When writing the script for "Shades", Chapter 4 was something of a landmark. As I've said elsewhere, the final chapters of "Shades" had a fairly clear shape in my head even before I began to write and the first four chapters were so clear that they pretty much wrote themselves. After this, however, I had to stop writing and plan very carefully the plot events that would bridge the gap in the middle and take the story logically from these four introductory chapters and on to its conclusion. For a brief moment it began to feel like work!

I had two objectives for Chapter 4. As far as the story was concerned, it had to introduce yet another new character (Boo). Just as importantly, though, was the tone of the chapter. Chapter 3 touched on slightly mystical matters and, although there'll be a lot more of that later (yes, all that talk about the spirit world was important!) I wanted the next couple of chapters to reinforce the fact that these events are happening in the real world.