Creative Writing Course – Week 21
There are only five more weeks of my writing course to go until it’s all finished – time flies.
This week’s class had us looking at some of the things that you need to improve on in your third chapter. We had to write down three aspects that you saw as possible weak points, and then address each one with a solution.
For me these were;
Adding in more plot details to reveal and push on the plot of the story.
Less internal dialogue – ‘he thought to himself…’
Build more of a ‘world’ around my work, to make it more encompassing.
My suggested solutions for my issues were;
Use dialogue and/or extra characters in scenes to push plot forward and to add extra depth.
Be ruthless with prose to cut internal dialogue stuff and find other ways to achieve the effect I want.
To not be afraid of a little more exposition now and again to add more depth to the world the characters live in.
We then went around the room asking everyone else what their first issue was. Here’s the list;
More plot detail and development (this was my mine)
Better use of dialogue
Stronger climaxes/cliffhangers
Dealing with ‘light’ scenes, those with little impact
Too much internal monologue (not mine but I had the same issue written down)
Not enough bridging between scenes
Details that don’t add impact
Concentrating on one point of view
Scenes may be too long
Rushed/stitled dialogue
Use fewer words and don’t repeat the same points in narrative
Showing-Not-Telling
Once collated, we went back to the above list and made suggestions about how to address them.
More action, more twists and more unexpected turns so that there are several things being revealed and unanswered at the same time. (This was my problem/solution and is applicable because I’m trying to write a crime thriller…)
Make dialogue memorable – this can be achieved by making the dialogue like a back-and-forth exchange, which is far more naturalistic once you listen to real life dialogue.
Find one extra detail/revelation per chapter (this is also applicable for my concern about making the plot move forward)
Write a new synopsis so that the narrative remains focused and not off on a tangent. It’s also a good idea to re-do this several times as you write the novel, that way you can see its evolution.
Find new ways to deliver thoughts, ie in actions and responses to events.
Think forwards and backwards to fade/dissolve one scene into the next.
Be prepared to cut scenes or parts of scenes if they are not working.
Provide an external POV within the main POV.
Create a menu of scene objectives to stay focussed on the events.
More on-screen and off-screen movement to accompany any dialogue.
Shorter sentences. (
)Write visually, using description. Think of the reader’s sense of wonder and transmit that through your characters.
Another of the aspects we discussed was the importance of achieving tonal shift, which is important when you have different POVs from different types of characters. For me, I’ll be trying to do this by using a different tone or writing voice especially when I’m introducting a new character for the first time. In the example of the novel I am currently working on, which is a crime novel revolving around a corrupt undercover policeman, I’ll attempt this by writing from the POV of one of the criminals. By making the lifestyles totally contrast with those of other characters, hopefully it will be obvious each time the narrative switches. But first I’ll have to write the damn scenes…
The list above were the concerns of a dozen amateur writers, but I’d be intrigued to hear if they are common, universal issues of people writing fiction. Do you have any others that often blight your work, and even better, how do you address them?
