Phillip Williams - Author
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Starting book number one, I was supposed to just write a novel start to finish, not worrying about grammar or plot holes, etc. Then put it away for six months and return to it with fresh eyes to analyse. The act of finishing the novel supposedly giving me the power to know that I can.
Along the way though, I am teaching myself things that I would like to adopt as I write. This might be slowing the process down somewhat but I think it will be even more beneficial for me in the long run. Thus, I’ve started reading up on point-of-view writing techniques and how to build tension in my prose. I’ve watched a few videos on YouTube from the Author Learning Centre who interview established authors to get their perspectives. I’ve also read some interesting articles covering the subject. The general consensus that I gleaned from this was that a writer should stick to either the first person, or the third person. Only switching between the two if you know how to pull it off. A nod to the book Stone Cold by Robert Swindells. A great read that I would recommend. If you are new to the concept, then just briefly if you write in the first person then you tell the story through the eyes of the character; I did this, I did that, I am, etc. If you write in the third person then you are writing about the characters from an outside perspective; they did this, they did that, they are. There is also tense: past, present, future. I’ve yet to see a novel written solely in the future tense. I imagine that would be an incredibly difficult read. Basically, past tense is when you write about something that has happened, present tense is when you write about something that is currently happening, future tense when it has not yet occurred. You probably already knew that. So, to put all of that into context, I am writing my book in the third person in the past tense (and that last sentence was in the first person in present tense. Mind. Blown.) and I have found it a challenge to keep myself from doing what we authors call ‘head-hopping, where you are writing from multiple character perspectives in one scene. Ideally, I would like to limit this as much as possible because it makes it confusing for the reader. In chapter three, which I have just finished, I fell victim to this. Therefore, I will be going back and re-wording it. I still want to tell that scene from different perspectives but they don’t warrant their own chapters individually. So… what do I do to combat this? Easy, split it up. Compartmentalise. Leave a couple of lines with a spacer to indicate that the reader is about to change perspective. So, I am going to do that and I’ll let you know how I get on. Now, about building tension. How does perspective help with that? You can build tension by leaving things out. A good story doesn’t give you the entire thing on a plate. How many times have you been in touch with your insurance company to get a quotation and they’ve read out the terms and conditions to you? Have you understood everything and taken everything in first time? I very much doubt it, because it’s not interactive… it’s not engaging. Writing is about leaving things to the reader’s imagination and getting them immersed in the world you have created for them. The more you leave out, the more the reader will cook up their own stories in their heads and they will want to get to the end to find out what happened. Usually, they’ll do this to find out if their interpretation was correct. Another trick would be to anticipate what the reader might think, or manipulate it by pushing it in one direction and then flip it on its head and add a twist. Experienced writers add multiple twists. I’m likely to stick with just the one for now, though… although I haven’t figured out for myself what that twist will be just yet. I’m learning so much about my characters as I write about them. What I need to do is just slow down. I hope this has been helpful for you. Any thoughts? Anything to add? Let me know. Until next time!
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I want to talk today about dialogue.
It's a challenge I'm facing at the moment because I just love a book that can make conversations seem real. It's so easy to fall into the rhythm of something like below: "What's that you have, there?" asked Mr. Y. "Just a report I'm about to hand in to the boss." Mr. X replied, showing him his report on last week's sales figures. "I've just run the exact same report" Mr. Y. responded. "Oh, dear." said Mr. X. "Yeah." Mr. Y replied. See... not particularly dynamic and as I am sure all authors/writers would agree, I really don't want readers switching off simply because of bland dialogue. So I've been doing what I do best. Research! Yes, that old chestnut again. It should be an aspect of everything you endeavour to do and I cannot stress that enough! "Dialogue is easy, It's what you've been doing almost every day, most of your life" - Josip Novakovich Very good point Mr. Novakovich. Execution, on the other hand is a different matter. A lot of you might be thinking along the lines of 'well, you could use different words instead of said... like whispered, shouted, chortled, etc. to add flare'. You would be right in suggesting that. However, I learned about that at age eleven and it's time to step it up a notch. So, how else do you dress it up? From articles I've read, and books that I've read myself, it lies within setting the scene. Dialogue is part of it but shouldn't be relied on solely to tell the entire story. For instance, silence is sometimes even more powerful. Consider this: "What's that you have, there?" Mr. Y asked. "Just a report to hand in to the boss. How about you?" Asked Mr. X, showing him his report on last week's sales figures and nodding towards Mr. Y's file. Mr. Y. didn't respond. He glanced at his own document, it was the exact same information. He ran his fingers through his hair. He had just wasted an entire afternoon, his boss was going to be livid. "Oh, dear." said Mr. X. "Yeah." Mr. Y replied through gritted teeth. This is already showing much more because Mr. Y.'s silence adds emotion and adding a little context. Now, going back to what I said about setting the scene. It's important that dialogue is contextual. Dialogue doesn't occur in a blank space, it is spoken and influenced by many external factors like where it is being spoken (you speak more quietly on the train or in a library than you do on a busy street, for example). Like so: The office was sweltering, it was forty degrees Celsius outside and the large office windows were acting like a greenhouse. Mr. Y had the task of running the report for last week's sales figures and he had already spent an hour and a half compiling the documents. The air conditioning unit had been out all morning. An engineer had been called but there was no way they could get one to come out on such short notice. Mr. Y could already feel the beads of sweat starting to collect in the small of his back. Now he was stood at the printer which was old and slow. He swore under his breath. He really detested Mondays. At least the end of the day was drawing near, only a couple of hours and he could finally get out of this hell-hole. At least his bosses would be off his back until at least Wednesday after he handed them this report. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. Mr. Y collected the report from the printer, headed over to the desk and started stapling. He tilted his head and saw that Mr. X was coming along the corridor clutching a thick envelope. Mr. Y nodded in acknowledgement. On a personal level, he couldn't stand Mr. X. He was such an ass-kisser at work, a real pain in the neck but Mr. Y had to be civil. "What's that you have, there?" Mr. Y asked. "Just a report to hand in to the boss. How about you?" Asked Mr. X, showing him his report on last week's sales figures and nodding towards Mr. Y's file. Mr. Y. didn't respond. He glanced at his own document, it was the exact same information. He ran his fingers through his hair. He had just wasted an entire afternoon, his boss was going to be livid. "Oh, dear." said Mr. X. "Yeah." Mr. Y replied through gritted teeth. His fingernails starting to pierce the flesh in his palm. Mr. Y is not having a good day. Also, notice that I ended the prose with dialogue. This is not an unnatural thing to do. It adds suspense... what happened next? Did Mr. Y flip out like an insane person? Did he keep his cool and calmly tell Mr. X that he was given the task, so it should be his report that gets handed in? Nobody will ever know. So, as you can see there is a lot of fun you can have with dialogue. In the end, although the dialogue is showing a conversation, it is not the main focus of the story at hand. The main focus is about how you feel about Mr. Y's turmoil. That's the way I like to write, evoking emotion. I'm sure there is an awful lot more to playing around with dialogue but I'm going to leave that for another blog piece. I can't keep you coming back for more if I give it all to you at once now, can I? #HonestBlogger Let me know your thoughts, anyway. I want to know what you think. Until next time! Riddle me this! When is a chapter not a chapter? When it's a prologue! So how do you define which one it's going to be? Well, you need to find out what the definition of each is before you can make the call. So, the Oxford Dictionary defines both of them as such: Chapter - noun - A main division of a book, typically with a number or title Prologue - noun - A separate introductory section of a literary, dramatic or musical work So, first off the bat it's pretty obvious that a prologue comes before anything else, just like an epilogue would be at the end. However, we are still no closer to finding out if our Chapter 1 should actually be a prologue or not. Great work oxford dictionary! Wait though! We can actually break this down even further. A chapter is a main division whereas a prologue is a separate introduction. The main words to focus on here being main division and separate. So, what are you writing? Is your first section a part of the main story? Or is it a separate story to which the main story will relay back to? Let's contextualise that and say that your first section refers to Hercules, son of the ancient Greek God, Zeus. You speak of his trials and tribulations; how he defeated the Nemean Lion, the Hydra and the gargantuan cyclops and was the epitome of strength. You then cut to your second chapter which follows the footsteps of a young boy called James who idealises Hercules and wants to find proof of his existence. So, James embarks upon a quest to do just that. In this instance - the first section would be a prologue. Now, on the flip side, if your first section went straight into James' story and it started with something along the lines of: Ever since I was a kid and saw the Disney classic Hercules at the theatre, I wanted to believe that he existed. Legend says he defeated the Lernaean Hydra whose heads would duplicate when decapitated. He defeated the Nemean Lion whose golden fur was impervious to human weapons, later wearing it as armour. He was the true god of strength and a divine protector of all mankind. So, what if I could find evidence? Not just legendary artwork and scriptures but cold hard evidence? Well, last year I embarked upon a journey to do just that. This is my story. You guessed it! That would (after much padding out by describing the scene and the character, etc.) be Chapter 1. Note that I have not used a single source other than that of the Oxford English Dictionary for this thesis... so I invite you to debate! Do you agree? I'll let you guys and girls have-at-it in the comment's section! Thanks for reading... until next time! Get the reference?
I simply cannot help myself! If you've been keeping up with my blog, you will know that I'm supposed to be writing book number one as basic as possible. Just to be able to give me the power to know that I can actually finish writing a novel. I've got one issue with it... it's the fact that I want everything that I'm writing to be as factually accurate as possible. For example, my character at some point during the book is going to have a mental breakdown...or shattered nerves, as the professionals call it. How do I know they don't call it a breakdown? Research! I've looked into signs and symptoms of shattered nerves; the early signs to watch out for; I've got the web address for the site saved into my favourites. To friends and family who might catch a glimpse of my search history, I'm fine, please don't worry! In addition to this, I'm looking up geographical locations, making sure they fit the look I'm going for (thank you Google Street View, you've saved me a lot of money in petrol) and I'm looking up local businesses... street names... all sorts. Not that it's hindering my progress. I've already finished the first chapter and I'm happy with how it all looks and feels. I think I've got enough solid material to work on now. Researching the area has been such a fun experience and it's certainly making my characters feel more real. For me, it wasn't until I started writing that I discovered the things that I actually needed to know before putting the proverbial pen to paper. On the other hand, I honestly don't think I could have done all of the research before I started to write and it's kind of a paradox for me at the moment. I've read a lot of different articles online about how to approach research and I must agree with all of the ones that say the best thing to do is get everything organised. There's nothing worse than knowing you've seen the answer that you need in an article but you can't remember, for the life of you, where to find it. Create folders, favourite articles and label them correctly so you can refer back to them easily, write a story outline so you've got an idea of where the story is going. All of these things will help in the long run. I wholeheartedly expected to need to do this for book number two, which is the opus that I really wanted to get properly stuck into. I didn't think I would want to delve in so deep into something I might not even publish. Although, I must admit that finding this out at this early stage is so enlightening and great for my book two preparation. If you're an author reading this, please let me know how you tackle the research. Is it something you do most of before you start writing, or is it something you do more of as your story progresses? Thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing what you think. Until next time! |
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Hi, I'm Phil Williams. Welcome to my blog.
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