I’ve been back to school: learning screenplay. There isn’t a long-term plan to become a scriptwriter, more a case of stretching myself and learning about a slightly different world. My tutor, Julia Berg is inspirational. As well as giving advice on storylines, dialogue and the pitch, she offers to put the work of us, her delegates, to producers in the industry. She sees potential in The Rooms We Never Enter; the premise is strong and topical, while she likes the dialogue.  

There has been an indirect benefit for me of attending the courses: ideas from the other delegates - not just on screenplay but for the book itself. A theme in The Rooms We Never Enter is the concept of the ‘Rooms’ that the lead characters know about, that they dream about, and that they dare not enter: metaphorical and real. Some of my colleagues on the course suggested enhancing this theme, with fresh sections about Karen’s recurring dream of the mysterious upstairs rooms, suggesting a magical realism element in which her daughter Bronte intuits some of these and paints them.

Note: There is a longer version of this piece on my blog, felipewh.wordpress.com