Festive greetings

Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year from the team at Inscribe Media.

Jobs for your characters

When creating characters, it is worth remembering that they have jobs and should be regarded in that way. Understanding their roles helps bring stories to life and gives them depth.
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 who changes during the course of a story or novel. Sometimes a dynamic character is called a developing character

Foil - a character that is used to enhance another character through contrast

Static (or flat or stock) Character – a character that remains primarily the same throughout a story or novel

Confidante- someone in whom the central character confides, thus revealing the main character’s personality, thoughts, and intentions

They do overlap in some way - a flat character could be a foil as well – but 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

Young people turn to graphic novel to tackle exploitation

A group of young people has created a graphic novel that will help alert others in North Yorkshire to the risks of child sexual exploitation.
The graphic novel – a comic dealing with mature themes – is entitled Web of Lies and tells the story of Kelly, a 14-year-old, who is flattered when an older boy starts to pay attention to her. But the relationship spirals out of control as her boyfriend reveals a dark, controlling side.
It has been created by members of Safe and Sound, a group of young people who meet at Trax Centre in Harrogate with North Yorkshire County Council youth worker Sara Atkins, North Yorkshire Prevention Service, and commissioned by the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board as part of North Yorkshire’s child sexual exploitation multi-agency strategy.
The group discusses issues of personal safety and risky behaviour for young people in the Harrogate area. Combining their knowledge, research and consultation with other young people, they then design visual material that is not only appealing to young people but also has strong messages about staying safe.
Safe and Sound has previously been involved with an ITV Fixers campaign on the dangers of posting photographs on the internet and members have helped to organise two young people’s personal safety events in York.
They have also produced a previous graphic novel, It Started With A Kiss, which focused on domestic abuse and was used as a teaching tool in schools.
A spokesperson for the group said: “Exploitation in the early stages is difficult to recognise and young people need to notice the signs as early as possible, manage the risks and keep themselves safe. We were especially keen to help young people to understand the grooming process and the lengths that abusers will go to to gain full control of a young person.
“We wanted to create something different and more thought provoking; something that would help young people to recognise the signs of an exploitive relationship and the damaging and devastating effect that this can have, not just on themselves but also their friends and families.”
To write the story, the group undertook workshops, watched DVDs and spoke to a victim. The characters and the storyboard were designed, the story was split into scenes and these were photographed on location in Filey and Harrogate with the help of a photographer. One member of the group, Jack Lowerson, drew the more graphic scenes.
The novel will be used as part of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) lessons in schools and the group is now working on a school resource to use with the novel. Students will be able to take a copy of the novel home to read and refer back to if necessary.  The novel will also be used to support group work and one-to-one work with young people in statutory and voluntary settings across the county.
Members of the group are Beth Grace, Jack Lowerson, Alice McAvoy, Jamie Sockett, Owen Gregory, Sarah Embleton, Summer Godfrey, Elizabeth Myles, Chloe Newbould, Jack Hobson, Cian Yates-Lowe and Heather Schofield.

 

The picture shows: Members of the Safe and Sound group at the launch of Web of Lies: (back, from left) Cian Yates-Lowe, Heather Schofield and Owen Gregory, (front) Elizabeth Myles and Jack Lowerson. With them (from left) are artist Ross Anderson, Paul Carswell, Children and Young People’s Services divisional manager (west); Pete Dwyer, corporate director of Children and Young People’s Services; Sara Atkins, Professor Nick Frost, NYSCB independent chair; and Dallas Frank, safeguarding children board manager

So who can you trust?

I recently taught a course part of which focused on the unreliable narrator, a character who tells a story that the reader cannot take at face value. Now, I am working on a novel using a similar approach, which is proving great fun.
The technique has been used for many centuries but only became known as such in the 1960s. Sometimes, the narrator is unreliable by the nature of the character, such terrible people that they cannot tell their stories objectively and resort instead to lies and deceit.
There is another type of unreliable narrator. This narrator is unreliable due to having incomplete or incorrect information, although initially neither the narrator nor the readers is aware of this.
Or the unreliable narrator may simply be deluded, suffering perhaps from an illness which clouds judgement (dementia is becoming a popular theme for many writers).
All are terrific techniques but there are dangers. For a start, readers do not always understand that a narrator is unreliable. To counter that, the unreliability of the narrator can be gradually revealed as part of the resolution. It is important to plant clues along the way to ensure that the reader understands and perceives the situation in a way that the narrator does not.
How can a writer do this? There are a number of ways, including showing the reactions of other characters, thereby telling the reader that all is not as it seems.
Although usually, the unreliability of the narrator is gradually revealed, some writers opt for a revelation at the end which shocks the reader.

John Dean

The origin of ideas

I am interested in where writers’ ideas come from.
One of my big messages in my teaching is that writing has two sides -  technical (most writers can string words together in a competent fashion) and added value - the emotions, images, the concepts, that make what would be otherwise 'competent' writing jump off the page.
So where does that added value come from? Strong characters will provide it, yes, vivid description, of course, but also the power of the idea. Come up with a strong idea and it will take you a long way because the reader keeps thinking ‘that’s clever.’
So the question is where do your ideas come from? 
You can give your experience over at our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/inscribemedia

John Dean

Top writing tips

The great Ernest Hemingway had four tips for good writing. They were:

* Use short sentences - keeps the pace moving

* Use short first paragraphs - keeps the reader turning the page

* Use vigorous English - makes the stories live by infusing them with passion

* Be positive - telling people what is rather than what is not ie instead of saying that something is ‘inexpensive’ say it’s ‘economical’.

My four (not that I am comparing myself to the great man!) would be:

* Do not write for yourself, always write for the reader.

* Be disciplined - you may wish to pack lots of information in but does the reader need it?

* You may not have put enough information in - you can imagine where a scene is set but have you given the reader the information they need? You may have drawn a character but can your readers see them?

* Be brutal - if you have overwritten, chop out the fat.

The question is ‘what would your four top tips be?’

I have started a discussion at www.facebook.com/inscribemedia

 

John Dean

Getting your short story right

 Short story writing is a real art form. Here are some thoughts on how to get it right.

 

Have a clear theme. What is the story about? That doesn't mean what is the plot line but what do you want to say? Get this right and your story will have more resonance in the minds of your readers.

 

Focus. The best stories are the ones that follow a narrow subject line. Keep it simple, otherwise you end up with a novel!

 

An effective short story often covers a very short time span. It may be one single event that proves pivotal in the life of the character, and that event will illustrate the theme. If you go for a long period of time, make it pass quickly ie ‘The next year...’

 

Don't have too many characters. Each new character will bring a new dimension to the story, and for an effective short story too many diverse dimensions will dilute the theme.

 

Write in episodes - short chapters in effect.

 

Make every word count. There is no room for unnecessary expansion in a short story. If each word is not working towards putting across the theme, delete it.

John Dean