Turning 'Chloe' into a play...

It's an idea that's occurred to me before, but I've never done anything about it - partly because:

1. I don't know much about writing plays
2. Ghost stories (or anything with even a hint of paranormal, like 'Chloe') are difficult to put on stage. Not impossible, but challenging...

Then, a few days ago, a young reader called Ella GE, who writes a wonderful blog called Everything + Anything + Life, named Coping with Chloe as one of her seven choices for YA books to be made into films. (Thanks, Ella.) And this got me thinking again...

OK, so in Coping with Chloe we have a 12-year-old girl called Anna who believes that her twin sister Chloe is living inside her head - sharing Anna's body, if you like. Everyone else believes Chloe died in the accident, but Anna is convinced she is still around. Garfie the golden labrador does tricks for Chloe, the way he always used to - he never did them for Anna. Chloe helps Anna with her school work and writes poetry. And Joe the gorgeous new boy - who has he just kissed, Anna or Chloe?

So how do you dramatise that? It's gets even harder as the story goes on. At one stage Anna and Chloe are fighting for ownership of Anna's body. And later, Chloe steps in to help when Anna gets herself into real trouble.

That's the challenge, and it's an interesting one. Putting a golden labrador on stage and getting it to 'act' is going to be impossible, I would think, apart from anything else!

But who knows what can be done? I'm up for the challenge, and I'm looking forward to running a workshop soon, where I will hope to get ideas from a group of young readers and budding actors.

I also need some guidance on how to create a play based on a book.

Suggestions very welcome - please!

Wartime memories, ghost walks, hangings, paranormal detectives, past lives, poetry, quantum theory of the Coventry Ring Road - just for a start!

No, no, folks - I'm honestly not trying to score hits on Google. The above is an accurate description of just some of the contents of Coventry Tales - the anthology produced by the Coventry Writers' Group, which has now hit Kindle with a bang.

And this coming Saturday, 12th Nov, you have your chance to meet the authors, purchase a signed copy of the paperback edition, claim your free Coventry Tales pen and hear various authors speak about their writerly joys and angst.

Click here for Coventry Tales on Amazon - in paperback or Kindle form.

And click here for the Coventry Tales clip 'Inspired by You' on YouTube!

It's all in Waterstones, Smithford Way, Coventry City Centre, this coming Saturday (12th Nov) from 10:30am until about 12:30pm. And let me tell you, Waterstones are great hosts for events like these. When I did my signing there for Coping with Chloe back in May, they were wonderful - I was well supplied with coffee throughout and there was lots of traffic through the store.

On Saturday, with half a dozen authors present or even more, there should be a real buzz. And if anyone local is interested in joining the Coventry Writers' group, there'll be information on hand and lots of folk to make you feel welcome.

The book - well, whatever your interests, there should be something there for you. Every piece was inspired by our wonderful city in some way. There is fun, humour, thought-provoking stuff written by young and (relatively) old. The book has been professionally produced and copy-edited (I'll be personally answerable for any typos that have crept in) - and the heartfelt thanks of the Coventry Writers' group go to Mike Boxwell of Greenstream Publishing, who took the initiative, whipped us into line and made actual a project we'd been talking about for years.

So, many thanks Mike and everyone else who contributed - and hope to see Waterstones thronging on Saturday. (By the way - if you know any exiled Coventrians - this would be the perfect Christmas gift for them.)


Click here for Coventry Tales on Amazon - in paperback or Kindle form.