Category Archives: Anita says…

End Each Chapter With a Cliffhanger

Cliff hangers keep your readers reading by building up the story’s tension. They literally leave your reader hanging.

cliff hanger

Cliff hangers should always involve your characters:

A character arrives
A character feels something
A character forgets something
A character is jolted into action
A character leaves
A character makes an important decision
A character makes an urgent demand
A character reacts badly
A character reacts internally to events
A character remembers something

Your reader has to turn to the next chapter to find out what happens to resolve the tense situation you have created.

Write What Interests You

This is the opposite of write what you know. I don’t believe writers have to write what they know. You should write about what interests you and then find out more about it. In theory, if a topic interests you it will interest others.

I have a column in Writers’ Forum and authors and their research. These authors have not just written what they know they have taken interesting themes and topics and find out more through their research. In fact, some who have initially started out writing what they know have found after starting researching around the subject they did not know as much about it as they thought.

Just like mystery writer, Helen Moss, you should research around the subject and get a feel for the current theory and practice.

Helen Moss feature

When you are interested in a subject it shows in your writing. The passion and enthusiasm shines through. You might think, ‘most people are not interested in the things I am,’ but a passionate piece of writing will capture their hearts and entice them in.

Author, Nick Cook, is not a quantum physicists but it is a subject he is fascinated with. For his trilogy he used Twitter to find out the information he required to make his story believable and authentic.

Nick Cook snip

He said:

“I realised I needed to find out more about tornadoes and storm chasing to write my book. This was key… but how do you get in contact with a real expert dealing with an area that you are writing about? I tried all sorts of things, but was getting nowhere fast. What finally worked was sending out a call for help via social media, namely Twitter. Before long someone tweeted back to tell me there was this man that I should really talk to if I wanted to learn more about the storm chasing world. A few emails later Jesse agreed to do an interview with me. ” Nick Cook

I get asked to write to commission about many subjects that I previously have very little knowledge about such as information on body technology for the Children’s Encyclopedia of Technology (co-written with Alex Woolf). In this case, specifically RFID chips, which are like business cards inserted under the skin. They can transfer contact details to smartphones and provide links to complex medical data. And Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), which exploits bacteria, in order to make changes to DNA and possibly cure genetic diseases.

ChildrensEncyclopediaOfTechnology-280x225-Cover_F-17May18

I also wrote in-depth information about ten scientists and ten great inventors for my graphic novels Heroes of Science which includes the stories of Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie and Albert Einstein and Heroes of Discovery, which includes the stories of Ada Lovelace, Nikola Tesla, Tim Berners-Lee and Elon Musk.

Through extensive research I manage to write these books and I am very proud of them. I retain the knowledge for a limited time but then I seem to have a mind wipe to make way for any new information I need to know for my next book.

The message of this blog post today is if you are stuck for ideas think what you are interested in even if you don’t know anything about it and write about that.

You can find out more about me, my books and my writing career on my website: www.anitaloughrey.com or follow me on Twitter @amloughrey or Instagram @anitaloughrey

Combine Speech with Action

People rarely stand still and speak. They wave their arms, they pace, they scuff their feet, check their nails, get distracted or even make a cup of tea. I know these are all rather cliched examples but they serve the point. When writing dialogue have your characters do things whilst they speak.

child drinking

Spend some time people watching and observe for yourself the things they do when they talk. Keep in mind Anne fine’s words:

“Don’t write about people you know, write what you know about people.” Anne Fine

And what better way to find out about people than to watch them.

“A rough estimate would be one third dialogue, one third action and one third introspection.” Diane Doubtfire

Introspection are the character’s inner thoughts.

“A character’s thoughts can greatly enhance a story: deepening characterisation, increasing tension, and widening the scope of a story.” Nancy Kress

So next time you are out and about observe some of the little actions people do that hint at their character. It all adds to the story.

More on Market research

When I first started out I found market research extremely difficult. But, the more I tried to do it the better I got. I have been published in several national magazines.

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The ones below are just a small selection. I now automatically pick up a magazine and look at the adverts, the letters page and the way the stories and articles are written, to get an idea of who the readership the magazine is aimed at, are.

I ask myself questions like:

Whose viewpoint is it from?
How long are the sentences?
How long are the paragraphs?
Is it in first or third person?
What tense is it written in?
How much dialogue is used?
Is slang used?
Is compression used (i.e. i’ll, we’ve)?
Are there any sentences beginning with And and But?
Are there any swear words?

I believe this was excellent training and has helped me to launch my career into writing for children because, although the writing and market is different you still need to consider who the target audience is and whether you are meeting the requirements of the in-house style.

So my advice is to anyone who wants to get published, whether it is in writing for magazines, writing for children, adults, your publisher, or a specific editor – do your market research. Know who you are writing for.

If you are interested in writing for magazines, get hold of the contributor’s guidelines. These are often available online.

Think About Theme

The theme of a book is an ‘abstract idea’ such as friendship, loyalty or a quest for identity.

Themes are different to morals. The theme should be subtle and strengthen your story by adding depth and meaning. Visit your local library and look at some of the classic picture books. Notice that although the text may be brief and tightly written there lay truths that are timeless. The story should leave readers with a residual feeling that stays with them.

Season collage

You should be able to sum up your theme in one or two words. The theme of the first series of Season books is friendship. I have written two more Season picture book series since then. This is a book with a compilation of my Animal Stories for all Seasons. They will also be available to buy individually.

Animal Season Treasury Cover (003)

Your characters should always carry the theme. It is important not to blurt out your theme but to let it emerge from the story. If you must come out and say it, do it in dialogue, not narration and whatever you do avoid preaching. Children’s stories should be explorations of life not Sunday school lessons.

In picture book you should keep your theme positive. If writing about difficult situations and feelings, offer constructive ways for your readers to cope with them.

Use Slang Sparingly

This is not necessarily only good advice for writer’s writing for children. I think it is true for what ever books you are writing.

What we need to remember is the dialogue is not real conversation but has to create the illusion of a real conversation. Slang words and catch phrases can date a book and go out of fashion very quickly so it is best to avoid them. Remember you want you children’s characters to sound like children and not an adult pretending to be a child.

marvel-characters-comic-art

Consider your character’s patterns of speech rather than particular words. For example, an impatient character would use short sentences and not waste words whereas a dreamer might ramble on without care. Much like some of my blog posts.

So be careful with slang. It dates dialogue.

“It is best to get the flavour and texture of what you want to say without having to patronise or, worse still, getting it wrong.” Andrew Melrose

The idea is to keep dialogue short and concise. There is no room for lengthy descriptions in dialogue. The other characters would get bored and wander off. You should be able to sum it up in a few words.

groot

If you do want to use speech to convey important information it is better to begin the section of dialogue with the information or end with it. If you bury it in the middle of the dialogue it could get missed.

And avoid ellipses… unless absolutely necessary for effect. Don’t litter the page with dots.

Know Your Readers

It is essential for who ever you are writing for to have a good knowledge of your audience and have a target age in mind.

snoopy-reading

When writing for children remembering back to your own childhood is a starting point but you must keep in mind the modern child in today’s technology filled world. This does not mean every child in your book needs their own mobile phone or games console. In fact it is often better for tension if they are unable to call for help at a touch of the screen.

The best way to find out about your audience if you are writing for children is to observe them. Not in a stalkerish, creepy kind of way. If you have children, or have friends and relatives with children talk to them, find out what is going on in their lives. Ask about their likes and dislikes. Find out what books they love to read and their favourite characters. If you don’t have children talk to friends who have, or talk to your local children’s librarian.

Creeped Out

Dani’s Castle

Another good way to find out about children today is by watching children’s movies and television. Immerse yourself in the adventures, problems and emotions of the characters. They are likely to defy authority and will be outspoken with their own strong opinions. This may vary in intensity for reception, junior and secondary aged children but there should be a degree of independence.

One More Step

I’m in a very philosophical mood today. The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said:

“Every journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

He also said:

“Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.”
Confucius

Think of each step you write as a single incident, such as writing one paragraph, producing a character sketch or sketching a map of the location. It is a process of going through the layers.

The process of writing itself, even for very experienced writers, can be difficult and frustrating. The choices involved in creating the text, selecting appropriate words, arranging these words into meaningful sentences and using these sentences to explain a flow of fast moving ideas is hard work. Writing is a physical activity:

footsteps

So take the first step…
Think what is it you want. Where you are now? Where do you want to go? What’s the first thing that you need to do to get moving? Don’t worry about making mistakes just get the story down on paper.

And keep taking steps….
Even if they feel like baby steps! We all have days where every step feels painful, or there is something else to do, or it’s just plain too difficult. This is the, ‘Don’t wanna’ tantrum. Go on, even if it’s something really easy, take that one step. Just open the file on your computer. It’s only a small step, but it proves your intent. After all, the files open now, you might as well do something with it.

And most importantly enjoy every step you take…
The psychotherapist and child psychologist Haim Ginott once said:

“Happiness… is not a destination: it is a manner of travelling.”

So have fun on your journey. Enjoy your writing and when you get there rather than moving straight to the next place, next goal, and next challenge, rest a while and glory in the fabulousness of what you have achieved.

But most importantly… Read it aloud and be proud of what you have written.

Visualise Your Story

Writing can be a visual, multi-dimensional experience similar to painting, or designing a structure. I have always developed scrap books of my stories using pictures I have found to help me describe my character and setting.

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I once went on a Book Bound course led by Karen Ball of Speckled Pen. She made us rip out pictures from magazines that linked in some way to our character. We were not allowed scissors we had to use our hands and carefully tear out the images. At first, I found this difficult as I like order and conformity and this was a little too haphazard. But I soon got into the flow and found it quite freeing and inspiring.

It was fun. It didn’t help with the character I was working on at the time as she was quite dark so the magazines were not suitable. But it did help develop a new character from scratch. It can also help to develop key images within your story before they are drafted into scenes. I believe visualising your story is a great way of adding texture to your text. It is good to see the world from a different perspective. Let your imagination go wild.

Convex_lens

I suggest you search the world wide web and magazines for images that inspire and help you develop your characters, setting and plot. Turn it into a collage. This could be done using sites like Pinterest, or software like Paint, or by hand-gluing pictures printed, or cut out of magazines onto large sheets of paper in the same way as Karen Ball made us do, although you can use scissors if you want. Don’t glue down the pieces too early so you can let your mind free-flow.

tree collage

You could even turn your writing space into a canvas. Sketch with words, post scenes form your novel and photos all around your study or writing space to sculpt them into a 3D-version of your book. Move things about, add some colourful phrases and quotes from your characters here and a touch of darkness there. Look where the light is coming from and then transfer this light into the pages of your story.

OK. Maybe I’m going over the top but writing is multi-tasking, and I am quite good at that.

The Fictional Dream

Read for inspiration. If you admire an author and their writing, copy a couple of pages of their work and take it apart to find out how they did it.

Shakespeare’s Titania depicted by Edwin Landseer in his painting Scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream act IV, scene I

When you read you forget the words. You enter the fictional dream. You don’t read on unless the dream is continuous and vivid. You have in your mind’s eye what you want to write about and the film is running in your head. What you feel, hear, touch, the clothes you are wearing, the sensation on your skin. Know these physical clues and work the scene.

“If you put your energy into getting all the senses right, the words come easier.”

Pamela Cleaver

Modified by CombineZP

The story produced is like growing crystals. You have to be there. Being there is writing what you see, hear and feel. An image or idea can be developed. Your unconscious will join them up. Work with your unconscious and accept the ideas do not come in the right order. Ask, what does the reader really want out of this scene? By seeing you can lead the reader into the fictional dream.