Archive for August, 2009

3 comments

Big Yellow Sofa – Andalucia


2009
08.30

Posted in Poetry, Prison, Spain | 3 Comments »

Apolgies for being off air – apparently my server was down and I have also been on holiday for a week, see below!

mountain

I have just had a lovely a week with my family in Andalucia in Spain, in a beautiful villa in the hills above Nerja. The villa was perched high up among the eagles and we watched them daily, coasting overhead on the thermals. To my great delight there were  bee eaters too, performing their high wire act, just as in France, their wings turning to copper in the sun.

The wall of the villa that led out onto the terrace was comprised of glass doors which slid back and opened the house to the world. On the terrace you could stand and look back on the theatre of your family life. From the interior comfort of the big yellow sofa you could see the mountains and the sea.

The night sky was awesome (a word my son David often uses and which  I rarely think appropriate but seems in this instance to fit) – Venus in front of us, the miasma of the milky way stretching overhead. There wasn’t a single evening when we didn’t see a shooting star fall in the west. We talked of galaxies and dark matter, listened to Mark’s guitar, while Jan drew portraits-  (I definitely hope to post some soon) and Katie painted delicate studies in pale ink. In this creative soup I was longing to write poetry but somehow it eluded me. Maybe it was a question of tension – the idea that poetry is born out of  a tension or disturbance, as expressed by Lavinia Greenlaw

‘The impulse towards a poem can usually be felt as a form of tension – absence, connection, interruption, something that heightens your interest and tugs at your focus, that you can’t quite see, make sense of, resolve or escape’

 There was no ‘tug.’ Maybe I was just too relaxed. Maybe I had finally come to embrace my new life after twenty five years in prison.

I am tempted to call this my bee eater summer. Why? because I first saw bee eaters one morning long ago in Tricomlee  when I was travelling and freer than I’d ever been before. Now once again they have surfaced first in France and now Spain – a symbol of a new found freedom. It is now a year exactly since I left HMP Low Newton.

So, no poem, but what did emerge was a cosmic song! I have never written a song before, but the music, and the scent of celebration, of fun and fiesta that hung in the air (more of that later) must have crept in unseen.

With apologies to Joni Mitchell- I called it Big Yellow Sofa – here are the first four verses (music a la Bob Dylan, at a later date with the help of Mark )

Big yellow sofa, see the sea from here, through the looking glass, into spiral, out on the arm of the universe

Fly yellow sofa, step across a mountain sky, slipway to the faded sea, star shadows fall, footprints of the galaxy

Feet up on the yellow sofa, see Africa from here (on a clear day), through the jazz riff  of guitar plays, out on the eagle wind

Balcon d’ Europa sofa, back-up to ink black hill, see the marbled sunlit gene pool, spirogyra soup, that spilled the milky way…

2 comments

Editing Your Novel -Looking at the Scenes


2009
08.18

Posted in Editing Your Novel, My Writing | 2 Comments »

newcastle

Scenes from my new novel are set in this part of Newcastle city

My first novel, The Sweet Track, originally included a scene (which in fact became a chapter) where two of the women, Rosa and Becca went out into the countryside together for the day. When I met my first agent and we discussed the novel she told me that she thought the scene was superfluous – what she meant by this was that it added nothing new to the narrative, it did not deepen understanding of the characters of the two women or progress the story. I had to agree, and as she was very enthusiastic about the book as a whole, I was happy to take her advice and remove it. What also swayed me was the knowledge that in writing the scene I had been somewhat self indulgent, wanting to relive a similar outing I had made myself and wanting to describe that landscape.

I think now I would respond differently to such a challenge. I still might remove the scene but not before asking myself; how it could be improved, how it could be useful in revealing character and moving the plot forward, whether the protagonist Lilli had an objective which was relevant to her growth and change, whether it could end on a ‘hook’ or contain a mystery which would keep the reader wanting to turn the page

 Scenes are the building blocks of the novel and these are questions we should ask ourselves about every scene in our novel. Every scene should advance the plot in some way. If a particular scene has no effect on the outcome of the novel or the storyline as a whole, you need to ask yourself why its there and can it be omitted or rewritten?

Also as we read through our novels at the editing stage we often become aware of a gap or the need for another scene. I am certainly writing several new scenes in my novel to ensure that the story works for the reader.

It is important also as you review and edit the scenes in your novel to ensure that they flow as smoothly as possible and link together the action into one continuous whole. It is the writer’s job to take the reader from scene to scene, through time and place – it should seem effortless but it must be clear – so that the reader is no doubt of the where and when of the action!

Bearing this in mind, then no scene is more important that the opening scene – this is the who, where and when of your novel and as far as my current novel is concerned I am still working on my opening to make it as good as it can be.

 So what constitutes a good scene? For me a good scene, as well as showing or telling us who, where and when, and advancing and thickening the plot, will also stand on its own, having a beginning, a middle and an end.

 It will have a mix of at least some of the following; narrative action, dialogue, description or atmosphere (although this can be conveyed in a line here and there never in large chunks) and introspection as well as a minimum of exposition - and an element of surprise or mystery or a hook at the end to keep the reader engaged.

 If there is no mix or no surprise then look again and be sure there are good reasons why not!

 When I edit my scenes I try to visualise them as if in film or TV and I think this can really help with judging if the scene works.

 What do you think makes a good scene? Do let me know.

 

No Comments

Dreaming Spires


2009
08.11

Posted in Places, Poetry | No Comments »

 

co

Christchurch College Oxford

A friend of mine recently mentioned a trip to the beautiful city of Oxford and straight away it reminded me of how much I love Matthew Arnold’s , ‘city of dreaming spires,’  from his poem -Thyrsis:

…And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,
She needs not June for beauty’s heightening…

Arnold is right when he says Oxford does not need the benfit of June’s enhancing. It is a special place whatever time of year you visit. Here are two extracts from different poems I wrote one wet November after a trip to Oxford. Even in the rain and the dusk it seemed a place of magic - and of course as we all know it was the home of Morse!

 

November in Oxford

……gilt edged stucco and ceiling rose

long hidden, now exposed

cry softly through paper walls

into wet city streets

and fountains dance

in the shadow of life’s darkening

pool – while you hide

under the skirts of the umbrella

it’s stems blown wide

in the November wind.

 

Sunday

…high stools and low ceilings

banish a century of Sunday blues

Moss walled cocoon

crowd alleys and cobble 

patent pavements,

red wine undress recall

unknown memories

shared, didn’t everyone

watch Morse? Did you? …

 I think perhaps it’s time for another trip to Oxford!

3 comments

Editing Your Novel – Story Arc – The Hero’s Journey and Henning Mankell


2009
08.08

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

 

Story Arc - plot points

Story Arc - plot points

 

Well I had intended to put this up much earlier in the week but unfortunately I was laid low  from Tues onwards by a bug and spent several days in bed! I’m pleased to say I am now recovered and itching to get back to the manuscript.

I did do a considerable amount of work on Monday however and have made myself all kinds of notes and  a good map of the novel as you can see from the photo above. I love it when I get to this stage and I begin to feel surrounded. The room becomes the story!

 

post its

My post it notes continuity plan

I have been careful to check for continuity in the content of my story (characters with blue eyes do not suddenly become brown eyed)  but more importantly continuity in time – moving the reader through time within the novel, which is something that can appear effortless but which needs attending to - I cannot stress this enough and it can be done very simply with phrases like – ‘the next morning’ or ‘ later that day, around six.’  The reader needs to know where they are and what time of day it is and you are their guide. Events within the story have to happen when predicted and at certain times. For this I created a post- it time line and found straight away that I had to make changes as some things were happening at the wrong time or in an impossible time scale! 

I have also been looking at the arc of my story and the development of Danny Beck’s character from the point of view of the stages in the hero’s journey. This is the mythical pattern described by Joseph Campbell, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces,  in which he discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies.

Campbell explores the idea that important myths from around the world share a fundamental structure. In this structure the journey is a metaphor for the process that underlies all growth, learning, and self discovery. As we all know, our protagonists must grow and learn throughout our story and and ultimately be changed at the end of it, so it has been helpful to me to check my story arc (especially in a quest novel which mine is ) against the steps outlined by Campbell. One would never expect to find all the steps but I was surprised and delighted to find that Danny Beck’s journey is pretty archetypal and that one or two extra ideas sprang from the comparison.

So what next? A big piece of work editing the novel on the screen from the notes I’ve made on the page. A trip to South Shields and across the river by ferry, and then more thickening – you will be impressed to know that even on my sick bed I did some reading, mainly Henning Mankell, Swedish author of the Inspector Wallander mysteries. (I am a huge fan!) There  is just so much to learn from a master craftsmen and I know that what I continue to learn from reading Mankell, will thicken out Beck’s character and improve my story telling.

Lots more thinking to do too – still not sure about the ending!

8 comments

Editing Your Novel – Story Arc


2009
08.02

Posted in Editing Your Novel, Six Biggest Mistakes, Writing your novel | 8 Comments »

 

An inspirational photo of a storm at Tynemouth. Taken by Lisette. I will definitely be including a storm in the novel - many thanks.

An inspirational photo of a storm at Tynemouth. Taken by Lisette. I will definitely be including a storm in the novel - many thanks Lisette.

 

Editing your story as a whole means you need to have a good understanding of how most successful stories work. There are a number of ways to look at this – two of the most helpful (for me with my current story) being: The three arc structure and the hero’s journey

The three arc structure is quite simply what it seems, it divides the story into three parts -

 Act One – the set-up – this is where you introduce the reader to the setting, the characters and the situation (conflict) they find themselves in and where you ask what it is they want – what is their goal? Ask yourself if you have set the novel up in this way – are all the major characters there? Is there an identifiable plot point/incident – Plot Point One that moves the story on and drives the main character into conflict? This incident can often be a good place to start your novel.

Act Two – the middle  – how the story develops. Here there will be a series of obstacles, and mini crises, leading to the final crisis – the climax. As the middle progresses tension will rise and dip but the arc of tension needs to get ever higher to the final climax. The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2. Can you identify this point? Does tension rise? Does the middle sag?

In the middle you need to move the plot along, offer new insights to your characters especially your protagonist and deepen the conflict – each obstacle should be more difficult, if it’s not then the smaller challenges seem inconsequential and this means tension disappears. The consequences  following each challenge should be more difficult to swallow and maybe some new and compelling information comes to light that changes the way your characters see things

 

Act Three – once the final climax is reached then tension dissipates –all the loose ends are tied up and the story is drawn to a close, not drawn out

With this structure in mind there are other important points to consider about beginnings, endings and middles which you can find in earlier posts.

So now back to the business of editing – I’m over a third of the way through and think I’m going to have to beef things up a bit more in the middle – I need to make sure the challenges for Danny Beck rise in an arc of increasing tension, I need some new information – I’ve already decided what that is – so lots of work to do -  I’m afraid Hero’s Journey will have to wait!

On a final note – good luck to all the Easington writers who are editing their work following Thursday’s workshop. It was a great day. Hope you weren’t too exhausted at the end of it. Editing is hard work – don’t we know it!

Looking forward to the poems!