Rings Around the Lake
Writer in Residence Stephen Connolly blogs on finding inspiration at the lake after being away for three months
Image credit: Jackson Hendry
Sunday 9th May
Sunday was my first time back at the lake since January. It was so good to see it so full of people enjoying the spring weather; messing about in boats and on paddle boards, swimming and hanging around by the café.
There was a running event in progress: people in lycra bearing official numbers and red faces, circling the lake on the footpath, being applauded at various points, plus a very official Official Finishing Line.
I took a walk around the lake, both for exercise and to record background sounds for this month’s piece of writing. As each runner passed, I occasionally struggled to keep out of their way, the footpath being quite narrow in places. The narrower the path, the closer the runners and I got to each other. But the closer we came, the more we acknowledged one another with a nod, a smile or a quick ‘thank you!’
Perhaps a good metaphor for life and how you deal with the people you meet on the way. Perhaps even an idea for a script.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into it. But if you were running round Lake 32 on Sunday and an odd bloke in a purple hat kept getting in your way, I do apologise.
Monday 10th May
After a week getting my characters into shape, working out who they were and what they wanted, today I finally broke ground on the new script.
It all went better than I expected and I now have a complete draft, almost 3000 words. The new script is now called ’Square With The House’ (the working title ‘Ashes to Ashes’ felt too obvious). It mostly follows the storyline I worked out last week: brother and sister Jack and Ali arrive at the lake to scatter their late father’s ashes. Having forgotten to ask permission, they must dodge the park staff and face a crisis in their relationship while coping with their feelings towards their late, estranged father.
Having got a draft done this early means I will have more time to polish it and avoid the problems from the first script which suffered from being over-written, a problem you sometimes only spot after you’ve recorded the play and hear it spoken by others.
Stephen Connolly is Dialect x Waterland writer in residence in January, May and September 2021. You can read more on his blog here.
