Kick-Starting the Novel – Session 4

Pace & Narrative Style

The pace and narrative style of a novel is all about holding the reader’s attention and making them want to turn the page. In Writing A Novel, Nigel Watts tells us that the reader’s attention will be held mostly by the author raising intriguing questions and delaying the answer. “Although a single important question may be enough moti­vation for a novel, significant questions should be raised in every chapter.” These ‘questions’ should be automatically raised as part of the natural flow of the story and the viewpoint of the narrative/narrator.

It doesn’t matter how good your idea for a plot, or how charis­matic your main characters, if the pace and narrative style doesn’t hold the interest and sympathy of the publisher’s reader, then the submission will fail.

Pace

All novels have a time-frame. From ‘A Day in the Life of … ‘ to a grand epic like War & Peace, that charts a family saga over a number of years. In Building Your  Story: A Guide to Structure and Plot, Kelly Michelle Lawrence suggests that this should be one of the first things you think about when plot­ting a novel because this can be one of the easiest ways for a begin­ner to start. Once you do this, you have parameters to work within. Your characters must achieve their goals and aspirations within cer­tain time-limits. And you can plan and pace your plot accordingly.

Many first-time novelists will begin their story much too far in advance of the actual ‘plot’, which means that the opening impact is delayed because we are wasting time scene-setting and working up to the real beginning of the novel. If we are writing an epic, then we can begin at the beginning but if our story is set within a natural time-frame, we need to cut to the chase to maintain reader interest.

Whether you set your story over fifty years, five years, five months or five days the pace is of paramount importance. If the pace is too fast or too slow, then you will not hook the publisher’s reader. In truth, the passage of time within the story is often a major problem for new writers because they find it difficult to balance the time-frame for the beginning, the middle and the end. Some parts become barren wastelands because there is no purposeful action; in other parts the passage of years are crammed into a single chapter because nothing of interest has happened to enhance the plot.

This is where we need to learn the subtle techniques of moving the plot along. Of course, our characters need to have back­grounds, histories and pasts to make them credible but we don’t need to clutter up the proceedings in order to reveal these in chapter and verse.

Firstly, look with a critical eye and decide if your current plot is really adequate for the length of time in which the story is set in terms of action. Novels, like life, are made up of peaks and troughs but it would not be advisable to include every trivial detail just to fill the pages. By using a ‘plotting graph’, try to contain the story within a realistic time-frame with very little slack-water in between. Your graph should show the high points of action (with brief notes), with the lows giving the opportunity for character devel­opment and ‘padding’. Even in romantic women’s fiction there should still be peaks and troughs of action and inaction. The graph enables you to plan when certain dramatic interludes can be intro­duced into which chapters, and where the reader needs a respite from the action. Plot each chap­ter with as much attention to de­tail as the whole novel.  Using the technique of intro­ducing peaks and troughs enables you to decide exactly when you are going to suspend the action in order to keep the reader in sus­pense and encourage them to read on.

The action is the easy part, simply because this is what drives the story along and it is probably already well-thought out in your head. What we need to concentrate on now is how to introduce the more intimate and! or personal details that will flesh out our characters, without hold­ing up the action. The following are simple devices but they are extremely effective for adding depth to the character without resorting to lengthy description and/or narrative.

Flashbacks

A device for giving readers information about a person, place or event that happened before the novel began. Here a character can have a past mem­ory triggered by a happening in here and now, which helps the reader to understand his or her actions or responses to a current situation. Flashbacks enable us to filter information in a subtle way that does not hold up the action and gives the reader information on a need to know basis, which can only add to the suspense — but don’t overdo the sauce and use them sparingly.

Dialogue

Dialogue should always move the story along and if it doesn’t, then it is superfluous. Again, if you need to inform the reader of something that happened before the start of the story, then it can be introduced in the form of a conversation between people. Think in terms of ‘real’ dialogue and how much information you would give away to a stranger. “Tell me about yourself” isn’t an invita­tion to start a pre-school and work your way through to re­tirement.

Reverie

The use of a character’s thought processes allows us to convey the type of intimate or personal details that the charac­ter may not want to reveal. Of­ten presented in italics, reverie can be used to express the char­acter’s real thoughts, while the dialogue is saying something completely different. Reverie can also be utilised if the character is alone and running over events in their mind prior to action. It is a method of recalling events that may have been subtly introduced earlier in the story.

Written Word

A clever way of dispensing with pages of unnecessary scene-setting is the employment of a letter, newspaper clipping or diary that can speak volumes about why events have come to pass.

Narrative style

Narrative style or viewpoint is the method we choose to tell the story. Many beginner novelists start off by writing in the first person but often find they run out of steam, simply because every­thing that happens must be seen, heard and experienced by the character telling the story. Working with ‘I’ very quickly becomes tedious, since ‘I’ cannot be everywhere at once and com­menting on everyone and every­thing.

Having said that, author Nigel Watts had this to say: “Because the readers can know only what the protagonist knows, it is easy for the author to spring surprises on them. Suspense and tension, therefore, often work well with a first person viewpoint.”

Third person narrative is much easier to attempt and, depending on the length and/or structure of the story, we can chose either the third person single viewpoint or the third per­son multiple viewpoint.

The third person single view­point can be equally as restrictive as first person narrative. This is less personal but your principal character needs to be strong enough to carry the whole novel on his or her shoulders. As Nigel Watts also observes: “In order to make the character credible and au­thoritative, you will need to be privy to his or her thoughts, see­ing the world through your char­acter’s eyes. Although it is im­portant to know all your main characters well, you should know your viewpoint character inside out.”

If using the multi-viewpoint, it is advisable to stick to one at a time, because the reader will quickly become bored if they are constantly trying to work out who is doing or saying what, and to whom. Decide which of your characters will play out a particu­lar scene — and stick to it: the easiest way to deal with multi-viewpoint is to utilise it chapter by chapter but do limit the num­ber of character-viewpoints to the main players.

Tense

Novels are normally set in the past or present tense, and alternat­ing tenses can often be confusing unless some clear demarcation line is drawn.  In a recent submission the author used the present tense to convey the elderly characters’ thoughts and reflection, and the past tense to tell the story.

The tense you choose is all part of the narrative style and if you find that the story isn’t work­ing in, say, the present tense, change it over to past tense and see if it flows more easily.

Exercises – Session 4

1. Describe your reasons for setting the novel within the chosen time-frame and make a plotting graph showing the peaks and troughs of dramatic action throughout the chapters.

2. Work out a rough estimate of how many chapters you think your novel will take, and then be honest about whether your plot is adequate for its length.

3. Are there any areas where you feel your novel shows signs of weakness?

4. How many viewpoints do you intend to use throughout the story? How many ‘main’ characters will be involved? How well do you know your principal character?

5. Is your story to be set in the past or present tense? Would any purpose be served for using both for added emphasis?

6. Do you intend to include any form of humour in the narrative? Are you using it for the sake of being funny, or is it intended to be a natural part of the narrative?

Kick-Starting the Novel: Session 3 – Characterisation

Whether your novel is plot-led, or character-led it will not generate any interest unless the reader can empa­thise with the main character. They can love or hate your ‘lead’ but they do need to feel something.  As a starting point, let’s consider the following:

• If you don’t care about your characters, neither will the reader
• Characters must be credible, but they don’t have to be likeable!
• Avoid stereotypical characters and cardboard cut-outs
• A strong supporting cast is essential

In most cases, the novel starts with a germ of an idea relating to how a certain character is going to think about, react, or experiment with, a situation that life throws at him/her. In a nutshell, this central character is the pivot around whom the rest of the story is constructed – and you the author will have to maintain the reader’s sympathy/empathy/hatred for him/her for the next 80,000+ words.

You’ll know when you’ve got it right because the character will be­come real for you. You will be equally aware of his/her likes and dis­likes in the same way that you know your closest friend would, or would not, do something that went against her principles. Your character must be real to you or he/she will not be real for the reader. The reader must want your character to win through, whatever the odds.

Which brings us to the credibility of your characters within the story. Unless we’re talking about   fan­tasy, supermen or women really don’t work, simply because there is no provision for failure or the human elements that provide con­flict and misunderstanding. The main characters must fit comforta­bly within the period/setting of the story.  When the author was first marketing The Wild Horseman, one literary agent took a dislike to the main male character and suggested that the plot be re-written around the other character, a sixteen-year old girl. Now in war-torn France, it would have been highly unlikely for a teenager to take centre stage, simply because the story was about survival and the male was a survivor. To do as the agent suggested would have given the whole thing a ‘Famous Five’ slant and ruined the story!

When we are talking about credibility, we are also talking about character flaws that can make the man or woman more appealing. Let’s face it, the fact that the sight of blood always turned Inspector Morse’s stomach, never made him less of a man in our, the viewer/reader’s eyes, did it?

Another of our authors created a character who, in her youth, was too intense and self-obsessed and had we worked through the novel from A to B there would have been very little about the girl to make us care whether she lived or died. In this case, the author told the story in flashbacks from the vantage point of an eighty-year old woman, who could see all too clearly with the benefit of hind­sight, just how her intense and self­ish behaviour had cost her dear. We like and respect the older woman for her honesty, and there­fore are more sympathetic towards her younger self as the story un­folds.

Think back to the sadistic camp guard in Merry Christmas Mr Law­rence, whose geniality belied his callous treatment of the POWs. Then there was the film director who told a scriptwriter that he could totally destroy his image of a hard­ened contract killer, by having the man stop and stroke the head of a cat, while on his way to a kill. These subtle nuances can add depth to what could be perceived as a one-dimensional character.  It’s also very easy for the subcon­scious to take over the ‘drawing’ of characters. As one author found to her horror, when she discovered that in her draft typescript, all her ‘goodies’ were blonde, and all her ‘baddies’ were dark haired! Is this a subconscious throw-back to the days of black and white films, when the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black?

This is what we mean by stereo­typing – when characters are so predictable that their appearance and behaviour are almost a cliché.  Another typescript that came our way featured the heroine (a gentle and rather colourless creature) and her rival, a glamorous ball-breaker. The problem with the story was that the author had made the glamour-puss so consistently awful that it was impossible to see why the chap they were fighting over, was attracted to her in the first place. To break the impasse it was sug­gested that there should be a few added dimensions to the glamour-girl’s personality to at least make her credible and give a reason why she was moving in such a social circle. The author’s reaction was that she wasn’t supposed to be liked and that there wasn’t any good to be found in her anyway. The real reason, one suspects, is that the ‘heroine’ was so wet, that any quarter given the protagonist would have merely made her appear wetter!

Characters that move woodenly through the story will bog down the action and bore the reader to death. Allowing char­acters to grow as the plot develops may work for experienced authors but that it can be a disastrous as­sumption for a beginner to make; creating a character profile for the central char­acters is as necessary as any other form of plotting. So spend some time producing a full c.v for each of the important people involved in the story and indicate where their lives interact with the others. Just remem­ber that no character should be 100% perfect.

Although they are not often an integral part of the plot, minor char­acters are equally as important and can provide:

• light relief
• help move the story along
• chance encounters
• red herrings
• throw a spanner in the works
• wisdom

Minor characters should be there to serve a purpose and for that we should turn to the greatest ‘bit player’ of them all, Shake­speare. He created bit parts throughout his plays that are often the ones the audience remembers – like the gatekeeper in Macbeth, for instance. The only ‘bit’ of light relief in the whole play.  Minor characters can be the woman who keeps the local post office and the focus of all village gossip – just think how many red herrings that one could provide – and she only need appear as a ‘bit’ player throughout.

Beware, however, of creating a supporting player who appears quite fre­quently at the beginning and then sinks without trace, for no appar­ent reason – this is more common than you would believe. Minor characters are there to move the plot and dialogue along when the author feels it is necessary to inject a piece of information, but doesn’t want it imparted by the main char­acters.  Here are two simple tricks for creating the perfect blend of ‘people’ for your novel:

The casting couch. How many times have you been disappointed by the casting when a favourite book has been turned into a film or television series? Use this process in reverse and think of an actor who has played a similar part to the one required in your novel. Mentally take the image and superimpose it on the character you wish to create. In other words, if you were casting your own novel as a film, who would you get to play the parts both main and supporting roles.

Astrology. There are plenty of books around on the subject (try the charity shops) that give the positive and negative traits of all the ‘sun signs’ and I know several authors who use this method to create multi-dimensional charac­ters by using a fictitious birth sign as a starting point. It will even help you sort out who is compati­ble, and who is a potential pro­tagonist.  [See recommended reading]

Choosing the right name for characters is also important because a name can say an awful lot about a person, without the need to go into a long and involved description about colour of hair, eyes, etc.   Avoid having two people whose names begin with the same letter (unless it’s a comedy), i.e. Jason and Jayne, Robert and Rebecca, or James and Jamie. And watch those names, first and surnames, ending with ‘s’. Or you’ll be forever writing James’s  …Mrs Prentiss’s

Get the point?  Names should reflect the fashion, society and history of the period and avoid using something that no one can comfortably pronounce. One book that should be on every fiction writer’s shelf is The Oxford Names Companion, which will provide end­less sources for both first and surnames, as well as place-names.

A character’s occupation should also be an integral part of the story. There’s no point in slinging in the fact that Cyril is a retired antiques dealer and not exploiting this to the full in the narrative. Your story will revolve around the main character’s occupation, so more than a little detail needs to appear, if only to convince the reader that they are about to enter this particular world. Unless your plot centres around the double-dealing of high finance, then an art expert, fighter pilot, or race­horse trainer is going to appear much more glamorous than a com­modities broker.

The vast majority of Dick Francis’s novels were in some way related to the world of horse racing, but he wasn’t frightened to go out­side these parameters and explore other worlds. And it shows in his writing.  There is an obvious enthusiasm for the subject and the reader learns something in the process. One of his best novels involves an injured jockey becoming involved in his deceased brother’s gem business. Here Francis resisted the urge to go over the top and, instead of pre­cious stones, the business special­ised in the importing of semi-­precious stones. The confusion of the jump-jockey in this unfamiliar world was actually shared by the reader as they were drawn in to almost actively participate as the story unfolded.   In today’s society, we are what we do, so it makes sense in terms of publisher interest, to spend some time researching this important area. Who knows, it might spark further ideas to give the plot more depth, since it will require the interaction of other characters in order to make the ‘work-place’ credible.

One of the best examples of creating a character in the reader’s mind, is the style of interview found every weekend in the colour supplements. Bearing in mind that lengthy de­scription is ‘out’, obtain a few back issues and study the way that the interview is constructed.  The angle is usually related to the celeb’s current work but throughout the 3,000 word piece, there will be single sentences that skillfully de­scribe what the subject is wearing, appearance, mannerisms, attitude, etc.  This is the approach you should aim for when developing your char­acter’s personality throughout the narrative. Sharp, incisive thumb-nail sketches rather than lengthy descrip­tion, allow the reader to recreate the ‘person’ in their mind’s eye and participate in the story, rather than just being a casual observer.

Exercise: Session 3

1. Write 150 words giving the opposite characteristics of your main characters, i.e. what are the ‘flaws’ in your ‘lead’, and what are the good points about the protagonist?

2. What is it about your main character that you like (a) best, and (b) least? What else could you add to make them more believable?

3. Have you paid enough attention to the occupation of your characters, or is it merely a throw-away piece of information? How can you exploit this in the plot?

4. Conduct an imaginary interview with your main character, using the style of the colour supplements. In 200 words, create a thumb-nail sketch of how they look, what they are wearing, manner, etc.,

5. Create a character profile for a secondary character, who will play an important, but minor role in your story.

Recommended reading:

Astro-characters, by Judy Hall (Compass Books)

Creating Convincing Characters, Nicholas Corder (Compass Books)

www.compass-books.net

Kick-Starting the Novel – Session 2

Theme, Plot & Structure

The main reason why most first drafts of novels flounder is usually the lack of planning and preparation before the writer gets down to work. In the first session we looked at identifying the readership and publishers likely to be interested in your novel, and the 150 word ‘blurb’ will have given the outline of the plot but now we need to take this a step forward.

Theme:

The ‘theme’ gives the story its tone, its subject matter, its ‘reader identity/empathy’ and can often be summed up in a single word: jealousy, revenge, ambition, deliverance, self-discovery, flight, fight, etc. The theme is the core of the story – the plot development can be thought of as layers of an onion.  The Polti theory maintains that there are only 36 dramatic situations on which the writer of fiction can draw. By using single situations or several combinations, the basic theme of every story (long or short) ever told, written or devised, can be summed up in the following list:

Supplication : Deliverance: Crime pursued by vengeance : Vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred : Pursuit : Disaster: Falling prey to cruelty or misfortune : Revolt: Daring Enterprise: Abduction : The Enigma: Obtaining : Enmity of kinsmen: Rivalry of kinsmen: Murderous adultery : Madness : Fatal imprudence : Involuntary crimes of love: Slaying of a kinsman unrecognised : Self sacrifice for an ideal : Self sacrifice for kindred: All sacrificed for passion : Necessity of sacrificing loved ones :Rivalry of superior and inferior: Adultery Crimes of love : Discovery of the dishonour of a loved one : Obstacles to love : An enemy loved: Ambition : Conflict with God : Mistaken jealousy : Erroneous judgement: Remorse : Recovery of a lost one: Loss of a loved one.

For the novel to work, the reader must be convinced that the principal character has good reason/motivation/ability to follow the course of action needed to carry the plot along. Simply, if the character is unconvincing, no amount of clever plotting will compensate for that lack of credibility, because readers identify with the course of action and if it doesn’t convince them that they would act in the same manner, the interest will be lost.

Plot & Sub-Plot:

The ‘plot’ refers to the story-line that drives the characters into be­having the way they do and is concerned with precisely how the theme is put into effect. And the first question we should ask our­selves is: Will the story be strong enough to hold the reader’s atten­tion for 80,000+ words? It is pointless starting with a good idea for an opening and not giv­ing any further thought to how the story will develop — travel­ling hopefully is not the best way to begin a novel!

Regardless of the type of story we are writing, there needs to be plenty of tension and drama – even for romance. These elements provide the barriers that everyone must over­come in order to resolve the ‘problem’ that is at the root of the plot. They are also useful tools to provide the antagonism between the various characters because drama does not arrive in a story unbidden … something has to create it and the reader must be convinced by it.

Another point to consider at this stage is that very few novels are able to sus­tain reader interest without there being some form of sub-plot. This can be a mystery/ misunderstanding running paral­lel to the main plot; it can be developed to involve one of the other characters while only superficially imposing on the storyline; it can provide a useful red herring; it can be anything you like providing it adds breadth and dimension to your novel.

The plot will also be governed by the time-span of the story and it is a good idea to decide, right from the start, when the story will begin and end.  We all know that a story should begin with a point of high drama in order to hook the reader’s attention but for how long a period of time are we going to spin the story out? If the story is planned to unfold in, say, the period of a week, then all the necessary back­ground information can be revealed by means of conversa­tion or flashback.

When structuring the plot for The Wild Horseman, the author found it necessary to compress the entire story into 18 days and the characters were slowly revealed through the use of dialogue and personal reflec­tion. The opening and closing chapters acted as a bridge be­tween past and present, so there was no need for any long, convoluted introductions of who, why and what.

This time element can be an extremely useful device in creating drama because the characters come to the action primed and ready to partici­pate. It plunges the reader straight into the action and any relevant background details can be introduced later.

Structure:

Whether the novel is character-or plot-driven, whether we are writing crime, literary fic­tion, science fiction, fantasy, or in any other genre, the setting we choose for the story should play an integral part of our novel. The setting provides a backdrop against which the story takes place, while paint­ing a visual picture and adding authenticity: without a credible setting, the characters would be acting out their parts on a bare stage.  Exotic and/or original loca­tions can give a story an extra boost.

Colin Dexter, creator of Inspector Morse, introduced us to the esoteric world of academe by casting his plots among the traditions and dreamy spires of Oxford uni­versity life, while Simon Raven did the same for Cambridge. Dick Francis came up with his own original formula set amongst the racing fraternity where wealth frequently rubs shoulders with the lower echelons of society. Jilly Cooper opened up the world of show jumping and polo, before turning her atten­tions on the members of an international orchestra. Ellis Peters chose medieval Britain

Having a firm idea of where the novel is set will help considera­bly when it comes down to struc­turing a provision mind-map of chapters and action because the setting will help to dictate where the action takes place.  Novelists have all sorts of methods of structuring a novel some use blank cards, other use computer spread-sheets, some even use lining paper from the DIY store. It really doesn’t mat­ter because we all approach novel writing in different ways, so find something with which you feel comfortable and start planning.

Novels in a similar genre will give a rough idea of the number of chapters we should be aiming for. For example, a crime thriller may run to 24+ long chapters because of the con­stant shift of perception and viewpoint; while a more person­alised human story like Elsie Burch Donald’s A Rope of Sand contained 22 short chapters. For The Wild Horseman, the author used a chapter per day plus an opening and close.

The initial choice for the num­ber of chapters isn’t cast in stone but it does give a firm starting point on which to structure the complete novel. If we go for the short time span, it means there needs to be a lot happening in a short space of time; a wide time span will need to be carefully divided so that the story doesn’t become unevenly time-bound in one period.  Start with a card or separate sheet for each chapter and begin to map out the point of introduction of your characters and the relevant action involving each of them.  Don’t worry too much if they stat to take on a life of their own, this is normal and often produces some interesting results.

Remember that structure is merely a guide to show where the story needs its peaks and troughs.  All novels have the occasional slow periods, to allow the reader to catch their breath before charging off for another piece of action.

For commissioning editor appeal, all fiction needs a credible plot, a plausible theme, an original location and principal characters who, whilst being sharp, intelligent and ‘successful’, to need possess a few faults and foibles to give them added dimension.

At ‘Kick-Starting the Novel’ workshops, the most frequent comment in response to all this advice, is that the participants sometimes feel such preparation to be stifling the creative urge of writing.  Many see planning as being restrictive and prefer for allow the words to ‘just flow’. That’s fine, but the majority of today’s novel writing is a potentially commercial enterprise and most typescripts we see at these workshops are a long way from being the finished product the authors believe them to be.  Successful novel writing requires a lot more discipline if we’re going to get it right this time.

Exercises: Session 2

1. Describe the nature of the theme of your novel.
2.  Drawing on the 150 word ‘blurb’ from the last session, suggest a couple of ideas that might provide a convincing sub-plot; or describe an existing sub-plot.
3.  What period and time span will the novel cover … and why?
4.  Taking this session into account, have you any further observations on why your novel became bogged down. Can you see where it started to go wrong?
5.  Create a structure breakdown for the first five chapters, showing where you intend to introduce the characters and ‘action’.

KICK-STARTING YOUR NOVEL - SESSION ONE

Everyone gets bogged down with a novel at some stage … from beginner struggling with characterisation and plotting, to the more experienced writer, who suddenly find they’ve run out of steam. There are probably thousands of unfinished typescripts at various stages of completion languishing is desk drawers and computer files that just need kick-starting to get them going again and this was the subject of a series of workshops that tried to help writers find the problem, solve it, and (hopefully) head for publication. If you’ve found yourself in this position, perhaps some of this advice may help …

Session 1: Who’s going to read my novel?
The first question I ask every workshop participant and one that every potential novelist should ask themselves, is: Who is going to read my novel? Every target market for consumable products is subject to marketing analysis by the producer. The fact that we are talking about books and publishers (or even self-publishing via e-books) doesn’t alter the fact that we are still referring to a commodity that will be aimed at a particular target market (readership). So we must start by identifying the type of reader for whom we are telling our story.

At this stage, someone will always interrupt and complain that this is not a creative approach to novel writing; or that they found this idea inhibiting, strangling the creative urge at birth; or even that they are writing for themselves and not bothered about who will read the finished story. Unfortunately, there are still the last shreds of glamour clinging to the image of the novelist and up to ten years ago we could still allow ourselves the luxury of not compromising our personal integrity by becoming a slave to commercialism. A couple of decades down the road, traditional publishing is the sole province of the accountants and every book is looked upon in terms of profit and loss - not literary merit. And so the truly ambitious make a point of understanding who’s publishing what in today’s book world if that’s the road they want to go down.

The next interruption usually voices the opinion that no-one told the ‘greats’ (Shakespeare, Dickens, et al) how to write, not taking into account that the ‘greats’ wouldn’t get passed the first glance by today’s publisher’s reader. Take my own personal favourite, whom I can still read for pleasure - Balzac. Poor old Honoré, with his ‘tell don’t show’ technique would have been blue-pencilled into oblivion!

So the image we have to dispel is the vision of the by-gone world of Dame Agatha, Wilbur Smith, Alistair Maclean, Colette, Simon Raven, Saki and Wodehouse (to name a few more favourites) when publishers and agents appreciated a good book, and knuckle down to the fact that we are competing in a vast commercial process of producing a novel that might only have a few weeks of modest fame on the shelves of Waterstones, before being remaindered and never heard of again! This is the reality of contemporary publishing and what we hope to do during this six-session series is attempt to narrow the odds in the outsider’s favour …

The first thing we need to establish is identifying the genre in which we are writing … so-called ‘slip stream’ novels are fun to write but infinitely more difficult to sell, so a lot of deliberation needs to go into this answer. Broadly speaking, the most popular commercial novels fit into the following categories even within pagan fiction.

Romance - standard boy-meets-girl plot with little or no gratuitous sex. Often thought to refer solely to Mills & Boon-type writing but can, according to the Romantic Novelists’ Association, straddle a much wider field, including historical and thrillers … and MB&S romance

Historical - anything with a period flavour up to the 1950s falls into this area, including family sagas and often a dominating theme within MB&S fiction.

Women’s fiction - generally refers to contemporary fiction covering intimate relationships, controversial domestic situations and recently including the popular ‘chick lit’ with MB&S undertones.

Science fiction/Fantasy - self explanatory but ranges from classic Arthur C Clarke sci-fi to Terry Pratchett and Harry Potter … and everything else in between, including ‘sword ‘n’ sorcery’, although the latter has lost popularity in recent years.

Crime/Thriller – generally anything that culminates in murder, either from a detection or victim point-of-view, including everything with a ‘dark’ element from Agatha Christie to Sally Spedding, David Hewson and Maureen Carter.

There are other genres such as horror, humour, war and westerns that still manage to produce the odd rabbit out of the hat, but these are extremely difficult areas to break into and publishers tend to stick with tried and tested authors, rather than taking on new ones. There is also the literary genre that is often reflected in the type of writing chosen for the Booker shortlist, and new novels from the graduates of the University of East Anglia – all of which can add a dash of paganism to offer a different dimension.

This is, of course, a very general over-view of standard publishing categories but the odds-on favourites for a new author will be those who don’t try to invent a new one. Bridget Jones’s Diary was the founder of ‘chick-lit’ but it still sat comfortably within the women’s fiction genre, just as Harry Potter had a ready-made slot within fantasy.

The second step in the exercise is to identify your target readership, because at the end of the day, this will make it easier to target the right agent or publisher for the finished typescript. What type of person would you generally expect to pick up your finished novel from the shelves of a high street bookshop? This is the same kind of market research we do when first starting writing and we learn to identify the readership of a certain type of magazine or newspaper. It is also applicable to marketing a novel, and we learn to keep an eye open in bookshops for the latest releases, especially those similar to our own plot and theme. Try to visualize your typical reader in your mind’s eye …

Just as we select the right target market for an article or short story, so we learn to make sure that our typescript is targeted at the right area of traditional pub¬lishing … there is no magical formula for this, just plain common sense. You are a potential novelist and have to supply what the publisher wants. As writing tutor Chriss McCallum commented: “You are the manufacturer, and you have to supply what the retailer wants. An editor is a retailer. He buys from the manufacturer – the writer -what he knows he can sell to his customers – his readers” – or in this case, the book buying public.
So, this is no time to be precious. Even if you intend to self-publish, it doesn’t hurt to work within the parameters of professional publishing. Get to understand the market place but just for starters, here are a few ‘rules’ that you would do well to take on board:

Don’t try to ride on the tail of what’s currently in fashion - by the time your novel is finished, never mind the time it takes between contract and launch - your piece will be outdated.

Don’t try to turn your own life-story into a novel - it doesn’t work. Draw on personal experience by all means but ‘true life’ into novel isn’t half as interesting as you may think.

Don’t bore the reader. Can your story retain the reader’s interest for 80,000 words?

Don’t try to base an entire novel on a single fragment of an idea. It may be a brilliant opening or closing scene, but without a detailed structure to unite ideas, characters, setting, drama, tension, plot and action, it will be extremely difficult to maintain the momentum.

Don’t get disheartened.

To return to the original question at the start of this piece and before doing anything else, let us identify our target reader. Few contemporary novels cover the whole spectrum of age, gender and literary style. Books written by younger authors tend to reflect the viewpoints of their own age group, while old favourites often appeal to much younger readers, as well as the older generation. Gratuitous sex and/or violence will have its own following and the writer must be able to differ¬entiate between the requirements of the various publishers, so be prepared to spend some time in your local bookstore and on the internet to find out who publishes what.

Thirdly, let’s try to establish who or what the novel is about. Some novels are plot-driven, others character-driven and to help us clarify which path we intend to take, it is a good idea to write a short ‘blurb’ for the story. In the publishing trade this is understood to be the short precise of the story, and examples can be found on the back cover of most paperback books. If you’re not sure, try to précis the novel in around 150 words. This will show whether the emphasis is a human interest story, action-packed thriller, a sex-romp, police procedural, adventure, etc.

Exercise: Who’s going to read my novel?

Forget what you’ve written so far and for your own benefit, write a synopsis and the first chapter of the novel.

Now describe your target market/genre where you think your finished typescript will be aimed and describe your target readership in terms of who you think will enjoy your book.

Which publishers have novels similar in approach to your own on their titles list?

Prepare a ‘blurb’ in no more than 150 words to show the outline for the story.

Prepare main character biographies for your two principal characters in less than 50 words for each.

Now try to give an indication of where you feel the novel has run out of steam.

If you require any further assistance with this session, message Suzanne Ruthven via Facebook and your questions will be answered as quickly as possible – time permitting. But please don’t ask me to read your typescript as this is time-consuming and very expensive.

December 2015 Update on SR Blog

As from 1st January 2016 I will be regularly updating my personal Blog to accommodate the various on-line writing groups I've joined and at the same time ceasing my connection with Compass Books as commissioning editor, having decided to concentrate on novel writing.  The first posting will be the first part of a six session workshop on 'Kick Starting the Novel'.

I have several Facebook pages that might be of interest:

http://www.facebook.com/CountryWriters
http://www.facebook.com/VampyresTale
http://www.facebook.com/BraithwaiteMysteryRuthven

The Country Writer's Craft

Have just created a new FB page to promote The Country Writer's Craft (Compass Books) and for all those who enjoy reading and writing about the countryside.  Lots of new photographs by Polly Langford.  Check it out at www.facebook.com/CountryWriters

How-to books for experienced writers – by experienced writers

Compass Books started off with a brand new concept – to publish how-to books that cater for more experienced writers as well as beginners.   The titles were commissioned from authors with plenty of personal experience in a particular genre who could identify with the writer aiming for a change of direction or intent on exploring new genres.   It was also evident from comments made by those providing the endorsements or advance reviews for new CB titles that even professional writers can always benefit from fresh ideas and viewpoints – and weren’t afraid to admit it!

In reality, no writer can exist for ever in a comfort cocoon of familiar marketplaces since editors are constantly changing, publishers frequently alter their focus, and all too often published authors find themselves redundant.   That’s why it’s necessary for relatively new or middle list authors to be constantly re-inventing themselves to stay ahead of these market changes.  Compass Points titles provide a cut-to-the-chase approach to how-to books that doesn’t rely on the usual beginners’ instruction in order to pad out the number of pages, and weigh-in at a mere 25,000 words packed with valuable advice – not padding.

For example, Suzanne Ruthven’s extensive experience as author, commissioning editor for a publishing house, and editor of a creative writing magazine shows exactly why typescripts are rejected and reveals this knowledge in a practical and entertaining way with ‘Compass Points: Creating Meaningful Dialogue’; or the full-length ‘How To Write For The How-To Market’ and ‘The Country Writer’s Craft’ that show you don’t have to be an expert on anything to write about it – just an understanding of the right approach.

While Simon Whaley gives us a crash-course with ‘Compass Points: Photography for Writers’ and explains why providing photographs to support your articles and features give added editor-appeal; Sarah-Beth Watkins advises on the right way to go about ‘Telling Life’s Tales’ and even ‘Life Coaching For Writers’, aimed specifically at more experienced writers who have had some success and want to move on from being an amateur scribbler to a professional writer.

It is also advisable to study the intricacies of specific genres of novel writing if that’s your plan.  Sally Spedding, herself author of eight paranormal, historical and psychological thrillers, and who has helped many writers achieve publishing success, leads us through the minefield of ‘How To Write A Chiller Thriller’, one of the most competitive genres in modern publishing. Or author Nik Morton’s popular ‘Write A Western in 30 Days’ that has been featured in several creative writing magazines.  Widely published author of books, stories and plays, Nicholas Corder tells us how to go about ‘Creating Convincing Characters’ and is currently working on ‘Writing Crime & Detection in Fact and Fiction’ – possibly the most popular genre of all.

Experienced writers don’t need to read about the basics of creative writing, they need to learn about the quirks and foibles of the new genre they wish to explore – and Compass Books provides that information.