Netflix recently released the film ‘Enola Holmes,’ based on the first book in a popular series by Nancy Springer. The eponymous heroine is the younger sister of famous detective Sherlock Holmes and doesn’t appear in the original Arthur Conan Doyle works (which is the subject of much controversy which I’m not going to delve into here!) so she has been written specifically to add another dimension to the Holmes saga many of us love.
I haven’t read the books but I did watch the film and, although parts of it were flawed, I thought it was a great story for young women and men to enjoy. Plus, it has Helena Bonham Carter in it as the bad ass mum so, you know, I’m sold. When I was watching the film I quite liked the idea that the iconic character of Sherlock Holmes could have this hidden side to his life but that the character of Enola was completely her own person with her own story to tell. So, of course, I had a think about who else might have some interesting siblings with a story to tell and, if there weren’t any legal issues, this is the list I would like to submit… Willy Wonka Yes, I know I’m discussing a Roald Dahl character again but I won’t feel bad about it. The possibilities with this one are endless! There could be a brother who despises chocolate and sweet things and has built a factory dedicated to chopping vegetables or a sister who is even more committed to chocolate than Wonka and has made an entire planet out of the stuff. I also quite like the idea that there could be a few Wonka siblings traversing the universe searching for the best sweet treat it has to offer. Basically, if this ever happens one of them has to be called Wilma Wonka. James Bond The most famous spy of all time hasn’t been without controversy and it’s completely justified, so much so that some believe the next iteration of the character on screen should be female. I think a sister to this character could be really interesting as she could challenge the sexist history that Bond is famous for. All I ask is that she ties her hair back when she’s fighting and isn’t given some weird backstory that a man hurt her once and that’s the only way she could be become a hardened killer. Ursula Any Disney fan will know of this wicked sea witch and if you don’t think she has one of the best songs in the Disney back catalogue, you’re wrong. There’s been a trend in recent years to reinterpret famous Disney villains and I think Ursula would be perfect for this. I’m imagining her and her glamourous older sister painting Atlantis red with their debauchery before something happens that turns her into the witch we all love to hate. Mary Poppins Mary Poppins was a key feature in my childhood (my mother is convinced this film is why I’m a feminist after she caught me marching around the living, aged two ,shouting ‘Votes for Women!’) so I have a lot of love for Mary. She’s a bit of an elusive character and so I think giving her a sibling would open a new world of fun. I can see her with a brother who is also practically perfect in every way or a younger sister that’s still trying to learn the ropes. Either way, I want a film adaptation and I want some catchy songs. Dracula As it’s spooky season I thought I should include this guy! This would require some reworking of the story but why shouldn’t Dracula have a sibling to share that big old house with? I quite like the idea of a ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ type film with him and a vast number of siblings who don’t really get on but who else is going to put up with them for eternity?
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I’ve recently moved back in with my parents for the short term while I find a flat (like most people this pandemic screwed me over on the job and housing front) which has understandably made me a little nostalgic. This is the house I did most of my growing up in and there’s a fair few photographs dotted around that inevitably send my mind back in time and the whole thing got me thinking about how writing has been interwoven throughout my life.
In primary school Fridays were predominantly ‘Story Writing Day’ and, without a doubt, I thought it was the best day of the week because it gave me a chance to let loose. Sometimes we were given a title we had to use, an object to incorporate or even a sentence we had to begin the story with and I always loved the challenge. One of my fondest memories was aged nine when the teacher had selected three of us to read our stories aloud to the rest of the class and I had been selected as a Chosen One. Admittedly, the teacher said that I had used way too much dialogue but she thought it was a really funny story and my classmates would love it. I remember desperately waiting for my turn and when it came I gave it all the gusto I could manage and not one of the fuckers laughed. Every line I read I thought ‘This is it. This is BOUND to get a giggle,’ but apparently my teacher was incorrect and I was met with silence and the death stare of twenty odd nine year olds waiting for playtime. Despite that near traumatising experience I still loved writing and found myself writing stories and poems at home. The poems in particular were a big hit with my grandparents (they thought I was funny) and I’d churn out a few stanzas as often as I could. Each one of these poems was put in a 90’s style ring binder and my grandparents never threw it out. I vividly remember them showing the poems to my great aunt and uncle, which obviously made me feel very proud, but I was also slightly concerned about the mugs of tea in their hands and their proximity to my masterpieces. Thankfully, they remain undamaged to this day. Once I reached secondary school creative writing wasn’t as big a feature in our learning but I do remember one standout moment when I was in Year 8 and we had to pretend to be soldiers in WWI writing letters home from the trenches (an old favourite in UK secondary schools.) I felt totally unprepared for this task in all honesty due to the fact that this was an English class so we hadn’t done a lot of research into the history of the period. I had no idea what actually went on in a trench; what did they eat? How did they speak to each other? Why had they signed up to fight in the first place? Therefore, when it came to writing the letter I kept it quite simple because I thought if I was a soldier on the front line I wouldn’t be using similes and metaphors, I would be straight to the point and telling my mum that hopefully I’d be home soon. However, it looked like the whole class took this approach because the teacher was furious and made us all rewrite it. I went all in on the similes and metaphors the second time round, so much so that I was pretty sure no one would ever write like that in real life. Anyway, the teacher read it once I finished and loved it so I felt reassured that I had somewhat of a talent for writing and I suppose the whole incident just meant that I understood the importance of character and voice. However, my most treasured writing memory of my younger years has to be when I came second in a writing competition for Newport University (as it was then) aged eighteen. My English Literature teachers had told my class about it and it was about this time that I thought maybe writing was a bigger passion of mine than I had previously realised so I decided to submit a short story I had been working on. You could choose from three titles and the story I had was already leaning towards to one of the titles so it didn’t take too much to adapt. I thought no more of it and submitted it assuming I wouldn’t hear anything, the submission guidelines even stated that you shouldn’t enter if you couldn’t attend the awards ceremony which also happened to be the date of my A Level Drama exam but I did it anyway. Then one day I came home from school to read an email stating that I’d come second and won a little money too, I can’t remember the amount but any money at that age is treasure isn’t it? It’s been almost eleven years since the competition and it still makes me smile when I think about it because it was the first time people I didn’t know had read my work and enjoyed it. It’s a feeling I will never forget or take for granted for as long as I am lucky enough to experience it. No it's not Shady, it's me. Sorry. And when I say 'back' I just mean that I've started blogging again, which isn't that dramatic really.
Anyway, a lot has happened since my last post (which you'd like to hope as it's been five years!) and so blogging and website management has definitely been put on the back burner. Not only have I undertaken three 'grown up' jobs but I've moved house a few times, been on some brilliant holidays, made so many new friends and generally just had a bit more of a life than I did five years ago. I could give you more details but some parts are quite depressing and who actually has the time? I also wrote a new book, that seems like something I should mention. The last time I wrote a post I had finished my first book, Enkindled, and was trying to convince an agent to take it on, which in truth I wasn't ready for. But while I was doing that I also had an idea for a new book that just wouldn't go away. I'd actually had it for years, I think it was even on my mind before Enkindled but I chose to ignore it, and slowly I found that characters and plots were forming so I had to write it down. While I was undertaking an internship five years ago I managed to write this book and, again, I was young and naive and tried to shop it around when it wasn't ready. But even though I've dipped in and out of rewriting and editing it as my life has moved on, it's never gone away and now I'm finally confident enough in it for the world to (hopefully) read it. Of course, I'm still worried that it sucks and everyone will hate it. I'm worried about the trolls that now exist and I'm worried that people I love will read it and have to lie to my face, pretending it's good when it's actually bloody awful. But that's the risk you have to take, I suppose. This time my aim is to self-publish it. My dream is still to have a book on the shelves of Waterstones and hopefully this may be the start of that journey but actually what I really want is this story that I've had in my head for years to finally be out in the world and I'm really excited about it! I just need some proof readers and a front cover and I'm good to go (eeek!) So please do watch this space and I will try my very best to be the entertaining, witty and endearing person that I like to believe I am in real life. |
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