The T.A.R.D.I.S. is nearly empty

Yep, I've got through the super-mix, through the toffees, and I'm working my way through the shrimps and bananas.

I'm talking about sweets in case you didn't guess. The large sugar intake though is merely a way for me to stay close to my desk and write solidly for as long as I can. This past week, I've been working away on scripts.

I've finally stepped away from the sugar rush, stopped writing for the day and am working through the script for Dead Reckoning (shameless plug) and I'm realising just how convoluted thrillers can be. I've not actually watched many thrillers outside of amateur productions. I've been in a few now and it occurs to be just how bafflingly unrealistic these things are.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sure how I'd react in real life if someone was brandishing a garrotte. Maybe that's why I don't write thrillers. I try to write stuff that's realistic. At this point I realise, I can't exactly give the plot away, so I'll try not to actually say much more about Dead Reckoning, but some and see it.

The script has got me thinking though. I remember, three, maybe four years ago, at a festival hearing the comment that you have to be careful when defining something as a farce. The adjudicator informed the company of the show that the definition of farce is believable characters in unbelievable situations. Now, I mainly think of farce as being a comedy. I'm sure a dictionary definition would say the same kind of things; a comedy play with extraordinary circumstances. Here's the thinker, apart from the comic, what is a thriller, if not farcical? After all, when I think thriller, I think: crime, murder, intensity.

Now, I'm not trying to devalue thrillers. I can think of a lot of film thrillers that I enjoy. The thirty-nine steps for example. It's a good thriller, a fantastic comedy, and a wonderful stage-play. Maybe that's the key though. Maybe that's why so many thrillers tend also to lend themselves very well to spoof and parody. Maybe the fact that most of the thrillers that I can think of truly are believable characters in unbelievable situations. Maybe thrillers are farces, just 'straight' farce.

Or maybe, I'm just procrastinating and trying desperately not to try and run lines!

Oh, and the T.A.R.D.I.S.? I was given a T.A.R.D.I.S. cookie jar that was packed full of sugary sweets by my friend Fiona Angwin. It is currently sitting on my desk ready to fuel tomorrows effort at writing! Needless to say, I may have to venture to a sweet shop to restock for next week!