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I’ve been reading Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, after several Insomnia creators recommended it on the forums, and it got me thinking about what inspired me to write and when.

Certainly books such as Day of the Triffids and Dune, films such as Alien and The Shining, and shows such as Buffy and Doctor Who, have all had an influence, but the desire to tell stories I think runs much deeper in all of us.

Alongside exposure to these different mediums, as kids we all play make believe games. Create and enact our own stories to understand the world and our place within it. Most of these games hinge around one simple question, ‘what if I…’

After the playground the next step taken is in the classroom, learning to tell stories with either words or pictures, and sometimes both. Luckily, at school, my writing was very much encouraged by my teachers. One story that stands out from my early scribbles in Junior school was about two Civil War Royalists fleeing a battlefield, who hid out in a barn haunted by a poltergeist. It was awful, but I was still exploring ‘what if…’ questions.

As we get older books, films, television, etc, take on this important role, letting us explore a variety of ‘what if…’ and more complex questions, expanding it beyond the self, and enabling us to explore our emotions, beliefs and values.

Roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Call of Cthulhu, enabled me to continue the story and myth making activities of childhood into my teens and beyond. It is a bit like improvisation in the theatre, but within parameters setup by and played out in the imagination of the participants. It sated my desire to not only experience ‘what if…’ stories vicariously, like at the cinema, but also to create and express them myself.

Then I stopped. Real life took over and the ‘what if…’ questions ceased to be ideas to be explored and became instead decisions needing to be made. I still consumed books, films and shows but didn’t create my own stories, apart from the very occasional roleplaying session for old time’s sake.

Something was missing and I realised it was something I very much enjoyed.

Over the last few years, I’ve returned to creating stories, hopefully richer in ideas and material for having made a few decisions, both good and bad in the intervening years. Not that I now profess to know the answers to the big ‘what if…’ questions, but hopefully I’ve at least gained a greater perspective with which to entertain and engage others, while exploring those questions anew.

While talking about UK comics and writing with a fellow Insomnia creator, they reminded me of the brilliance of Ray Harryhausen. Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts and the Sinbad films have a lot to answer for.

Best get a move on, if you want to become a ten year overnight success as a screenwriter.

Along with Lauren Anne Sharpe and Alex Willmore, I’ve joined the team at Insomnia Publications as an Editor. Lauren and Alex will be handling the art side of production, while I’ll be applying myself to the writing.

It’s a great opportunity to work with a host of talented people and push myself forwards at the same time. Writing is a craft you have to work at, with a degree of life experience and natural talent mixed in for good measure. You’re always learning. Through helping others make the most of their stories hopefully we’ll all benefit.

Right now I’m getting up to speed with everything, but can’t wait to get going.

For the latest from Insomnia, please visit The Red Eye.

Have been somewhat sidetracked from working on my feature script by Big Finish’s writing opportunity. Who would not want the chance to develop a 25 minute audio adventure for Doctor Who, and the 5th Doctor and Nyssa at that? Well, if twitter is any yardstick, nearly every Who fan and writer is working up an idea.

Peter Davison was my Doctor. I have strong childhood memories of Kinda – well, the snake at least; Enlightenment – sailing ships racing through space; and Resurrection of the Daleks – recorded off the telebox on Betamax tape, which I almost wore out.

So over the last week I’ve been jotting down any ideas and watching old Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton episodes for inspiration and insight into their characters. Today I settled on a rough storyline, which developed from some of the ideas – a coin toss, an observatory and schrödinger’s cat. Most of the bare bones are there, so – fingers crossed – I’ll have something I’m happy to submit before the deadline passes.

Joined in #scriptchat on twitter for the first time. Character development and how it relates to plotting was the topic up for discussion, sparked by @filmutopia’s blogpost on the subject – Character Development and Plotting.

Twitter is an interesting and lively forum for #scriptchat, with several streams of discussion running at once. Although a little chaotic at times to follow, it certainly has its merits – a source of writing tips, book recommendations and links to further resources and discussions. If I’m free next Sunday at 8pm will definitely join the debate again.