Louise Dean's Blog, page 16

Ten Tips For Committing the Perfect Crime.

Our guest tutor this month, Mark Billingham, is one of the UK’s most acclaimed and popular crime writers. Members will be able to tune into an hour-long session with Mark on Monday 29th June at 6pm BST at The Novelry. He'll be answering our members' questions live. I don't doubt it will be thrilling... Those of you attending will want to purchase one or two of his many novels here in advance. I am reading and admiring the brilliant composition of Sleepyhead. More about Mark and his books here and at his website here.

His series of novels featuring DI Tom Thorne has twice won him the Crime Novel of the Year Award and his debut novel, Sleepyhead was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade. His latest novel is Their Little Secret. A television series based on the Thorne novels starred David Morrissey as Tom Thorne and a series based on In The Dark and Time Of Death was broadcast on the BBC in 2017. Mark lives in London with his wife and two children. When he is not living out rock-star fantasies as a member of the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, he is hard at what he claims is 'laughably' called work; writing his next novel.

Enjoy his tip-offs, my dark-hearted writers.

TEN TIPS FOR WRITING CRIME FICTION

(SOME MORE SERIOUS THAN OTHERS.)

READ! I know this sounds blindingly obvious, but I’m constantly amazed by the number of people I meet who tell me they are writing something, then stare at me blankly when I ask them what kind of stuff they enjoy reading. Every writer I respect is a reader first and foremost and to try and write without reading widely is simply nonsensical. It’s like wanting to be a chef without eating food.
Write the kind of book you would like to read. Another obvious one, but it’s really worth stressing. You’re on a hiding to nothing if you try and look for a gap in the market. So, maybe there isn’t a bestselling series out there about a blind veterinary surgeon in fourteenth-century London who solves critter-related crimes with the help of a tame leopard. There’s probably a very good reason why not and, trust me, you shouldn’t be the one to try and fill that gap. Not unless that’s exactly the book you’ve been waiting your whole life to read and, if that’s the case, there is almost certainly counselling available.
Know what the rules are before completely ignoring them. From Ronald Knox (“No Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them,”) through GK Chesterton (“The criminal must be in the foreground,”) to Elmore Leonard (“Never open a book with weather,”) many people have attempted to lay down rules for writing crime and mystery fiction. Some have not aged well and now appear ridiculous, while others were never intended to be taken seriously in the first place. They’re certainly worth looking at though, if only for a good laugh, and many of the great Elmore Leonard’s rules should be pinned above the desk of every writer, especially: “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” Of course, the only rules that matter are the ones you lay down for yourself, and these tend to be the ones determined by your own tastes as a reader. (SEE TIP 1)
The key to creating suspense is character. These are crime novels, remember and the reader knows what they are in for. Yes, there may be redemption and resolution of a sort, but there will also be suffering and pain, grief and dreadful loss. The reader knows it’s coming, but not when or to whom. The tension is real and terrible because they care. So, by all means, throw in a cliff-hanger now and again and time those ‘reveals’ to perfection so as to give your reader a punchline they will remember for a long time. But give your readers characters they genuinely care about, that have the power to move them, and you will have suspense from page one.
Don’t be a ‘Chubby Checker’. The ‘twist’ is, of course, a vital weapon in the mystery writer’s armoury; a button that a writer has to push every so often. But it can be overdone. There are writers who try and throw as many curveballs at the reader as possible. To twist and twist again. While I admire the craft, I do think it can sometimes work against the creation of genuine suspense. Put simply, I find it hard to engage with any book that is no more than a demonstration of technique.
Go easy on the research. Obviously there will be stuff you need to know about, but then there will inevitably be the temptation to crowbar in everything you’ve found out at the expense of the story. Why not be counter-intuitive and do your research afterwards? That way you only find out the things you really need to know and avoid falling into the trap of showing off. You’re writing a novel not a documentary, so don’t worry about annoying the handful of readers who might actually know this stuff in detail and will take great pleasure in letting you know where you went wrong. We all get the occasional I hope you don’t mind me pointing out… letter and they’re fun to read out at events. Truth is not always the same as fact…especially these days.
Make your location a character. It’s what Michael Connelly does with LA or Ian Rankin does with Edinburgh – it’s what the greats have always done. The way your central character interacts with the city or (God forbid) the countryside around them is hugely important.
Don’t use victims as plot devices. The best crime writers have always written about what violence does to people; how a murder impacts on those left behind. It’s not just about a cat-and-mouse game between detective and killer, with endless victims who the reader is never given a chance to engage with thrown in to move the story along. I know that whenever Raymond Chandler was unsure as to where his story was going he would just have someone walk into a room with a gun, but simply tossing another body into the mix is really not the same thing.
Don’t use bad language and don’t hurt animals. The odd angry letter (SEE TIP 6) can be fun, but some readers can get very worked up if a fictional character swears or a fictional dog/cat/pot-bellied pig gets hurt. These are people who like reading crime fiction, who don’t appear to have any problem with murder, rape, child abuse etc, so go figure. And remember, you can do any damn thing you like to human beings, as long as nobody curses while it’s happening. Of course, you might be the type who likes to annoy certain people, so how’s this for an opening? He held the gun to the cat’s head and grinned. “How the fuck do you like THAT, Mr Tibbles?”
Be lucky. Along with every other writer I’ve mentioned, luck has played its part in my career as a crime novelist. A manuscript crossing the desk of some agent or editor at just the right time. Yes, hard work is important and it helps if you can at least string a sentence together, but the publishing business is a fickle one, so you will certainly need your share of good luck. And if it comes along, grab it…

In the video - The Top Ten Crime Novels with Mark Billingham.

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Published on June 20, 2020 23:00

What Is Story?

'There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.' Somerset Maugham.

It's the same for story. Numerous books have been writing on the matter, none have proven definitive. Our philosophy at The Novelry is simple—tools, not rules. We don’t believe in a format, template or boilerplate novel, or grand definitive maxims.

A novel can offer one of the most intimate experiences of your life. Something like a beach blanket conversation with a dear friend. It can also be more like a movie in your head, like a funfair ride. Sure, you know this ride was designed for maximum impact, but you’re enjoying the thrills and spills. It is quite possible to enjoy novels of either kind and everything in between. There is no novel rule book. And if there were most writers are so wonderfully wilful they’d throw it out the window.

We believe in you, the writer, and your novel. We are here to breathe life into it and help you create it so that your vision becomes a reality. That’s why our very first session begins with what you the author want. In our courses, we give you tools. It's self-service, take those you like, try them, ditch them when they frustrate your vision. In the tutoring sessions, we work with you to co-create and scope out ideas and opportunities creatively.

A first draft is all about what’s right with the novel, and not so much about what’s wrong with it. There will be no inspection, interrogation, examination. No rote learning is required.

We don’t believe any first draft of a novel is perfect, nor should it meet the rigours of a formula. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It shouldn’t be perfect. It should be alive, and gently coaxed to grow to its full size.

As you write your novel, you’ll be delving into the heart of the matter, according to you, and asking questions, wondering whether others feel like you. Putting a light into the night. It’s a vulnerable time. You need cosseting. You need to grow your novel in a positive, constructive, environment. We work side by side, you the author and your tutor at The Novelry, as a tender gardening team. The pruning comes later. It’s in the later drafts, you’ll begin to consider what’s wrong with it in terms of its communication of the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of your vision. You'll be working most of all on the story.

So, let's take a good look at story, and what makes it tick. ;-)

Terms of Endearment

Here are some terms of endearment you'll come across when reading discussions on story and understanding why those terms are fairly commonplace and what stories and novels have in common in general can be helpful. You can deviate and break the conventions when you know what they are, and why, and how. Use those that help you grow your novel, discard those that choke it.

The art of composition of a story may well be in the selection of these elements.

Protagonist or main character. The first actor, who plays the chief part. The leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film, novel, etc.

The chief character in a dramatic work. Hence, in extended use: the leading character, or one of the main characters, in any narrative work, as a poem, novel, film, etc. In weakened use (without connotations of prominence): a proponent, advocate, or defender of a cause, idea, etc. A leading player or competitor in a game or sport, or on a team. (Oxford English Dictionary/ OED)

The theme of the story is theirs, but not always the events. The events of the plot may belong to others. But history belongs to the writer and the protagonist gets to call it, to live how it went and drive it meant.

They are usually the causal agent of change, but sometimes by their mere presence. This story would not have been possible without (insert protagonist here.)

The Hero - often the subject of the story. Our beloved darling.

A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. A man or woman distinguished by the performance of courageous or noble actions. Generally admired or acclaimed for great qualities or achievements in any field

In a particular context: an individual or group lauded or admired by a specified person or group of people. The central character in a story, play, film, etc. whom the reader or audience is intended to support or admire. (OED)

In many famous novels the 'hero' remains elusive, scintillating and charismatic - 'flawless' because they are not brought into the sharp focus of realism. See my blog on this treatment 'Rumours of a Hero.'

‘No man,’ said the prince de Condé, ‘is a hero to his Valet de Chambre.’ 1753 David Hume.

The hero is not necessarily the protagonist in literary fiction, but often so in commercial fiction.

The Narrator. A person who recounts the events of a novel or narrative poem.

A person who narrates or gives an account of something. The voice or persona (whether explicitly identified or merely implicit) by which are related the events in a plot, esp. that of a novel or narrative poem. A character in a play or film who relates part of the plot to the audience. (OED)

This person must be present for the events you wish to show, and an ear for those you choose to tell.

Build Your Own Story.

See how the authors of famous novels assigned roles below. Not all boxes need to be ticked, and they can be occupied all by the same person, left empty or occupied by more than one. Even the assignments I have made below are up for debate. But it might help you to consider your set up.

Protagonist

Hero

Narrator

Pride and Prejudice

Mrs Bennett

Lizzy Bennett

To Kill a Mockingbird

Atticus Finch

Scout

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Watson

The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway*

Gatsby

Nick Carraway

Lolita

Humbert Humbert

Lolita

Humbert Humbert

The Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield

Holden Caulfield **

Holden Caulfield

Hamlet

Hamlet

Vanity Fair

Becky Sharp

The Good Soldier

The two couples

Ashburnham **

Dowell

The Old Man and the Sea

Santiago

The Outsider

Mersault

Mersault **

Mersault

Ham on Rye

Henry Chinaski

My Sister the Serial Killer

Korede

Ayoola

Korede

Disgrace

David Lurie

David Lurie **

When trying to determine the protagonist or main character, ask yourself who experiences the ground shifting beneath their feet, an altered state or world view, and who do we most empathise with as a friend and ally rather than as a distant icon. Who plays the chief part?

* Sometimes the protagonist role is not straightforward and can be shared, or handed over. Similarly, for the narrator. It's rarely the case for the hero but of course quite feasible.

** Sometimes the hero is not a hero - but an antihero, they speak for the malaise of their era.

When composing your novel the art is in the apportionment and the possibilities. Change is experienced by one of these three.

The person who experiences or apprehends change to the greatest degree is usually the protagonist which brings me neatly to the crux of the matter of story.

What Is Story?

From the Oxford English Dictionary.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French storie.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman storie (early 12th cent.; also estorie , istorie ), variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French estoire tale, narrative, history, account, source, text, etc.

Compare Italian storia (a1306; a1250 as †istoria ), post-classical Latin storia narrative account, story, legend (late 4th cent.; c1200 in a British source), pictorial representation of a historical episode (9th cent.; 1511 in a British source).

a. A short account of an amusing, interesting, or telling incident, whether real or fictitious; an anecdote.

b. A narrative of imaginary or (less commonly) real events composed for the entertainment of the listener or reader; a (short) work of fiction; a tale.

adventure story, bedtime story, detective story, fairy story, ghost-story, horror story, love story, mystery story, nursery story, sensation story, shaggy dog story, short story, spy story, vampire story,

The series of incidents forming the basis of a novel, play, film, or other work; a plot, a storyline.

1897 Strand Mag. Dec. 634/2 As the life of the body is the blood, so the life of the novel is the ‘story’.

1998 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. 5/5 There is no story, no development, no conclusion.

I find the last citation most telling. No story, no development, no conclusion.

It's helpful to consider what we commonly deem to be a good story, but looking at what is held to spoil it.

'The actions had no motive or background…there was no ambivalence or private pleading… no person (no ‘character’), no story (no ‘plot'), no conclusion, (no ‘moral.)'

Lucian Krukowski on his early efforts with film making. This Place of Prose and Poetry.

While you can comfort yourself with many reviews eviscerating published books for bad writing, you will be hard pushed to find one that castigates a published work for having a bad story. Why? Simple. Bad stories don't get published.

So there has to be something that's essential for a story to work, doesn't there?

‘Story describes a series of actions and experiences made by a number of characters, whether real or imaginary. These characters are represented either in situations that change or as they relate to changes when they react. These changes in turn reveal hidden aspects of the situation and of the characters and engender a new predicament that calls for thinking, action, or both. The answer to this predicament advances the story to its conclusion.

Following a story, correlatively, is understanding the successive actions, thoughts and feelings in question insofar as they present a certain directedness. By this I mean that we are pushed ahead by this development and that we reply to its impetus with expectations concerning the outcome and the completion of the entire process. In this sense the story’s conclusion is the pole of attraction of the entire development. …rather than being predictable, a conclusion must be acceptable. Looking back from the conclusion to the episodes leading up to it, we have to be able to say that this ending required these sorts of events and this chain of actions…’

Paul Ricoeur.

A story is about change.

It describes changing circumstances. From here to there. It is commonly a fall from grace or a rise to position or power. Change is at the core of story. Either materially in the given world of the novel, politically, morally, or personally for the protagonist. One thing is for sure, at the end of a story ‘we’re not in Kansas anymore.’

'A story is a change from an old status quo to a new one, “old world” to “new world”, through action and conflict.' Pixar Rules of Storytelling.

Because change happens de facto over time, time is a big factor in storytelling. Once upon a time... and then... and then...

‘The heroes of stories reckon with time. They have or do not have time for this or that.’ Paul Ricoeur.

Time and dates so often feature in bold openings to novels. It’s what Dan Brown calls ‘the ticking clock’, the driving force of plot in a thriller, which is, after all, a story on Class A's.

"Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him.” Brighton Rock by Graham Greene.

What Happens Next?

'We are all like Scheherzade's husband, in that we want to know what happens next. That is universal and that is why the backbone of a novel has to be a story.'

'Qua story, it can only have one merit: that of making the audience want to know what happens next. And conversely it can only have one fault: that of making the audience not want to know what happens next.' E.M Forster.

(Note to my writers - thank you, you make an old writer very happy, because when I read your work I want to know what happens next!)

The Narrative is the landscape of story. Generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. The narrative text structures are the plot and the setting.

The Setting is the time and place.

Relationships form the emotional landscape, so crucial to our human stories that this is not plot, ie events which may be open to consideration (plotting as in conniving!)

This is where conflict is located, the ally and the antagonist, and our teams are assigned, those for or against the protagonist’s path to achieving a goal which can be overt ( see in my blog here 'Thing One') and present itself before the revelation of the true goal which may be covert and unknown, ill-comprehended (see the same blog - 'Thing Two.)

Contrary to convention, an antagonist while undoubtedly a useful tool is not always ‘the other’. The antagonist can be interior as in Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye.

The Plot - comprises the events, incidents which assist or hinder the course of the change. Obstacles and aids. Brakes and Accelerators. Road. blocks. No entry. The precipitating incident that commences 'change. The problem. Ticking clock. Other characters needs and desires.

These are often contrived to challenge the protagonist or hero at their weak spot, blind spot, flaw or failing as strong medicine for certain change.

Plot plays a role as the spine of the story. The vertebrae which conduct motion.

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

This template is called “the story spine”. Created by Kenn Adams, it comes from the world of improv theatre.

The events of the plot are ordered by the author, usually sequentially, not necessarily time-wise (as in psychological thrillers where the author gives us correlations and results which we apprehend as we apprehend life in real-time, a simulated experience, in which as in life we are privy to the offscreen events in other lives.)

'Let us define plot. We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died, and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time-sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it. Or again: “The queen died, no one knew why, until it was discovered that it was through grief at the death of the king.” This is a plot with a mystery in it, a form capable of high development. It suspends the time-sequence, it moves as far away from the story as its limitations will allow. Consider the death of the queen. If it is in a story we say “and then?” If it is in a plot we ask “why?” That is the fundamental difference between these two aspects of the novel....and then—and then—. ' E.M Forster.

The theme is what the author wishes to prove. In here is their tentative approach to ‘make friends' with the world and see if anyone else feels this way too. Usually, this will be worked out through the protagonist's development or made real by their fictional experience.

Perspective or point of view is a key part of the treatment.

'The action of looking into or through something.' OED.

Through whose eyes do we see the actions which unfold? Who needs to be present? Who is carrying the camera? The camera may be passed back and forth, or the author may pass invisibly among the cast. Or one person will tell the events as the narrator and it's their reliability, unreliability, outlook which informs 'what matters', what's shown, as the novel is concerned with what matters to this person.

Moving Forwards. Or not?

Keep your eyes on the moving object when composing your story; simply ask yourself - what's changed? A singular change can make a story, or multiple changes, every chapter can promote change. But it seems that while there are no rules, most readers will expect that whatever the status quo is at the beginning of the story, things will have changed by the end of it, for better or for worse.

All of life is problem-solving, said Karl Popper, and we read to take a break from it and let the problems solve themselves by the simplest turning of pages. It's a funny thing about humans, you don't see so much in dogs, cats and goats, this conviction that things need to change, that change is good, even when it's bad.

A novel is more than a story of course, novels sometimes thumb their noses at them or subjugate them entirely. We must always leave the door open for invention and rule-breaking; therein lies progress, and sometimes beauty and genius.

It is of course quite possible to conceive of a novel in which nothing changes. Cometh the hour, cometh the novel. It is hard to imagine, but not impossible. Nobody move!

Here are some of the few novels without stories or apparent change.

Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker (1988). Covering the time it takes a man to walk across a mezzanine and take an escalator. Instead of anything resembling a plot, Baker dives deep into the thoughts of his character, from his observations of the objects around him on the escalator to musings about everything from paper towels to life. Not much happens. And yet! When his shoelace snaps, it sets Howie thinking about the other seemingly unimportant elements of daily life: why straws float; which queue to stand in at a convenience store; and, most amusingly, the correct office lavatory etiquette. The change is minor, but it's there.

The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson (1969). The 'First' and 'Last' chapters are designated as such. The intervening 25, ranging from 12 pages to a single paragraph, are to be read in any order we choose. The unnamed narrator arrives in a Midlands city for a weekend’s match, attends to his lunch, makes his way to the playing grounds, files his copy and takes the train back to London — not, necessarily, in that order. Johnson famously hated fiction, and produced a 'slice of life' plotless novel.

How Should a Person Be by Sheila Heti (2013) is a mashup of memoir, fiction, self-help and philosophy. According to the Guardian Review, Heti 'added a bit of story, quite a few blow jobs and some cheeky exclamation marks.'

Hoorah for all of them!

Of course, such novels are hard to get published, but we are here to support you in the novel you want to write, which is why your first session with your tutor begins with the question 'What do you want?'

After that, as Mr Raymond Carver said, it's all gravy. What happens next?

Thank you to all of you for reading The Novelry blog and wishing you happy writing always. Don't hesitate to contact me and I'll certainly reply at hello@thenovelry.com.

(The music video is Something Changed by Pulp. There are certain songs which press exactly the right button to drop you into the right mood for a sentence or two of your novel, that may not make sense to anyone but you. Those are the ones I love most. They're a luxury. Just one, or two.)

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Published on June 13, 2020 23:03

Member's Story

There was something in the air at The Novelry last week, the 'sense of an ending' one might say, the changing of seasons, and we saw many of our writers slamming down the first draft of their novels in fine style. Congratulations to all of you.

You know the drill! At the end of the Ninety Day Novel course, we prepare you to raise your sights for second draft with a month off, reading good works, ready to return to your novel as a reader rather than a fond and indulgent parent. The Big Edit course is a big step up, as we set sights on publication. From creator, you become a professional author, driving the story hard, and get help with the heavy lifting from your tutor.

The month off between drafts allows for some gluttonous reading enabling the writer emerging from hibernation with their novel to blink at some bright new writing, catching up with what's hot and what's stood the test of time. I've been greedily reading through lockdown poring through Bukowski, Camus, David Sedaris and exploring the new humourous female canon; Taffy Brodessner-Akner, Sheila Heti, Miranda July, Melissa Broder and more to find some fabulous sparkling prose. In 'Fleishman is in Trouble' the interior world of Toby Fleishman is startlingly convincing.

I find it easier to write 'as a man' than a woman, possibly because we women have been schooled so long in ways to hide are faults or flaws as women and be on 'fleek', I struggle to find a natural candour on the page. In reading some of the novels above, it struck me how often by pantomime and parody we expose ourselves. Note the prevalence of private parts laid bare in the early chapters of Queenie, The Pisces and Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine in which we get intimate waxing scenes and the gynaecologist's view right up front and centre. It feels 'strong' and somehow self-punishing. Sometimes it's the genre itself which warps presentation. The trouble with Up Lit (for women) is that it asks for a camp style of quirky which can be a bit of a broad brush.

The interior worlds of women are wrought with dignity and fortitude by Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout, Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx, and Sally Rooney and more; they're often crystal clear.

I think it's worth considering how, as women, we write women. In a writer's early drafts, I sometimes see repeated the details of the ageing physicality of older women, and in published works, we get the trope of the unlikeable perfect woman with her good hair and willowy figure as 'the other'.

A tip for writers as they sketch out their players is to defy type.

Look for the stereotypically masculine in their women, the typically feminine in their men, the benevolence in their bankers, the maturity of the children. It's a way to bring dimension to the novel quickly - as EM Forster put it 'only connect'. Bring us closer to understanding each other. Camus described the necessity for the balance between evidence and lyricism, common sense and understanding. Defy the conventions whether old or new. Tell it true. How we're all nervous as hell, whatever the gender, whatever the weather.

From time to time, as you will see in our back issues, we feature our member's own stories. This week's story is from Hemmie Martin. With our thanks.

From the Desk of Hemmie Martin.

I applied to undertake a writing course when I was working as a nurse in 1997, and my daughters were three and one years old, but the opportunity to study for a nursing degree came along, and there was only so much I could do if I were to stay sane. I reluctantly put writing on the back burner until I retired early from nursing and my daughters were at university. Finally, I have an office to write in where I have a notice board to pin notes and quotes to, and space to spread my work, study notes, and keep my umpteen books on writing. My desk is an old Victorian kitchen table, and my chair is the one my youngest daughter used at her desk before she left for university. Alfie, my white cat, has a bed in the room, which he uses when the mood takes him.

I was struggling to complete a novel, so I put it to one side and started another one, only to find the first one drawing me back to the characters I had bonded with. I started writing it from a different viewpoint, only to find I was stumbling halfway through yet again. My confidence as a writer was low; I was allowing the negative voices in my head to dampen my creativity. Every writer goes through this, I am not unique, but it hurts all the same. Not to be defeated, or drown my liver in alcohol, I decided to be proactive.

Having already completed a couple of online writing courses, with varying degrees of success, I decided to find a longer course which would offer me a deeper understanding of writing and creating a novel. When I stumbled upon The Novelry while searching on Google for writing courses, I was excited by A Book in a Year course which would see me complete my book and edit it thoroughly. I was even more convinced I had found the right course and environment for learning and writing once Louise Dean had emailed a response to my questions.

Becoming a member of The Novelry is more than learning the craft of writing. It is a haven to ask questions (we often feel we should know the answer to), to air concerns and doubts about our work, and to give and receive feedback on works in progress. It is a very encouraging, nurturing, and stimulating environment – and what writer doesn’t need that from time to time.

I didn’t think I was a writer unless I was toiling for hours, making my fingers bleed on the keyboard until I began The Book in a Year course, where I was permitted to write for only one hour a day, which shocked me at first. The rest of the time was dedicated to thinking about the plot, characters and their desires, as well as undertaking the lessons, which were often a springboard to where I was going next with the novel. Although I originally wrote between five and six in the morning, I soon discovered my creativity flowed better between seven and eight in the evening. My creativity is anti-social, but the dark shadows under my eyes are grateful. The course encouraged me to set me a writing routine which I did not have before, and it is something I will continue when writing my next novel.

The Classic course had me rereading novels such as Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ to dissect the story structure, which I found helpful when looking at the structure of my own work in progress.

The course encouraged me to read authors I had never read before, such as Jack Kerouac, Muriel Spark and Anton Chekhov. There is a list of ‘hero’ books, of which I had to choose one for my bedtime reading, so I end the day immersed in the genre I am writing. I chose ‘The Gathering’ by Anne Enright, then changed the genre of my novel from accessible literary to UpLit, so read ‘A Man Called Ove’ by Fredrik Backman as well. During the day, I read other novels, and I am currently reading one book by each of the tutors, to give me a flavour of their work.

I live in Suffolk, on the Norfolk border where, at long last, I have an office to write in. My two daughters have graduated, one as a vet and the other as a computer scientist – don’t ask me exactly what she does! I enjoy feeding the wildlife in my garden and have a hedgehog and hoglet living in a special house of their own. You will find me putting out their special food after dark, then listening to them feeding – it’s surprising how noisy they are.

Sylvia Plath honoured the diminutive, amiable and prickly Erinaceus europaeus which The Times once suggested should be our national emblem in the UK, or perhaps the emblem of writers writing...

“I hold my breath until you creak to life/ Balled hedgehog/ Small and cross.”

The novel I am writing is Up Lit, a genre I came to love after reading ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ by Gail Honeyman. My writing is influenced by one of my favourite authors, Anita Brookner, whose books I devoured since the late eighties, and have reread several times. Another comfort read I turn to is Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Bell Jar’, which never fails to satisfy me, no matter how many times I read it, and I am also very fond of Anne Enright, Maggie O’Farrell, and Anne Tyler. I have just realised they are all female authors, but this has not been a deliberate choice.

Hemmingway said, ‘Write drunk, edit sober’, which can be interpreted in various ways. Hemmingway was perhaps intimating that a writer should write as though drunk, removing inhibitions and just letting the words flow for the first draft. However, when it comes to editing, the writer should be alert to every word and eliminate the ones which add nothing to what she or he is trying to say. Another way of taking the phrase is one I have tried, which is to write while drinking alcohol and see where the writing takes me. I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking, and I cannot say whether the experiment worked or not, as whatever I write, I edit hard, so probably undoing the dross I wrote while tipsy.

I am particularly fond of the live team meetings with the tutors on hand to answer questions and facilitate the session. Even if I have nothing to say, I like to attend as I always learn something from listening to other people’s questions and hearing the insightful answers from the tutors. They are at eight in the evening, so you will find me in my loungewear, with no make-up on, sipping soya milk or an alcoholic beverage, depending on my mood and whether I have a question to ask!

The live sessions include The Story Clinic and guest tutor classes such as Louise Doughty, author of ‘Apple Tree Yard’ and more recently, ‘Platform Seven’. I have a special notebook where I jot down the nuggets of information; otherwise, I would not remember it all – and that has nothing to do with the alcoholic drink I may or may not be sipping at the time!

I was in awe of ‘meeting’ Louise Doughty as I loved ‘Apple Tree Yard’ when I read it years ago. Now I have this free time; I will be reading ‘Platform Seven’ after I have finished Louise Dean’s novel, ‘Becoming Strangers’, and Tim Lott’s ‘When We Were Rich’.

The community of writers are a vibrant, friendly, knowledgeable crowd. I feel honoured to be in their company and celebrate their milestones and successes. Many of their faces have become familiar thanks to the online meetings, which have been comforting during the lockdown.

Joining The Novelry has given me the tools (not rules -as Louise says!) and encouragement to complete my novel. But not only that, it has lifted my spirits immensely during the lockdown, giving me the drive and focus as the life I knew fell apart around me.

In three weeks, I will commence the Big Edit course, and hopefully, hone my novel into something beautiful to read. I already have the premise for my next book, so you will find me hanging around The Novelry for quite some time. Happy days!

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Published on June 06, 2020 23:00

Desire.

From the desk of our tutor, Tim Lott.

The protagonist of a story almost always has a desire they wish to fulfil and will be proactive - sooner or later - in trying to achieve it.

This is particularly the case in single-protagonist stories, less so in multiple protagonist ones. Lizzy Bennett does not start Pride and Prejudice with any particular desire for anything, neither does the 'Inciting Incident' of Charles Bingley's arrival at Netherfield spark one. It is her mother’s desire, to see her daughters married, that drives the narrative - along with Darcy's desire for Elizabeth.

It’s not so much that a character has to have a desire, more that desire has to govern the narrative.

But ensuring your protagonist has a practical want or need, does make a story easier to tell.

This desire cannot be too general – like ‘to be happy’ or ‘to find love’. It has to be the concrete goal that the protagonist thinks will achieve those more general ends. To be King. To get out of the hole. To get the girl back. To get rich. To eliminate a rival. To get my daughters married off.

As David Mamet puts it, “In the perfect play we find nothing extraneous to his or her single desire. Every incident either impedes or aids the hero in the quest for the single goal.”

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman: ‘Every single moment, every single person wants something. He is a wanting machine, ever wanting. Often many things, often conflicting things. Understand this about your characters and yourself.’

There are apparent exceptions to this. There are always exceptions, but they are usually only 'apparent', that is to say unfounded, or ungrounded.

In Anne Tyler’s ‘The Accidental Tourist’, Macon Leary, broken by the murder of his son, seems to want nothing at all, and be entirely passive. He wants to stay numb, which is the death of his soul. But what he really wants is ... to want something.

Blanche Dubois in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ seems mainly passive. But what she wants is to escape reality – a desire she finally achieves when she goes insane.

Nick Carraway is the passive narrator the Great Gatsby – but he isn’t the protagonist. He simply acts as witness to the real protagonist – Jay Gatsby, whose obsessive desire for Daisy drives the whole book.

There are doubtless other exceptions. Perhaps some of them even real, rather than apparent, exceptions, which serve as the engine for good stories. All I can say is that, as a writing mentor who is constantly reading individual manuscripts from would-be writers, one of the most common flaws I experience is that the central character is passive throughout. This makes for dull reading because they are missing the most essential part of what it is to be human – desire. Furthermore, lacking that desire, there is nothing for the storyteller to hang the action on, so the narrative tends to meander. The word ‘drama’ means ‘a thing done’ – not something happening to you. From Greek drama, from dran ‘do, act’.

At the beginning of any drama, the central question I pose for the protagonist is ‘what do they want and how are they going to try and get it?’ This is known as the ‘Superobjective’ or 'Overarching Goal'. It is the spine of the story, the formula that drives the story forward. Either the character is moving closer, or further away, from their goal.

Characters may not know their own desires ( although they usually do) - but the writer must. Likewise, the audience has to have a sense of the protagonist’s desire, or they are unlikely to be interested in the outcome.

Desire doesn't just govern the story, it should appear in each scene.

What does a character want when they go into a scene? What obstructs them ( usually another character)? In other words, what is their motivation?

As the playwright, Leo Butler remarks, "You’ll have a much better time writing if you let at least one of your characters enter the scene with a motivation."

Tim Lott.

You'll find in the video Kurt Vonnegut's 'Rules for Writing A Short Story', not a novel, but to my mind they apply to a scene or a chapter very nicely, thank you!

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Published on May 30, 2020 23:00

Meet Katie Khan.

I’ve been a reader longer than a writer, and I think that’s true for most people who pick up a pen to write a story. More and more I’ve been thinking about my Year 5 teacher, Mrs Murphy, who read to us each day at 3pm on the carpet in the corner of our classroom, a veritable cavalcade of fantasy fiction: Alan Garner. Redwall. The Dark is Rising sequence. I can likely trace my love of other worlds back to sitting cross-legged on an itchy carpet in north London, where the end-of-day bell would ring and thirty children would groan in disappointment. ‘But what happens next?’ It’s the question that’s come to haunt my adult life.

I’ve published two novels with Penguin Random House. My first, Hold Back the Stars, is about a couple falling in space with only 90 minutes of air remaining, intercut with their love story on a utopian Earth. I learnt by doing with this novel – particularly when it comes to the publishing industry. I saw how that particular one-line pitch fired up literary agents. How a neat comparison – ‘ it’s Gravity meets One Day ’ – got the novel into acquisitions meetings and then auctions at publishing houses. How the scouts and foreign co-agents took the book out internationally before the Frankfurt Book Fair, where it sold in twenty-two countries and ignited production companies, so that a film adaptation is in the works at Lionsgate from the producers of Stranger Things and Arrival.

When I wrote Hold Back the Stars, space wasn’t popular. It hadn’t been for some time; NASA hadn’t joined social media, then. Chris Hadfield hadn’t sung Space Oddity on the ISS, the film Gravity hadn’t come out. (It was released while I was editing – and caused me a mini heart attack!) But I had a strange and quirky idea for a story, one which wouldn’t leave me alone, and when it collided with a separate, radically different idea – Europe has become a utopia – I put the two together and wrote the novel. Write what you love. Write what you want to read.

Signing with my dream agent was a big moment for me. I met with six agents who each had a different take on what I’d written, but when I sat down with Juliet Mushens it was a no-brainer. She gave me astute notes to improve the story – and she’d cried when she read the ending. That was the type of advocate I wanted: heart and smarts! Throughout the publishing process she has held my hand, demystified publishing terminology and provided context and opinion. (And sold my novel around the globe.) We talk frankly about my career, what I want to write, what I wish to achieve. Your agent works for you, so find yourself a champion who works with you in a style you like. (Especially if you often ask, ‘But what happens next?’)

Being published has been eye-opening to me, both about the way books are brought into the world but also generally about human nature. Because what tends to happen when we get everything we desire? The heart asks for more. You think it will be enough to see your book on shelves, to hold the hardback in your hands. But then you do those things and realise, oh no, you wanted to be a bestseller. You wanted to be J.K. Rowling. You will always move the goalposts on your ambitions, so you have to celebrate every milestone before it passes. Celebrate the first draft. The second draft. Agent interest. And – crossed fingers – a publisher coming on board. Every stage can be fulfilling if you acknowledge the work you’ve put in to reach it.

Besides being a tutor at The Novelry, I currently work in the film business for a major studio on a famous magical franchise. I’ve been in film and television for twelve years, and reading scripts from development through to the movie being released in cinemas has taught me a lot about the amount of work and elbow grease we have to put in as writers to edit our work. Writing is re-writing. It’s made me surgical about story.

So, writers of The Novelry - bring me your plot problems! Let’s have a cup of tea and a video chat and roll up our sleeves on the elements giving you jip, whether that’s the plot or characters, world-building or the hook. I love finding a solution, and I’ll happily suggest a fix – which it’s up to you to try out or discard. As Stephen King says (though I’m likely paraphrasing) when somebody tells you something in your writing isn’t working, they’re usually right. But when they suggest precisely how to fix it, they’re often wrong. It’s your story. But most writers throughout history have written alongside other writers. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. The Novelry offers both mentors and peers – it’s been my saviour for the three years I’ve been a member.

Becoming a tutor at The Novelry has proved delightful. Watching a writer with low confidence bloom as we figure out something key together about their story; giving feedback on a writer’s three chapters with a voice that’s knocked my socks off or the early, first call with a writer about a burgeoning idea they’re just beginning to develop… there’s nothing like it. I leave our sessions with an endorphin rush I carry into my own writing. Every writer needs a buddy.

I love original fiction. If part of your thinking, worry or concern about your idea is ‘I don’t think I’ve seen this done before…’ then book a call with me. I read broadly, I’m familiar with the current state of fiction and entrenched in the publishing industry. I can help ground your original premise in reader appeal while letting your imagination fly.

I’m fond of unique executions of conventional genres. If you’re writing a romance, thriller, science fiction or fantasy novel, let’s work together to find a fresh new way to tell it.

My favourite books are a varied bunch. From epic love stories like The English Patient and Atonement through to the fantasy and speculative worlds in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, I love a book that takes me away from reality for a while. That can be to another planet or a boarding school, an era in the past or an indistinct time in the future. Recently I’ve enjoyed N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth trilogy, Sandra Newman’s The Heavens, and Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I actively read diverse fiction, too, especially set in countries I may not be familiar with, or viewpoints different to mine. Tell me something about life I don’t already know. If I’m asking myself one key question, then I’ll keep reading, and keep falling in love. But what happens next?

Sign up for one-to-one coaching with Katie Khan at affordable prices with the Ninety Day Novel course here. Because when you're writing a novel, every day comes with the thrill of 'what happens next.'

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Published on May 23, 2020 23:00

Chapter One

The first chapter of a novel needs to do some heavy lifting to start the story. Once you realize that what needs to be done follows a fairly clear format, it makes light work of the task.

What should you be looking to achieve in the first chapter? These are some of the things you might consider:

to put your reader into the world (location/setting/era)
to pose a question the reader wants to get an answer for (create mystery or intrigue)
to introduce the main character
to set the mood
to kickstart the plot development

But what's essential for a story to start in the space between you and the reader?

In the video with this blog, you'll find a clip from a lesson with Justin Cronin in which he describes the basic layout as:

where and when are we?
who are the major players?
what's the point of view?
What's the story's larger moral and cultural setting?

"There's nothing wrong with just flat out declaring this information at the start of a narrative. I find that people are enormously reluctant to do this. I am no longer so reluctant." Justin Cronin.

Justin Cronin struggled with understanding how stories work, until he found a guide on writing screenplays which explained there are two big plot points in a story.

The first is the moment of disruption and the second is its match towards the back end of the story - a disruption via is an event which takes the story towards the possibility of an outcome. In a way, a story could be seen as :

the state of rest (before disruption event)
unrest
a new altered state of rest (after second disruption event)

The first disruption - when it occurs - signals the beginning of the story.

In a story, the characters become more certain about something before the end. They begin with a problem which is usually fathomed by the end, as Cronin says 'knowledge and certainty' has flowed into the characters.

Where are we - seems to me to be a base you will want to cover in the first chapter as does who we are as a minimum. But you'll want to establish one or two more things in a first chapter:

- the problem with the status quo

And within the first chapter or chapters, not necessarily the first, but as close as possible;

- the disruption (which changes things, ideally which changes everything.)

First Chapters.

Let's compare some famous works to see what information they're dropping in their first chapters and in what order.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

Let's begin with this bestselling novel by Gail Honeyman. It's achieved a very wide appeal. The facts are presented in a straightforward voice, the first-person narrative is achieved with a wry, slightly snobbish dry tone of voice (almost elderly and for those in the tone of voice reminds me of Hyacinth Bucket from the British TV sitcom 'Keeping Up Appearances'. It's defensive, immediately, thus we have the two key aspects of a first-person narrative delivered at speed - attitude and self-deception. (how I defend myself against the world and the falsehood I maintain to stay safe.) A gap between the stance and reality is opened quickly to effect the intrigue which draws a reader into a first-person novel. We learn Eleanor presents herself, and consider herself 'superior' while the reality of her life is lowly. The distance between reality and truth allows for dramatic irony in close character-driven fiction.

'When people ask me what I do - taxi drivers, dental hygienists - I tell them I work in an office. In almost nine years, no one’s ever asked what kind of office or what sort of job I do there. I can’t decide whether that’s because I fit perfectly with their idea of what an office worker looks like, or whether…'

Para 1 - who we are - 'privacy' behind the veneer of the job

Para 2 - who we are - the status quo, age and education at odds with position (attitude per first-person narrative)

Para 3 - principle story setting and her place within (where we are)

Para 4- her life routine at work

Para 5 - her life routine at home

Para 6- evenings (and the conversations with Mummy on Wednesday)

Para 7 - the dysfunctional weekend and heavy drinking

Para 8 - privacy masks the apparent problem of loneliness 'I do exist, don’t I? It often feels as if I’m not here, that I’m a figment of my own imagination.'

Para 9 - coping strategy is Monday to Friday work with its cast (who we are)

Middle section - backstory shows the 'lie' via attention-seeking with doctor given in dialogue (to keep it active.)

Change.

'That was yesterday morning, in a different life.'

Last three paragraphs - the disruption of the arrival of 'husband material' and the opportunity it gives to please her mother (the hidden problem).

My Sister the Serial Killer.

Now, let's look at a different genre of novel, a thriller by Oyinkan Braithwaite. The chapters of this book are very short indeed, and are more like scenes, so the disruption of everything changes comes not within the first chapter but later. (It is, as above, the love interest. The serial killing is given as the status quo, the rest before the disruption.)

About bleach and blood, life and death (after all, this is a thriller)
Setting of a male bathroom
‘Out of focus' heroine Ayoola (see my blog on the distant charismatic hero here.)
Our narrator's status quo - tired
The apparent problem - her contented life interrupted by sister's killings
Immediate concern - to move the body (attitude per first-person narrative)
Emotional connection (who we are) - sister’s imprecation/need/ dependence on her (delusion per first-person narrative)
Leadership role (her coping strategy is one of care)
Practical problem - body in boot of car
City location - Lagos
Revelation this is not the first time, this is the constant situation ( status quo so unusual worth reiterating!)
Her role as cleaning lady supporting her sister's 'work' with an expert solution (born of experience and likely to continue unless there is a disruption!)

Disgrace.

My writers will be familiar with the Booker prize-winning novel from the Nobel Laureate J.M Coetzee which is a textbook perfect novel.

Notice here how though it's written in third-person, Coetzee works hard to give us the qualities of first-person narrative.

Solution to his problem of getting sex is in Green point (where we are)
Soraya (who she is)
The status quo between them works
Would like more intimacy (problem - change of emphasis.)
But it's not a reality
Who he is, what he does (who we are)
He has told her who he is, marriages and daughter (who we are)
Of her he knows little (who we are)
His job (status quo)
His job bores him
Static nature of job
His interest in Byron is his coping strategy
Not a good teacher, but learns humility from it (conceit/self-delusion creates dramatic irony of first-person narratives)
Back to flat in Green Point (Where we are)
Relationship works, she is compliant ('attitude' to life per first-person narratives)

Change 'Then one Saturday morning everything changes. (Midpoint of first chapter.)

Sees her in the street and her other life
Backstory segment to how they came to know each other
A substitute coping strategy fails
Problem is not resolved at all - he has no other way of getting sex
She is decisive she won’t see him anymore and 'demands' it; thus a gap is opened between his conceit/self-deception of 'power' and reality

Work Through The Necessities.

Take the advice well-evidenced here and work through these important aspects in your first chapter if you can (and you can.)

The order in which you give these basic story elements is not important, that's where your flair as 'chef d'oeuvres' comes in, but you'll want these ingredients:

You can even apply the format - so deftly applied in Sally Rooney's novel 'Normal People' - and use an ABA format as these writers do: Action/Backstory/Action.

Notice that 'The Problem' has another sticky note behind it.

Now, here's where it gets interesting and elegant as in simple.

In our three sample chapters, the apparent or suggested problem is not the real problem.

Thing One and Thing Two.

There are two problems in a first chapter served in this order:

Thing One. The immediate and apparent problem

Eleanor's loneliness
Korede's resentment of her services to her sister
David Lurie's need for sex

These problems are served straight up, on the rocks. All very interesting no doubt, the author seems to say.

Thing Two. The hidden real problem to which our hero is blind, but of which the reader and author get sight is:

Eleanor's mental trauma caused by her mother's violence
the threat of male disruption of vital female alliances
the decline of male white power

Each of these surfaces in the first chapter, but in a form which shows it's currently a blind spot for the hero, she or he is not seeing the truth of matters.

The last line of the first chapter of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: 'Mummy was going to be thrilled.'

The last line of the first chapter of My Sister, the Serial Killer: 'Ayoola could never clean up as efficiently as I can.'

In Disgrace, the loss of power is given in various guises in the second half of the first chapter:

Then one day it all ended. Without warning his powers fled.

You people had it easier. Dawn accuses him, bringing the past of his 'people' into their relationship.

He ought to give up, retire from the game.

The last line of the first chapter hints that the problem is that he has not been a faithful man (to anyone or anything.)

A shadow of envy passes over him for the husband he has never seen.

(With Coetzee, it was always going to be more complex, more covert. It's literary, right?)

Both problems - overt and covert - are overcome in a showdown or conflict at the second event per the screenwriting model.

So we have a problem and its other half. Thing One and Thing Two.

At the outset, we have Thing One in play - the immediate problem - along with the dominant conceit or self-deception (the lie) - before the first disruption of the order occurs.

Thing Two emerges for a showdown with Thing One at the second event in a story of two principal events. Let's recap:

a first disruption of the status quo or resting state and
a second event which replaces the old state with a new state (addressing the real problem via conflict at the site of its tension - the two opposing forces behind it.)

Thing Two is at the heart of the matter of your theme.

The line between Thing One and Thing Two, and the first and second event via that showdown or conflict is the narrative tension, the story arc.

From loneliness to facing the mental trauma of abuse
From subservience to acceptance of loyalty to female kind
From sexual gratification to acceptance of loss of power or potency

In a way, it makes your life as a writer very simple; two posts and wire between them.

So for your first chapter, you will need the overt problem and the covert problem (to which your hero ins blind at outset), the very problem that is addressed with as much violence as necessary for it to be overcome and relegated to its proper place in your divine scheme of the order of nature as you will it.

Go, you Gods, find Thing One and Thing Two, and put the world to rights.

By the way, a note on prologue. A prologue is not a first chapter. It's a popular device currently and something of a marketing tool, in that it presents the reader with a question.

Whose body is in the swamp? Will the two lovers make it out of Auschwitz alive? Why would such a loving wife kill her husband?

It's succinct and functions as an adjunct to the back of book blurb. It offers bait on a hook to those browsing the first pages of books via Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature or at a book store. The question raised in the prospective customer's mind can be anything at all, but it must be there. Who? What? Why? How?

If you would like to write a book with daily support like this, timed to coincide with the writing of your novel, and guidance via one-to-one sessions with your chosen author tutor, then sign up for our Ninety Day Novel Intensive Plan which gives you coaching sessions every two weeks of the writing of a first draft of your novel over 3 months. It's wise to invest in professional support, and it's smart to back yourself.

If you like this blog, please share on your social media, and vote for our blog below. Thank you for your support. It's appreciated.

Our members will enjoy a writing class this week with bestselling author Louise Doughty on the subject of Beginning a Novel. They've been asked to bring their openings with them, not to share, but to apply the insights live and with immediacy during the ninety-minute session. Eyes down, and pens at the ready, folks.

You might want to take an hour or so for yourself to eyeball that first chapter in advance.

If you're not a member of The Novelry, this would be a good time to join. Ready to begin? Take a look at our online writing courses and choose yours.

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Published on May 16, 2020 23:00

Common Writing Mistakes

Oh, Dear.

Since the beginning of time in the history of writers writing, every writer has sought a writing pal, they admire and esteem to help them look at their work another way. A pair of wise eyes. Hemingway had Gertrude Stein. T.S. Eliot had Ezra Pound. Scott Fitzgerald fought with Hemingway, but took his advice. Every decent writer turns to another writer for help at some time. And even author tutors have author tutors. We all need sound advice from someone who knows a thing or two about writing. I turn to my friend Tim Lott as my sounding post, and he gives me pithy, smart insights. So naturally, the first person I wanted to add to our tutors at The Novelry was Tim. Tim's got nine novels behind him, and you can review his accolades and achievements here, but he's something of a story expert too. He's fascinated by how stories work or fail.

It seems crucial to me that you have someone you respect and trust to aid your development of every novel you write, whether you're an old hand or a beginner. It's never enough to go solo and fly by the seat of your pants. At some point, you're going to have a reader, after all, whether a literary agent or hopefully publisher and it's best if your first reader has spotted the mistakes before you get a dressing down which is preferable to being completely ghosted. (No response because a response would take too much time. No agent is going to spend hours teaching you how to avoid common mistakes.)

So here's Tim's watch list. Over ten years of mentoring writers, many of whom have been published, Tim has seen some common writing mistakes, repeated time after time. Draw on his experience, and fast track your path to writing glory.

Tim Lott's List of Common Writing Mistakes.

Over the last ten years I have read innumerable manuscripts. They are all different, and yet many are all the same - at least as regards the mistakes they commonly make. I have tried to detail 15 of them below. Check and see if your story stumbles on any of these blocks.

1. Confused narrative. Very often when I start reading a story by a novice writer, I find myself lost very quickly - in time, in space, in character. The trouble is usually that although the writer knows what's going on in their own head, they haven't made the leap of asking whether the reader will understand what's happening. Be absolutely clear about where you are in time. Label scenes/chapters with dates. Don't have great long threads of dialogue without identifying who is speaking. Don't skip about in time too much, too quickly.

2. Lack of specificity. One of the real keys to writing is that most beginner writing is not granular with detail. It skips about without telling things scene by scene, picture by picture. A book is a film in the head. Write in pictures.

3. Dialogue not moving dynamically. Dialogue, like everything else in a novel, needs to be moving the story forward, or establishing character or illustrating conflict or doing It's not just there to fill the pages. Dialogue is conflict, a battle between two characters to seize control of reality or to get what they want. Or it is exposition, but this is something to be careful with as exposition is usually boring.

4. Handling of Time. This intersects with point 1. Too many manuscripts skip about too much. This is usually because the writer doesn't know what happens next, so to fill the blank page, they have a flashback or flashforward. There is nothing wrong with such devices, but they must be handled with care because they interrupt the forward movement of the story. So they need to be doing some work to justify themselves.

5. Front Loading. What happens after the first 30,000 words? Writers often load all the story into the first few chapters so there is a car crash of events in the first 50 pages or so and nothing thereafter. Spread the plot through the book!

6. Thin Characters. Characters who are insufficiently motivated or too simple or simply anonymous. Storytelling is all about desire. What does the character want? How are they going to get it? All too often I read character behaving in ways they just don't make sense. This is because the writer has not bothered to motivate them properly - they find it more convenient to just have them do something so it fits the plot. No. Every single thing every single character does has to make sense - at least to you, the writer. It doesn't have to be broadcast to the reader - they will sense it if there is an internal logic to the characters actions - or at least they will trust you that there is one. Apart from desire, individual characters should be just that - individual. Every single character should have a different view of the world, that will show up in their speech, behaviour and attitude. Too many times I read manuscripts when all the characters could be the same character (usually a disguised version of the writer) just with different names and different jobs in the plot.

7. Story focus missing. When you start writing a book, you can take a lot of liberties with what's going on. As the novel progresses you have to FOCUS the action, so it all coalesces around a single theme or storyline. It can't just wander around at random.

8. Handling the big, dramatic moment. One of the hardest things to write is the Big Moment - the husband says he's leaving the wife, the car crash mortally injures the driver, the son finds out that his parents have disappeared. My trick for this is simply GO IN CLOSE and SLOW DOWN THE TIME so we see the scene unfold drip by drip. Try to avoid melodrama, which is a scene asking for a sentiment that has not been earned.

9. Clichés. Clichés are ideas or phrases that someone had a very long time ago and are now stale. So if your character is feeling as bright as a button or if their blouse is as blue as the sky, resist the temptation to describe them as such. One of your jobs is to forge fresh language to describe reality and help us be present.

10. Waffle. Too many manuscripts are full of air, treading water, full of scenes that do not move the story forward or develop the characters. I don't worry too much about this in the first draft, but in following drafts you have to cut, cut, cut ruthlessly until only pure meat is left. No fat, no water.

11. Going back to fix what you’ve already done rather than moving forward. Frustrated writers spend too long on existing work to avoid working out how to go forward with the story. They fiddle endlessly with the last few chapters they've written, trying to polish them. Don't. Prose can be under-ripe and ripe, but it can also be overripe. Edit things too often and they lose their energy.

12. Point of view issues. Sliding from one perspective to the next, or the narrator not being able to know what it is they know. Writers often switch points of view just to avoid the question of what happens next. Every time they run out of steam, they switch to another point of view or introduce a new character. It's evasion.

13. Dreams. Don't.

14. You don’t have to spell everything out. Trust the reader. Make the reader an active participant in constructing the narrative.

15. Too much voice. That is, the narrator, whether author or character, narrating like mad to explain everything. A story consists of things happening not people banging on. The action contains the meaning.

So avoid ALL these mistakes, and what you will be left with is a GOOD NOVEL.

Happy writing!

Tim Lott.

When you join The Novelry to take one of our online writing courses, The Book in a Year Program, the Ninety Day Novel course tutored plans, you can now book your personal coaching and mentoring sessions with Tim Lott and get feedback on your work from him too. If you're a member of The Novelry taking the Classic course to start writing your novel, or the Memoir course you can book single paid sessions with Tim Lott here.

(The video is Ellen Brock describing the 5 Common Mistakes writers make.)

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Published on May 09, 2020 23:00

Common Writing Mistakes.

Oh, Dear.

Since the beginning of time in the history of writers writing, every writer has sought a writing pal, they admire and esteem to help them look at their work another way. A pair of wise eyes. Hemingway had Gertrude Stein. T.S. Eliot had Ezra Pound. Scott Fitzgerald fought with Hemingway, but took his advice. Every decent writer turns to another writer for help at some time. And even author tutors have author tutors. We all need sound advice from someone who knows a thing or two about writing. I turn to my friend Tim Lott as my sounding post, and he gives me pithy, smart insights. So naturally, the first person I wanted to add to our tutors at The Novelry was Tim. Tim's got nine novels behind him, and you can review his accolades and achievements here, but he's something of a story expert too. He's fascinated by how stories work or fail.

It seems crucial to me that you have someone you respect and trust to aid your development of every novel you write, whether you're an old hand or a beginner. It's never enough to go solo and fly by the seat of your pants. At some point, you're going to have a reader, after all, whether a literary agent or hopefully publisher and it's best if your first reader has spotted the mistakes before you get a dressing down which is preferable to being completely ghosted. (No response because a response would take too much time. No agent is going to spend hours teaching you how to avoid common mistakes.)

So here's Tim's watch list. Over ten years of mentoring writers, many of whom have been published, Tim has seen some common writing mistakes, repeated time after time. Draw on his experience, and fast track your path to writing glory.

Tim Lott's List of Common Writing Mistakes.

Over the last ten years I have read innumerable manuscripts. They are all different, and yet many are all the same - at least as regards the mistake they commonly make. I have tried to detail 15 of them below. Check and see if your story stumbles on any of these blocks.