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Rebecca Blunt, UK.
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Pamela Gorham, UK.
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FREELANCE MARKET NEWS
an essential guide for freelance writers
For up-to-date market information, Freelance Market News is invaluable.
Issued 11 times a year it's packed with information on markets in Britain and around the globe, plus you get all the latest news and views on the publishing world.
Every subscription comes with FREE membership of The Association of Freelance Writers. Your membership also entitles you to discounts on books and competitions, a free appraisal worth over £30 and a Membership Card which confirms your status as a Freelance Writer.
FREE sample markets are available to view at the website, along with more details about the magazine and how you can subscribe.
www.freelancemarketnews.com
IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE OF FMN:
TIPS FOR SILENCING YOUR INNER CRITIC
Show, Don't Tell!
by Lesley Cryer
When writing fiction, it’s vital to fully engage your readers’
attention so they keep turning the pages. One of the most effective methods
of doing this is to show rather than tell. If you tell,
you’re simply reporting what happens, which tends to distance the
readers – they feel they’re learning about something second-hand,
through a dull summary of the events. If you show through dialogue
and action, it’s more immediate and has much greater impact. The
readers feel as if they’re there, watching and listening, rather
than getting a lacklustre, second-hand account. Consider the following example of telling.
Louise’s ex-husband,
Jake, had arrived at her house angry because she’d told him he
couldn’t see their children that weekend. He’d hammered on
the door demanding to be let in. She’d told him to go home, but
he’d continued to bang until he’d disturbed her next door
neighbour, Bill, who’d asked him to stop making a noise and go
away. Jake had turned on Bill, so Louise had warned him she was calling
the police.
This simply relates the facts, but it comes across as a watered down
narrative. The readers barely make contact and there’s no real sense
of tension created. Consider now the same scenario shown.
‘Open the door
– I want to see me kids!’ yelled Jake, hammering on it so hard
that Louise was terrified he’d break it down.
‘I’ve already told you – they’re visiting my parents
for the weekend,’ she called in a trembling voice.
Jake continued to bang on the door bellowing, ‘Let me in - I want
to see them!’
‘Excuse me, but could you possibly stop making that racket,’
came a voice. ‘You’re disturbing the entire neighbourhood.’
To her relief Louise realised it was her next door neighbour, Bill.
‘Get lost you little runt. This is nothing to do with you,’
snapped Jake, turning round to tower threateningly over Bill, who blanched,
but didn’t retreat.
‘If you don’t go immediately, I’m phoning the police!’
Louise shouted, knowing that Jake was more than capable of starting
a fight.
Dialogue brings the scenario to life. For the readers this is the next
best thing to being present at the altercation, virtually able to hear
the fury in Jake’s voice, feel Louise’s fear and sense Bill’s
determination not to be intimidated. Speech can also subtly indicate other aspects of a situation. For example,
Jake’s dialogue indicates that he’s rough, probably uneducated
and is quite prepared to be verbally abusive. The more middle class Bill
is polite, if a little pompous, even when annoyed.
In reality, most people’s speech isn’t usually crisp and concise
– it’s vague, rambling and full of pauses. But don’t make
the mistake of thinking that realistic dialogue should be an accurate
reproduction of the way people actually speak. In fiction, speech should
distil the essence of what someone would say in real life, a précis
which conveys the crucial information only. Don’t have characters exchanging greetings and enquiring after each
other’s health, cat or elderly relative and avoid commonplace exchanges
about the weather. Ask yourself if what they say moves the story along,
and if it doesn’t, use the delete key.
Another thing to bear in mind is that most people abbreviate when they
speak – eg ‘I’m’ for ‘I am,’ ‘we’ll’
for ‘we will’ etc. Only have a character saying, ‘I do
not believe we have been introduced,’ instead of, ‘I don’t
believe we’ve been introduced,’ if you want to indicate that
this person is formal, with a deliberate and rather pedantic way of speaking.
Some writers try too hard to avoid using the verb said and come
up with every possible alternative, most of which jar the readers. Verbs
like opined, inferred or expostulated serve only
to slow the pace. It’s better to repeat Paul said or stick
to simpler alternatives like replied, asked, or shouted.
You don’t always need to state who’s speaking, because if you’ve
laid your dialogue out correctly it’ll be obvious, as in this example.
‘Are you being
forced to go to that boring concert like the rest of us?’ George
asked.
‘I’m afraid so,’ replied Jess. ‘I’m dreading
it.’
‘Me too. Would you like to go for a drink afterwards?’
‘That would be lovely.’
You don’t need to add George/he said to the penultimate sentence
or Jess/she said to the last one, as it’s obvious who’s
speaking.
It’s important that you learn to lay out and punctuate dialogue correctly,
not only because it makes your meaning clearer, but because editors find
it irritating if you don’t. Most of them are busy people who don’t
have time to correct erroneous layout – they’ll simply reject
your work instead, however good it is.
Luckily, the guidelines are fairly simple. You should begin a new indented
line for each character each time they speak. The punctuation around speech
goes inside the inverted commas.
‘That’s my
chair,’ he told her.
‘No it isn’t – it’s mine,’ she said.
If you have a character making a long speech, you can continue the speech
into a second paragraph. This is a device to be used sparingly because
if one person talks for too long, another will interrupt. When doing this,
you shouldn’t close the inverted commas at the end of the first paragraph,
but you should open them at the beginning of the second. This makes it
clear that it’s still the same character speaking.
‘Honestly, Liz,
he talked about himself for the entire meal and managed four courses,
all without apparently drawing breath.
‘By the time we reached coffee ... well, let me put it this way,
I ordered espresso because otherwise I’d have been face down in
the after dinner mints snoring gently.’
Showing rather than telling makes your work much more vital and alive.
Well-written dialogue should not only carry the plot forward and add drama,
it should also define the characters by what they say, how they say it
and how other characters react. As you sweep the readers along in the
world you’ve created, they’ll feel as if they’re actually
there.
AUTHOR'S BIO
Lesley Cryer is a freelance writer with a General Arts degree in English
and American Literature.The author of fifteen contemporary novels, two period novels and a humorous
book, she has also written for children's TV and the BBC. She has been
a regular contributor of stories and features to national publications
and worked for a time as an editor and writer on several company magazines.
TOP TIPS...
for plotting a novel
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Action, dramatic high points and conflict – these are what you are aiming for in your novel, no matter what genre you are writing in.
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Decide on a setting and period. Do you know enough about it to write authoritatively - or can you find out? And what genre is it going to be – romance, crime, thriller, horror, sci-fi?
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Make sure there is enough 'meat' to sustain a full length novel and that you're not just trying to pad-out a short story.
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Plan your novel before you start. Know your story line and prepare a detailed synopsis showing all the major characters and how they interact. This will keep you on course and give you an overview, showing you how much additional research you need to do and allowing you to plan where any subplots will feature.
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But, if something starts to go awry or a new subplot develops naturally as you are writing, don't be afraid to make changes. Your synopsis is not set in stone.
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Make sure you have a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning leads readers into the heart of the drama and forms the foundation on which the story is built. It should grab their attention. The middle is where you should develop your theme, revealing more about the characters and building up the tension. Don't let it flag. The end is the final act in the drama. Not every problem needs to be solved but make sure the main conflict has been resolved. A happy ending isn't obligatory but it is more satisfying for your reader if you at least end on an upbeat note.
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You must plan your chapters so that they end on a note of tension or contain a 'hook' that will ensure that your reader wants to turn the page or start the next chapter.
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When your synopsis is complete check for continuity blunders – are there bluebells in the woods in November, have any of your characters aged prematurely or changed from a blonde to a brunette without the help of hair colourant?
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Three good ways of adding more texture to your plot are: flashbacks (where you show an event in the past that has direct relevance to what's happening to one of your main characters in the present); foreshadowing (planting information in the reader's mind – facts which don't seem significant at the time but which will be vital later in the story) and subplots. Subplots usually run alongside the main plotline allowing minor characters to have their own mini-dramas or giving you the opportunity to inject a little humour.
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Coincidence. A certain amount is acceptable in a novel – readers suspend their disbelief and appreciate that any piece of fiction will depend on a certain number of twists of fate. But don't overdo it, or they will start to feel cheated.
BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books. Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. There is no cost to join or use the web site: the only cost is mailing your books to others.
http://bookmooch.com
I wanted to share this article with you to demonstrate how one writer's imaginative marketing plan tranformed a hundred self-published books into a publishing contract. Could you come up with a better idea?
www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/12137
Simplicity in essence! Type a word into the box and it will produce a list of its rhymes, synonyms and more!
http://rhyme.poetry.com
Here's a treat to help you while away your online time in a creative manner. Enjoy!
http://isnoop.net/toys/magwords.php
That brings us to the end of this month's issue. Next month, Simon Whaley will show you how to be Positively Productive!
As usual, if you've any suggestions or would like to comment on content then please contact Teresa at:
ezeewriter@writersbureau.com
And don't forget – if you've enjoyed this issue of E-zee Writer and found it useful, tell your friends about it so that they can subscribe too!
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