To Kill a Mockingbird - Do you want to read the sequel?

Have you ever finished a novel and wished you knew what happened to the characters after the final page has been turned? It looks as if you may be able to have that experience with one of America's greatest classics. Last week it was announced that Harper Lee is going to release another novel after 55 yrs, somewhat of a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. The new novel, Go Set A Watchman, is set to be released by HarperCollins on July 14th, 2015, with an initial print run of two million copies. It's set twenty years after To Kill a Mockingbird, in the fictional town of Macomb, Alabama when Jean Louise Finch , or "Scout" goes back to visit her father. The novel, with similarities To Kill a Mockingbird, deals with the racial tensions of the 1950s, as well as the complex relationship between father and daughter.It seems that the manuscript, which was recently found in Ms. Harper's boxes in storage, was written before To Kill a Mockingbird, and was the first manuscript she tried to get published. Ms Lee was a young writer - as yet unpublished- and took the advice given by her editor who liked Scout's flashbacks and thought the real story should be about Scout as a young girl. And so Harper Lee went back and revised her manuscript and To Kill a Mockingbird became her first novel, and the classic that has been translated into more than 40 languages and has sold over 30 million copies.

“I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told,” Ms. Lee said in a statement released by her publisher.

 My initial excitement of a new novel by Harper Lee was at first tempered by the thought that perhaps the manuscript would not be as good as the classic. But then I thought even if it wouldn't be, why should it matter? In fact as a writer, I was interested in reading the story that was the genesis for the final novel published back in 1960. Often the story a novelist starts out to write turns out to be something completely different, and the one that was meant to be told comes out. I had this experience myself with my first novel. It was initially set in Berkeley, CA in 1969, but ended up being set in Italy in the 1940s.I read a couple more articles about the upcoming publication of Go Set A Watchman, and the questions that were raised surrounded the issue of whether Ms. Lee is actually involved in the process. Harper Lee is now 88 and lives in an Assisted Living facility in Monroeville, Alabama. She is both deaf and blind, and until recently her affairs had been largely looked after by her sister Alice who died last year at 104. Obviously the family must have used a lawyer too. But now that Alice is no longer there to monitor Harper Lee's affairs, the question has been asked as to who exactly has control over the situation, or been negotiating the deal with HarperCollins, and ultimately who will benefit from the publication of a book that is destined to be a big seller?I suspect that we, as the general public will never know all the answers, and certainly not at the moment, and will have to be satisfied with speculation. So I am going to look at it from the perspective of both a reader and a writer, and hope that Ms. Lee herself will have at least some benefit from the publication, and that her fans are given an opportunity to see a little more of her journey of becoming the talented author that wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm not expecting Go Set A Watchman to be as polished, as indeed it's being published without the benefit of the level of editing usually given a published work, so that it is true to Harper Lee's original manuscript.This is probably a unique situation actually, as most 'lost' manuscripts tend to turn up after the writer has died. However convoluted the unanswered questions behind the scenes may be, I feel grateful that we are being treated to more of Harper Lee's writing, and I hope she gets the accolades she will doubtless deserve once the book reaches publication. What's your opinion of the upcoming sequel? Are you excited? Do you have concerns about it? Would you rather To Kill A Mockingbird remain Ms. Lee's only novel?Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media. 

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Do you Want to Start #Writing Like #Steinbeck?

 

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the the film release of Grapes of Wrath so I thought it was appropriate to re-purpose this post. If you want to start writing like Steinbeck, then take a look at some of the things he found important and include them in your writing. "Learn from the best"

John Steinbeck’s writing methodology was stringent and meticulous. When writer's you love talk about how they write, it’s hard not listen.Steinbeck really wanted Grapes of Wrath to be good  - exposing the exploitation of people in 1930’s Southern California, was a story he thought needed telling. I re-read the novel a while ago, and the style blew me away.

[tweetthis] "Nothing about The Grapes of Wrath is dated."[/tweetthis]

It's incredibly refreshing to read a book with such valuable social commentary that's also just a damn good story. Part of its success lies in the fact that we live, eat and sleep with the Joad family. Everything is personal, so we care about what happens to the characters, and it allows us to see the injustice very clearly, without the point being hammered home. Steinbeck simply tells a story.Below is part of John Steinbeck’s interview in the Paris Review*(Please note: Steinbeck died in 1968. A lot of the quotes were compiled in Steinbeck: A Life in Letters and published in October 1975 by Viking. Hence the Paris Review article was not until 1975.)The comments in italics are mine.

 ON GETTING STARTED

Now let me give you the benefit of my experience in facing 400 pages of blank stock—the appalling stuff that must be filled. I know that no one really wants the benefit of anyone's experience which is probably why it is so freely offered. But the following are some of the things I have had to do to keep from going nuts.

 1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish.

Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.This is the most important one & can’t be said too often. One page at a time.

 2. Write freely

...and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material. Don’t worry about anyone looking over your shoulder. Just get the work written. Good tip for all of us procrastinators.

 3. Forget your generalized audience.

In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn't exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.I’ve heard this before, and I think it's an excellent way to keep yourself on track. You can't write for everyone. So write for one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you

...and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.Rewriting – its all there is. But don't be afraid to write non-sequentially. Sometimes one just isn't in the mood to write about a dramatic moment, so switch gears and go to a section you do want to write today.

 5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you,

...dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.Tough to give them up isn’t it?

 6. If you are using dialogue

...say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.Excellent tip. If you read it out loud it will sound strained immediately if it’s not working.On my writers resources page I refer to his book Working Days, which is the diary he kept while he was writing Grapes of Wrath. (He wrote his first draft in 6 months BTW!). It’s a great book for writers if only to show how persistent one has to be to make the end product worthwhile.Are these methods  you can work with? Do you have different ways of attacking the same problems? 

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*Paris Review has rich resource material in their decades of interviews of famous people, writers included.I first saw part of this particular interview in one of my favorite blogs www.brainpickings.org

#Muse media #Annie Proulx on Love

Love...#Muse media

#Muse Media are a series of short posts that combine different media with a notable author.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpCaQSRwdd0[/embed]“Late in the afternoon, thunder growling, that same old green pickup rolled in and he saw Jack get out of the truck, beat up Resistol tilted back. A hot jolt scalded Ennis and he was out on the landing pulling the door closed behind him. Jack took the stairs two and two. They seized each other by the shoulders, hugged mightily, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying, son of a bitch, son of a bitch, then, and easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together, and hard, Jack’s big teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble rasping, wet saliva welling, and the door opening and Alma looking out for a few seconds at Ennis’s straining shoulders and shutting the door again and still they clinched, pressing chest and groin and thigh and leg together, treading on each other’s toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and his daughters, little darlin.” Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain

Love is portrayed in novels in as many ways as there are to love. But in the quote above from the novella Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx manages to capture the most intense sense of passion and desire to make it a visceral need. If it's not already obvious, the two characters have not seen each other for a long time - at least a year if not longer as I recall. If you want an example of writing that makes every word count, this is it. And she conjures not only love and passion, but by her use of phrases such as "stubble rasping" and repeating "son of a bitch" she manages to impart the sense of maleness that is integral to the scene, and the love affair the book portrays. And yet even then, there is a tenderness as Ennis calls Jack "little darlin".  It's one of the few books that I have read, then seen the film, and then  reread the book and still cried at the final scene.

In the video above, Annie Proulx talks about the making of Brokeback Mountain and gives some insight on her process of how she came up with the story and well as the film being made. Even watching the first minute I think you will find worthwhile.

Perhaps her love of the printed word helps to give us some insight as to how she can portray her signature characters from the American range so vividly.

 “You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”

Annie Proulx

 What  kinds of love scenes  do you like in a novel? Do you have a favorite love story ?

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Author in Focus: How to #Write #War like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

English: Chimamanda Adichie

Chimamanda NgoziAdichieAuthor in Focus ChimamandaNgoziAdichie  (born 15 September 1977) is a writer from Nigeria. She has been called "the most prominent" of a "procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature".Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (2004) and awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2005).ChimamandaNgozi Adichie's second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, named after the flag of the short-lived nation of Biafra, is set before and during the Biafran War. It was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Half of a Yellow Sun has been adapted into a film  and is set for release in 2014.Her third book, The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), is a collection of short stories. (Wikipedia)

How does ChimamandaNgoziAdichie Succeed in Writing about War?

Half of a Yellow Sun

Half of a Yellow Sun is set both before and during the Biafran War. Those of us of a certain age, may remember ‘Biafran babies’ being one of the first poster children for starvation. A nation of starving children when Biafra attempts to become an independent republic in South East Nigeria in the 1960'sIn a nutshell, the reason Adichie’s work is so powerful is because she makes us care about her characters, and in doing do she personalizes the experience of the war. The extended family involved is an ordinary family with their own familial ups and downs, and the core nuclear family, is middle class, like many people who would read the novel. They had leftist views, but many of us do. So when their life takes a turn for the worse , we can relate to having our lives gradually stripped away. We can imagine what we might do in the same situation.

“Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.”~Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The other reason is that clearly she did her research. The reasons behind the conflict, and how it plays out are shown in meticulous detail without bashing us over the head with a history lesson. Again, because she shows us through the characters. So we learn about what happened and why it happened. But it’s done in such a way, we don’t realize we are learning. We keep reading because we want to know what will happen next, will things get better or worse. Who will survive and who will not?

Why Write about War?

War is difficult to write about. How do you show the horrors  of war without the violence being gratuitous? Why write about it at all? Don’t we have enough coverage with our 24/7 news coverage these days?  There have been some excellent war reporters who have shown us front lines, shelled cities, and injured people, with truth and heartfelt coverage that is as unbiased as reporting can be. But a novel takes us further. It takes us into the hearts of the characters, and what it was like to actually live day to day in a wartime setting. I believe it’s important to keep writing about wars, both past and present, not to grind the same old saw, but so we can review events with a fresh perspective, and so ultimately we will never forget.

“There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable.”Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Cambridge April 2013, photo: Chris Boland

What are your favorite novels set during a war? Have you ever considered writing a short story or novel set during a war? If not, why not?

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6 Resources for Writing Inspiration

 Waiting for Inspiration?

Do you ever feel you lack inspiration? Or are you someone who starts the New Year with amazing goals and manages to keep the creative juices flowing all year round? Most of us belong to the first category. Writing, whether it's fiction, non-fiction, a poem  a blog, or even a journal entry, requires a certain amount of inspiration to even get us started. And there we immediately hit the nail on the head: Get started!!! 

The First Shitty Draft

If every journey begins with a first step, so every piece of writing begins with one word. One word becomes a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph - you get the picture. The first shitty draft is important for all writers. Get the bare bones of the blog, article, essay or story down. It's particularly important for novelists who are working on a long haul proposition. But, whatever you're writing, it's important to get that first shitty draft written, otherwise you'll get bogged down in a bunch of second guessing, plot angst and a passel of procrastination.

 6 Resources For Inspiration

Okay, so you're finally in front of the computer after your third cup of coffee, and the dog has been walked till it's poor little legs have all but fallen off. And still your mind is a blank.First step - don't worry!!!  Inspiration is all around you, you just need to keep an open mind and be proactive. Here are 6 resources to use, when you're searching for inspiration.

1. Newspapers

Yes they're all full of bad news, and you might wonder how an article on yet another economic downturn be inspiring. Keep an open mind for a moment.  An economic downturn means unemployment, which means peoples lives change , and they struggle to find work, which can lead to domestic problems, and an argument that might mean the end of a marriage that was failing anyway, or one partner says to hell and has an affair... you see where I'm going with this. The heart of any fiction is conflict. That one article has provided a whole barrel of conflict.I find it's the small stories that peak my interest in newspapers. "91 year grandmother dies while boarding a bus." Horrible headline, but makes me wonder what happened to the women in her life span, and how did she manage to live long enough and remain fit enough to catch a bus at 91 years old.My favorite headline of all time was in a local borough paper in London, the Hackney Gazette. The headline was "Lucky Victim Stabbed 7 Times".  I mean really - you couldn't make that stuff up.But if you think this is all a load of baloney, then think 'In Cold Blood'  by Truman Capote. Not only a bestseller but a successful film. Real events give the inspiration for an amazing amount of imagination - or serious discussion.

 2. Photographs

  My personal favorite are old photographs, and the stories behind the people in them. With Flickr, Pinterest, Instagram and endless other internet resources, the availability of still images to ponder over and speculate about and travel to a different physical location in your minds eye, is endless.  

3. Books

Before we learned to become writers, the chances are we were all readers. And why not learn from the best. I  covered this issue in more detail in the post Authors An Infinite Resource, but when I'm struggling over how to write a particular scene or indeed what to write, I always find inspiration in reading a good book. It doesn't have to be anything to do with what I'm writing, but a good writer is always inspiring.If you're a blogger then read another blogger's work that you admire.    

4. Family Affairs

So you think your life isn't interesting enough to write about? Don't be so sure. You know what happened so there's no suspense for you, but your readers may be more interested in things you consider mundane than you think. It can be hard for us to write about personal experiences that have been traumatic, but that's an individual choice. The issue you had to deal with might be  something other readers can relate to. The beauty of using your own experiences for inspiration, means you can slack off for the most part on the research. But the most important part of using your own life as a resource, is you have the power to change your own past. Fictionalize it - and I'm not simply talking about changing names, change what happened.   

6. Music

 As we all know, music plays to one of our strongest of the senses -pun intended. You can hear the first few bars of a song and be immediately transported to a different period in your life, or have an emotion grab you by surprise. I like to feature music in my novels, as many other authors do. Murakami is one who comes to mind, featuring jazz quite prominently in many of his books (He owned a jazz club in Japan, which he gave up to become a writer.)Music does not have to be an actual feature in your work, but listening to music, and different kinds of music, will affect what you write as you are writing.

 How to Maintain Your Inspiration

This is the easy part - write. Then write some more. It's really as simple as it sounds. If you stop, your creative juices will dry up, and trying to get inspired will be that much harder. I'm a  big believer in little and often when it comes to writing. That will mean  different things for different people. Some writers have a very rigid everyday writing regime. I don't always write every day, but I'm often sorry when I haven't. If you like routines, then find one for your writing, even if it's only ten minutes a day. Even for the most time-challenged person, ten minutes a day is an achievable goal. But if you're like me and prefer to be more freeform, go with that, but be sure not to lose sight of what you're trying to achieve.What do you do when you are lacking inspiration? Do you have tricks you play with yourself to keep yourself inspired? Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media. Many Thanks!

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Is the Beginning of a Novel more important than the Ending?

The beginning of a novel is crucial. Without  a good beginning, you won’t have a reader. But if the ending is unsatisfactory, it's unlikely your reader will recommend your novel or read any more of your work. So which is more important?What links the two is the beginning and end of a circle. Yes - I know there is no beginning and end to a circle , and that of course is the whole point. Hold that thought OK?

A Journey

On a personal level I’ve recently been experiencing both endings and beginnings: I’ve left the UK, my country of birth, to return to Northern California, my adopted home where I spent more than 20 years of my adult life. It’s been a long journey, hence my absence from all things social media. Apologies for the gap in my blog, but it really has been a long 6,000 mile trip. I’d undertaken the same process, in reverse, ten years ago, so I thought I knew what to expect. And in some ways, similar to the way in which we develop the plot of a novel, I did. But like all good stories, there were unexpected, but necessary twists and turns. And like writing a novel, it took longer than I'd like.We have our furniture unpacked, but not arranged. Most of my paintings seem to have made it in one piece, though are sitting facing a wall waiting for me to hang them. Again, like writing, it’s been a lesson in patience. Rush it and you end up with a really shitty first draft.This blog is where life and writing collide. Endings and beginnings are significant stages in both. I was sad to say goodbye to my friends and family in the UK, but thrilled to be back in the USA  and see old friends in California. New beginnings are always exciting - the promise of new experiences, new people to meet, new characters to write and plot arcs to develop.

Endings

Aside from friends and family, I will miss living so close to the sea, watching the quirky English weather.And  of course I shall miss the English countryside. From twee to wild, almost always green.

England, green England, by A.K.Andrew

Beginnings

But  sights I welcome back with open arms: Northern California is an area of incredible natural beauty: the Pacific ocean at the Golden Gate spanned by the eponymous bridge, acres of vineyards, olive groves and stunning state parks, and centuries old redwoods as tall as the eye can see. Yes, things really are bigger in America!

Coming Full Circle

Let's go back to my original comment on the beginning and ending of a novel, and the continuous circle they can present. Life and literature really are all about the journey, and that journey continues ad infinitum. The real challenge is to create a piece of work where the beginning and ending are so closely linked they form a circle. Every writer strives to achieve a scenario where the reader carries the characters with them, wondering what happens after the last page has been turned, and if appropriate, looks forward to the sequel. Beginnings are fun and the first essential step, but the real challenge is the ability to follow through and satisfy your readers once they've reached the end.What do you think is the most important part of a novel? As a writer, do you struggle with the beginning more than the ending? As a reader, how does it color your impression of the book as a whole if it has an unsatisfactory ending?Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media. 

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5 Books made into Films - Which Version is a Modern Classic?

A book or film created in the 20th or 21st Century is considered a Modern Classic if it has a quality likely to have enduring significance or popularity. When a book is made into a film, which version is the modern classic or can it be both?The novel I'm currently working on, Under The Bed, is set in New York City in the late 60's. I'm very interested in how location effects the narrative, so I've chosen five modern classics where location is key.

Midnight Cowboy

Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy , is a novel set in New York made famous by the cult film of the same name. The novel and film, both set in the 1960's, show the plight of Texas greenhorn Joe Buck (John Voight), who comes to New York to find his fortune as a hustler. he finds that he is the one getting 'hustled', until he meets Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a streetwise polio-crippled third rate con-man who initially cheats him. They team up and the unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades. Each has found his first real friend.One of the most memorable scenes from the movie is Dustin Hoffman walking across the road slamming his hand on the hood of a yellow New York cab yelling " I'm walking here! I'm walking here!”. The scene of the crowded streets, yellow taxi cabs at 58th and 6th, is quintessential New York City of the era it portrays. The book was a great read, but it's the film that's the modern classic.

The Shining

  The Shining is a psychological drama by Stephen King, who apparently became inspired during a stay at the Stanley Hotel in Ested Park Colorado. The story centers around a man and his wife who are left with their son to caretake an large isolated hotel during the winter season. The location is central to the narrative, and indeed the suspense of the novel would not exist without the isolation, which is only increased when the family are completely cut off after the heavy snows come. What follows is a slow downward spiral of suspense, which turns into a roller coaster of terror, interspersed with metaphors, repeated symbols and lots of blood . The hotel is literal awash with blood at certain intervals.Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film of the Shining is a classic in the horror movie genre. Jack Nicholson plays the deranged alcoholic, and Shelley Duvall , his wife. Through Jack Torrance , the failed writer, we see the heady days of the Overlook Hotel's past, and his son too is privy to hallucinations. The film was, in part , filmed near Mt. Hood in Oregon, though other scenes were shot in a purpose built set in Britain which was the largest set to be produced at the time. I first saw the film three years ago, and though I'm not a fan of horror, thought it was great. Then I read the book, which managed to maintain some of the suspense, but it was no match for Kubrick's masterpiece.There are some interesting social interpretations of the movie and it's metaphors on the film's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_(film)

Vertigo

 Vertigo is the Alfred Hitchick movie based on the 1954 novel “D'entre les morts” by Boileau-Narcejac. The novel was specifically written for Alfred Hitchcock. For me, the film's location of San Francisco was absolutely key to the film, though the original novel was set in Paris. San Francisco was an excellent choice to place a policeman who suffers from vertigo as the hills are exceptionally steep. I'm not wild about heights myself and the one time I've felt frozen by it, was when I was working as a house painter in San Francisco and I was up a ladder in Twin Peaks, one of the highest neighbourhoods of the city. Although I was only one flight up , when I looked down the hillside, the effect was as if I was hundreds of feet in the air. I was alone, and froze for about 5 minutes,feeling dizzy and sweaty. I finally crawled down the ladder.In the film, Scottie (James Stewart) investigates the strange activities of an old friend's much-younger wife, who he fears is going insane. During his investigation, Scottie becomes dangerously obsessed with his friend's wife.Vertigo is filled with as many plot twists as there are hairpin bends on Lombard street, and Hitchcock never lets up on the suspense right up until the final scene of the film. ( FYI, the book has a completely different ending.) For San Francisco lovers, it's a rare treat to have so much of the film shot on location and there are walking tours to the various spots in the film such as Mission Dolores, Palace of the Legion of Honor, Fort Point etc. In 2009, the hotel that one of the main characters stays in toward the end of the movie, changed it's name to Hotel Vertigo. I've not read the novel, but the movie is so iconic, I cannot imagine it comparing.

Brokeback Mountain

 Brokeback Mountain is a fantastic film/ fiction combination. Set in Wyoming, the film is based on a short story by Annie Proulx, one of my favorite authors. I'm still blown away that the movie comes from a short story of a scant 27 pages, but her prose is both rich and spare. All of Annie Proulx's works pack a hell of a punch in a short space of time. Brokeback Mountain originally appeared in the New Yorker in 1997, and is included in Annie Proulx's Close Range: Wyoming Stories, published in 1999. The location is made stunning by the cinematography in the film,(actually filmed in Alberta's Rocky mountains), and indeed Brokeback Mountain itself becomes synonymous with the relationship between the two men - literally the heart of the novel.As the subject deals with the experience of modern day gay 'cowboys', (Ennis and Jack were actually herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain), the location could have been a number of states, but set in the early 60's through to the 80's, Wyoming works well. ( The choice of location is poignant after the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998. In October 2009, the United States Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (Matthew Shepard Act for short), and on October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law.)I re-read the story again after watching the film, and still cried when Ennis (Heath ledger) takes out the denim shirt of Jack’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) that had been kept in secret for almost 20yrs. For me, I loved both the book and the film in different ways. I felt the book gave more character insight, particular inner dialogue of Ennis, that I'd missed in the film. I'd have to say they are both Modern Classics.

To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird is such an excellent novel on so many levels. It's one of the best books written in first person I've read, handled so expertly, you don't even notice. Scout is a fantastic character and it's amazing Harper Lee could convey such adult themes through the voice of a ten year old girl. But then I could not think about Atticus Finch as anyone but Gregory Peck when I last read the novel.Written in 1960, it's set in depression-era Alabama, and again the location is integral to the work. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in the racially divided small town who agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets. It's excellence as a modern classic in both print and film, is well deserved.So which do you think is the modern classic - the film or the book? Do you prefer to read the book first or vice versa? What are your favorite book/film combinations? Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media.

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Developing a #Plot without Flat Lining

Developing the plot for a novel should be like replicating a heart monitor. You want to see ups and downs on the screen, but you don’t want to see it flat lining. There’s nothing more likely to bore the pants off your readers than creating a story without any variation. Think of it in terms of real life’s ups and downs, except in fiction things need to be larger than life, however small they might be.Huh?Your story doesn’t need to be an action packed thrill ride; even small events can be brought to life by great prose.I came across this news item, that frankly made me laugh, but I could see its potential in relation to the ups and downs of a plot. (FYI for US readers, crisp packet  = potato chip bag. In England they ‘re usually in a single serving size, not a US jumbo pack.)‘Hedgehog Trapped in Crisp Packet in Weston-Super-Mare’“A baby hedgehog which found itself stuck in a crisp packet has been released after a three-and-a-half hour rescue involving six people.The animal became trapped after it crawled into the empty wrapper in a railed off area near steps in Weston-super-Mare.A shopkeeper heard rustling and saw the hedgehog - now named Crispian - stick his nose out.Workers had to cut through the railings and help rescuers reach the hedgehog.”http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-20151566What struck me was that they cut through railings to rescue it, and six people had been involved! Clearly this tiny animal had created an event, which produced substantial effort on the rescuers part. It went from being a simple rustle in the wind to a conflict that needed resolution.If you were writing this scene how might you develop it?The conflict begins when the shopkeeper hears the rustling, which poses a question i.e. what to do? Imagine the thoughts of the shopkeeper (inner dialogue) or perhaps she discusses it with a passerby (spoken dialogue), and they both go and look at the hedgehog. (Action) As a reader, I’d want to have some description of the railings, the railed off area and the hedgehog poking his nose out. Where do the steps lead? Was this the scene of a kidnapping a couple of years earlier, or had there been a fire, and the house subsequently torn down?The middle of the scene then develops after the authorities are contacted. (Action) No doubt there are now two or three people waiting and watching until help arrives. Don’t forget there are six people involved in this incident! What was their interchange? (Dialogue or reported speech) Were there concerns about their ability to get through the railings? (Tension) Did they encounter any snags, like the saw blade breaking? (Building suspense) Would the hedgehog survive, even if they managed to cut through the railing? (More tension)The climax of the scene is the hedgehog being rescued. (More description, dialogue/ reported speech) Is the animal going to live or does it stop moving? Is this the complete end of the story, or do two of the people find a connection and become involved in each other’s lives? Perhaps this is where a murderer first meets his next victim?On its own, this is obviously a very simple scene. It could be made engaging in a myriad of ways from comedy to fable, the beginnings of a thriller to rich descriptive prose. Regardless of stylistic approach, there’s dramatic action, however small, which sends a character in a new direction. In this prickly tale (!), the shopkeeper was going about her business until she was on a mission to save a helpless little creature. To be successful, it needs to have ups and downs. The pitfalls encountered are dependent on the writer’s interpretation.Simple story does not mean boring plot. Complicated plot does not mean interesting story. Getting the right balance is something an author needs to look at for each scene. And not all scenes have the same cadence or intensity. Some might give you some respite after one with high tension. Or perhaps towards the end of the novel, you might ratchet things up by piling on one crisis after another.Balancing the tempo of each scene is a good start. Putting them together is like cooking a favorite dish: you combine the ingredients to suit your particular taste. But one shake too many of the saltcellar and the whole dish is ruined.How does the plot progress in the novel you are reading or writing? Is it a slow build, or does it pack a punch from the beginning. Which to you prefer? Run, Crispin, run!.......................

Time and Place: 1950's USA

I’ve recently finished the first draft of my second novel, “Under the Bed”. It's set in New York in both 1969 and 1952. Time and place are integral to the story; the commonality between the two eras is anti-communism in the USA. I’ll only deal with the 1950’s in this blog.“McCarthyism”, which was at the heart of the anti-communist movement, started in the late forties. You may be aware of the havoc and horror the Hollywood blacklist had on the lives of actors and screenwriters, many of whom were banned from writing or acting. Their careers, and often their entire lives were left in shambles. A number also went to jail. Dashiell Hammett is one of the more famous names of people who served time. He died a year after his release. Lillian Hellman, was also brought before by the House Un-American Activities Committee  - HUAC. She took a landmark stand, later known as the 'Diminished Fifth', in which she was willing to talk about her own activities but refused to talk of others .Paul Robeson and Charlie Chaplin were also victims of the HUAC. Chaplin, who was born in England, was refused re-entry into the USA in 1952, and ultimately never returned to America. Paul Robeson’s passport was confiscated, leaving him unable to work abroad – he was already blacklisted from working in America. His career as a singer and his International Human Rights advocacy work were severely curtailed.       Influence of the House Un-American Activities Committee, reached far beyond Hollywood into many professions, including those in public service. University professors and elementary schoolteachers  were asked to sign an oath swearing that they were not, nor ever had been a member of the Communist Party. Those who refused, which many did on principle, lost their jobs.All serious stuff - but in researching the period, I came across some hilarious footage from the public service announcement of the ‘Duck and Cover Campaign’ that told people, and especially schoolchildren, what to do in the case of a nuclear attack – “Why, duck and cover of course!”.httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89od_W8lMtAIts simplicity might seem ludicrous to us now -  perhaps it did to many people at the time  -  but it gives us a certain insight into an era of fear, tinged with naïveté , in the USA of the 1950's.I love the whole idea of exploring different time and place in writing. They're usually the two challenges I first  set myself when I start a new project. It’s so important in a novel in setting the tone.Where do you set your work? Is it is always in the present, or in the town or country where you live? How does time and place affect your choice in the novels you read?Let me know - I’d love to hear from you.  

Related articles

• Sunday Open Thread (3chicspolitico.com) (A great blog site!)
• Tayo Aluko pays homage to a musical pioneer (charlestoncitypaper.com)
• Defrosting The Cold War (envisioningtheamericandream.wordpress.com)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Hellman

What is Your #Point of View?

I went onto the Sussex Downs at the weekend and was in awe of the beautiful rolling hills punctuated by the brilliant yellow of the rape fields in bloom. I mentioned to a friend how beautiful they were and his response was tempered by the fact he was allergic to them. We had a different point of view on how great they were. Different opinions.In writing, Point of View or POV, refers to who is ‘speaking’, or from who’s ‘vantage point’ the narrative is written. Before I became a writer, I hadn’t paid much attention to this. Waiting for me was the mine field of 'Point of View', with all it pratfalls.Prior to the 20^th century, the ‘omniscient ‘ POV was the norm. The omniscient author, who knew everything about the plot, the characters, and was often free with their opinion, told the story. Think of this wonderful opening line:  

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

‘Tale of Two Cities'  by Charles Dickens

-Yeah it was, but says who? The author of course.

Because omniscient authors are god-like, they know what’s in everyones mind at all times, which they may or may not share with the reader. The author can choose to have a ‘limited omniscient’ POV, and in that situation the author focuses on only certain characters, and their inner thoughts.The other end of the spectrum is first person - the story is told, not by the author, but by a character in the novel. While they can act as a narrator, more often than not they are the main protagonist.In first person, the reader is in the mind of the person telling the story at all times. It's sometimes considered an ‘easy’ way to go for a debut novel, as you only have one POV to put forward. But the main drawback to first person POV, is that the reader is limited to the  experience of the character telling the story. We can only know what they know.There are ways around this e.g. someone else recalling an experience to the character. Murakami usually writes in first person, and uses this technique of a separate individual telling a tale in the ‘Wind-up Bird Chronicles’. We’re taken from the world of Murakami’s quirky narrator who enjoys cooking and music, to a Japanese soldier’s recollection of wartime Manchuria. For me, the latter was in some ways the most memorable part of the novel, in part because of an exceptional, albeit graphic, portrayal of a brutal scene. First person POV is often used when the protagonist has a very strongly defined character. Catcher in the Rye is a perfect example of first person, prominent protagonist. We immediately catch a glimpse of the kind of strong character Holden Caulfield will be. Not all first person novels have protagonists with such a striking personality, but the POV certainly lends itself to doing so.

 ‘If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

'Catcher in the Rye' by J.D.Salinger

  In second person POV, the author tells the story. It’s a very underused POV, but it too can have an intimacy to it – as if we’re being told secrets by the author that only we the individual reader will know. It’s more often used in an instructional way, like in a ‘How To Book’.                                                                                 

 “Rub a little on the back of your neck, your forehead and your wrists before you start fishing, and the blacks and skeeters will shun you. The odor of citronella is not offensive to people. It smells like gun oil. But the bugs do hate it.”

 Camping Out.’ by Ernest Hemingway

 The most commonly used POV is third person. The narrative is told by the author, but from a particular person(s) point of view. Third person has the most variety of possibilities of all POVs and though the term suggests objectivity and distance, it doesn’t necessarily mean the reader is remote. We create distance or closeness in the way we write. Closeness can come in third person by the description of concrete things and letting us hear a character’s thoughts.

“His chest was heaving. He could smell Jack –the intensely familiar odour of cigarettes, musky sweat and a faint sweetness like grass, and with it the rushing cold of the mountain.”

 'Broke Back Mountain'  by Annie Proulx,

 Using more than one POV, once considered radical, has become more commonplace. Innovative novels such as 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell and Margaret Atwood’s 'Oryx & Crake' used this technique. It lends itself to interesting work, if it's well written.Generally speaking, switching POV’s is most successful if the entire chapter is in one POV, or at the most, only changed paragraph by paragraph. A classic novice mistake is to change the POV in the same sentence without even noticing e.g. ‘I was two hours late, and ran upstairs to avoid my mother, who was more relieved than angry.’ – In this first person excerpt, how could the narrator know what the mother was thinking?Though it's more usual to have a novel written in one or two POVs, modern fiction constantly challenges the so-called rules. However, if there are too many POVs for the content to support, then it becomes an unconvincing piece of writing. In 'The Sacred Art of Stealing', a satirical thriller  by Christopher Brookmyre, there are five POVs. It was a humorous read until the author turned to lazy writing, adding in POVs merely as a convenient way to move the plot along, without any of the initial punch of the novel.Literary agents typically want to know ‘whose story is it’? So then it’s a tough call for an inexperienced author to give multiple POVs without making sure there is one clearly rising above the rest. I sometimes question if visual entertainment can successfully have an ensemble cast, then why can’t novels do the same?Trying to convey a theme, or premise can be done using any Point of View. But deciding which POV is best to use to present your premise, is one of the biggest challenges a writer faces, and will most likely determine the success of the novel.What POV do you prefer either as a reader or writer? What problems or frustrations have you had with this issue?   Footnote: This post is dedicated to the writer Ged Duncan. He and I have  spent countless hours over the past few years discussing POV. He's also allergic to rapeseed flowers. To follow this blog, click on "FOLLOW" at the bottom  of the page, or SUBSCRIBE at the top of the page!  

#Editing Forward

How many times have you groaned about having to go ‘back’ and edit a piece of work? And yet all writing is rewriting. I’m fortunate that for the most part I enjoy editing. In fact I often view it as a way of ‘keeping in touch’ with my work when there’s not a lot of time. Edit a short passage – even a sentence – rather than wait for the 2 hr stretch that won’t come along so easily - and it keeps your mind from losing the plot so to speak. Makes it easier to get started the next time you come back to the work. In short I’m a big advocate of little and often. But hey, no one’s perfect, and I can get ground down and see editing as something that’s dragging me back, stopping me moving forward. But no more. This afternoon I had an epiphany!Today is the start of British Summertime. The clocks went forward – which is what prompted my train of thought. It’s been a lovely weekend in Brighton, on the south coast of England, and yesterday I went down to the seafront. It could have been the start of summer. The stripy deckchairs were out, seaside kitsch was back on sale – bags of shells, flip-flops, small containers of shrimps and half shells of freshly caught crab. Men had taken off their shirts, women wore bikinis – generally a lot of pale skin that hadn’t seen a stroke of sun for many months.  There were even some people with a couple of toes in the water. And not the hardy 365 days a year swimmers.The Wurlitzer carousel, built in 1888 has been reassembled into its circle, though when I was there at 10.30 the horses were still wrapped in a giant tent of tarpaulin. There was a sense of emergence in the air, a new season, a new beginning.It was only today when I sat down to do a bit of editing, secretly wanting to press on with where I’d left off, that I realised the problem was that I was looking at editing from the wrong perspective. Editing is not going back but going forward. As you may have seen in my last post I’ve changed the title of my first novel to ‘Radio Echo’. I’ve also recently re-edited the first three chapters (rewrite 28?). Both things have been very positive in my approach to the work. When you edit a section, it’s done to make it better. You might be approaching it with some feedback from other people, or with merely a keener eye from yourself. But the chances are very good that you’re going to make the work better. So in what way is that ‘going back’? The answer is it’s not. It’s moving forward.I’m not being Pollyannaish about this, it’s simply a fact. You are moving your work forward every time you edit. There is no going back about it. So if we keep this in mind, then maybe it will help to take the groan out of having to edit. When you’re sitting down to edit a 60-100,000w bit of work, it’s going to be more than a quick ten-minute task. Inevitably there’ll come a point – or several points, where you feel jaded, bored – whatever you want to call it. But more often than not, we’re editing smaller chunks - a line, a paragraph, or a couple of chapters. All of this is moving the work forward, which is a good thing. To be a writer you have to enjoy rewriting. That’s the fact of the matter. If you don’t, then you’ll rarely get past one edit without it being an unpleasant gut-wrenching task. It’s impossible to edit everything as you go along. The work needs distance. Then you move forward. You edit.I hope that looking at it as editing forward, rather than going back to edit is of some help to those of you who dislike the task. We all have different writing habits, methods, rituals that work for each one of us. How do you approach your editing? Are there ways you make it go faster or are more economical with your time?Let me know what you’re approach is, bad habits you’d like to get out of or any good habits you want to share.I’d love to hear from you!