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!

LET'S GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER

NEIL GAIMON, MY LATEST MUST-READ AUTHOR

WHO SAID YOU MUSTN'T SCARE CHILDREN?

I knew his name, of course, and I'd caught a couple of interviews on YouTube - and very charismatic he is, too. But it wasn't until I'd watched the television series Good Omens that I was drawn to reading Neil Gaimon's books.

I started with his massive tome, American Gods (I read this on my Kindle but I believe the hard copy is nearly 800 pages) and next, I read Neverwhere, both of which I really enjoyed.

Then, because I write for children as well as adults, I read The Graveyard Book (listed as suitable for 9+). Now we know that children of an even earlier age become acquainted with horror stories. Grimm's fairy tales for example are full of lost children, children being cooked and eaten, children being confronted by wolves, and so on. But those tales belong to a distant past.

In The Graveyard Book's first couple of pages, a man with a knife steals into a house in the darkness. He stabs to death a father and a mother in their bed. He then stabs to death their small daughter. And finally he steals into the baby's nursery. The book may be fiction, but the act of breaking into a house and killing all its occupants echoes not one but many real life crimes of today.

So, would this book terrify 9 year old children? I looked up some reviews and was surprised to find that many parents had read the book aloud to children even younger, without inducing nightmares.
In fact, all the children loved it - as did I. It's a brilliant book, full of imagination, tenderness and humour.

But in children's literature, do we need to draw a line? This is OK but that's just too gruesome? How do we judge?

WRITING YOUR FIRST CHAPTER

Dialogue always looks good on the first page, doesn’t it? Two characters plunging into the story. Plenty of white space. Exclamation marks!

But you don’t have to start at the beginning of the conversation. The small talk, the explanations. Start in the middle, where the drama begins.

‘You’re leaving me?’

‘I’m sorry, I -’

‘Who is she?’

‘You don’t know her.’

‘It’s not that new secretary, is it?’

He shook his head. ‘You’ve never met her. She’s … someone from the past.’

Ah! The first clue!

Or, in a crime novel, start with the murder. Your reader doesn’t know who the victim is, or even the murderer. All that will come later.

How about a waking up scene? Your character opens their eyes. They’re in bed/in a locked cellar/buried under masonry/on an operating table/ sprawled alongside a wrecked plane, the pilot and his mate hanging out of the cockpit.

Drama! Mystery! Suspense! Explanations can come later, maybe not until the final chapter.

HOW TO HOLD ON TO YOUR FLASHES OF INSPIRATION

The best ideas often come to you when you're in bed! Or on a bus, train or plane, eating lunch in a pub or grabbing a coffee halfway through a shopping trip.

KEEP A NOTEBOOK (preferably two, three or even more). One in your bedside cabinet, one in your handbag or briefcase, one in your office desk drawer, one in your coat pocket.  If anything good occurs to you, note it down IMMEDIATELY! You'd be surprised how quickly good ideas can be forgotten if you don't record them.

Many writers have a special thinking place. Somewhere the ideas come thick and fast. It could be a garden shed kitted out as an office, a favourite chair by the fire, a warm comfortable bed - but not too warm and comfortable or you'll doze off.

My favourite place is my bathroom. Lying in a hot steamy bath, with notebook propped on my knees may not be the most practical method of note taking but that's where I'm most productive.

Of course, the notebook soon becomes cockled and damp, the writing angle is unsuitable for ball point pens, pencilled notes are hard to read back through the steam, and how do you juggle notebook and pencil with your glass of wine?

Ah well, who said a writer's life is easy?

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SECOND THOUGHTS AND A FREE COPY

You have to be pretty alert when you’re choosing a title for a novel, and it seems my brain was dozing when I chose the title: ‘Me, Dingo and Sibelius’. 

Is it an autobiography, I’m asked? Is it about music? Is it a handbook on How To Write Your Will? Actually, it’s a novel about a young woman who’s given up on dreaming. She’s the wrong side of thirty, still a virgin and the only provider in an all-female dysfunctional family. Mum, sister Georgie, niece Rosie, are all blonde, slim and gorgeous. Charlie looks like her deceased Dad. 

But you never know what’s round the corner – in Charlie’s case, an inheritance of over a million pounds, a very sexy solicitor and a rapids results course in business management! 

So, I’m thinking of reissuing it with a new title and a new cover, but in the meantime I’m going to offer you a FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD ON AMAZON FOR THREE DAYS. Who knows? Enough of you may read and review the book to give it a kickstart and save me the effort of designing something new. But if not, I’d really appreciate your suggestions for a new catchy title, that doesn’t give the wrong impression. 

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD!

ALL ABOUT VERBS AND ADVERBS

IMPROVE YOUR WRITING - CHOOSE EFFECTIVE VERBS, CUT OUT ADVERBS AND BRING COLOUR TO YOUR WRITING

There are commonplace verbs and there are specific, descriptive verbs. If you need to add an adverb, then you’re not selecting the most effective. For example:

He walked slowly down the street

He sauntered down the street (Removes the need for an adverb)

He walked jerkily down the street

He staggered down the street.

Now you can expand.

WHY IS HE STAGGERING? IS HE INJURED?

He staggered down the street, clutching his left arm. The blood oozed between his fingers. (This tells more but also creates a picture)

OTHER SITUATIONS – PERHAPS HE’S UPSET?

He stumbled down the street, oblivious to the crowds of shoppers who called insults after him.

IS HE HAPPY? (Even more expansion, and a scene the reader can visualise)

He waltzed down the street, hugging an old lady here, snatching a kiss from a young mother pushing a pram there, throwing a fistful of coins in the tin of a beggar.

They stared after him. Was he drunk? On drugs? Had he won the lottery? None guessed the real reason.

This is the writer, showing the reader what’s happening.