Runequest and team writing

Thank you, Geraint, for your comment on my last posting Don't Judge a Book by its Cover.

But perhaps I should explain for those who don't know (the population of the world minus three). When I was 18, I spent the summer holidays with a schoolfriend, Paul, planning out a comedy fantasy novel called Runequest. Geraint, another schoolfriend, came to join us for a number of those writing sessions.

I don't know if anyone else would have found our story funny. All I can say is, I had never laughed as much before, and have seldom since. It was my first experience of writing a story for my own pleasure. It was wonderful.

Then, of course, this man called Pratchett (you may have heard of him) came along and cornered the market in fantasy take-off novels. We all went off in different directions and our Runequest story never saw the light of day. I believe Paul still has the folder containing the plan. Looking back on it, and having gone through the novel writing process a few times now, I'd say our plan had enough material for a 5 book series.

Perhaps there is something particularly pleasurable about team writing. Every time I have done it since, it has been a huge pleasure. So far the only bits of that work that have come to fruition are the performance stories Hazard Warning and Blood Mother, written with Clare Littleford and Sally Spedding. The next performance of Blood Mother will be in the Derby Guildhall on March 15th 2007.