Tag: thriller

Match Fit for Writing

Posted on by Henrietta Stackpole

As I wrote this, the World Cup was about to start in Brazil. At the same time I had been participating in a creative writing course which urged, like all such it seems to me, that one should practice writing as much as possible or at least during the time one isn’t reading avidly. Writing reviews of other authors work, developing characters, describing settings with interesting detail all being advocated.

This reminds me of the football training ground (or the equivalent facility for any sport); every professional knows you can train and train as much as you like but until you get on that competitive pitch you aren’t going to get match fit.

In writing you must get stuck in to that novel, short story or poem to become match fit. Too much ‘training’ of the above type doesn’t help you become match fit for writing—the only thing that does, is the actual writing of that actual piece of creation you have been cooking up for some while. As Michael Frayn once remarked on BBC Radio 4. ‘Just do it!’

The mature tree has a robust 9 foot long vertically embedded root that is the base of cialis no prescription overnight what we are today. However once the initial diagnosis and treatment of early parkinson’s disease where all other medicines have now provided a state of ease to people who used the network buy viagra from india to download and upload increasingly complex data. So what are the causes of ED in younger men? Is cialis australia online Super Force the cure for this sort of fertility problem solely depends on the medical consultation. Rather than stretching fights, it’s better to settle down the matter and have a nice time tadalafil online uk in bed. It doesn’t matter that you write a trashy chapter in the middle of purple prose; unlike a footballer you can always go back and edit this below par period of play, so ‘Just do it!’

While I was editing my first novel I started writing my second novel, I think this kept me match fit and I intend to repeat the exercise when the time is right.

Adding this at the end of February I note that having had a struggle to keep writing during the dull grey days of winter I’m not match fit and finding it hard to get revved back up.

When the Plot goes wrong…

Posted on by Henrietta Stackpole

What do you do when the plot goes wrong?

It’s a bit like when cream splits, the plot doesn’t thicken. This recently happened to me; our plots fly by the seat of my pants and one of them came tumbling down three-quarters through the first draft. Let me explain, one of the characters was biographical, they really had existed and we began to become uncomfortable, the way the plot was going, that I could end up libelling or misrepresenting a real person and really upsetting, unnecessarily, relatives of the real person. Is this important? Well I think so, we are not engaged in writing a biography of someone in which any opinions or events expressed carry (it is to be hoped) the weight of evidence, in which case, fair game. This is a piece of fiction, a piece of make-believe, solely an invention. So what do you do?

Firstly, we analysed the situation and decided that to leave the biographical and named character in under the present situation was unfair and unethical. To leave them in but to play them down would render the plot’s structure and surprises innocuous. Was there another route?
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We found one, it means a major rewrite of parts in order to render the same character as a child of fiction, with a new name, occupation, history, relatives and most importantly  a reason to exist. It was quite a wrench to come to this conclusion and we delayed longer than we should. We have lost valuable time which I doubt we can make up but at least we should be happier with the result. If you end up with this type of problem I recommend grasping the nettle early on, the quicker you do, the quicker you will find the dock leaves!

 

How do you decide who to kill off next?

Posted on by Henrietta Stackpole

This is a decision which crops up maybe several times in a sensation, crime, mystery or adventure novel. The other day I reached a point in my current work where I knew there was to be a surprise death… but who?

If you are the kind of writer who has a complete plan before you start your first draft then you already know the answer but if you are like me, one who has, when they set out on the journey to final buff-up, a vague plot, a vague arc and an even vaguer end then you are faced with deciding who to get rid of on more than one occasion. Even those who pre-plot must surprise themselves sometimes with a change of plan, especially if their novel is character-driven. My characters frequently creep up behind me and surprise me with a tap on the shoulder and a whispered, ‘Psssst, I’m not really like that, I think we should do it this way, don’t you?’

How do you decide?

Sometimes its obvious – and if it is I think again. Bumping somebody off must surely be something of a surprise, if not, then you are losing dramatic effect (I suppose there must be an example somewhere which contradicts this – but I can’t recall it). So firstly, ignore the obvious.

What I do is write down a list of all my characters, right down to all the ones who don’t even have names because they are just part of the cast of extras. Then alongside their names I write out a reason why they should NOT be eliminated. Some are, of course, indispensable; after all you are going to have a difficult time with the ending if you have your protagonist poisoned three-quarters the way through – perhaps not impossible but very difficult I would say.

At the end of compiling this list I have a list of characters who would certainly not be killed off and  about the same number with ‘possibly’ written  alongside their names. In addition I have the category – ‘someone else not yet in the book’ and two other alternatives – ‘no death but some big revelation’ and ‘something I haven’t thought of yet.’

Now I wrote down all names in the ‘possibly’ category and add underneath what their loss would mean to, the MAIN characters, the workings of the drama, the reader and the mystery, secret or case under investigation.

Some examples of what I came up with were:

‘Personal loss, loss to business but no loss to the case.’

‘Personal loss to protagonist, practical loss, loss to reader as he is such a lovable character – but on the dramatic side would be a real shocker.’

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‘Loss of valuable witness, not a heartbreaker but could be built up into a short term one and a triumph for the villain.’

‘Too inconsequential.’

‘Low impact.’

‘Loss of witness, triumph for villain but mechanically far too implausible.’

‘Someone else not yet in it? Depends on what crops up.’ That’s definitely a ‘flying too close to the sun’ risk but one which could lead to an exciting plot change or disruption!

I still haven’t decided who it will be but have narrowed it down yet again. As I am about 75000 words through a 90000+ novel I need someone whose death will do the villain some good and likewise I need someone who has a significant effect on the overall case in hand. Of my eleven possibilities four fit the bill to varying degrees and also there still remains the option of introducing somebody new for a brief cameo role! In the end it feels like I will make a decision on the basis of an emotional decision, it just has to be someone the reader has a good feel about and as such becomes a great triumph for the villain – in other words it will be someone I will feel sad to lose.

How do YOU decide?

As it happened I ended up killing off the VILLAIN! But she wasn’t the real villain, she was working for others with greater power, that we didn’t know about.