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In the first part of this blog I looked at the smoothness of the narrative and how peaks and lulls in the emotional intensity of the story seem to engage the reader. But there are clearly many aspects of the narrative that can allow the author to make the most of it. Here I want to turn attention onto a couple of these aspects. Namely the plot and the characters.
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The program correctly predicted the top two bestselling titles of all time, suggesting they had features that it would benefit writers to know about. If the analysis of the program is at times difficult to – ahem – decode it doesn’t mean there aren’t a few tips that us writers can learn from the bestsellers. In this blog I’ll focus upon how we can make the most of our narrative, and The Bestseller Code has some interesting tips on the subject.
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One of the key choices writers make when beginning a piece of creative writing is to decide where to position themselves in the text. It’s a subject worth exploring as getting it right helps writers achieve their aims. In this blog, the first of two on authorial voice, I’ll look at the advantages and disadvantages of the first and third person.
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In my last blog entry I turned looked at how we can ensure our writing connects with people, to hopefully effect their lives. But there is a middle stage here which I want to look at in the second part of this blog. A commenter asked how they can get more reviews for work they had self-published. It was a good question.
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When a Prime Minister is confronted with a piece of art in the hope that it forces them to change policy, or political approach, then that work of art has gone beyond the creative endeavours of artists. It has become a cog in the machinery of the real world and it can affect peoples lives. I, Daniel Blake, shows how writing can truly connect with people. But how did it do it?
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I wonder how truly seasoned writers feel about releasing a new novel. Do the Will Self’s, Jeffrey Archer’s and Jilly Cooper’s of the world feel a mix of trepidation, excitement and naked terror when releasing a new book? Over the last day or two it has become apparent that the publication of a new book can be scary.
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The reflective essay is one part of the assignments that generates a lot of discussion! Getting in touch with the creative part of ourselves and expressing that through engaging prose is a challenge of itself. But for the creative writer who is undertaking serious study though there is no getting away from cracking the reflective essay.
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In part one of this blog I described how, when researching a novel about cover-ups, I attended New Writing North’s Crime Story classes and got to play the role of a juror! In this blog I am going to look in more detail at how experts can inform a novel. The most obvious way they can be useful is as interviewees, and to make the most of them specific questions regarding details of the novel need to be prepared in advance.
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Writing novels can take you into strange territory. I see the beginning of a novel not only as the start of a journey into my own imagination, but as the start of an adventure into the outside world as well. I’ve learnt that in order to give a novel enough credibility to see it published you can’t guess at the contributions a policeman, coroner, school teacher, or governor would make as characters in a story. You have to go out there and find out exactly what their input to a story would be.
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For both prose writers and scriptwriters, the question of how to write good dialogue is an important one. Can we listen in on conversations by strangers, and get an ear for the natural ebb and flow of speech? Is it better to study films which are heavy in conversation? Or are novels a good place to see the everyday use of dialogue?
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