Writing Tips

Getting Started
By “Lozza”

You want to write a novel …you decide on a psychological thriller. Hopefully, your story will be original and terrifying. The question is – where do you start? With a team of detectives and a crime, or with a protagonist haunted by an event in their past? The choice, of course, is personal, though I tend to favour the psychological over police procedurals. In fact, I often skim over police dialogues, preferring those quieter moments where the protagonist wakes up in the middle of the night and hears sounds just below the window ledge….

Starting a story is a bit like starting a letter and deciding what comes after Dear x. I never know what to write next, which is one of the reasons I rarely write letters. Emails present a similar problem. In a story, however, something clearly has to follow the chapter heading, or there is no story.

If you can’t think of a suitable opening, write anything. Work towards the first dialogue or dramatic event and let the story develop. Later, when the draft is complete, you will be in a better position to decide on the right opening.

Knowing which viewpoint to use can present problems. Some creative writing experts, especially here in the UK, advise new writers to stick to a single viewpoint in order to avoid confusion. Trust your own instincts on this, as it’s your story. If you want more than one viewpoint, use multiple viewpoints. Or experiment.

With many stories now written in the first person, it may be tempting to choose this point of view, largely to create an atmosphere of immediacy. But think carefully. First person narratives are notoriously hard to carry off and there’s always a danger that the story may become inward looking. It require careful planning. Not only must your know the main character in depth, you must also have a clear idea of the motives, feelings and backgrounds of all the other significant characters.

Here’s an exercise to try. Invent an incident that has no relevance to your story and work on the scene using a variety of viewpoints. The aim? To concentrate on the uniqueness of each character.

What does witness A see that witness B doesn’t? What is going through witness C’s mind a minute or two before the incident? (In other words, person C has a life prior to the story. Maybe she has dinner plans for later. Or perhaps he’s facing a crisis of some sort.) How does the incident affect each individual person? Does it evoke any particularly strong emotions, or do they view it as mundane? Taking the character least affected, describe the rest of their day. As you do, get inside their head. Where possible, try to vary the writing style so that each character has a distinct voice.

Viewpoint and character development go hand in hand. Try writing the biographical details of each of the main characters in your novel, using first person viewpoint. Every time your mind goes blank or you experience a strong feeling, place a mark against the detail. If the feeling persists or gets stronger, highlight the information in red ink. You now have a source of tension that will influence the decisions your character has to make when they face obstacles. Hopefully, you will arrive at a number of sources of tension, some stronger than others.

A few other valuable exercises to attempt:

1. Write down twenty items a character might carry with them;
2. Describe a set of emotions without mentioning the feelings by name;
3. If you’re having difficulty making a certain scene flow, try writing it in second person, or in the form of a letter addressed to a fictitious person:
4. Describe a setting without using adjectives or adverts. Concentrate on the use of strong verbs.
5. Write a short dialogue. Is each speaker distinct, or do they all talk the same?

Finally, good luck!

Here is a link to one of Lozza’s most current discussions about writing
http://p223.ezboard.com/fexpentecostalforumsfrm19.showMessage?topicID=1275.topic

Contact Lozza