Writer's Blog 2011-03-28

I think it was last year that I started looking at "Writing a Novel" part of the teach yourself range.

This next section is about the eight point story arc.

1. Stasis


2. Trigger


3. The quest


4. Critical choice


5. Climax


6. Reversal


7. Resolution

Anyone who's studied scriptwriting will probably recognise these. Each one of them can be phrased differently. I've heard "Stasis" expressed as "Who is the protagonist and what do they want?" This is a good place to start as it keeps the Vorlons and and the Shadows happy.

I was first presented with this idea in class. I must say that I misunderstood it. This is not a strict code rather it is guidelines. It is useful as a plan for a film or a novel. However in my opinion some subversion of the structure is advisable. Otherwise every story would be the same.

Everyone has seen films that follow this structure. To me it seems that particularly romantic comedies follow it. You must have seen them. The relationship is all going well. Then suddenly their is a hiccup. Somebody acts stupid, or a secret is revealed, and it looks like the couple will not live happily every after. Then we get the montage and they get back together in the end.

I've just finished a script based on this structure. In the planning stages I thought it to be a terrible encumbrance but in the final analysis it has been most useful.

The way I was taught was that these eight points then become part of a larger plan. For me this was forty points altogether. My script basically goes through and intersects all those points. Then will come the editing phase and hopefully the result will be an excellent script.

I have a scriptwriting tutorial later in the week. I will look more closely at this structure then. Until then: Good night, good morning, good afternoon and good evening. - depending on where you live.

Live long and prosper.

Writer's Blog 2011-03-21-2011-03-26

I am currently lying on the floor on my landing. Why? Because for some reason my computer is having trouble with the wireless. So I need to connect to the short yellow cable. I am on-line so it is sort of working.

I was in the centre of Cardiff the other day. I saw a young woman with a clipboard. I guess all town centres are smiler. These people are collecting money for charities and often ambush unsuspecting passers by.

Don't get me wrong I have no problem with charitable fund-raising its just the way they go about it. I'll admit to you that I have done this job. Though I am worse as I went door to door. I'm sorry. It is a terribly intrusive thing. Home should be the place where you can be sure of not being disturbed. For this job you have to lean this spiel of who the charity is and why you need money. I did the door-to-door job for three days. I hated it so much that I quite that quickly!

Anyway this woman's style should be the benchmark by which others work. She introduced herself, talked briefly and then basically said - they were raising money - it was so much a week - and could I help - perfect.

You see as soon as someone like this approaches, you know what they want. It often takes them ages to get to the point. Maybe its just me but I find it difficult to interrupt someone whist their delivering the long speech. So I would suggest to charities that they should try the simple style. They might find that they get more people signing up. The reason being that if the person they're talking to is going to say 'no' - you get there faster. You will then be able to speak to more people and make more money for the charity. That is the point after all!

So, being you typical poor student, I told her I couldn't afford it at the moment. That was it. I think though that charity collection is becoming more like a business. It is, as I know first hand, being done as a job rather than by people who are actually interested.

Of course you could try avoiding the collectors. My brother has the idea of carrying a clipboard yourself. He seems to reckon that the people would split to the sides of the street. It could work.

Writer's Blog 2011-03-13

I recently became disabled. It happened on the 21st of February. I shall never forget it. It was the day when I lost my home internet connection!

Yes. I had to manage without the internet for over two weeks. It is strange how quickly the internet becomes a part of our lives and the funny catch-22 situations you get into. My brother stopped just short of saying 'I'll email myself a reminder.' When he couldn't just use online banking. Of course he couldn't email either.

So that's the reason for my recent lack of posts. I have however discovered that its good to get out of the house sometime. Over the course of that fortnight I went to the library and a cafe to work. This was good. It may sound strange but working in that kind of place is quite useful. There is something nice about having people around you even if you're not talking to them. Though, having said that, the library, which I naturally expected to be silent, could have done with being a little quieter.



So welcome back internet! All is up and running now and I can return to a topic I started weeks ago. I ended my last post by saying that in writing nothing is ever waisted. I'm working on a novel at the moment. Actually I've been working on it for a long time. So sometimes when I write I'm actually pasting old sections in from previous drafts. Sometimes the story has taken a new directions and so I end up with segments that don't really fit. This leads to the opportunity I spoke of in my last post. It is my hope that I can take some of those sections and turn them into short stories in their own right.

Like, I suspect, most people, I failed to keep my new year's resolution. I had said that I would submit a short story to a magazine every month. Well in February I failed. The good thing about this resolution is that I can retcon it to be 12 short stories over the year instead.

Yes that is a cheat I know. However reconing seems to have been a theme of film recently.So instead I will try 12 stories this year.

Fingers crossed some will be accepted.