Research After: Inconvenient Truths
My near-future Science Fiction novel WE had reached the copy-editing stage. It was time for a last check on all the technical detail that I had written into its pages. . I’d done my best with this. I’d ploughed the pages of Wikipedia, talked with teachers, doctors...Research Before: Gerald
You are writing a historical novel. How much research do you do? I would say that you must show enough for the reader to believe, but no so much that it burdens your pages. When do you do it? Before, during or after you write your first draft? Different writers will...Like Leaves
‘Books are like autumn leaves’ my father said. ‘They lie on the ground, and maybe they are beautiful. But they are soon hidden beneath the layers that come after them.’ There’s a melancholy thought! Books should last, shouldn’t they? Especially the ones we...Why Stories?
Why Stories? This sequence of posts is about storytelling. We’re going to explore stories together. We’ll talk a bit about why and how we tell them, including a few little tricks you might find helpful when weaving your own. But first we should think...What IS a story?
Let’s go back to that first film: Here it is. (You might have to skip an ad or two, but the film itself lasts only a couple of seconds). Is it a story? Not really – you get a glimpse of several people walking around, and that’s all. Nothing else...Example: The Teacher
Let’s take the story of the Good Samaritan. It’s two thousand years old, nice and short, and most of us know it. It’s a good example of both why and how you tell a story. We’ll come back to How. For the moment we’re thinking about Why. Imagine the situation: a...Example: The Christmas House
On a family outing to a seaside town, my niece pointed out a house. ‘That place has Christmas decorations up all the year round,’ she said. This was high summer, the sea was blue and the beach to our left was covered with bathers and sunbathers. Yet here, to our...A Good Cry
We like stories about falling in love, being heroic, overcoming danger or climbing to power and riches. It’s easy to see why. We want things like that to happen for us, and the stories let us share these experiences in our imagination. But we also like sad stories. ...Ideas and Where They Come From
A fellow author(i) is preparing to give a talk at a school. (This happens.) He asks for help with some pictures he can show during his talk. (This also happens). What he wants, he says, is that you send him a picture of yourself with a sponge on your head. Just in...Exercise: that first idea
Think of a random word. Last time I did this (it was on a school visit) I came up with “olive-pitter”. Never mind if you think it’s two words. Fit that word into a sentence. The sentence must leave you asking questions. My sentence was “it’s hard to commit...Basic Plots
So you think you’re in control? Think again!