January 2009

We met and we discussed one of my stories, Final Destination London Euston. It's a monologue which hopefully reveals a gradually disintegrating personality over the course of a train journey. I've already incorporated the suggestions.

I'm a frequent traveller on trains and often overhear conversations which sometimes reveal themselves to be slightly odd. Once in Wales, I was annoyed by someone talking about problems she was experiencing with her boyfriend until I realized that the listener was a stranger to the speaker, who then sounded desperate and sad. Another time on a journey between York and Sunderland, I became aware that the carriage was filled with rail enthusiasts and the track was lined with men aiming telephoto lenses and binoculars. I enjoyed the enthusiasts' conversation, they were obsessed but without malice. I tried to jot down, unsuccessfully, all the routes they used and the train serial numbers and types, tips for travel, the places they got stuck in when riding particularly interesting trains and coups such as being invited to ride in the driver's cab. One got involved in inspecting a damaged bridge. When the supervisor asked if anyone had a pen, he offered his biro and was found out as a stowaway. That route to Sunderland passed bleak coastline and desolate factory sites. The enthusiasts got in trouble with the ticket inspectors for not declaring themselves at the beginning of the journey.

A couple of weeks ago I went to one of the BBC roadshows run by the Writers' Room. A very useful session where the readers talked about what they looked for. Most importantly they said they guaranteed to read the first ten pages of all scripts they received. Anything that got past the ten page read through got feedback. They don't commission many of the scripts that come in but they do use the writers and will look at plays for stage to judge the quality of the writing. Two bloggers, Vicious Imagery and Miss Read, have written good reports on the Edinburgh roadshow.

Look out for Greenfly a collection of stories by Tom Lee, published by Harvil Secker. Tom and I worked together a few years ago and having read some of his work I know it's up there with the finest short stories in the cannon.