How to Write Fiction by Gurmeet Mattu - HTML preview

FLORA: Don’t you listen to him, Billy, he’s sick.

DOC: Not at all, I’m the young fella’s guru, teaching him the ways of the world. Who introduced you to the mysteries of the nurses’ quarters, Billy ? Who’s going to get you educational DVDs?

BILLY: You’re taking yer own sweet time about them.

DOC: I’m trying to get the latest releases for you, with all the new moves and grips.

FLORA: I can understand a young fella like Billy being obsessed, Doc, but a man your age.

DOC: I can’t help it, Flora, it’s that bum of yours, it drives me wild. In fact, I don’t even think of it as a bum, more of a leisure centre.

FLORA: Is that all you pathetic buggers think about, bottoms?

DOC: Not at all. There’s bosoms. We often think of bosoms.

FLORA: See, I told you, the drink has gone straight to your head.

DOC: (WEARILY) We should never have given them the vote, Billy. But she’s right, there’s a long night ahead of us, we should eat, put a lining on our stomachs. What flavour of crisps do you want ?

FADE DOWN

Notice that here I’m just setting the scene with no reference to any plot that is to follow. An audience will allow you a little time to do this, but I would have to set up some conflict fairly quickly after this to maintain the listener’s interest. The alternative is to start of by asking the big question the plot poses, and then returning to paint the characters. Both methods are valid.

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The extract from DOC is there to prove that you can paint characters with dialogue, you don’t need description. The joy of dialogue is that one character can pass comment on another, which reveals elements of the personalities of both.

EXERCISES

Your Exercises for this Module are as follows :-

Write a 3 minute radio dialogue (approx. 3 pages) between 2 characters on the the phone to each other. They are army buddies who haven’t seen each other for 10 years. Use the dialogue to paint a picture of each character and what has happened to them during that decade.

The two above characters now meet up in a pub with their respective spouses. Write a scene for a stage play of this meeting, relying mostly on dialogue rather than action, though action (eg one character going to the bar for a drink can allow you to focus the dialogue of the remaining characters). The relationship between the characters is entirely up to you.

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MODULE 7 [Structure]

The reason structure is so important to the writer is that try as he may he is locked into it, because readers, listeners and viewers have an expectation of how a narrative is going to play out.

Yes, you can try to be clever and break the rules of structure, many have done it before you, but in the end run what proves popular is a three act structure with a protagonist in conflict with an antagonist. Learn how to do this well and you can experiment as you please, but learn to master the creation of structure before you proceed.

It is a common flaw with novice writers that they claim structure stifles creativity. This is nonsense and immature. Structure enhances creativity. How hard do you have to engage the creative process if you have unlimited scope for a screenplay? And how much harder do you have to work if I tell you we only have the budget for a cast of four and six locations?

Yes, structure imposes discipline, but the experienced writer does not regard it as his enemy, but his friend.

Once you gain experience you won’t even think about structure, it will come as naturally to you as breathing. Only now, as you learn your trade, will you have to concentrate on moulding your work into a recognisable form.

Structure can be imposed before the writing process begins or in the sub-editing. Only you will discover which method suits you.

So, what is structure? Simple, a beginning, a middle and an end. So, what’s all the fuss about?

Because, funnily enough, a lot of people don’t understand what these things mean. That’s it, nothing complicated about it. You can have three protagonists and a veritable host of problems but that is the essence of structure and it’s that way for a reason. The reader wants and expects the hero to solve the problem but he does not want it done easily. There must be a logical progression, and mistakes made, before he arrives at the correct solution. And sometimes he doesn’t, sometimes he fails. This is perfectly allowable, but leaves the reader dissatisfied.

And the beauty of structure is that it is flexible. You could open your piece with the escalation of the problem, another murder perhaps, because this has dramatic impact to hook the reader, and then return in flashback to what has happened previously. Again, this is allowable, but the structure remains.

Let’s apply this to a love story.

If boy loves girl and girl loves boy and they both live happily ever after, there’s hardly a story worth telling.

BUT

If we throw in a problem or conflict we have the makings of drama.

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So, the boy has a rival, an utter rotter, but much better looking than our hero and favoured by our maiden.

How does he win her hand?

Well, obviously, he goes and tells her that the other guy is no good and that’s the end of that.

I think not. She can’t believe him, it’s too easy. So, how does he convince her about his own merits, and the black heart of his rival?

A classic twist is for the rival to try and destroy the hero’s chances and by his actions reveal his own worth.

This is good, but our man must take positive action to solve the problem too or he will seem weak.

And, if we stick to classic structure, at some point in the middle of our tale our hero must be close to success, before another problem throws his plans awry.

If you can impose structure on your work it makes no difference if it is well written or achieves success, it is a professionally written piece of work and will be appreciated for that alone. The only thing I would advise is not to make your structure too visible. The skeleton is meant to be under the skin.

To up the ante you should also aim to have a beginning, middle and end within each act, so that they could almost stand alone as stories. This is difficult to achieve, but will leave readers marvelling at the richness of your imagination and writing skills.

As with every other element of these Modules, the only way you’re going to achieve any level of competence is by writing and experimenting. Don’t think of structure and write a short story. Now, if you go back and analyse it you may well find that you have adhered to the rules of structure anyway. Just as readers are programmed to expect a classic structure, so you too as a reader and a writer are subconsciously wired to expect certain things from a drama.

There is a place for stories with different or even no structures and this type of experimental writing appeals to many, but I would implore anyone to learn their craft before embarking on any experimental voyages.

Often the writer will find that what he started off with great idealistic hopes as a stream-of-consciousness novel ends up with a three act structure despite his best efforts.

There really is nothing new under the sun, everything’s been tried before.

The whole function of the writer is to be read and if he creates something which he alone regards as a masterpiece while being shunned by the rest of the world, he has failed, and miserably at that.

EXERCISES

Take one of the Sherlock Holmes short stories. Extract the structure from it. That is, identify where the beginning ends and the middle begins and so on. Identify too where Conan Doyle throws in his problem escalation in the second act.

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MODULE 8 [Tempo]

Tempo and pace will define one of the ways your reader absorbs your material. As the writer you are in charge of putting thoughts into your reader’s mind, to play with his emotions. It is a great responsibility and must be dealt with as such.

Whatever tempo you wish to achieve within the reader, you as the writer must remain static, if only to stay unmoved by the drama that is unfolding. There is no fault in becoming excited by your work, just don’t become overexcited and lose track of what you’re actually trying to achieve.

So, how do you vary the tempo of what you write?

The answer is in length. The length of words and the length of sentences. Short words and short sentences increase speed, whereas long words and sentences slow it down. Sentences can be elongated by the judicious use of adjectives and adverbs, and the addition of description. This is true of both dialogue and action. Note the following :-

She got up.

She rose from her seat.

She shifted her weight and casually climbed from the chair.

Tempo can play an important part in setting a mood. The modern reader tends to speed-read, skipping over passages they regard as too wordy or descriptive. They are quite prepared to let their own mind fill in the gaps, so the opportunities to vary pace are limited, but there is still a place for deliberately slowing down action for dramatic purposes. This could be the prelude to a romantic scene or to lull the reader into a false sense of tranquility before some violent episode.

Varying tempo in dialogue is a more difficult procedure because it depends so much on the character that is speaking the lines. For instance an old lady is unlikely to speak in short, clipped and staccato sentences whereas a gang boss might. At the same time, a middle class, middle aged housewife might change her speech patterns during a period of stress. All these elements must be borne in mind, because your characters make their own demands and may not wish to accommodate your need to speed up your prose.

Time and place will also be factors here. Speech patterns vary through time and the historical novel may set its tone with lengthy and elaborate dialogue whereas the cyber punk novel demands punchy and perhaps earthy speech. In fact, within the realms of science fiction the writer may even invent new languages or modes of speech, and some writers find this level of control very attractive. The chance to create a whole 32

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new world, inhabited by people with alien cultures, languages, tastes, economics, education, entertainment, and perhaps even means of reproduction is a challenge every writer should face up to at some point because it will teach you

how each element you invent is reliant on other factors, and that is just as true in writing.

The two elements which will impact on the tempo of your writing are your own writing style and the type of material you are writing. While never encouraging you to be untrue to yourself I would suggest that you stick with the demands of the piece if you can. After all, there is no real reason to attempt a historical romance if you feel most comfortable with a fast paced western. Though, of course, the old west is now strictly speaking historical and they must have had romance then, so a fast paced romantic western is quite viable. I might attempt a page or two, just for the fun of it, but good luck if you want to give it a crack.

The reader’s needs must be considered and demands that you begin your piece with a middling pace and only vary the tempo for effect. To begin with a slow pace may bore the reader and to attack the reader with pace may frighten them off as they struggle to catch up with you.

I am not for a minute suggesting that this should tie you down. As the writer you are the boss and how you write is entirely up to yourself. I am only suggesting a sensible way to proceed. But do remember to consider the reader and how he will perceive your work. If you write only for yourself that is a different matter, but if like most you’d like to be read, remember that readers need to be seduced by your words.

EXERCISES

Write an account of your day’s events (500 words). This should include at least one conversation you had.

Write this in your normal voice at your natural tempo.

Now, rewrite this twice, firstly at a fast tempo (300 words) and secondly at a slow tempo (700 words).

Take a short story you know well and analyse it to see what tempo it is written in. Try to rewrite passages in a different tempo while retaining the flavour.

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MODULE 9 [Synopses]

Don’t panic, this is a very short Module with a very simple Exercise to follow.

All that a synopsis is is a short sketch of your work. Publishers and such like it because it saves them having to read novels in full. It must, therefore, include all the elements of your story. That is characters, setting and events.

I don’t believe a synopsis should be much longer than 500 words but it is essential that it includes all that’s best in your work. Think of it as an advertisement for your piece. If they’re going to buy your book, they have to be convinced by your ad.

Sometimes the writer finds himself too close to his work to synopsise it. He has a few alternatives to consider. Firstly, he can put the work aside for a period and return to it with a fresh mind.

Secondly, he can ask a friend to read it and write the synopsis.

Thirdly, he can go back to the original plot he wrote and with a few additions, and providing he has not strayed too far, submit that as the synopsis.

Don’t try and tell the publisher his job in your synopsis. Don’t suggest your work’s potential market, or claim that it is a blockbuster just waiting to hit the bookshelves. On the other side of the coin, don’t use your synopsis to beg. Have some pride in your work and let it stand up for itself.

EXERCISES

Pick one of your favourite novels. Reread it. Now write a 500 word synopsis.

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MODULE 10 [Style]

Every part of the writing process interacts and crosses over with others. So narrative and plot have links with structure and dialogue depends on character. In the same way Style and your Voice are similar but not interchangeable. To put it in a human context, the way you speak need not reflect the way you dress.

Your writing style is where you bring together all your skills in creating characters, situations and dialogue and combine them with your own personal flair to entertain your audience. Try not to be too precious about this, even if you are writing high literature, in the end run we are no more than song and dance men who are given a chance to appear on a stage and perform for a time.

My own take on it is that even if I am but a song and dance man, the skill to perform has been given to me by God and I will be the best hoofer I can be.

You may think I’m stalling here, and you’d be right, because style, like your voice, is something you must develop yourself. I can’t teach you style any more than I can teach you how to have one leg shorter than the other, though I might be able to teach you how to limp. All I can do is point you in the direction of styles you might wish to emulate. Again, your own personal preferences, your favourite authors, will play a part, but even if you begin with basic mimicry, work it till you find your own style.

Okay, I’m going to start with some best-seller thriller style. Try to see what and why I’m writing here.

Charlie sat down opposite Len.

“Why did you come?”

“You know I had to.”

“No I don’t. You had the chance to escape, why didn’t you take it?”

“Jeeze, Charlie, don’t make me say it.”

“Say what? That you felt guilty? Cause I don’t buy it, not after what you did.”

“You’re a shit.”

“I try my best.”

Notice that after the briefest of set ups the rest of the piece consists solely of dialogue. This is a novel written by a guy looking to sell a screenplay. It’s sharp and quick and that’s what the modern reader is looking for. But there are other styles this could be written in.

Charlie sat down opposite Len.

“Why did you come?” he asked, and his voice was cold and brittle.

“You know I had to.”

“No I don’t. You had the chance to escape, why didn’t you take it?”

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Len shifted uneasily in his seat. “Jeeze, Charlie, don’t make me say it.”

“Say what? That you felt guilty? Cause I don’t buy it, not after what you did.”

“You’re a shit.” Len felt the venom welling up within him, the anger returning. He’d had enough of this charade and was determined to wipe the smug smile from the bigger man’s face.

“I try my best,” Charlie smirked.

Better or worse? Is there really that much in it? Adding a little description slows it down a tad but allows me to fill in a little more detail of the relationship between the two men. This is a style that comes from a slightly earlier age and might appeal to a slightly older reader, but it’s hardly prehistoric. For my taste I’d use both of the above styles in one piece to vary the tempo. Others might wish to add further levels of description and more dialogue which would slow things down further but would impart more information to the reader. Note for instance that I have given no description of the surroundings this conversation takes place in. Neither have I given any character descriptions. As the writer you have to make decisions constantly about how relevant each ‘scene’ is. Is the above conversation worthy of half a page? Or would that throw other elements of my piece out of kilter?

To the casual reader these things are unimportant but to the writer these are the nuts and bolts he must master if he wants to succeed. You must get into the habit of constantly analysing what you write and ultimately edit it, which is where you may be required to murder your babies.

Okay, Charlie and Len are boring me, so we’ll leave them sitting there having their tiff and move on.

The starship was immense, a huge silver disc which filled the sky. So large in fact that the mind couldn’t give it exact dimension. John had never seen anything so big, no natural formation like a mountain and certainly nothing man-made. Even with all his time in the cities, with their megabuildings there was nothing to match this and he felt himself tremble at the powers that must have been required in its construction. A warm breeze brushed his face, was this coming from the ship? He couldn’t tell. But the noise, the deep rumbling roar, that definitely came from the belly of that great beast. He wanted to run, but it was as if the entire weight of the great flying machine was resting atop him and transfixing him to the spot.

Acceptable? Okay, let’s try again.

It was big. Bigger than he could imagine, this sky machine. John shook. He had seen many things during his time in the cities but this was different. Nothing like this could exist in his world.

It was unnatural. To go with its sky swamping size there came a dull rumble that shook the very earth. Fear gripped him, but he couldn’t move. And the hot brush of air could only carry the scent of his fear.

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Same subject, same events, described differently. No dialogue, but that was deliberate, because you get a better chance to exhibit style with pure prose.

My purpose in writing these pieces for you is to show how content and style are interlinked. You must consider your content when deciding your style. Define your style and then develop it. But remember that your prime task is in transmitting information, your story. Style must never overwhelm content. Where elaborate style enhances, use it, but where it merely fulfills your vanity, forget it.

EXERCISES

Yeah, you know what I’m going to ask you to do. Take the Charlie and Len incident and rewrite it in a very archaic style. It might help to think of these two as medieval knights In the second piece, rewrite with the John character becoming Jean. It could be rewritten in exactly the same way, but I want you to try and impose a specifically female style to differentiate from my versions.

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MODULE 11 [Drama]

It’s amazing the number of writers who become fixated on pure prose, believing that the only avenues open to them are the novel or the short story.

This is arrant nonsense. If you are a creative writer you must be able to write anything, and that includes comic books, stage plays, TV scripts, movie screenplays and even the text on the back of your breakfast cereal packet.

For this Module I want you to consider becoming a dramatist. The dramatist is one who writes for actors to perform his words. This puts a layer between the writer and his audience, but the intelligent actor will consult the writer before delivering his interpretation. The three main avenues for the dramatist are theatre, radio and TV/cinema, and each impose different disciplines and skills which you must learn if you wish to enter this field. This is not the place for an extended education in the arts of the dramatist, only a brief introduction to other roads the creative writer may walk.

Let us take writing for the theatre first. Stagecraft is fascinating and frightening. The writer, introvert by nature, is thrust into a world of dramaturges, actors, directors, stage managers and most scary, audiences.

The writer finds his true worth as he awaits the response of a live audience. Give him applause and he walks on air, give him silence and he hangs his head, but boos would surely lead to an appointment with his maker. It takes a brave writer who is willing to take on that challenge, but the risk is worth the prize.

The first thing we must establish is that the dramatist is dialogue driven. Even in film, where the credo is

‘show it, don’t tell it’ it is dialogue which drives the narrative. With theatre, there are limitations on what action can be performed on a live stage, and with radio there is little else available apart from dialogue.

Long descriptive passages describing scenery will get short shrift in the theatre where budgets might be limited; in radio they are irrelevant and in TV and cinema they are more than likely going to be decided by a set designer anyway who will want to bring his own art to the production.

So drama really is the place for the dialogue specialist. The most dialogue heavy medium is radio, where not much other than sound effects or incidental music is available to the listener.

The challenge for the writer is in dealing with such prosaic matters as a character entering a scene. Within a novel he could merely state that Jim came into the room at that point, and with theatre, TV and cinema it is perfectly obvious that Jim has arrived. It’s only with the unnatural medium of radio that we have a problem.

For another character to blandly announce, ‘Oh, here’s Jim’ only works so often and we need to work out other strategies to signpost arrivals and departures. A slamming door sound effect may announce an arrival or departure but not which character it applies to.

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For my first radio play I decided to cheat (mainly because I didn’t know any better) and made most of the piece consist of an exchange of letters between two characters. There’s a clue there, keep the number of characters in a radio play to a minimum and give them distinctive voices. This might mean male and female, old and young, different classes and the variety of regional accents available throughout the English speaking world. A dialogue between an old man, middle class from Birmingham, England, and a young, female, working class, Australian should leave the listener with few doubts.

But even though largely limited to dialogue, do try to break it up with intelligent use of sound effects and music. Sound effects do not necessarily mean explosions and squealing tyres, a quietly dripping tap can speak volumes.

In another radio play I had my lead character cook a curry for his niece. Let me tell you that the sound of Indian cooking differs not a jot from any other cuisine.

The primary market for radio writing is BBC Radio and their website has ample information on the craft of radio writing, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. The positive side is that the range of plays the BBC produces means there are usually opportunities for writers willing to step outside the comfort zone.

Oops, I digressed again, I was meant to be talking about theatre.

The primary problem with writing for theatre is the sheer physical difficulties that performing on a stage impose. The novel and the screenplay may allow you to have your spaceship landing, but physics and finance make it difficult on stage unless you’re working on a big west end show.

You’re unlikely to start there as a playwright, you’re more likely to find an opening with a small, local, community theatre. They’re often looking for contemporary plays because they’re fed up with doing Shakespeare or the other classics. But big name plays, by big name playwrights, cost big cheque royalties.

So, a community group may be willing to pay you a small amount to write a play for them. They live in hope that they might unearth a gem, written by an unknown genius, and have their name permanently linked to it; and you have the opportunity of putting your work in front of an audience and also gaining publicity.

Local newspapers love a story about the local boy making good.

I would advise getting to know your local drama group if possible. Their range of abilities are going to be presenting your work, so you really need to know what they’re capable of. If you write to their strengths you may just be on to a winner. Try to make your subject locally relevant as well, as this will help in pulling an audience as well as sparking media interest. Check your local newspaper and see what issues are irking the local yokels - a motorway bypass? Dogs fouling footpaths? Rowdy kids? They’re all potential subjects for a play.

C’mon, you may say, a play about dogshit?

Yep, I could do it, I’d make it a comedy, and it would sell.

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In the world of TV and cinema, because the rewards are so high, the competition is brutal, and I wouldn’t advise even attempting these markets until you have a decent track record behind you.

In any case, most production companies won’t look at unsolicited script unless it comes through an agent, and we’re not at that stage yet.

If you really must tilt at windmills try writing a sitcom for television. A half hour programme only requires a 30 page script, so it’s not going to kill you timewise and because there are so many TV production companies, you might manage to sneak something through. I’d try my hand at gag writing for a sketch show first though, just to ensure you have the comic muse.

Remember this - every line of dialogue in a sitcom script must either move the plot forward, be the set up line for a gag, or be the punchline to a gag. Nothing else.

The downside is that just about every possible subject matter has been mined for sitcom material so finding something new to cover is going to be difficult, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try.

For s