Mark (Advanced Fun)

Typing up the conversation between Mark and Toby has made me realise how hard it is going to be get Mark right as a character.

Before I go on I should probably emphasise that I was being inaccurate in my last post when I described Mark as the protagonist. He's not. Advanced Fun is a story about Toby and Lois a couple questioning whether they've lost the ability to have fun and be young and whether they've chosen to settle too soon. Mark is just the catalyst.

But he needs to be a very real human being and it can be easy to make him come across as little bit autistic or alien in a 'what crazy rituals you earthlings have' type way.

I do want to use him to reflect on what people in their 20s do for entertainment but he needs to feel real.

The key things to understand about Mark are this:

He's been ill a long time and while he is to all intensive purposes better he's still building up his stamina so is likely to fade as the night goes on.

He's perfectly emotionally adept. He's a good listener and has surprisingly good antennae for how people are feeling. This goes out the window when he's drunk because he's still mastering it to a certain extent but he's not in anyway socially difficult.

However, he's not good in group situations, finds it hard to be noticed and to contribute. He doesn't say anything inappropriate but doesn't really say anything and gets pissed off at his inability.

He's good one on one. Sharp, observant and all that time he's spent in bed has meant that he is extremely well read, watched a lot of films and just thought about things. It takes him a little time to warm up but actually Toby and Lois realise that in reality they don't have to take care of him. He's alright.

One of the upshots of all the contemplation he has done is that he's not embarassed about his situation. He knows it's unusual. He knows he has to talk about it a lot but so be it. In particular I want to push this notion that he's quite happy to admit he's a virgin, indeed to proffer it as information when he can tell someone want to ask the question but feels bad asking it. Yeah, he'd rather not be but it's not his fault he hasn't had the opportunity and while it's something he's looking to remedy he's not embarassed by it. Think Jesse Eisenberg in Adventureland.

So yeah the point has to be that actually Mark is alright. Life dealt him a bum hand for a long time but that's basically behind him and now he's getting to enjoy life and while it may have it's moments of embarassment and failure, it's all worth it. It's Toby and Lois who are less sure of themselves and where they're headed.