Stage of revision 5. Characters

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Are they consistent? Do they develop? Do you know everything about them that you should?

The importance of character

It is the tension between our characters that create our stories anyway. If your characters aren’t right, neither is your story. 

Creating empathy

It’s important that the reader can relate to the characters in a text and usually there is some empathy.  Sometimes a writer may create an unlikeable character but at least that provokes a reaction in the reader. Also in these instances we are shown why the character is the way s/he is.

Consistency

For a character to be convincing they must be consistent. Check for any behaviour or speech that is out of character.

Rounded

Are your characters rounded? Evil characters should have some redeeming features. Good character should have some flaws.  This all helps to make them more believable. 

Development 

Our characters must develop.  Look at what they’re like at the beginning of the story and what they’re like at the end. Is there enough change?

Character knowledge

Your character will work best if you know everything about them. You don’t have to write huge lists and answer hundreds of questions but you should certainly think about them a lot. You can get a writing buddy to fire questions at you about your character. And here’s a challenging experiment: get your writing buddy to read a passage of your text.  Now ask them a question about an aspect of your character that you know you haven’t mentioned in that passage. Do they get the answer more or less right? If so, well done.  You’ve carried the whole DNA of your character into that scene.  This shows you know your character really well.     

Which is more important, good writing or a good story?

I have read two books recently that both came with a good pedigree but actually they couldn’t be more different. Both of them are published by the Big Five.

Good story but poor writing 

I borrowed this one from the library. It was in the new books section. I always check this first as I’m keen to read the latest. This also looked like a nice easy read and it was set in era in which I’m currently writing. Yet this book was a disappointment. Had it actually been edited? I was astounded too that the writer was formally a journalist. How could this person get it so wrong? There was far too much telling. In fact this book would be very good for showing creative writing students what is meant by telling instead of showing. The dialogue didn’t seem natural. The speeches were stilted and went on for far too long. There was often an awkward change of point of view, even mid-paragraph.     

Oh and the book cover didn’t really relate to the story. Plus it included a photograph, so spoilt the picture in my head. 

Nevertheless, I liked the main character. The novel gave me many more insights into the 1940s. The story arc was quite firm though a little disappointing at the end. An important person dived out of character and the story was left on a downbeat annoying cliff hanger. Was this a cunning marketing ploy?  

 

Great writing, annoying story

This one was also the recommendation of my reading group and one I’d had my eye for a while. I couldn’t fault the writing. It kept me engaged. The author totally had the voices of the characters. There was plenty of pace and tension.

In fact, I took it to the dentist. As usual he was running a bit late, and I was actually a bit disappointed when I was called in as my Kindle told me I only fifteen more minutes to read.

“Take it easy when you get home,” said the dentist. “This is major work you’ve had done.” I couldn’t watch TV as we’d just had a new one delivered and my husband was setting it up. The book was getting gripping I was only too glad to carry on reading it.

But oh dear. What a disappointing group of human beings: three inadequate women and two abusive men. I’m getting a little tired of reading about women who drift into alcoholism. I’ve read far too many books like that recently. I actually want to read about powerful, successful women and find out how they do it. Not these ne’er do wells. Plus the plot became at once predictable and unlikely. I, perhaps as a writer who can normally suss out these things, began to see who had committed the crime. But really? Would even a man like him do that?

I enjoyed reading the novel. I was gripped by it in fact, but ended up being irritated by it.

Who  is the winner?

Reluctantly I have to admit that I was irritated slightly less by the second one. In this case, good writing has won over good story.

Fixes

Yes, as an editor, publisher and creative wring teacher I can confirm that poor writing can always be fixed – if you have enough time and patience, which in-house editors at big publishing houses rarely have. So, the story has to be right first. As the busy in-house editor hasn’t got time to fix, she will check the writing first. If that’s fine, she’ll look to see if the story works.

The rub

If either of these books had been submitted to me I would have rejected them. Oops. The former is by a writer who sells well and the latter is a best-seller.   

                            

Some more thoughts about school visits

I’m not shy about visiting schools. Even before I was established as a writer, whilst I was in a period of transition doing free-lance work and writing as well, I used to offer workshops in schools. I’d been a high school teacher for over twenty years so actually had some idea of how to behave in front of a group of children.    

I still do several school visits a year even though I have a full-time job as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. I offer different types of visit, each one serving a different purpose.

 

The standard author visit

This is typically about an hour and a half long. I read some of my book, I answer questions, I may offer one simple creative writing exercise and I’ll possibly sell books and sign copies. This is easier for me than for some authors- I write for children and young adults, mainly the latter, so my main audience is in fact in schools.

 

Workshops on writing

These can be anything from a half day through to a whole week or one day a week over several weeks. One can build up a really strong relationship with students and teachers. Many teachers appreciate having a writer show children that they can write.  Sometimes, though, I feel a bit of a fraud. Surely they can teach this just as well as I can if not better? They know their own students better. Apparently not though. They are always grateful.

Sessions to do with the topic of the book

We explore the topic of a book through writing and role-play – just like I did when I wrote it. Topics that I can therefore cover include:

·         The Holocaust

·         World War II

·         Other religions

·         Relationships

·         Otherness

 

Other topics

• Creative writing in other languages
• Build a Book (students write and publish a book)
• Story-building
• Character-building    

 

Promotion visits

These I do on behalf of the university. We provide taster sessions of some of our courses to persuade students to come to us. I do have to represent all of our English courses, not just my own.   

 

Different energy

It is slightly different running a one-off session from teaching regularly in a school.  You’re more on the go but can mainly leave any discipline matters to the normal teachers. It’s different again as well from university teaching. The latter is much more intense – two hours in a seminar can be more exhausting than a whole day in a classroom though actually also less emotionally draining. Preparation is also more intense.

More often than not you are treated almost like royalty when you visit a school as a writer. However, not always and you should be prepared for anything to happen. Do make sure you know the way out. I was once left standing in a hall and didn’t know how to get back to reception.

Writers should be paid for visits

Of course they should. However, it is part of my remit at the university to visit schools – in part for promotional purposes and partly for the purpose of general community engagement. I limit this to twelve a year and do expect travel expenses to be paid. I also operate a system on my Build a Book Workshop where the visit pays for itself through book purchases.

There is also an argument that it’s fine and probably desirable to offer a few free or very cheap visits whilst you get used to working with schools and to help you pick up a few good endorsements.  

Two schools of thought amongst authors

1. A writer is different from a teacher and what they bring has value, even if it subverts the curriculum – or indeed perhaps because it does. Not every child will become a writer but they will probably become a fluent reader. So, the standard author visit should continue.    
2. A writer should bring some expertise on writing, not just talk about their books.

I actually think both views are valid and these arguments suggest that all sorts of different types of visits are desirable.     

Five top tips about school visits

1. Join NAWE – the National Association of Writers in Education. Plenty of support for writers who go into schools there and a chance to network with other writers.  
2. Always find out about car-parking and lunch arrangements.
3. Try not to arrive or leave at the same time as the students.
4. Craft some standard email info sheets and contracts.
5. Be very clear about what you expect on the day and how you expect to be paid.    

How we form our stories

Premise, plot, synopsis – why not just write?

This has been on my mind a lot recently: I’ve been lecturing on writing fiction and on another module I teach at the University of Salford I’ve recently marked synopses of novels the students are working on. Naturally, in a twelve week module, when they’re studying two other modules as well, they’re probably not going to complete a whole novel. So writing a synopsis at this stage may seem a little false. In this submission, though, I’m looking for two things: evidence of a story that will work and a business-like, industry standard document that crystallizes that story neatly. Interestingly I ask for a 2500 word extract of the novel and the reworked synopsis in a subsequent assignment. This replicates what we might submit to publishers.   

The spirit of the synopsis

In my own practice I don’t write the synopsis until I’m ready to  submit but I’ve often got a bullet-pointed outline in my head. My eventual synopsis is a crystallization not just of a plot outline but of a whole process. Perhaps a default good synopsis will include:

A concrete premise (e.g. Jack stumbles across a pirate ship and manages to stop the pirates hurting his friends.)

Some character description

An outline of a story arc

A more abstract summary of the premise e.g. Jack finds his courage and saves his friends.

In order to have that in mind as I’ve write, I’ve come up with an initial idea, possibly putting it into words and taping them to the top of my computer screen to stop myself going off at a tangent. I’ve got to know my characters – so even if I haven’t answered a six-page questionnaire about them.  They have lived with me for a while and have come out rounded and believable, with a back-story and a future. In producing a text I’m using a balance of various writerly techniques using both art and craft.

Character or plot and is there a difference?  

Always story comes from a tension amongst the characters that people it and between them and their environment. But there are writers who claim to plot in detail, perhaps spreading story-boarding cards all over the floor and those who say they just put the characters together and step back and watch what happens. If these are actually two extremes I’d put myself almost exactly in the middle. I think, though, in fact we all understand the same about story. This is just a matter of different writers preferring different tools.    

I come back again, as I often do, to Stephen King who claims to write entirely from character yet produces stories with superbly crafted plots.                      

To Plan or Not to Plan

Should we plan our novels? Or can the planning cramp out style? Steven King in his “On Writing” claims he does not plan, yet his stories are well structured and his plots technically perfect. It all seems so effortless to him. He claims that the stories come from the characters. That has to be right – there are no stories without characters after all – don’t all stories come from the tension between the characters?
I do like to plot and plan. I always have done – for any sort of writing. They are only the briefest of outlines, however. I start from that all important question “What is your novel about?” and then I build up into a story arc. Before this of course, I’ve worked on my characters and their motivations – even if only in my head as I’ve been driving, ironing or cooking. These seem to be my best thinking times.
As I write, I form a chapter by chapter plan. Each chapter also has its own plan. I do find that by having a plan to refer to I’m able to concentrate on the actual writing and not worry so much about the shape. Interestingly, I don’t write out a plan for this blog, but I do a hold a five point shape in my head as I write. I don’t think in my case sticking to a plan does cramp my writing. Plans can always be adjusted. The writing does still take me by surprise from time to time.
More complex story / plot theory then can be used as a tool for editing and is especially useful if a piece of fiction does not seem to be working. You can ask yourself – is the resolution satisfying, is there cause and effect, does the pace vary, is the three act structure solid?
In the end, it is up to each individual writer how they work. They must each find their own tools and rhythms. I for one like to plan – but not too rigidly.

Workshop on Writing for Children, Stoke, 14 March 2009

I met with thirteen enthusiastic students last Saturday – including one of the librarians from the library that had organised the event and the town’s writer in residence. It was good to meet Nick Corder at last. We’ve been in email contact for just over twelve months. Some of the other participants were some of his OU students. There were about three people who had not done much writing before and there were a couple of secondary school teachers who were looking for something they could take back to the classroom. Each member of the group brought some useful experience to it, and all shared a love of reading and writing.
I started off giving them a few facts about the child we were concentrating on – upper junior school. Of course, that child has his / her actual age, their physical age, their reading age, their mental age and their emotional age – so we definitely mean generalisations here. I introduced them to Laura Berk and Piaget.
The first writing exercise was about finding voice. This is as much to do with the perceived reader as with how the writer speaks. They must be addressing the child.
We then went on to look at plot, and how to maintain a balanced structure in a story. We looked also at character. Over lunch they completed my Character Magic exercise, where they answer 32 questions about two characters, then forget their answers and write a short scene between two of the characters. Whoever reads the scene can usually get most of the answers about the characters correct.
We also talked for a short while about narrative forms and the advantages / disadvantages of each one and also how you can mix and match them.
We then played consequences to force them into a story. That was something they could go and work on later.
Finally we talked about editing processes and publishing opportunities.
I think I gave them loads of information and some opportunity for writing.
I enjoyed myself too. I’d happily run such a workshop again.

“The Lombardy Grotto” as a basis for your courses

As I make my way from school to school reading from this book and talking to students and teachers about writing in general and this book is particular, it does occur to me that it could form the basis of a very good course. It would even be a course which could be quite crosscurricular.

One could, draw out the following points:

1. Characters. I use Chapter 2 quite a lot. Here they meet Uncle Sparky for the first time and find out more about Jayne, the main character and her two brothers Toby and Michael. You could use this chapter to analyse how we know what they’re like, but also to look at how a writer creates character. Then students could write their own.
2. Writing with the senses. Well, exactly how do you describe chocolate to someone who has not eaten it before? Chapter 5.
3. For that matter, could we invent some food? There are plenty of new tastes in the Lombardy Grotto.
4. How do you create a fantasy setting? This goes through the whole book. The river may be allowed to go backwards, but only if that is consistent with the world you create. Establishing the fantasy world requires as much research as writing an historic novel. It’s just that you search within your imagination. What fun one could have creating another world with a group of Y6 students.
5. Making a computer game based on this story. Well, after all, that is what Uncle Sparky does in the end.
6. Examining the story arc. What is it? Is it there? Could the youngsters create their own?
7. And of course, that favourite question, “Where do you get your ideas form?” I’ve pretty well explained that to those schools I’ve visited. Maybe we could get the students to create their own story from the same stimuli. Or perhaps we could collect some random items to spark off a story.

If anyone out there is interested in developing this further, do contact me. I’d be happy to put together some work packages if there is enough interest.

Working with Smaller Groups

I worked with just six Y6 students yesterday. It was in a very rural school deep in Kent. Three of the six had passed the eleven-plus to go to the local Grammar School. The others had tried and failed. But it was very clear that these kids loved reading and loved story. From the conversations we had, they were pretty good at it too.

I really did much the same talk that I’ve done in my other visits. I start off asking them to guess which are the two questions that writers dread getting. This particular group didn’t get there. Then I ask them about their story-telling and ask them where they get stories from. I then go on to talk about how I came to write The Lombardy Grotto and read a passage from it. I either use Chapter Two, and ask them what they think of the characters. So far, it’s been very gratifying: most schools have got the ages of the children right and their characters, and have given a good description of Uncle Sparky. Or I read Chapter Five and ask them to work out why the Lombarders call the wizard Old Fuzzy Locks. I sometimes ask them if they like chocolate, and then we talk a little about how you would describe chocolate to someone who had never tasted it before. Unusually, yesterday, I read a short piece from when the mansion starts to dissolve.

The response was good. They all became enthusiastic about the book and one of them bought it. Three others took home order forms. Working with a smaller group was good. It was easier to engage them. A couple of times I had to remind them of the etiquette of talking in a group, but it was only because they were enthusiastic.

As I left the school, their class teacher popped his head out of the door.

“They’ve come back very motivated,” he said.

Ah well, I guess that was the purpose of the exercise.