First crime fiction students enrol

The first students have started work on my online Crime Fiction Course.

The online course, which runs in eight parts and can begin at a time and date to suit the student, will help writers to improve their technique and improve their chances of being successful, either in competitions or admissions to publishers.

When they enrol, students will be offered ongoing one-to-one feedback on their work, be it short stories or novels.

There is no official certificate of qualification at the end of the course, which features:

• Personal attention

• Exercises and practical work

• Discussions by email

• Because the tutor is on line, you can do the work at time and pace that suits you

Themes to be included are:
An examination of where ideas come from - what triggers ideas in writers?

Once you have the idea, how do you develop it? The course will look at the art of  plotting

How can you use places and landscapes to aid your story telling?

How do you pick characters to do the job? What are their functions in storytelling? This will include a look at creating villains

How conflict can be used to develop stories that assume a life of their own

That all important start to your story - how do you grab the reader right from the off?

Writing with pace - how do you produce a narrative that keeps your reader turning the page?

Pulling it all together - how to produce the finished piece of work.

Editing - how to make those changes that make all the difference.

Pitching to publishers and agents

The course costs £75. For further details you can contact me at deangriss@btinternet.com

 

John Dean

Conflict in fiction

I teach a lot about the role of conflict in fiction, which is vital because stories need things to happen and that usually comes out of conflict.
It is through seeing characters in conflict that we see them at their truest, when their guard is down, when they are fighting something.  You can also develop a character through conflict: the meek little parlour maid suddenly becomes the towering heroine of the story Conflict also takes the story on: a school is to be closed, two friends fall out, a community is torn apart by an event. In addition, conflict can evoke a strong reaction in a reader and make for good drama.
It is said that there are seven types of conflict; personally, I would narrow it down to six:

Person vs. Self A person’s struggle with his or her own prejudices or doubts or character flaws

Person vs. Person The struggle with other people
Person vs. Society When the protagonist’s conflict extends to confronting institutions, traditions, or laws

Person vs. Nature The protagonist is pitted against nature (think Moby Dick).

Person vs. Supernatural - be it monsters or deities!

Person vs. Technology - maybe the machines will take over one day.

 

John Dean

Giving characters a job to do

Fiction writers employ a variety of characters while weaving their tales and it is useful to understand the role they play.

Beyond the standard definitions of protagonist (the main character) and antagonist (the main character or force that opposes the protagonist) there are four basic character types (the Americans claim seven but that’s over-egging things in my view):

Dynamic/Round Character - a well-drawn, rounded character which changes during the course of a story or novel. Sometimes a dynamic character is called a developing character. Example: Ebenezer Scrooge, in A Christmas Carol by Dickens. Miser to generous man.

Foil - a character that is used to enhance another character through contrast. Cinderella’s grace and beauty as opposed to her nasty, self-centered stepsisters is one clear illustration.
Static (or flat or stock) Character – a character that remains primarily the same throughout a story or novel. ie the villain.

Confidante- someone in whom the central character confides, thus revealing the main character’s personality, thoughts, and intentions. The confidante does not need to be a person. Could be a place, an inner voice.
They do overlap in some way - a flat character could be a foil as well and you could not have a character that is both static and dynamic.
The terms are useful for understanding a character and his place within the story. But, in the end, it is not about how a character can be named and classified.

I do not believe writing should be hide-bound by theory. Nevertheless, as a writer, it’s all about understanding the job characters do. It is also about recognising characters who do not do a job.

Example: in a recent novel, I had a climactic scene in a hospital but it was too long and loose because I had two characters who did not have a job - they provided information already supplied by others, created an atmosphere already created. They were in the way - taking them out gave the scene real pace and drama.

 

John Dean

Picking the right title

Recent weeks have seen me talking to a few writers about titles. Why? Well, yes, the story has to be good but a title, like a good opening line, can do a lot of work for the author when it comes to hooking the reader.

For me, it goes deeper. In my mind, the title has to be right for me to feel comfortable with the writing process.

So what does a good title need? Well, I would say some of the below would be a good start. A good title should/could:

* Be easy to remember. Yes, I know there have been successful books and stories with long titles but how many can you name? Go for no more than five words and even then you are pushing it (look at best-selling books and you will not see that many more than three). There are exceptions, I know. The Spy who Came in from the Cold springs to mind but for every long title that sticks in the memory there‘s an awful lot are lost.

* Be appropriate to what you are writing. I learned this lesson from my publisher, Robert Hale. I wrote a novel which I wanted to call Ghosts, which they asked to be changed because it made it sound like a ghost story, which it wasn’t. It ended up called The Long Dead, which I think works much better. Interestingly, during the writing, the title had not felt right anyway. The Long Dead did.

* Pose questions. Something that makes you wonder. Taking The Long Dead as an example, who are long dead? Why are they long dead? How did they die? If they are long dead, why do we care now?

* Maybe go for a name of a person  - think Harry Potter  - and maybe make it a possessive title - think Angela’s Ashes. Or maybe a place. Think Northanger Abbey. Or a thing - Diamonds are Forever.

* Maybe pick a line from the work itself such as They Shoot Horses, Don't They? And yes, it is long but it’s easily remembered.

As with everything in writing, there are no golden rules other than if it works, do it.

 

John Dean

Learning from the best

Came across an article on the excellent Guardian website, in which writers explained their approach to the job. Here are one or two of the quotes; be interested to see what other people think about their own process: Taken together, they add up to a template for writers.

AL Kennedy: “Sitting alone in a room for hours while essentially talking in your head about people you made up earlier and then writing it down for no one you know does have many aspects which are not inherently fulfilling. Then again, making something out of nothing, overturning the laws of time and space, building something for strangers just because you think they might like it and hours of absence from self – that’s fantastic. And then it’s over, which is even better. I'm with RLStevenson – having written – that's the good bit.”

Hari Kunzru: “I get great pleasure from writing, but not always, or even usually. Writing a novel is largely an exercise in psychological discipline – trying to balance your project on your chin while negotiating a minefield of depression and freak-out. … But when you're in the zone, spinning words like plates, there's a deep sense of satisfaction and, yes, enjoyment…”

John Banville: “The struggle of writing is fraught with a specialised form of anguish, the anguish of knowing one will never get it right, that one will always fail, and that all one can hope to do is ‘fail better’, as Beckett recommends. The pleasure of writing is in the preparation, not the execution, and certainly not in the thing executed.”

Joyce Carol Oates: “Most writers find first drafts painfully difficult, like climbing a steep stairs, the end of which isn't in sight. Only just persevere! Eventually, you will get where you are gong, or so you hope. And when you get there, you will not ask why? – the relief you feel is but a brief breathing spell, before beginning again with another inspiration, another draft, another steep climb.”

Geoff Dyer: “When I was young, I thought that the fun part of writing would be the "creative" bit, making stuff up and inventing things. The older I've got, the less fun this has become. I dread it. The part I enjoy is the re-writing. Increasingly, I enjoy the dullest, most clerical stages of the process. Having said that, there always comes a point, after I've amassed enough material and can start knocking it into shape, when I begin looking forward to working on something.”

Julie Myerson: “writing gives me such enormous pleasure, and I'm a much happier (and therefore nicer) person when I'm doing it. There's a place in my head that I go to when I write and it's so rich and unexpected – and scary sometimes – but never ever dull. …It is a joyous thing. I feel very lucky to be paid to do it, but even if I'd never been published, I think I'd still be writing. I love being read, but the person I'm really always writing for is me.”

John Dean

Writing good science fiction

I grew up on sci-fi, particularly the works of Andre Norton with a bit of Isaac Asimov thrown in (although Andre Norton was always my favourite). Since then, I have keep an eye on the sci-fi world and have, on occasion, taught on the subject as well.

My take (based on my observations and what other writers say) to create good sci-fi includes:

* The best science fiction writers create fantastic worlds but write about them as if they were completely normal. You need to do so as well.

* Make sure the reader is able to suspend disbelief. The plot and events need to be believable.

* Base your ideas on good science - that is what makes the best sci-work, it could happen.  If a story comes over as impossible, you are moving into fantasy rather than sci-fi.

* Science fiction must evoke a sense of wonder in the reader. They must want to be in that remarkable world, to meet aliens, to travel in time and space.

* Be visual - you can see what is happening, make sure we can as well.

* Awe and wonder is all very well but what is also needed is a command of writing: a hatful of bug-headed aliens does not negate the need for skilful writing.

So what makes for bad science fiction? Well, the great Science Fiction editor John W Campbell said that a science fiction writer should never put beings into a story that are so far superior to Man that we cannot understand their motives, we cannot overcome their will or we cannot meet them face to face in a fair fight. It’s a rule that stands true today.

I would add:

* Don’t try to re-create popular sci-fi stories - we do not need another Star Wars. You can be more original than that!

* Make your aliens alien - be original, it’s not enough to give them a pointy head. Think it through, make them realistic.

*  No, it wasn’t a dream - keep loyal to the genre, no one waking up to discover they were in bed all the time.

John Dean

I am getting plenty of interest in my Crime Fiction Course. The online course, which runs in eight parts and can begin at a time and date to suit the student, will help writers to improve their technique and improve their chances of being successful, either in competitions or admissions to publishers.

When they enroll, students will be offered ongoing one-to-one feedback on their work, be it short stories or novels.

There is no official certificate of qualification at the end of the course, which will be led by myself and features:

• Personal attention

• Exercises and practical work

• Discussions by email

• Because the tutor is on line, you can do the work at time and pace that suits you

Themes to be included are:
An examination of where ideas come from - what triggers ideas in writers?

Once you have the idea, how do you develop it? The course will look at the art of  plotting

How can you use places and landscapes to aid your story telling?

How do you pick characters to do the job? What are their functions in storytelling? This will include a look at creating villains

How conflict can be used to develop stories that assume a life of their own

That all important start to your story - how do you grab the reader right from the off?

Writing with pace - how do you produce a narrative that keeps your reader turning the page?

Pulling it all together - how to produce the finished piece of work.

Editing - how to make those changes that make all the difference.

Pitching to publishers and agents

The course costs £75. For further details you can contact me at deangriss@btinternet.com

John Dean