21st Feb 2021 (full corrected version)
The Excitement of Creation
When I started my novel I had a lot of things in my favour. I had a lot of time, I had several story ideas kicking around my head and I knew I wanted to write something that would entertain. I had read suggestions to ‘write what you know’ so I decided to set my story in a world populated by memories of my own life. My characters would be based on people I knew with a bit of mix and matching thrown in to suit the plot and off I went.
I had no plan except a desire to write a Rom Com. I had read that once created, characters would often take on a life of their own, taking the writer into situations they would never have thought of. So I just wrote, spontaneously, a stream of consciousness. It was so exciting, I was having such fun. I had a few dry moments along the way where inspiration deserted me but managed to get writing again with the help of coaches and online courses.
The Harsh Reality of the Edit
After eight months I finally wrote those magic words “The End”. I took a short break then started the first edit, back to the beginning, proofreading, I thought, won’t be too hard. Wrong! Compared to the creative experience of writing the first draft the edit so far has been mostly work, and to be honest – a chore. I’d forgotten a lot of the story, some of the writing was clumsy, there were a lot of information dumps. Some chapters were full of action and in others nothing much happened at all. There were a few ‘plot holes’ where I’d left out information that the reader needed to know…. the fact that I knew what was missing wasn’t really that helpful.
I’m glad I had done the writing courses as they had given me some useful pointers. I realised I had mostly written from the point of view of one character so in the edit I had to put in sections from the point of view of the other main character right from the start. I had learnt how to expand the descriptions in the scenes to heighten suspense and the importance of cliffhanger moments to make the reader want to turn the page.
There were so many things to think of that the first edit became a little overwhelming and I was surrounded by scraps of paper with notes. Then I remembered one tip which became a lifesaver. It was to use a table to bring structure to the edit. It certainly did that but the surprise was that it brought structure to the story.
Bringing Structure to the Edit
I had to think about continuity, how the different story threads intertwined and when were the best times to do that. As my table grew the visual summary made me aware of the structure of the novel and inspired me to make major alterations such as swapping chapters around and creating new ones to increase the drama. Just halfway through the first edit I knew it had vastly improved the book as a result.
I’ve put a small example of an editing table below. I use the first column to focus my mind on what it would look like as a script, the second column to check what actually happens, the third as a first impression and the fourth as a To Do list. The last column helps me focus on the overall issues. It is modelled closely on the one I came across on a writing course I would highly recommend. Follow this link to find out more. No commission involved.
| CHAPTER 6 ACT I SCENES | STORY POINTS aka WHAT HAPPENS? | DOES IT WORK? | WHAT TO DO | KEY ISSUES |
| INT/ANDREA’S HOUSE/DAY | 6a Andrea receives a final demand for rent. 6b. John lends her enough to pay the bill. 6c. Andrea decides to look for a better paid job. | YES and leave… It’s a little bit of jeopardy, there’s a quick solution, there’s a consequence that moves the plot along NO – problem solved too easily | NOTHING – it’s OK as it is. OR RE-WRITE make her wait for a week before John can afford to lend her the money = more tension & make landlord pay a visit and threaten eviction in that week. | Plot development Shows Andrea’s in a financial mess that’s unsustainable so she has to look for a new job…. where she will meet Robert – her new love interest.. Action – could delay the rent solution to increase the tension and…………make the reader want to turn the page to see what happens next by Ending chapter on a cliffhanger i.e. landlord’s eviction threat. |
Researching your Craft
So at this late stage, as I created and studied my edit table I started to think about structure. I made a point of analysing other books, television programmes and films and the results were illuminating. A film that had been recommended to me, ‘Finding Your Feet’ – whizzed along so quickly the plot seemed shallow despite a lot of story points: a long lost sister, a husband’s affair, class prejudice, characters with Dementia, people living on narrow boats & in vans after having to liquidate assets, a divorce petition, someone with cancer having weeks to live, grief and an overused ‘taxi in traffic and a run to catch a lover’ scene at the end. Even with all that I didn’t care enough about the characters to care about the story and the outcome.
A book called ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ took a long time to set up the world and introduce the characters and nothing happened in the beginning. It may do later on but I’ll never know as I wasn’t hooked enough to carry on reading. One thing I remember from a much earlier screenwriting course was the rule that “there should be a fight or a f*** in the first five minutes,” to hook the viewer. In an interview the author told how an editor insisted that a later chapter was left out because nothing much happened. The author had been so attached to it he put it in as an appendix in the published book. I didn’t think it did much either and that it was OK to leave out. So in the cruel world of the edit the “is it necessary/vital, if not cut it” issue means it pays not to get too attached.
And then to a television series. I’m a big fan of detective stories, I like the investigation, the twists & turns, the logic that leads to the arrest of the murderer. I studied an episode of Father Brown which was based on the detective stories written by Prolific English poet, novelist and essayist Gilbert Keith Chesterton. The episode got straight into the action, a good thing happens first then all goes wrong very quickly, every character has a different reason to be the culprit, some apparently unconnected thing triggers a light bulb moment and Father Brown solves the case.
A good formula doesn’t disappoint. Or should I call that a good plan? Ahh……… I realised that my edit table was becoming the plan that I could have written before I even put pen to paper. Maybe I should do that for my next story.
new writer diary 