Writing Tips - Part 3

Regency Research

Are you thinking about entering the Trust and Tribulation Final Chapter writing competition? Here are some links and books to help brush up your Regency knowledge. And remember, use research in your writing with a light touch. A few well-selected period details here and there will evoke the era and blend into the scene without holding up the action. Try to avoid the “info dump” i.e. big paragraphs of information about the world.

Websites/Blogs

Jane Austen’s World

This site is a good starting place for articles and information about Regency social customs and life, grouped under very handy headings such as Dancing, Dining, Etiquette etc. Be aware that some of the links do not work.

http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/social-customs-and-the-regency-world/

Candice Hern

Candice Hern is a very successful Regency romance writer and has set up a very informative and accessible guide to Regency society. She also has a gallery of illustrations and her own collections of Regency objects to help with descriptions.

http://www.candicehern.com/regency.htm

Austenonly

This site is focused on Jane Austen, but does have a lot of incidental Regency information. It regularly reviews books as well, which is a great way of keeping up with new resources in the area.

http://austenonly.com/

Joanna Waugh

I’ve only just found this site myself, so haven’t been through it extensively. However, it seems to have a number of links to interesting Regency articles and some specific resources for people writing about the Regency period including lists of phrases used.

http://www.joannawaugh.com/Page1.html

And of course, a Google search will bring up blogs and other sites devoted to the Regency that may be useful.

Books

Some of the following are also available as e-books.

Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester (Arrow Books).

This is an excellent resource about Regency society, people and places with brief references to Heyer’s work interspersed. Highly recommended.

Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen by Sarah Jane Downing (Shire Library).

A short guide to fashion and associated accessories of the Regency era with great illustrations.

An Elegant Madness, High Society in Regency England by Venetia Murray (Penguin). This is a fabulous and very entertaining overview of high society in the Regency. Not a quick reference guide but it does give enormous detail and evokes the attitudes of the age.

The Regency Companion by Sharon H. Laudermilk and Teresa Hamlin (Garland Publishing).

This one is only available from libraries as it is out of print (I was going to buy a second hand one for myself from a book dealer but the cheapest one I could find was about $400!). However, it is a truly excellent reference to the period.

If you have a regency research resource (try saying that fast!) to share, please do post it in the comments section below.

Happy writing!

Cheers,

Alison

Writing Tips - Part 2

Making A Scene!

A story, at its foundation, is a series of scenes strung together to create meaning. Scenes are the building blocks of a story. If you can write a good scene, you are well on your way to creating a terrific story.

But what exactly is a scene, and how do you create one that works? Here is a definition of a scene from Make A Scene by Jordan E. Rosenfeld.

Scenes are capsules in which compelling characters undertake significant actions in a vivid and memorable way that allows the events to feel as if they are happening in real-time.

So, according to the definition above, what are the elements of a good scene?

Scenes are capsules

Take a look at some of the scenes I have written for Trust and Tribulation. You will notice that they generally appear in one place and one time. When I move the action to another place and time, I start another scene. The boundaries of a scene “capsule” are created by continuous space and time e.g. Anthea and her mother and sister at the breakfast table – one place, one time. Once that space and time shifts in the story, you are generally starting another scene.

Sometimes, if the shift is only across a few minutes or a short space within the story – the characters are walking from one room to another – a writer will add a passage of narrative summary that takes the reader across that time and space, and then starts the new scene in continuous flow without a text break. If you look at the scene where Anthea and Lily are walking to the village, I chose to write a short narrative summary about Madame Celeste and then take them into her shop rather than make a break in the text and start a new scene. Why? Because the time and space movement was very short and I used the transition to give some information about Madame Celeste.

Compelling characters undertaking significant actions

Since I have already set up the characters in Trust and Tribulation, it will be up to you to study what information I have given about them throughout the chapters, and create their actions from that characterisation. By actions, I mean their decisions and reactions, and how they go about enacting those decisions and dealing with those reactions. There are many, many books written about to how to create compelling characters, but let’s just say for the purposes of the Trust and Tribulation competition that a compelling character has a goal they want to achieve and that they must overcome obstacles to achieve that goal. Those obstacles include external obstacles such as other people and circumstances, and inner obstacles such as their own morality or character flaws.

Significant actions means those decisions and “enactments of decisions” that are going to add something to the plot and characterisation. They will also preferably push the plot along towards the all-important climax of the story.

In a vivid and memorable way

This is where the show don’t tell method of writing comes into play. Use action (characters doing stuff, body language etc), dialogue, description and thoughts to create dramatic moments that the reader can visualise. If you are still unsure, take a look at the example in the first set of writing tips on this blog.

If you are entering the Trust and Tribulation competition then you will be limited to Anthea’s thoughts in your scenes because Trust and Tribulation is written in what is called Third Person Point of View (e.g. he said, she said, etc.) not First Person Point of View (e.g. I said). Plus it is written specifically through Anthea’s point of view, so we don’t go into the thoughts of any other character. It is also written in past tense – she ran, they walked – something to keep in mind when writing the final chapter.

Allows the events to feel as if they are in real-time

The feeling that the events are happening as we read them is created by the show don’t tell method – think of it as like a blow-by-blow account of each moment of an event. Having said that, it is essential that the writer selects the most important events and parts of those events that the reader needs to experience in order to make sense of the story and enjoy it. Otherwise, the scene will be a blow-by-blow account of trivial matters that will bore the reader.

A couple more pointers:

• · When you start your scene, anchor the reader in time and the place. Check out the beginnings of the Trust and Tribulation scenes and you will notice that I always make sure the reader knows where and when they are in the first paragraph. This is often done using a brief description. Here’s an example from the first scene of the story: Anthea Stanwell sipped her weak morning tea, the leaves of which had already done service the day before, and watched her mother across the small breakfast table. Thus the reader knows, through the show don’t tell method, that it is breakfast time and Anthea and her mother are seated at the table.

• · A scene has a structure:

o a beginning with the time/place anchor I mentioned above,

o a middle leading into a climax which is the emotional high point of the scene where some kind of change occurs for the main character.

o a dénouement – a short ending – which, if it is not the final scene in the story, will have a narrative hook that leads the reader on to the next scene with some kind of promise.

Happy writing!

Cheers,

Alison

www.alisongoodman.com.au

Next Time: Regency Research

Writing Tips - Part 1

Anthea Stanwell and her sister are now, well and truly, off on their adventures in Trust and Tribulation. For those of you who are interested in entering the competition to write the final chapter of the serial (Chapter 11), I will be posting a series of fiction writing tips to give you some pointers on how to craft an engaging end to the story.

First off, here are my "five fast tips" to quickly improve your writing skills:

1. Use the five senses in your descriptions.

We experience the world through sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste. However, many new writers only use descriptions that are based on sight. Use all five senses and your writing will be far more vivid. For example, a description just based on sight: The kitchen was old and dirty. A description using more of the senses: The dirt on the kitchen floor crackled under my feet and the smell of fried bacon left a taste of salt on my tongue.

2. Use original detail.

Part of a writer’s job is to keenly observe the world around them and find new and interesting ways to describe it. A lazy writer depends on cliché and phrases that have been used over and over again. For example, as hard as a nail. Push beyond the banal and think of details that are fresh and exciting and reflect the way that you see the world.

3. Be specific.

A good writer helps a reader create clear images in their minds-eye. The more specific you are with your descriptions, the easier it is for the reader to picture the action. For example, if you wrote The dog ran into the room and knocked a vase off the table, the reader is left without knowing what kind of dog it is, how big it is, etc. However, if you wrote,

The black Labrador ran into the room. His long, wagging tail swept across the coffee table and knocked a glass vase onto the carpet

then the reader can picture the dog and the action clearly.

4. Show don’t tell.

You may have heard this maxim before, but it is a very important idea to grasp if you want to write engaging fiction. Show don’t tell means putting your characters in scenes using dialogue, actions and thoughts rather than just dryly explaining the story. If you hand everything to your reader on a plate, they don’t have to do anything to engage with the story or the characters. However, if you gradually give them information in a dramatic form that makes them think and feel, then you will awaken their curiosity and they will want to read on and will invest in the characters and the story. For example, if you wrote She was angry then the reader will get the basic information, but will not feel the character’s anger. However, if you wrote,

She slammed the heel of her hand against the desk.

“I don’t care what you think,” she said. “I’m going to do it anyway.”

“Then you’re an idiot,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed. “I may be an idiot, but least I’m not a coward.”

As you can see, a whole lot more information and emotion can be conveyed in a far more interesting way by using the show don’t tell method.

5. Read your writing out loud.

Find a quiet place where you can be alone and read your work out loud. Listen to the rhythms of your writing. If you run out of breath, you may need more punctuation. If you stumble over a few words, take another look at them. Think about how fast your writing is making your read – do you want that much pace, or do you want to slow the reader down? Short sentences make pace faster while longer sentences slow it down. Reading your work out loud is a good way to start the all-important rewriting that every author must do to make his or her work as strong and effective as possible.

I hope that helps. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment below and I will respond as soon as I can.

Cheers, for now,

Alison

Next Time: How to create scenes, the building blocks of a story.

Visit Alison’s website at www.alisongoodman.com.au