? I'm in this photo somewhere. I thought I'd have a little fun with this month's photo inspiration and use a moment from the pantomime my daughter and I performed in recently.  What do you think? The night there was a power cut in the theatre? The pantomime characters escape? What does this inspire you to write?

Last month was stupidly busy and productive but as the days passed, it all felt like the tag end to 2016. There were strings to tie off, chores to finish and niggles to appease. This month feels like the real start to the year. My job search has led me to a new path for not only my income but also my writing career. With a new contact in hand, I'm moving into copywriting as another string to my creative bow. Like the door at the end of the alleyway in the image (left), it all looks very promising but until I've stepped over the threshold I won't know exactly where I stand with this new development. At the end of last month and the beginning of this, my daughter and I were involved in a pantomime with the local amateur dramatics group . We enjoyed it immensely, although we were exhausted by the time we helped pack everything away (scenery, props, even a mobility scooter). We made new friends and I rediscovered the buzz of performing. Returning to the stage has also rem...

I'm sure all writers pull from their own lives and experiences for at least a small part of their writing content, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes knowingly and in precise detail. Using what we know can ground our writing and add believability (apologies if that isn't a real world but it sounded right). This month's exercise is to look into your own experiences and memories to find something unusual, or bizarre, an event or detail that was out of the ordinary, and embroider that memory or detail into a piece of writing. My own memory happened on a winter's night on a railway bridge. My car skidded on black ice and piled into a lamp-post, thankfully preventing us from tumbling off the bridge onto the train line below. My then boyfriend was belted in but the force of the collision smacked him into the windscreen. I remember him screaming and then silence. Almost immediately, he went into shock. The passing drivers all pulled over and helped. One drove to the loca...

My parents were frequent visitors to the theatre, taking me to our local Theatre Royal at least once a month, and each December we would see a pantomime. As a child, the romance of the principal boy and girl was pleasant enough but I would wait excitedly for the Dame to come on. Dressed in garish colours, with a suitcase of jokes and one-liners, the Dame and her put-upon sidekick would make my night.

That was what I was posed by a recent commission. An am dram group approached me with the following request - a 'non murder' mystery play that would fit into the December/Christmas slot and include pantomime props. Oh and it had to appeal to a family audience too. After much brain strumming and drinking of coffee, I came up with the idea that it would be fun to people the play with a cast of pantomime characters. Ok, sounds good but what would bring these characters together? Maybe the fairy godmother was retiring? How about a wedding? And what would the crime be? Strum, strum, sip, slurp. In the end, I chose the scenario of a talent competition - familiar to most of us after the popularity of shows such as 'Britain's Got Talent' and 'X Factor'. The cast were drawn from various pantomime stories - Dandini as our annoying presenter, two evil judges, a dame and side kick and a handful of other pantomime contestants. Pantomime characters of course require panto...

The pantomime script is complete. After swapping around a few scenes and changing a couple of songs, the script is finished and has been submitted to the ladies of the PTFA. I can't describe how satisfying it was to click on the 'Send Email' button. Do I get a rest? No. The murder mystery season has begun in earnest. Or rather the purchasing of murder mystery scripts by am dram groups has begun. Tis the season to shout "he did it" and other deductory expletives. And to top off the creative rapids that are my life, I now have a butterfly mobile and painting to get done for my daughter's seventh birthday at the weekend. I think I may have to settle for just doing the mobile for now. Without a tardis, I just do not have enough hours left in the day. So excuse me while I root out a stick and some silver glittery spraypaint from the garage. I may be some while.

Working on my pantomime yesterday, I suddenly realised how much 'dad' humour I was using. Let me explain 'dad' humour. It's the kind of jokes that you get in crackers or that fathers use to amuse their children. Well, they think they're amusing their children but usually the involved younglings are more embarrassed than amused, with cries of 'Oh Dad'. I suppose it's on par with dad dancing. With the pantomime, I find myself chortling at the humour I'm writing (especially as I can imagine the audience reaction) but also thinking 'oh no, how embarrassing'. When I return to my writing, I tend to read through the previous chapter or scene to get into the energy of that particular piece. For me, different kinds of writing (novel, play, blog article etc) tend to have their own rhythms and energy levels. For example, the pantomime is a very upbeat energy which has to be maintained throughout with the occasional lull for a sad bit or love song, o...

Well, actually they have to build the stage, set, lighting rig - you get my drift - but the intention is there. The initial 'pantomime' meeting took place this week and production planning is underway. The first three scenes of the pantomime have been received with general applause and now I have the summer to finish the script, including and bearing in mind the many suggestions that came out of the meeting. I've been asked to fit in lots of mentions of the local area, a dog and a cat (as well as the already planned mice and horse) and a goth fairy godmother, in addition to thinking up new lyrics for 'Three Little Maids from School'. I now know the stage layout and the technical capabilities of the production team so all I have to do is put pen to paper. One realisation that came to mind at the meeting was how much I love to write parts for actors that I know. Each person has an individual rhythm to the way they speak which I attempt to fit to their dialogue. I also...

I've just noticed that I haven't posted on here for one whole week. That's not like me. Truth be told, life has carried me away - some of it boring, some quite exciting. The Panto - the first three scenes are written and have been emailed off to the PTFA for their perusal. I had already written these but what with the addition of a third ugly sister , a re-write was necessary. The use of pantomime humour is beginning to affect me too. I must stop it. I'm embarrassing the children. Murdering The Text - I've been putting together an updated website with additional facilities and much more personality. Almost finished it. Should be online by Friday. Something new - I've written an article and for the past week have been attempting to obtain writer guidelines from magazines. So far the only response I've had is, "We don't have any. Just ring us with your idea". That may well be my task for next week. Right, time to get back to it. Enjoy your week...