It occurred to me that this might interest those of you who are intrigued by the process of writing. I intend on posting the progressing first five chapters in Samples, once I begin, so you can compare the outline to the first draft. Thoughts and questions welcome.
Chapter Outlines for
Children of the Revolution.
Prologue –
Scene-setting. From pov of Marisa Donne (32). She is interviewing Carl Grantham (41) for her dissertation on “educational reform”. Mature student. Description of him and his surroundings. In hospital undergoing psychological assessment after an attempted suicide. Carl is not uncommunicative. He is polite, quick to smile but, also, somehow “removed”. His smile sometimes suggests he knows things no one else does.
Opening paragraph: “During those weekly visits to Carl Grantham I learnt more about humanity than I ever thought possible — not in any way so well-formed that I might readily articulate it. No. My time with him was more subtle than that. Nonetheless, between his lines and sometimes on them, I found an understanding of what it was to be apart, to be within and absorbed… to be included and yet, as we all are, I suppose, ineffably alone.”
Chapter One: In the Place of Old Times –
From Carl’s pov. Carl tells of his arrival at Sunnyvale School. His parents take him in and, after being shown around, leave him with a young teacher called Miss Porter in a classroom of red-, blue- and green-painted tables and strange-looking children. A sense of abandonment, but not by his parents. It was more profound than that, and nothing he could have articulated at the time. He didn’t like the place.
Spends most of the morning crying. Miss Porter is kind and patient, however, telling him that he’ll be going home soon. “Forever?” he asks. “No, not forever, Carl,” she tells him. “You’re a big boy, now, and big boys go to school during the day time.” He asks her if he’ll be coming to school every day and Miss Porter gets the calendar from the wall and shows him the days he will and won’t be at school. “Not so bad, hey?” Miss Porter says. Carl starts crying again.
Lunch time is a battle of wills. He eats a little mashed potato, but that’s all.
Journey home on bus. Cigarette smoke, making a friend called Tommy Blackbird. Tommy has a useless, malformed left hand and a weak left leg which gives him a “bouncy” limp when he walks. Tommy likes school because “it’s warm.”
Present Day Interlude –
From Marisa Donne’s pov. Carl fills in, tells her how he settled. Came to an autumn fete at the school with his parents, which he hated. “A coming together of two separate worlds” is how the adult Carl describes it.
He is tired. Marisa suspects he’s medicated a little. He asks for a drink and she helps him, before leaving to let him rest.
Continuation of Carl’s narrative –
Christmas is approaching. Carl and Tommy are excited. Tommy wants a duffel coat for Christmas (because they are warm) and some marbles, Carl wants some clackers and a spud gun.
Whilst on a make-believe “adventure” at playtime, they encounter the able-bodied kids from the school next door. There is a childish argument about not being “normal”. Carl feels more displaced than ever. The conversation almost spoils the Christmas party for him.
Chapter Two: The Ghost of Emiline Brown –
Present Day Interlude –
The following day. Marisa listens as he tells her about Christmas of that year (1972), the family parties, his teenage aunt playing T-Rex records for him, watching Laurel and Hardy on A Stocking Full of Stars, the banal Black and White Minstrel Show and the wonderful Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show – all so perfect, in his opinion, when compared to school. Marisa pretends to make notes, but really she’s thinking about Carl – about his reasons, whatever they were, for trying to kill himself. He seems so intelligent. Has treated her politely from day one. He seems to care that she gets all the information she needs to do a good job, but maybe that’s the problem. He cares. Perhaps too much.
“But you had to go back after Christmas,” she says. Carl nods.
Continuation of Carl’s narrative –
School assembly. Carl and Tommy sit at the back, whispering. Tommy is talking about Christmas – didn’t get his duffel coat, just a “poxy powder blue bomber jacket” that makes him look like a girl. Carl feels “funny”. Something’s wrong. The headmaster (Mr. Dixon) is subdued, uncertain of himself. He welcomes them back, they sing Give Me Oil in My Lamp, say a prayer, teachers looking at one another furtively, and then return in the frosty January morning to their classrooms.
Miss Porter is uncharacteristically sullen as they go to their places. She smiles and says hello to the children, but it’s an obvious struggle. Carl notices that one of the school nurses, Mrs. Wallace, has joined them and worries that they all might have to have an injection or something. Tommy looks at her and mouths “uh oh” at Carl.
Miss Porter eventually tells them that there classmate, Emiline Brown has died over Christmas. Carl looks round at where Emiline normally sat. He hadn’t even noticed she was missing – because she’d always seemed to be missing. She’d been such a quiet girl.
A few girls cry. Mrs. Wallace comforts them whilst Miss Porter briefly turns her back on the class and dabs at her eyes with paper tissue.
Playtime. Tommy is talking about ghosts. He reckons Emiline’s ghost is already haunting the school. “I saw this shadowy thing in the window.” They discuss what they should do and arrive at a suitable conclusion; tell the girls.
Present Day Interlude –
“A bit cruel,” Marisa says, smiling.
“We were six.”
Continuation of Carl’s narrative –
We find Carl and Tommy sitting utterly dumbfounded, watching as one of the girls, Jenny Jennings, runs around the playground in hysterics. Miss Porter grabs her, kneeling down and doing her best to calm the hyperventilating girl. Finally, Jenny hiccups an explanation and points at Carl and Tommy.
Carl and Tommy sit/stand before Miss Porter’s desk. They are the only ones in the classroom apart from the ghost of Emiline Brown, who seems more present than ever before. They get a telling off, but it’s a gentle one. Miss Porter seems to understand how difficult a situation this is for them to grasp. She tells them not to do it again, and makes them say sorry to Jenny.
Tommy to Carl: “I still saw her.”
Chapter Three: Leaving, but Not On a Jet Plane –
Present Day Interlude –
Marisa wants to move things along a bit. Her main area of interest is Resolution School, to where Carl ultimately moved, and its cutting-edge, quasi-experimental policy of “integration”. She’s wary of rushing him, however, aware of the way in which he seems to be benefiting from talking to her (looks pleased to see her when she arrives, smiles more readily etc.) Nevertheless, she asks him when he first found out that he was going to be moving to a new school.
“It must have been early seventy-five…”
Continuation of Carl’s narrative –
Carl is in another classroom with Tommy. Mrs. Aspel, his current teacher, is telling them that in a few minutes, they’ll be getting some visitors and that she wants them all to be on their best, most polite behaviour. “As you all know, Carl is leaving us at the end of term and starting a new school in September…” First he’s heard of it. Looks at Tommy and shrugs. Carl’s new teachers visiting.
They arrive. Carl is introduced to Mrs. Shires. Tells him all about Resolution. Asks about his interests etc. Carl likes her.
At playtime, Tommy is annoyed. “You didn’t tell me.” “I didn’t know.” They argue, Tommy calling Carl a liar etc. Tommy wants to go with Carl but he can’t. Carl is sorry for him, but is nevertheless pleased that he’s the one going rather than staying.
Last day at Sunnyvale School. Tommy has just about forgiven him. It is a bright, warm day. Mrs. Aspel has arranged for them to have a picnic on the school field. Tommy is eating a fistful of cake. Carl isn’t hungry; he is afraid and excited, looking forward to the summer holidays but also worried about what is to follow. Tommy tells he’s going to Butlins for two weeks in August. It’s always cold, but he doesn’t mind. Carl doesn’t answer so Tommy gives him a nudge.
“We can be pen pals,” Tommy says, and Carl nods.
On the bus home, driving out of the school gates, his mood lifts. He remembers Mrs. Shires telling him on her visit that Resolution had a swimming pool and was named after a famous explorer. It was an adventure, she had told him. They were sailing into “uncharted waters” together. Doesn’t sound so bad. Sounds good, in fact dead good.
And he will write to Tommy.
Present Day Interlude –
“Did you?” Marisa asks. Yes. Once or twice. Tells her that he saw Tommy a few years later at a county sports event. He seemed to be doing well. Sunnyvale had moved to another location by this time. Tommy was being integrated, too. Carl had asked him if his new school was warm. Tommy didn’t get the joke.
Chapter Four: Poppies –
Arrives at Resolution. Brand new wheelchair with his name on waiting for him. A friendly nursing auxiliary (plain-clothes, no uniforms) called Mrs. Alexander shows Carl around. Hundreds of poppies in the grounds.
Assembly. His first look at Mr. Johnson – his new headmaster. A scruffy little man, nothing like Mr. Dixon. Mr. Johnson stands a little too erect. He likes people looking at him. Gives a welcome speech, then assigns individual pupils to their respective teachers. Carl is finally with Mrs. Shires. “Ready for that adventure?” she asks him.
The classroom is recessed from an open plan area. No doors on the classrooms. It is bright outside, but it’s cool over this side of the school (north-facing windows.) Mrs. Shires takes the register. Belinda is missing. Anyone seen her? Johnny Jameson speaks up for the first time. “Sher-sher-she’s snuffed it.”
Johnny is G. Describe in detail. Also other classmates: Andrew [Allen] (partially sighted), Louisa Kent [Louise Clark] (partially sighted), Patrick Bond [Peter Fleming] (very bad eczema/asthma), Ananda [a perpetually cheerful Asian girl who’s name escapes me], Jim Edwards [John Elwood], Peter Holmes [Paul Watson] (brain-damaged as a result of being hit by a car), and Kelly Karn [Karen Kelly] (cerebral palsy?)
Mrs. Shires explains to them what Resolution is all about. Integration etc. Tells them about Cook’s ship, HMS Resolution. She began her career as the North Sea collier Marquis of Granby, launched at Whitby in 1770. Cook said of her that she was “the fittest for service of any I have seen.” Explains the meaning of the word: being determined. “That’s what we are going to be,” she says. “Determined to make this new way work, for each and every one of you.”
Carl is excited by this. It is going to be an adventure. Just like Captain Cook’s. Johnny sniffs derisively.
At break, Carl is stunned by all the kids on the playground – kids in uniforms from the Almsby Comprehensive and younger kids from Overfields, the primary school. Everyone is curious about everyone else and Carl is soon surrounded by girls from the two adjacent schools. Mrs. Shires, on duty, gives him a wink.
Present Day Interlude –
“You were popular with the girls,” Marisa says. Carl shrugs. For a while. It was all part of the “new frontier optimism”. We – some of us, at least – thought anything really was possible.
Carl becomes introspective. Marisa realises that she knows hardly anything about him. Introduced by a mutual friend who had believed that, as well as helping Marisa out, the whole process might benefit Carl, she explicitly avoided asking for background info, wanting to hear of Carl’s experiences firsthand and draw her own conclusions.
“The optimism was misplaced?”
“Isn’t it always?”
Chapter Five: Johnny on the West Cliff –
Carl is writing a composition about “what it would be like to have been Captain Cook”. He is physically struggling because the desk height and positioning isn’t quite right for him. He writes a couple of lines and then repositions his book, writes a couple more and then repositions it again. He feels Mrs. Shires watching him and feels self-conscious.
Johnny is telling Patrick in a whisper that Evel Knievel can jer-jump just about er-anything. What about the Wembley crash last May, Patrick says. He might have crashed, Johnny insists, but he ster-still cleared the buses. He crashed after the jer-jump.
Carl tries to concentrate on writing less conspicuously, but it’s difficult, and soon Mrs. Shires comes over and kneels by his table. “You’re not comfortable, are you? She says. Carl shakes head. Mrs. Shires asks him what will help and they try a few things. Ultimately, she goes to see Mr. Johnson and brings him back to the classroom to show him the problem.
Mr. Johnson arrives with Mrs. Shires, listens to the problem with an evident lack of patience and, when Mrs. Shires is done, turns one of the grey storage trays over on the table top and says, “That will do.” He walks away while Mrs. Shires is still talking. She follows.
While she is away, Johnny talks to Carl about an upcoming school-trip to Staithes and Whitby. Johnny is looking forward to it, not because of the Cook connections but because of the “Draclia” Whitby connection.
Ultimately, Mrs. Shires returns looking angry and frustrated. She says something to Mrs. Alexander, the auxiliary, but Carl doesn’t quite catch it. When she’s calmed down, she puts the storage tray away and tells Carl she’s getting him a new table.
Present Day Interlude –
Marisa is wondering if it all really did start going wrong as early as Carl is suggesting, or if Carl is mixing up his dates. Carl senses her doubt and smiles, telling her to go ahead and say it. She does, and he nods, telling her the cracks did indeed start to show very early on.
“I spoke to her a few years ago and we discussed it in great detail,” he says.
Major points of his conversation with Mrs. Shires:
- · One of the original 8 teachers recruited to set up the school.
· Teachers would be provided with what was needed for each child so that they could then say – no excuses – get on with it and treat the children the same as they would be in mainstream education.
· The furniture for the children was issued using the same criteria as that for able-bodied children in mainstream schools. The table heights had no reference to the needs of many of the children.
· All the cupboards were fitted floor to ceiling – out of Mrs. Shires’ reach so the children had no chance of reaching them. She decided to bring down some of the top cupboards and use them for low storage the children could reach and use the tops for low level displays and access to equipment. Almost caused a strike when the council joiners saw what I had done – not in the union – job demarcation.
· Angry and disillusioned. Just the start of this new concept school.
Continuation of Carl’s narrative –
School trip. Carl, Peter Holmes, Patrick Bond and Johnny at the back of the bus – Carl and Johnny in their wheelchairs. Mrs. Alexander driving, Mrs. Shires a few seats ahead of Carl et al. Johnny, his stammer minimal today, is telling Carl, Peter and Patrick all about vampires and Captain Cook. He talks in hushed tones, mixing history and myth shamelessly – as only a 10-year-old boy can. Cook was a vampire. That’s why he acted “funny” on his last voyage. He was drinking too much of William Bligh’s blood and it was “fer-fucking his head up.” Patrick asks how come, then, Cook could survive in daylight. Because real vampires can, Johnny insists. Even the real “Draclia” could, but Ber-Bram Stoker had to give him weaknesses for the story to work. “Worst ther-thing they ever did was name our school after his ship. We’re the fucking ler-living dead. Trust me.”
After a brief stay in Staithes, Johnny unimpressed (“An apprentice shopkeeper?”), they arrive at Whitby and head straight for the Abbey and St. Mary’s church, where the majority eat their packed lunches on the bus – it’s raining lightly. Mrs. Shires, Carl, Patrick and Johnny have a look around the graveyard, however, feeling adventurous. Headstones in the path. They take their lunches with them and eat them on a bench behind St. Mary’s, overlooking the harbour. Rain stops. Sun comes out.
Patrick tells Mrs. Shires about Johnny’s theory re Cook being a vampire, and the school being a ship of the living dead. Mrs. Shires admits it wasn’t the best ship to name the school after. She’d have preferred Endeavour. But she adds, a little unconvincingly to Carl’s ears, that the school being a ship of the living dead is a bit far-fetched.
Johnny shrugs. And sniffs. Mr. Johnson is Cook on his last voyage. “If he starts kidnapping natives, I’m going ber-back to my old school.” Even Mrs. Shires smiles at this.