Here is a text transformation peice I did last year as part of my English course. I have posted it as I felt it was a good way of getting to thoroughly get to know a character and then place that character in a different situation and see how it turns out. In this case, I took, Christopher, a 15 year old boy with AS syndrome from Mark Haddon's 'The curios Incedent of the dog in the night time' and decided to have him make a detective guide. If you have not read the book then this may be confusing however I thought it was quite interesting and enjoyed writing it.
Based on Christoper Price from The Curious Incident of the dog in hhe Night Time
My name is Christopher Price and I have decided to write this guide about how to become a detective so that other people who might have been in a situation like I was can be able to solve problems and find a solution. I thought that I would write this explanation because uncle Mick who has come down to visit me this weekend said that to make my guide more professional looking, I would need to explain what I was going to be writing about. I said that the title on the front being “How to become a Detective” might have given people an idea. I explained anyway because he said he would take me out to the park later and there were lots of nice dogs there and if you get there just at the right time then you can see the sun setting which mum says would be a beautiful picture idea to include in my guide. I told her that I don’t think I will include a picture of a sunset in my guide though because it does not have anything to do with detective work I don’t think. Now I am going to make a list of all of the things I think help to make a good detective...
One- Know yourself first...Mum said that if I start, point with a sentence called a cliff hanger, then it should draw in more people. I was a little confused because I wasn’t going to be drawing people in this book, it wasn’t a sketch book. A few seconds later though I realised she meant drawing more people in as in attracting more people to read my guide. I was annoyed at myself for making the mistake so I punished myself when mum turned away by pouring my apple tea down the sink even though I was very thirsty and now the inside of my throat feels rubbery and I can feel the air catching more as I breath. I had to look at the first point that I have got written down in my notes again because I have done one of the things that my Sociology teacher Miss Gray tells me I shouldn’t and go off on a tangent. I don’t know if I should listen to her or not though because the other teachers at school, some say that Sociology is a silly subject and doesn’t get you anywhere and Melissa from the year above me shouted something the other day about Miss Gray having escaped from a mental home. I was shocked so told my mum when I went home but she said it was just a joke and Miss Gray was nice really and that I shouldn’t believe everything I hear.
My first point is to know yourself. By that I mean to know what your own problems are before you go out trying to solve other peoples. I told this to Nana May who is 73 years old and wears tweed jackets that mum buys her from the second hand shop but tells Nana May that really she brought them from Marks and Spencer’s and Nana May likes Marks and Spencer’s so she is very happy when mum does that. Nana said the point about knowing yourself was good and important and then talked to me for approximately 359 minutes about how the world works which just made me more confused than I was before but I said thank you Nana May anyway and carried on typing this on the new computer than I got for Christmas. I know what my problems are, I was going to make a long list but mum said to keep it brief so I will just list a few so you can see...
A: Not talking to people for a long time.
B: Not eating or drinking anything for a long time.
C: Not liking being touched.
D: Screaming when I am angry or confused.
E: Not liking really small places with other people
F: Mother has just looked at me typing and said that’s enough. I think she made a joke because she just said ‘Don’t make any more negative points about yourself Christopher or the readers might think you are a devil.” Then she laughed a bit and told me my dinner will be ready in two minutes and to press save as on the computer and shut down the computer so I can help set the table with uncle Mick so I will continue my guide later tonight if mum lets me go back on the computer. She said that I can’t if Heartbeat is on later though, because if I ask for help then she will miss who gets killed. I said “ok”. I better go now...
Back now and on a new page. I was worried that by starting writing on a new page that it would mean I was evil because it was wasting some of the paper on the previous page and therefore contributing to the rapid cutting down of the rainforest. I told mother this and she replied “just finish your banana milk Christopher and write your next tip for your guide.” I would have done, except for the milk being chocolate flavoured and not banana which meant that I couldn’t drink it because I knew that chocolate was brown and I didn’t like that colour. Mother eventually realised this and said sorry and has now gone off to the shop to get different milk even though I said it’s alright.
She said to make sure I have written another tip before she gets back so I need to hurry now. Hurrying feels strange as this next tip is all about focussing which involves doing the opposite and taking your time.
Two- Concentration and ObservingThis tip I think is really important because when being a detective there will be lots of times when you need to just take a step back and think everything through. I find this difficult sometimes especially if there are lots of people near me, like the time I was in the shop and it was busy and mother said we would be home in ten minutes but I looked at my watch and it was 19 minutes and we were still there. I wasn’t happy and started screaming because I wanted to get away from all of the people which mum says caused a big scene at the time. I think I also wet myself but I was five so she says it was nothing to feel embarrassed about. When I screamed though, it helped me to concentrate and go into my own world. In my own world no one can hurt me and I can’t hear what is around me. Most importantly, I can think a lot clearer. In the shop ten years ago when I was screaming it was just to block out the people and think. I realised that soon I would be home and my favourite police programme, The Bill would be on. Unfortunately though, I had wet myself before screaming...it was a learning experience anyway.
So, that is concentrating and I decided to include observing in this tip because when you concentrate it is then easier to “observe” what is around you which you need to be good at if you are going to be successful in your investigation. To be good at observing, you need to be able to pick out every part of the scene no matter how little it might seem at first. For example, I don’t really like anyone to go into my room because my room is my own little house according to dad. People have to always knock to be allowed into my room but I don’t like it. Sometimes I can tell when my dad has been in my room. He says he doesn’t go in there but when using observation skills, I can see that he has. I will walk in and look around, being careful not to accidently move or touch anything. My dad tries to make it look like he hasn’t been there and nothing seems to have been moved. I thought that after ten minutes of observing that maybe dad was right and I was just being paranoid because I had checked the windows, carpet, bed cover shape, my pencil crayon arrangements and drawings from when I was three but none of them seemed any different. I decided it was worth checking everything a second time to make sure for definite and it was then when I saw a paperclip on the carpet. I never used paperclips for my work so I went downstairs to where dad was cooking dinner and asked him, “Dad, could I please borrow a paperclip... if you have any that is.” He replied “Of course Christopher, I’ve got stacks of them, keep falling out of my pockets.” He laughed little and I tried to laugh a little but I had just found out that it must have been him and that he did go in my room. So, be observant and on another note, mum has just come back from the shop so I better go and drink my milk which will be the right flavour this time I hope...
Three- Interviewing peopleOne of my teachers at school once said “strike when the iron’s hot”. I wasn’t sure what this meant and thought it could be dangerous because if you strike a hot iron then you will get burned but the teacher just told me to settle down and that it was just a figure of speech that meant when you are getting into a rhythm make the most of it. I think I am getting into the rhythm now so I will strike because the iron is currently hot.
Having interviews is a really good way to get information from people that seem suspicious or might be able to help you solve a mystery. This was something that I didn’t find easy when I was trying to find out who killed Wellard the dog. I am not very good at talking to strangers and I don’t think that anybody should because they can offer you a lift in their car and then drive you away somewhere and chop your legs so you can’t get home. When I knocked on Miss Shears’ house which was opposite to ours, I thought that maybe I shouldn’t have been because was on my own. I quickly had a talk to myself in my head where I reached the conclusion that a 74 year old lady probably won’t chop my legs off. When interviewing, I think that you should always tell the person what your name is and what you are trying to uncover. This way, the person shouldn’t think you are being rude. Miss Shears’ wasn’t a stranger, but she was very strange. She used to make trays of cookies, biscuits and little fairy cakes even when there was no one there but herself to eat them. Dad said it was just to help keep her busy since her husband died ten years ago. When I knocked on her door I said ‘hello, my name is Christopher Price, I live opposite to you and I am trying to find out who killed Wellard.” She looked quite shaken at first, as if she had just thought she had won £100 on the lottery, but then found out it was really £10. She said “Hello young man, yes I know who you are, your father tells me allot about you. I think you should leave the detective work to the police, don’t you?” Before I could answer she continued. “Would you like to come inside and have a chocolate Christopher?” I didn’t want to for two reasons. One, I wouldn’t feel safe if I went inside Miss Shears’ house because then she could lock the door and I would be trapped and two, chocolate cookies are brown.
Hello, I’m back now. I decided to leave four spaces between the last tip I wrote so show that I stopped and have started writing again. I am not feeling very good and cannot find my notebook which I write down my thoughts in. Sometimes I can just write down my notes in my head but my head feels like a room full of drawers and those draws are split up into different groups. For example if there is something I eat for the first time and liked it, I will store it in my food and drink drawer. I seem to be able to recall things by doing this, the problem though, is that all my drawers seem to be full. They are overflowing and when I try to remember something I get angry because it feels like the thing I’m trying to remember is trying to escape. Mother just came over and said that I need to stop ‘babbling’. I don’t think she understands sometimes. No one does. How can they? Time for another tip I think, I am getting side tracked.
Four- Do it yourselfI think that it is a good idea to avoid including anyone else in your detective work because it will case more problems. I hate it when Mr Eklewait, one of my Maths teachers, makes the class work in teams for everything. It encourages discussion he says. We always have to work in teams and I usually end up being teamed with Mitchell who pulls faces a lot and always wears the same red, chequered shorts to school. Last time we were a team, the subject was prime numbers which is my best but Mitchell felt sick and vomited on the paper so we came last. When I am at school I do not argue about having to work in teams because I don’t want to get told off and be kicked out of school because then I wouldn’t be able to take my maths test and get to university. Luckily, outside of school I can do things by myself. I always like doing things on my own because I can decide by myself the best way to go about solving things. It might just be because I don’t have many friends but my uncle always tells me that as long as I’m happy inside it doesn’t matter what people on the outside think. When trying to solve the curious incident of the dog in the night time, I found that doing things my own way worked better than it would if mother, father or anyone else had trying to get involved.
Well I am finished now, thank you for reading and I hope you have found my guide useful.
