L.E. Truscott's Blog, page 48

Writing Dialogue

Although I write a lot of different types of writing, if I were honest, sometimes I would willingly forego all prose and simply spend all my time writing dialogue. Writing a good conversation that holds the reader’s interest and advances the story at the same time without becoming exposition is a genuine talent and writers often confess to struggling with it. So here are a few tips.

Tip 1

Dialogue should not sound like real life conversation. But dialogue should sound like real life conversation that has been ruthlessly edited.

Tip 2

Each character should have very different dialogue. Just like in real life, no two people talk in exactly the same way.

Tip 3

Dialogue should flow. Think of dialogue as a mini story in itself. A conversation should have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Tip 4

Dialogue should advance the story. If it doesn’t, then why did you write it? If it can be easily removed from the story without negatively impacting it, then it’s hardly essential.

Tip 5

Dialogue should have range. Characters aren’t in one mood all the time. Sometimes they shout, sometimes they whisper. And the dialogue should suit their mood. Nobody ever whispers, “Fuck off!”

Tip 6

Dialogue should not be exposition. “Show, don’t tell” applies equally to dialogue as it does to prose. “It must have been Professor Plum in the library with the candlestick” isn’t nearly as effective as being in the library with Professor Plum and having him try to kill your main character with the candlestick as well.

Tip 7

Listen! The people around you, both known and unknown, are a great source of inspiration for dialogue. Take the following as an example, which is a selection of comments I added to a list called “Things Jess Says”. A desk neighbour at a previous job was the source of every single one of these pieces of dialogue. And when you get to the end of reading them, I’ll bet you’ll think she sounds like a character from a Judd Apatow movie.

“Ah, Apple. That’s why it’s called The App Store.”

“I’m going to retire to China because I’m good at eating with my hands.”

“Things that look like poop make you poop.”

“You can never predict when a nervous poop is going to happen.”

“I just said I want to go poo in the bush in Zulu.”

“I’m not usually this annoying. I’m just impatient and… no, that’s it.”

“I’m just attention seeking. Give me attention!”

“We weren’t purposely lying to you; we’re just stupid.”

“I had a piece of pepper stuck in my gum and when I got it out my gum was discoloured. I’ve had this other discolouration on my gum for like four years and I thought, ‘What if it’s a piece of pepper?’ So I got a needle… Yeah, it’s just a discolouration. Now my mouth hurts.”

“Do you want to see my discolouration?”

“You were bending over and I looked down your top and I was thinking, ‘4% body fat?’”

“That is the one thing I don’t want: to be mistaken for an American.”

“They’ve got a little dog. He’s about to die. I hate him.”

“My bag is full of Tic Tacs. I thought I was all out and then I put my hand in to get my keys and I had a lovely surprise. Tic Tacs!”

“Tic Tac? They’re orange.”

“You have prickly stuff in your bum?”

After making strange sounds by breathing heavily with a finger partially stuck up her nose: “You can’t write that in your book, can you?!”

“It’s a good thing I have comprehensive travel insurance. I rolled down the fire trail last night.”

To the tune of “‘Tis the Season to be Jolly” upon discovering there was food in the Finance Department in December: “La, la, Finance, full of holly, na na na na na na nom nom nom.”

“Water tastes awesome!”

The Writing Path Not Taken

At the heady heights of the Twilight movies success and as The Hunger Games movie was beginning to grip everyone as well, a friend suggested that I should attempt to write a similar series of books. Young adult for all intents and purposes but with mainstream crossover potential and, most importantly, with film adaptation in the forefront of my mind.

Perhaps for those who aren’t writers, it seems that writing a successful book series that becomes a successful movie series is as simple as having the idea and seeing it through. But knowing what will strike a chord with young adult readers and Hollywood producers at any given moment is almost impossible – I’m still trying to figure it out.

I had a go anyway. In fact, I had several goes because I came up with a number of ideas and directions that weren’t pursued.

Anyone who has read the first chapter of my upcoming novel, Black Spot, will know that Livia Black ended up being a teenage amnesiac whose mother died in the car accident that stole her memories. But recently, as I was checking old files on a handful of USBs, I came across one of the earlier ideas for the character named Livia Black. This wasn’t the first idea (which had to be abandoned when it was realised that somebody had already written the series of books I was intending to write – more common in this writing caper than non-writers might realise) but it was the idea I pursued and developed the most before eventually abandoning it also in favour of who Livia Black actually became.

Immediately, this discovery got me thinking about the writing path not taken. I’m extremely proud of Black Spot. I wrote it is less than six months and it tells a story that even I didn’t realise I had in me. Now I can only wonder whether I would have had the same speedy success in creating a compelling story if I had pursued an earlier incarnation of Livia Black.

I guess I’ll never know. The blurbs I created (which I’ve included below) seem interesting and had they been written, they’re probably the type of young adult with mainstream crossover potential books I would have chosen to read. Perhaps in an alternative dimension there’s another version of me who continued down this writing path. But unless I’m sucked into some kind of Joss Whedon type wormhole to bridge that gap, we won’t be able to compare notes. I’ll just have to trust that I made the right decision for this dimension.

Black Death

Livia Black lives in Murphy, a small town with a small population. While her fellow high school classmates are preparing to leave for college, she has no plans to go anywhere. All she wants is a quiet life.

On the final day of school before graduation, people begin dropping like flies. Something is making them sick. And soon everybody in town is affected… everybody except Livia.

She quickly becomes the most shunned and the most wanted person in town. The townspeople think she may be responsible. The CDC think she may be the cure. And Livia thinks that maybe, just maybe, this might be the beginning of something much, much bigger…

Black Death is the first book of The Livia Black Chronicles.

Red Heart

Livia Black has a front row seat to the end of the world. Her entire town is already dead. And now the thing that killed them is spreading across the state. Eventually, unless someone can stop it, it will infect the whole country and then the whole world.

Dr Sebastian White is desperately trying to find a cure. After helping Livia escape the clutches of the CDC, he finds himself on the outside looking in. For some reason, Livia is immune… but she’s not the only one.

When other immunes begin turning up murdered, Sebastian realises someone is willing to sacrifice them all to keep the virus safe. And if he doesn’t get to Livia first, she could be the next victim…

Red Heart is the second book of The Livia Black Chronicles.

 

 

White Light

Livia Black and Dr Sebastian White are in the fight of their lives against an opponent they can’t even see: a virus that is killing the world. And there are people who will do and say anything to keep the virus safe.

These people have convinced those in power that Livia is the reason the epidemic began and that eliminating her is the only solution.

Sebastian realises that he and Livia are the key to the true solution. They track down Patient Zero to discover the real source of the infection… Livia’s father, now dead from the virus but once a brilliant scientist.

But when they finally come up with a cure, they both realise that they might not want to stop the virus after all…

White Light is the third and final book of The Livia Black Chronicles.

Book Review: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar is very readable prose but, boy, does it tackle a difficult to read topic. Esther is a young woman who seems to have it all but struggles with mental health issues. It’s well known that this novel is based on Sylvia Plath’s own experiences and she originally published it under a pseudonym to protect the people in her life she had done little to disguise in the book.

This is definitely not a book to read if you are at a difficult point in your own life. But it does offer those who don’t suffer from mental health issues a glimpse into the struggles of those who do and those who do suffer from mental health issues an opportunity to know that they aren’t alone.

As a novel, it’s a little bit all over the place. I would almost class it as one of those novels you need to read so you can know what everybody is talking about – but then I class Twilight and The Da Vinci Code in that category and I don’t want to do it a disservice. This is modern literature not pop fiction and certainly not for everyone.

I feel like this could have been a great modern American novel if an editor had taken the trouble to develop it more fully with the author but as it stands, it seems full of unreached potential.

I would recommend giving it a go but don’t bother if you are looking for a well-developed plot and a nice, neat ending.

3 stars

*First published 12 May 2013 on Goodreads

Screen Scene: No Easy Deaths

This is a scene from the pilot episode of Raising Kane, a television show I wrote a dozen episodes of (never produced) before I switched my focus to novels. The Kane family, representated in this scene by Jolie (one of the daughters) and Francesca (the grandmother), are at the wake after the funeral of Jonas Kane (the father), murdered by someone as yet unknown.

INT. DINING ROOM – DAY

FRANCESCA

How are you doing?

JOLIE

I’m alright. How are you?

FRANCESCA

Not so good. When I was younger, I used to envy old people.

JOLIE

Grandma, you’re not old.

FRANCESCA

What’s the popular term for it these days? Vintage. I’m vintage.

JOLIE

You’re retro.

FRANCESCA

Whatever they call it, I used to envy it.

JOLIE

Why?

FRANCESCA

I thought ol…vintage people must have so much practice at burying friends and family that they would just get used to it. (Beat) I’ve had a lot of practice. You don’t get used to it. (Beat) I’ve buried my parents, my sisters, my husband, and now my son. You don’t get used to it.

JOLIE

I thought death was something I would be able to build up to. Start with some easy deaths. Gloria, my goldfish when I was seven. Eventually the dogs. One day Great Uncle Gordon on Mom’s side. Although I think he might live forever. (Beat) You know what I figured out, Grandma?

FRANCESCA

What?

JOLIE

There are no easy deaths. I bawled my eyes out when Gloria died.

The Ideas Generator

I’ve posted previously on when inspiration comes to me and how I turn it into an idea for what to write about. But I know some writers still struggle when it comes to brainstorming for the next great story.

As I was trying to sleep one night (which is when almost all good ideas strike), I had an idea for how to generate ideas. It’s a seven-step process that can be applied to a lot of stories already out there, which is why I think it will work for developing new stories.

Here’s how it works in a nutshell. You pick a genre. You pick a main character. You give them a past traumatic incident. You pick a second main character or a secondary character for the main character to interact with. You give the main character a profession. You introduce a trigger to add drama. And then you add an ending.

Sounds simple, right? To make it even easier, I’ve come up with options for each of the steps.

Genre

Literary, Crime, Romance, Mystery, Alternative history, Historical, Thriller, Adventure, Action, Drama, Horror, Paranormal,

Science fiction, Young adult, Dystopian, Speculative

Main Character Gender & Relationship Identifier

Mother, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Father, Son, Brother, Uncle, Girlfriend, Wife, Grandmother, Bachelorette, Boyfriend, Husband, Grandfather, Bachelor, Friend, Co-worker, Neighbour, Stranger

Traumatic Past Incident

Rape, Phobia, Car accident, Childhood abuse, Death of a parent, Death of a sibling, Death of a child, Death of a wife, Death of a husband, Death of a friend, Death of a pet, Bullying, Humiliation, Kidnapping, Responsibility for accidental death, Scars, Witness to a crime, Witness to a death, War, Failure in school, Failure in business, Runaway, Unrequited love, Adoption

Second Main Character/Secondary Character Gender & Relationship Identifier

Mother, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Father, Son, Brother, Uncle, Girlfriend, Wife, Grandmother, Bachelorette, Boyfriend, Husband, Grandfather, Bachelor, Friend, Co-worker, Neighbour, Stranger

Profession

Doctor, Lawyer, Police officer, Nurse, Farmer, Scientist, Student, Judge, Politician, Soldier, Writer, Actor, Teacher, Inventor, Photographer, Journalist, Hacker, Coroner, Prostitute, Car salesperson, Spy, Secretary, Businessperson, Musician

Trigger

Opportunity for personal gain, Mistaken/stolen identity, Scientific breakthrough, Mid-life crisis, Sacked from job, Promoted to new job, Revenge, Affair, Injury, Sex, Greed, Pregnancy, Boy meets girl, Girl meets boy, Medical condition, Revolution, Rebellion, Framed, Accused of a crime, Ultimatum, Terrorist attack, Natural disaster, Victim of a crime, Epidemic

Ending

Happy ending, Scooby Do ending, Poetic ending, Poetic justice ending, Twist ending, Sad ending, Uplifting ending, Change ending, Sudden ending, Success ending, Failure ending, Marriage ending, Death ending, Winning ending, Losing ending, That’s life ending, Setting up the sequel ending, Back to the beginning ending, Waking up from a dream ending, Learning a lesson ending

Examples

If it’s not obvious how it’s supposed to work, here’s an example I came up with (but won’t be using – it’s not my kind of story). The genre is drama. A mother who was raped had a daughter as a result. The mother is also a judge. As she presides over her latest case, she realises the accused is the man who raped her but was never caught all those years ago. In a poetic ending, she is able to convict and sentence her rapist.

Here’s another example from an existing story. Let’s see how quickly it can be recognised. The genre is romance. A daughter who loves her father very much is left in the care of her mother (step-mother in this case). The daughter becomes a servant in her step-mother’s household. She meets a man and they fall in love, although it seems like it can never be because he is a prince. But eventually the prince sees past her status as a servant and rescues her from her step-mother in a fairy tale happy ending. Of course, it’s Cinderella.

Obviously, the categories aren’t exhaustive and you can add to them as you like. Traumatic past incidents and triggers are reasonably interchangeable. And there are some stories that resist all attempts at categorisation, meaning this system will never be the way to discover them. But for those struggling to come up with an idea, hopefully there is some help to be found in this method. Happy writing!

Book Review: Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

I chose to read Big Brother by Lionel Shriver entirely based on having read We Need To Talk About Kevin (which I won’t say I enjoyed – the subject matter makes that impossible – but which was well written and extremely powerful).

Big Brother is the story of Pandora, an average woman who has fallen into a business that she doesn’t have a passion for. When she hears her New York-based brother, Edison, has fallen on hard times, she invites him to stay with her, her husband and two stepchildren in Iowa. But when she meets him at the airport, she almost doesn’t recognise him because he weighs 200 pounds more than when she last saw him. And so begins Lionel Shriver’s commentary on a weighty issue.

The subject matter itself wasn’t especially my cup of tea but I respect Lionel Shriver as a writer and was prepared to take this journey with her. But the longer the story went, the more I started to wonder how this story could end. Pandora decides to help her brother lose the weight, meaning there can only be two possible endings to the story – he succeeds or he fails. Either way, neither ending would be much of a surprise.

Shriver solves this problems with an ending that I think ultimately I should have seen coming but didn’t, which is a tribute to her abilities to construct stories. In order to get there, we meander through themes of the city/country divide, obesity, addiction, judgement and familial bonds with the help of characters that are realistically drawn out. Pandora, doing a job she has no passion for but a commercial success and a reluctant media darling. Fletcher, her husband, doing a job he is passionate about but unable to financially support his family while doing it. Edison, a has-been jazz musician who can’t seem to look forward, only back, who can’t understand that he might have to get a “real job” if the music industry doesn’t want him anymore. Tanner, Pandora’s 17-year-old stepson, who is convinced he doesn’t need to finish high school, that he’ll be able to make it as a writer, that he is special (in the way that so many people think of themselves these days until reality convinces them otherwise).

While not as powerful a story as We Need To Talk About Kevin (perhaps serial killer versus self killer through food addiction is the reason why – there’s nothing sexy about obesity), Big Brother is worth the read, if only so you can experience the ending, which is where the genuinely thought-provoking moments happen. And you can only experience the ending, and I mean fully experience it, by having read it all in sequence – there’s no cheating this.

I wil certainly continue reading Lionel Shriver’s works and in my opinion that’s the best endorsement any book can have.

4 stars

*Originally published on Goodreads 4 April 2015

Tips on Getting Published from Someone Who Has Never Been Published

When I was studying for my Master’s degree in writing (between 2004 and 2007), each week we were expected to listen to a lecture, read accompanying materials and prepare approximately 500 words in response to a question or discussion point. In week 11 of The Writerly Self (don’t ask, I can’t remember what the subject was about), we were asked to provide advice to our fellow students on getting published and the following was what I came up with. 

*****

Oh, this is just what my fellow classmates need, hearing advice on getting published from someone who has never been published in any significant fashion. But I’ve watched it happen to a few other writers, so I have some thoughts as an observer. Some of them are horribly depressing, but that’s a pretty apt description of the publishing industry sometimes. Nothing about getting published is easy.

*It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Since most publishing houses these days don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts [Boy, how times have changed! LT 2015 insert] and most literary agents are refusing to take on any more clients than they already have [And how some things have stayed the same! LT 2015 insert], it really, really helps to know someone on the inside who can get you in through the back door. If you have a relative in the industry, it’s even better. Anyone who has read Ninety East Ridge by Stephen Reilly, the brother of Matthew Reilly, will be aware of this.

*Getting published has nothing to do with how good a writer you are. It has to do with how good you are at promoting yourself, promoting the idea of yourself as a money spinner, networking, etc. Forget about humility. You have to be your own biggest fan because if you don’t believe in your own worth, then certainly no one else will.

*Expect the worst. That way you’ll either be right – and who doesn’t like to be right? – or you’ll be pleasantly surprised. This advice works for more than just publishing. It’s a motto to live life by. And it doesn’t mean being depressed. It really is just about being realistic.

*Don’t make little mistakes like misspellings, bad page layout, coffee stains on the paper, failing to follow clearly stated publishing house guidelines. There are so many reasons for a publishing house to reject an author. Make sure if you are rejected, it’s for the right reasons.

*Take up drinking or drugs. Every successful author seems to have a substance abuse problem and honestly, I think Stephen King was a much better writer when he was sozzled. Though I’m not sure if it’s better to develop an addiction before or after becoming famous.

*”If you wish to quit your day job and turn to full time writing, work out a plan for the lean times and budget (or marry someone rich).” Not my observation but something that cracked me up.

*Impress now, regress later. George Bernard Shaw said, “The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for a living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art.” This also makes the true artist a true asshole and few publishers want to work with people like that, regardless of how good they are. You’ll have plenty of time later on when you’re wildly successful to be a pain in the ass and general boil on the butt of humanity.

*Just because it worked for another author doesn’t mean the same approach will work for you. Everybody knows the story of Matthew Reilly’s self-publishing and subsequent success, but does anyone know of the same thing happening to another hugely successful author? In the end each writer has to find their own way.

Book Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid is clearly a writer of some talent but the subject matter of this book made it hard for me to accept this. In short terms, prose good, plot/story bad.

A quick feminist review: where are all the women? I can only count four: his mother, his love interest, his love interest’s mother and his love interest’s nurse. And of course they are all banal stereotypes.

Back to the book review, I found the main character thoroughly unlikeable, conceited and obsessed with unimportant matters like status and pride. The more I think about it, the more I believe that where this book could have been an important contribution to the at the time and still current Islam versus the West debate, it is instead a one-dimensional, failed-to-achieve-its-potential novel. Erica’s story was a far more interesting one and had it been told in The Great Gatsby way, this could have been a triumph.

Instead, we watch Changez, the main character, essentially pursue her to her death without even a whisper of remorse. “I am a lover of America,” he states at the start of the book but as he narrates his story, it quickly becomes clear that this is not the case and by the cliffhanger ending, I am left to wonder how much he lied throughout the whole book.

In a word: unsatisfying.

2 stars

*First published on Goodreads 9 October 2014

Another Triolet – A Poem

Last post I talked about not having written poetry for such a long time before posting my newest poem, a triolet. And then, just like that, I wrote another triolet – literally. For anyone who needs reminding it’s a poem with eight lines in which the rhyming structure is ABAAABAB and in which the first, fourth and seventh lines are identical and the second and eighth lines are identical.Break the rules again

Once is not enough

It doesn’t matter when

Break the rules again

Break them with your pen

Even if it gets tough

Break the rules again

Once is not enough

 

Triolet – A Poem

It’s been a long time since I focused on writing poetry but as I was reading my dictionary recently, I came upon an entry that described a triolet as a poem with eight lines in which the rhyming structure is ABAAABAB and in which the first, fourth and seventh lines are identical and the second and eighth lines are identical. I had to have a go, so here is the result. And as a consequence, the first poem I have written in many years.Break the rules today

But know the rules first

Choose what you will or may

Break the rules today

Break them in the best way

Or break them in the worst

Break the rules today

But know the rules first