ECHOES FROM THE PAST: The Alchemist, Part 7

Well, I don’t know if there’s anyone left in the auditorium, but here’s the final sequence and credits for the VHS no-budget epic that I produced with my friend Tris when I was a tender 16 years of age. If nothing else, The Alchemist and what I accomplished while making it has defined my life in an odd way, and showed me that if you set your sights ridiculously high, sometimes you can be surprised by where you end up. Anyone curious can follow the tags to the other chapters of the production. To whoever’s left out there– hope you managed to extract some kind of enjoyment from it (and well done for making it to the end…)

Plus, I’m heading back to Cornwall soon– so maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get the legendary Alchemist Out-Take reel on YouTube. Consider yourself warned…

Go Wild, Go Wild, Go Wild in the Country…

I didn’t want to blog about it up until now– and doing this now might jinx myself– but at the same time as rewriting the novel, I’m also writing a short story. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to end up with, but I’m using the Novel in 90 750 word a day method, and blimey if it isn’t actually working. For the last few days, I’ve even been finding that the best time for me to write is immediately after I’ve gotten up. No breakfast– straight to the computer. There’s stuff coming out that’s interesting, and I don’t know where it’s coming from, which is normally a good sign. I’d forgotten how good being productive makes me feel- today, I managed over 1,000 words, I restructured half a chapter in The Hypernova Gambit, I finished two reviews, and did a rough version of a third. Next time I’m blankly depressed, I’m going to try and remember today, as one of the points where it actually all worked.

Book-wise, I’ve gotten to the end of Chapter 5- and that’s actually a third of the way through the book. (I ended up with rather hefty, multi-part chapters that average about 10,000 words each). What’s coming up is a little scary, as while the middle third is a little weaker and in need of plenty of work, most of the rewriting needs to be done to the final third. Trouble is, I’ve been set a deadline by George that this all has to be done by 25th of June (and that’s including getting someone to read the damn thing, which is proving to be harder than I’d like). She keeps saying that ‘You’re never going to be happy with it’ in response to me saying ‘I just want to get it a point where I’m happy with it’– and the thing is, I know that I’m not going to get this perfect. I’m not fooling myself. But, I am convinced that if I work myself to the bone on this thing, I can get it to a stage where it’s all of a good, survivable standard. The first five chapters are almost there. The rest of it’s taking some work. I’m going to get there, I just wish I knew when…

ECHOES FROM THE PAST: The Alchemist, Part 6

The ‘flashback’ structure comes to an end, and my VHS-shot action epic- crafted by my sixteen-year-old self with little filmmaking knowledge other than how to film a conversation- edges towards its final showdown. While I would advise any viewers around to turn up their monitor’s brightness levels (Amazingly, I didn’t realise before making The Alchemist that filming down a mineshaft with both lead characters dressed almost head-to-toe in black might not be the wisest idea), the final action sequence here is one of the sections of the film that I’m most proud of. It’s all choreographed and arranged to the Maurice Jarre soundtrack I ended up using (the track is from The Mosquito Coast), and despite my absolutely terrible acting, I’m still pleased with how it turned out.

Come with me down memory lane. Only a short amount to go…

Wednesday Breaks All The Rules (And Steals Your Wallet)

My first drive on a motorway today. Somewhat intense at times, but most of it came together in the end. Bournemouth was at the end, and a meet-up with my friend Paul that went wonderfully well. Just the chance to wander aimlessly and chat about Doctor Who with him is a treat– I haven’t seen him since my Wedding, almost three years ago, but hopefully we’ll be able to sort it so that it won’t be too long before it happens again.

Also had some good, promising thoughts about my book- and I’m looking again at the novel I started on the Novel In 90 community. There may be something there, all I’ve got to do is work out what…

Underground, Overground, Wombling Free

Today’s the day George and I voyage to Bournemouth, to meet up with my long-time friend Paul, who I’ve been hanging out with (on and off) for more years than I care to remember. It’s part of my ‘rehearsal’ for the big drive down to Cornwall when we head down that way on May 6th. It’ll be great to see him, and to show George around some of my University-era haunts– particularly Bournemouth Beach, which was the location for many moonlit strolls and lengthy musings, with only the waves and the sand for company.

Work-wise, things have been pretty busy– I’ve got a couple of reviews left to do, but nothing major at the moment, which is a bit of a relief. What I’m also trying to do is make it all the way through rewriting The Hypernova Gambit again, and it’s a very hard slog– keeping my confidence in the book going at this stage is a challenge, to put it mildly. Having gone through an “It’ll be published, and people will love it!!” phase, I’m now in the slightly more fatalistic phase where all I can see are the bits I’ve gotten wrong, or how my physical descriptions of locations and scenes are a little on the sketchy side (and this, in a 150,000 word book…). I just need a little bit of a lift relating to the book– and I guess I might have to be the one doing the lifting if necessary. I’m up to chapter 4, and we’ll see how things progress.

Finally, after a week-long delay, my copy of Twin Peaks: The Second Season has been despatched, and I’m deeply excited. Am regularly leaping around like a loon going “Season Two! Season Two!” and don’t forsee stopping anytime soon.

ECHOES FROM THE PAST: The Alchemist, Part 5

We’re onto part 5– and finally, we get the section of the film that was an insane amount of fun to film (although possibly not quite as much for Tris, who had to spend rather a large amount of time walking around Cornwall College dressed in a gas mask and waving an air pistol). It’s a countdown, as David Harwood has to find a way of recovering the metal carving, and getting it somewhere he can dispose of it, before time runs out and the Alchemist has full control of his friend’s mind. Stand by for plenty of blazing action, disintegrations, punches, loads of enthusiastic running around, loud music, some dazzling special effects, and one particular scene where my character gets his way out of a tight spot in a way that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. My excuse? The location we wanted to use wasn’t available, so we had to think fast. Whatever happenned, here’s Part 5- enjoy…