NEW WRITERS - WHAT TO LEAVE OUT OF YOUR STORY

TOO MUCH? OR TOO LITTLE?

If you're new to writing, the danger is more often to write too much rather than too little. It makes no difference whether you're writing a 90,000 word novel or a 1000 word short story: unnecesssary detail, information or dialogue will slow down, irritate, distract or bore the reader. So here are some points to keep in mind.

DIALOGUE: We all discuss the weather, or what we ate last night, or how our offspring is doing at school, but none of these things is relevant, UNLESS IT AFFECTS THE PLOT, eg the weather hints at a forthcoming hurricane which will then prevent our main character taking a ferry to Spain, or the prospective bridegroom ate a couple of dead mussels that night and therefore won't make the wedding, or our offspring will be arrested for burning down the school lab, which will explain why Dad goes on one drinking binge too many and Mum packs a suitcase, which therefore explains .. ..... It's all about consequences. So, cut out the small talk. Dialogue should sound natural, but every word should advance the story.

CHARACTER INFORMATION: Some creative writing books recommend you write a cv for each of your main characters so that you know them inside out. This isn't my way but lots of authors do it. But however you build and get to know your characters, do you need to download it all for your readers? Ration the details you pass on, you might be surprised how few you need to explain how someone behaves, reacts, emotes.

SETTINGS: A friend of mine happened to spend a lot of time in an exotic setting. He decided to make it the setting for his first novel, and while there he amassed notebooks full of information - about the place, the people, the economics, the history, etc, etc. Sadly he put so much of it in his novel that it became virtually unreadable. It's tempting to include all that you've learned, but you have to resist. From all those notebooks try to extract the essence of a place. A few well-chosen snippets slipped in here and there will usually do the trick.

I could go on and on - but then, I don't want to bore you!

BOOKER PRIZE JUDGES

SLAM-BANG BEGINNINGS!

An incredible avalanche of books are submitted for the annual Man Booker Prize. How do the judges manage to read them all?

One judge is said to read only the first eight lines of each novel and if they don't grab her she moves on to the next.

Anyway, that made me reconsider the opening sentences of my work in progress, which is about a boy who runs away to the circus so that he can learn to fly. I  moved a few sentences around, cut out others, and ended up with this:

Just before midnight on the 8th December 1941 a bomb fell on Number 23 Deremont Street.

It killed Jamie Bird's Mum and Dad instantly, and it buried Jamie beneath tons of rubble.

Five minutes earlier when the air raid siren began its warning wail his Mum had rushed to the kitchen to cut sandwiches and fill a flask with hot cocoa, and his Dad had rushed upstairs to collect thick jumpers and scarves to keep them warm in the street shelter.

They had told Jamie to wait inside the family's Morrison shelter in the dining room, which was supposed to be safe. But it didn't feel safe. The thunder of bricks, the screech of metal, the groaning of timbers, the hiss of water escaping from fractured pipes terrified him.

'Mum! Dad!' he cried.

Where were they?


Ten minutes' work but I think it 'grabs' more fiercely. 

BEREAVEMENT, AND THERAPY

WHEN A LOVED ONE DIES

It's nearly two months since I wrote in this blog. During that time my dear husband of 42 years died, and anyone who's loved and lived closely with another person for even a fraction of that time will know how devastating that can be. My family has been wonderful but inevitably they have to return to their own responsibilities, their homes, their children, their jobs.

So what is left?

I consider myself most fortunate that I have two major interests that bring purpose and pleasure to my life.

As a painter I've been able to lose myself in creating my latest 'masterpiece', slipping away even during my husband's last illness for brief moments at the easel, and already I'm planning my annual exhibition of paintings (in early December).

And as a writer I am never ever alone! The characters of whatever novel I'm currently working on buzz around in my head - a second family, some loveable, some not so much, but all interesting. Just yesterday I made a start on another project, a novel for children 10 to 13.  It will be called 'THE BOY WHO COULD FLY'.

I believe everyone's life is enhanced by having a creative outlet, and if it's one that involves other people - real or imaginary! - all the better. Art and writing are mine. Sport - active participation, not just watching a match on TV, garden design, cooking for others, tapestry or embroidery, breeding dogs, renovating houses - the list is endless. What is yours?