Co writing Love Always

When Dan asked me and Dean to co-write, I was a bit nervous but thought it would be a good challenge. I really enjoyed writing 'The Suitcase Kid,' so thought with someone else I could write something even better. With Deans forte being comedy and mine being kids television, I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

Once Dan gave us the initial we sat down to think about characters and the plot.  Neither mine nor Dean's knowledge of World War 2 is extensive but we both felt we knew a reasonable amount from learning about it at school. We thought we would come up with the main plot point and then research further into the history of the war for little but important details.

The four main character are:

• Mary (Protagonist)
• Arthur (Mary's lover fighting in the RAF)
• Alice (Mary's next door neighbour and best friend)
• Frank (The village postman and Mary's new love interest

Our first basic plot points we wanted to include:

• Mary and Arthur are writing back and forth to each other, while Arthur is fighting in the war. Mary is living at home, looking after her brother Johnny, with the help of her neighbour (Alice) because of the passing of both of her parents.
• The postman Frank, takes a shine to Mary and becomes more and more infatuated with Mary after each meeting.
• He begins to hide and intercept each letter between Mary and Arthur, fooling Mary into believing Arthur is dead/forgotten about her.
• Frank then begins to take on Arthurs' role in Mary's life by fixing things and comforting her.
• Then begin falling in love, with Mary heartbroken and vulnerable.
• In a twist of events she finds all the letters Frank has been hiding and is distraught and guilty.
• Arthur comes home and Frank is shunned  by everyone.

After these basic plotlines, these initial questions were raised:

1. What sort of plane would Arthur be in? More research about his job.
2. Why is Frank not at war, what reasons did men not fight?
3. What job would Mary have living in the countryside?
4. What year would this be set? When were the RAF fighters in Africa?