Authors Electric

Lovely Leonard in work mode & woolly hat, top left. Sheila Johnston and myself (+ big bump!). Early in the new year, an email dropped into my inbox to tell me the sad news that an old colleague, Leonard White, had died on 2nd January. I hadn’t known just how old he was – he always seemed supremely youthful to me – but it turns out he almost made his century. He was born on 5th November 1916 and died on 2nd January 2016. The first time I met Leonard was when he produced my television serial, Shadow of the Stone , for STV, back in 1986. It was broadcast the following year. Having written many hours of drama for BBC Radio 4, I had embarked on writing stage plays and that, in turn, had led to three short one off plays for Scottish Television, on the encouragement of the head of drama, Robert Love, who liked to promote new writers and new writing. Thereafter I managed to secure a commission for a six part Young Adult serial at a time when YA wasn’t really a thing. Shadow of the S...

Kathleen Jones It's Easter Sunday and if the weather isn't cooperating with the holiday weekend then you're probably curled up in front of your television or computer watching a movie or on the sofa reading a book. Films in particular are a good way of keeping the younger members of the family amused on a rainy day. Everyone knows that films usually have a compelling storyline - particularly children’s films. Not surprising, as they have to keep those itchy little bottoms firmly on a seat in front of the screen. Recently Pixar revealed a few secrets about their formula. It’s a list of 22 rules for storytelling, which you can look at by clicking on this link . One of the items, a plot blue-print,  has become known as The Story Spine, which consists of a number of steps. Once upon a time there was . . . Every day . . . One day . . . Because of that . . . Because of that . . . Until finally . . .  And ever since that day . . . It’s the age-old fairy tale formula, the...