Well, well, well! It seems a great many of us want to take up an author's profession! Kudos to the Reverend.W.Awdry & Friends for causing that!
Anyway, let's have a long think...
Re: EmploymentFirst and foremost, being as we are in a world where the economy is hardly any better than it must have been in the early 1930s, I still need to find a job somewhere. Currently, my searches involve the post of Library & Information Assistant, which seems a logically good choice, considering that I love literature and spent my work experience at Central Lending & Children's Library in Sheffield City Centre during Year 9 and Year 10.
So far I've applied for several posts and have had two interviews already. I've just been revising for my third - one for Sheffield University at their Health Sciences Library. I can only hope it goes well in a world like ours - you never know what you can end up with in the least...
Re: LiteratureNow this is my real ambition!
It all started really, I suppose, with Thomas The Tank Engine - hence a very good reason for which I'm here!
The works of the Awdrys and of many other authors (Roald Dahl, J.K.Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson and Terry Pratchett being just a few) have planted in me such a love of stories and the printed word that I can only say I've wanted to write pieces of literature for many years.
In point of fact, I've got a novel ongoing already - but I'll save any details about that for an appropriate thread!
It's been going on for over a year in fact - mainly because I was still in full time education when I started it and, naturally, couldn't give it my full attention. Also, it's very easy for me to get distracted by my intense railway interest - which often results in a great many series of long, scarcely productive lists which I've always intended to use in railway textbooks eventually but aren't much use at present. I'm clearly a typical young man trying to get started!
Anyway, I think I can safely say I'm enjoying it - again more an appropriate thread when I can find it. Does anyone know of a thread where details of your own works of literature can be shared with us all?
Re: Travelling BritainI've seen many a Video 125 Driver's Eye View that features a particularly special part of Britain and I've seen many programmes that take in such places anyway. And I'll admit that I've never really wanted to become a BBC Journalist & Explorer, much as I'm quite fond of Michael Palin's documentaries.
I've always, however, wanted to take in as many wonderful parts of Britain as it is possible to cover. I currently have a sort of dream in the back of the mind, as I write this, to create my own series of rail travel in Britain, to show the people of the world just what the British really have to offer and what makes it so special.
It might even be worth it to do some romanticising as I go about it: I'm a bit of a romantic at heart!
Re: An Actor?The starting point for this is going back quite a bit, again probably resting around Thomas The Tank Engine when Ringo Starr was still in the narrator's chair!
On the subject itself, I'd gladly want to become a narrator of the Awdrys' work but I suppose I'll only ever get the chance if HiT Entertainment have a change of heart and agree to let some clever-clogs do an official RWS adaptation series with models and CGI faces that
true to the original.
On the other hand, if I don't get the chance at all, at least I'll be able to try my talent out on SiF in the near future (which reminds me, I need to have a look at Audacity Audio Software when I've sorted the interview business). So, for anyone who's looking for new blood, I can't exactly
guarantee anything but stay tuned...!
*Clears His Throat*
Anyway, back on topic...
I've been inspired by many a great actor - namely comedians like Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson etc. Mr Bean is one of the first Atkinson comedies I can ever remember seeing, with Blackadder coming several years later. And even now, after all these years, there's still so much I'm willing to try out (I've seen a lot of Laurel & Hardy but I still need to keep following them and Fawlty Towers hasn't exactly glued me yet!).
And there's so many feature films (The Lord Of The Rings being one of these), classic adaptations (the BBC Pride & Prejudice) and quaint children's TV favourites (Ivor The Engine) that have attracted me into the world of acting for many years.
In terms of Shakespeare, I'm utterly fascinated by the archaic wit that often works its way into the scripts. Romeo & Juliet is a personal favourite, although I'm deeply interested in Hamlet, MacBeth, Measure For Measure & Twelfth Night as well. In short, if ever I got the chance to start in a full-length Shakespeare play adaptation (which I'm sure will happen again after the success of the full-length Hamlet), it would have to be
Romeo & Juliet for me. There's so much about Romeo especially that I can relate to myself...
Another piece of literature that I believe needs adapting as a full length "eternity" version film is one of Roald Dahl's works -
The BFG! This is a book I've been fond of for years, along with many other Roald Dahl works, and, in fact, it's so fantastically amusing and British at heart that it really deserves to be given such good treatment. The BFG himself also looks like a character I could play realistically, with the help of CGI, wigs, camera trickery etc.
As for performances on stage, I've appeared in plays before during my education - namely Bugsy Malone & The Wizard Of Oz. In fact, only last year, I participated in a production of Twelfth Night at Manchester & Salford's Lowry Theatre. So joining an ameteur dramatic society at some stage might be an attractive proposition when I can find time for it...
Re: SiFThere's not much really to mention here that I haven't hinted at already: I'd certainly like to give audio productions a go at some point, hopefully this year, but as I said before I can't
guarantee anything...
Anyway, that's all from me on the matter and hopefully I'll add some further details to this thread in the future. Now, let's see who else has ambitions for their futures...
Warm Regards As Always,
MRHloco