The Yeomen of the Guard is a concept that’s been with me for a long, long time. I’ve written stories about them for my personal enjoyment over the years after Marvel comics switched me onto Conan and I got into fantasy stories. The Yeomen are the central character of my own pre-cataclysmic, middle-ish, fantasy realm, [...]
Writing Archive
Protected: Yeomen of the Guard – Story Outline & Characters
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The Fifteenth Shot – A short fiction for The Escapist
The Fifteenth Shot is a short fiction based around the Space Invaders concept that I’m also currently redeveloping into a feature film script. That said, I also have a pretty strong concept about how it might make a modern game update on the Space Invaders theme, but that’s something for the future. This one’s still [...]
The Fifteenth Shot – A Short Story
THE FIFTEENTH SHOT A short fiction by Spanner for The Escapist Kaori’s elbow brushed alongside Eric’s, expertly demonstrating platonic support. Such incredible intuition. Moving like a spectre, she’d marshalled the most imperceptible techniques to make her presence felt without interrupting or startling people. Eric didn’t look away from the white sky when she spoke. “It [...]
The Ordeal of Mark: A Development Diary
The Ordeal of Mark never fails to get a reaction from its readers. Maybe it’s because of the sheer absurdity, the religious lampooning, the dry humour, the shame of it – I don’t know, but people seem to like it and loathe it (either’s fine for me – so long as it solicits a reaction). [...]
Protected: The Ordeal of Mark: Short Film Script – Final Draft
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Protected: The Ordeal of Mark – Short Film Script – Fourth Draft
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Protected: The Ordeal of Mark: Short Film Script – First Draft
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Protected: Alpha Male – Story Outline & Script Excerpt
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Alpha Male Screenplay – Finalist in Red Planet Pictures Prize
My zombie horror screenplay was chosen as a finalist in Red Planet Pictures Prize last year – a competition requiring an initial submission of the screenplay’s first ten pages, followed by the entire script for those that made it through to the second round. In truth, I can’t quite remember what the grand prize is (I [...]
Interzone: Three Lepers Leg It
This is a daft short story I wrote in two hours – right before the deadline after the editor got in touch to say they had an emergency gap in the schedule. It could read better to be honest, but for such a rush job, I was pretty impressed with myself. Three Lepers Leg It [...]
Proxy: Story Structure & Branching
window.document.getElementById(‘post-73′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;Below is a chart I drew up detailing the plot points and rising and falling action required to give Proxy’s story an entertaining, satisfying and solid structure. The arrows determine how “well” things are going for the main character at that stage in the story. For instance, during Sequence 3 things are [...]
Proxy: Videogame Story Arc
window.document.getElementById(‘post-72′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;The following is a (severely) reduced version of an outline document written to introduce the game development team to the Proxy storyline and its main characters. PROXY – Story Arc and Character Biographies TITLE: Proxy GENRE: Sci-Fi Action Adventure LOGLINE: In the year 2380, the first ever genetic human/computer hybrid strikes back against an ancient, [...]
Crew: Feature Film Treatment
The following is an excerpt from the treatment I developed for a (mildly autobiographical) comedy feature film after being a runner up in Screen Yorkshire’s 2005 SPARK screenwriting competition. CREW By Spanner “When a deprived council estate is threatened with demolition, the working-class residents turn to an aging, disillusioned skateboarder and his gang to save [...]
The Ordeal of Mark: Short Film Script Excerpt
A Badly Lit Comedy of 10(ish) Minutes Short Film Script (Excerpt) by Spanner EXT. CENTRE OF THE LAKE – DAWN Sister Anastasia stands up, and steps confidently across into the boat with the other nuns, leaving the novices alone in their boat. Sister Anastasia doesn’t sit down, but clasps her hands together and bows her [...]
Protected: The Quite Mighty Druids: Series Arc Outline
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Diet of the Dead: Script Excerpt
An excerpt from: DIET OF THE DEAD An overly chewy comedy of eight pages by Spanner Synopsis: A SCIENTIST and a JANITOR are trapped in a lab, with the rest of the building’s zombified inhabitants outside the door. Their nearest way out is on the other side of the building through PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH. Despite the [...]
The Ordeal of Mark: Original Short Story
The Ordeal of Mark By Spanner Alice didn’t like water at the best of times. Combined with the knot of tangled nerves in her stomach, the gently rocking boat brought the tension high into the back of her throat, and it took all her strength – and faith – not to pull the habit from [...]
One Dark Night In Kirkburton – An Excerpt
An Excerpt from: One Dark Night In Kirkburton A novella by Spanner. 9:28PM “Bollocks.” Jenks’ looked up from the ‘closed’ sign hanging behind the locked glass door of the off-license and tried to focus on his distant, morose reflection standing inside the darkened shop. Julie leaned in and pointed at the opening times. “Who the [...]