Surprise!

OK, here's something for each of you to keep your enthusiasm going.

Note: If you click on the image you'll get it full size so you can download it.

I think I mentioned I was preparing a little surprise for each of you. This is part of it. The other part I'll explain on Saturday.

Dónal, Meabh and Paul. This is one reason why you should be working on a title for your book.

For Dónal I've suggested The Tree on the Roof of the World, just to get you thinking along different lines. Maybe it's good, maybe it's too long; I don't know.

For Meabh it's Cadenza, which as you may know is a musical term meaning a virtuoso solo passage. I think it may contain the idea of Lola's solo quest for justice for her dead composer.

For Paul it's Mother, Weep No More. I don't know enough about the plot yet but I understand it's a mission to save the earth, which to many primitive peoples is Gaia, or Mother.

Again, these are no more than suggestions. I can substitute another title without much trouble. The wonders of Photoshop!

Show don't tell

Images are powerful. They work on two levels: conscious and subconscious.

I know from my time in advertising that people start taking a project really seriously when they see an image. Whenever I start a new book I do a rough design of a cover. It helps me concentrate on the subject.

It also gives me the idea that the book is coming to life. It never fails to work for me. I believe it'll work for you too.

Good luck!

Puzzles and Cliffhangers

Hi again,

By now you should be some way into your tale of mystery.

You began with a paragraph or two in order to tease your readers. You can compare your story to a jigsaw puzzle that's missing the picture on the box. Your readers have no idea how the completed puzzle should look.

But you've gone further than that. You haven't given them all the pieces. You've hidden the most important ones, and you won't release them until the story is almost finished.

The hidden jigsaw pieces could be the faces of several people in the puzzle. Their identities will remain secret right up to the last minute.

The French call this the dénouement, literally the "unknotting" or the revelation. This is the surprise you've been keeping from your readers.

The Cliffhanger

Before you reach the dénouement, though, you're going to tease your readers several times in the course of your story. This is where the cliffhanger comes in.

You should place one at the end of each chapter. Usually it's the final line. Notice what I've done at the end of each chapter of The Baron.

The prologue ends with the enigmatic line: "I am under the
command of his gracious majesty, Henry the Fifth, King of Manhattan."

It's the "huh?" effect. How can Norman knights and Red Indians be in Manhattan?

You'll see that this idea is carried through. Chapter three has Todd and Serena in the Linford house finding puzzle after puzzle. The reader doesn't know what's going on. The chapter ends with the line:

"Face it, Serena," he said. "Only three people know about that diary. You, me, and a dead man."

A secret shared with a dead man? Spooky. Will my readers wish to read more? I know they will. They'll want to find out what happens to Lady Eleanor and Ruth. At the end of the chapter they know a little more, but not much. They'll have to read on.

You have to keep your readers' attention. You have to leave them wanting more.

You have to keep going for the "huh?" effect.

The Plot Thickens

Hi again,

All being well you've begun your mystery story. You've chosen as your subject something you're expert on, be that music, science, language or puzzles.

Your plot should be cooking nicely now. To give you some idea of how to go about "thickening" it, I've upped another instalment of Baron Livingstone to my server. You can get it here.

You'll see how I've laid several mysteries before the reader. We still don't know what's the matter with Ruth, nor how she relates to Lady Eleanor. And there are many more mysteries to come!

I've introduced some Gothic elements too. The Linford house is straight out of a Gothic movie. We know there's a link to history here.

When you're plotting your own story, think about how much information you wish to give your reader. Not too much but not too little either; you want your reader to be so fascinated that he or she will be just dying to find out what's really going on.

So make your plot as thick as you want. Only don't forget you need action too. Think about alternating action and mystery. It's important how you pace your story.

See you on Saturday.

David

MasterClass, part two

Hi again.

I’ve putting the finishing touches to the new series. All is going to plan, and if I don’t walk under a bus (or get trod on by a tetchy T-Rex) we’ll be starting on Saturday, 13 February.

Like I said, the new sessions will differ from the first ones. This time round you’ll be working and thinking like a pro. Meaning that we’ll be analyzing the fantasy novel I’ve just completed, Baron Livingstone and the King of Manhattan.

Throughout the masterclasses you'll be immersed in the real world of the writer. We’ll be examining the Baron page by page, almost line by line. I’ll be explaining why I took certain approaches to storylines. How and why I chose to give a character a certain personality and have him or her behave in a certain way. Perhaps most important of all: we’ll be looking at how the plot unfolds.

It’s a mystery story, and as you know, with this sort of material it’s always crucial not to give away too many secrets too soon.

I want to tell you here and now that this is not going to be an easy ride. But it will be an exciting one. You’ll learn at first hand what it really means to be a writer. At the end of the 8 weeks you’re going to know more about writing a novel than you ever imagined.

You’ll be ready to do one of two things:

1. You’ve written a novel or short story that needs polishing. These masterclasses will enable you to finish it and present it to a publisher like a pro.

2. You have a novel or short story in your head. Now you can write it like a pro, and write it so well that no publisher can ignore it.

So what’s a MasterClass?

Well, here’s what my online dictionary says. “Masterclass: a class ... given by an expert to highly talented students.”

That’s good enough for me, and I think it sums up Anaverna pretty well. All of you have advanced far beyond the beginner stage of writing, and you’re all highly talented. Take a bow.

My own idea of a masterclass is to create a sort of “group mind”. By this I mean: a number of people working together to produce works of fiction that are better than could be achieved by those persons working alone.

You experienced this (to a certain extent) in the first sessions. You shared the writing experience; you learned from others. You took your inspiration from Anaverna.

The next level

Now it’s time to consolidate the work you did in the first sessions. And move to the next level.

I’m going to share with you the thoughts and ideas that generated Baron Livingstone and the King of Manhattan. I’ll explain my thought processes. Stuff I kept in the story, stuff I rejected.

You’ll find out how I researched different elements of the story. How I built the story from scratch into the fairly finished state it’s in now. (A novel is never truly finished!)

And all the time you’ll be giving your opinion, telling me what’s wrong or right with what you’re reading. Everybody will be doing this; everybody will be picking up clues from everybody else.

While you’re doing that, you’ll be harnessing the group mind to help with whatever it is you are writing. I think—I know—that your writing will gain so much from this.

How do you prepare?

All being well, you’ve already looked at the intro and first chapter. If you haven’t, here’s the link again. I’d like you to print out the pages and take them along to the first session. (If you can't, we'll work something out.)

There are 20 chapters, plus a brief introduction and an epilogue. That means I’ll be asking you to read 2 or 3 chapters a week, before each session. But don’t worry; they’re fairly short chapters. And I like to believe they’re gripping too, so it won’t feel like work :0)

Here are the details of the MasterClasses:

Every Saturday from 3 pm to 5 pm at Anaverna

Eight sessions, from 13 February until 3 April

Total cost of 8 sessions: €80


BTW Does anybody have Hazel O'Rourke's contact details? I have a phone number but it's wrong. Duh. I'm sure she'd like to join us again.

New! MasterClass

Hi all,

I'm planning a whole new series of sessions for advanced writers. In other words: you!

I've emailed as many of the team as I could, i.e. those whose addresses I had on file. This post is for those of you I couldn't reach. It's basically the contents of the email I sent.

So what's this all about? Well, the first series was fairly general, as you know, when we handled the basics of putting a story together.

The new series is, as I said, for the more advanced writer. The themes are similar: fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, etc. The difference is that we'll be looking at writing that jumps off the page, and has your reader totally hooked from start to finish.

As a basis for the series I'll be using a novel for young adults that I've just completed. It's called Baron Livingstone and the King of Manhattan. As you'll have guessed from the title, it's set in New York. It's a fantasy/time travel story, but unlike anything you've read before.

Here's a link to the prologue and first chapter to give you a flavour of what to expect.

If you're interested in the new series, do please drop me an email or post a comment here. I haven't decided on the dates yet but it'll be soon.

Regards,

David

Open Thread 4

Hi All,

I'm starting this thread to facilitate the short story we were working on today.

I'm going to investigate the possibility of other people being able to blog here. In other words, you won't have to wait for me to start a thread but simply start one whenever you feel like it.

In meantime, this is for Meabh, who very kindly volunteered to write up the story and post it here.

Let's see where it goes when Mr Byrne enters the pet shop....


Update
Okay, I've worked it out. I can invite up to 100 people to blog! I've added six names so far: Aisling, Cian, Gráinne, Holly, Katie Irwin and Meabh.

Why those six, you may ask? Because theirs were the only email addresses I had on file. If you want to be included feel free to mail me.

Don't for heaven's sake post your email addy to this blog! If you do, you risk being spammed :0(

Update 2
I'm posting this on Meabh's behalf. She mailed me to say she had difficulty posting.

Feel free to copy/paste what follows and add your own line or lines to it!

We need a title too, perhaps something with "dogs" or "pets". I've suggested "Going to the Dogs".

* * *

Going to the Dogs

"What would you like for your birthday?"

"A puppy!" Tom and Jackie exclaimed as one.

"What kind of puppy?" their Dad asked.

"A flying puppy," Tom said hopefully.

It was a warm summer's day. Their birthday was approaching. Despite the fact that their births were a year apart, their birthday fell on the same day. Tom was eight now and Jackie was nine.

Their faces resembled each other's: cinnamon eyes, long eyelashes and hair the colour of Sumatran teak.

Mr. Byrne laughed.

"Don't be silly, Tom, dogs can't fly."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, Dad," piped up Jackie. "We saw one in the pet shop on O'Niels Street."

Mr. Byrne scratched his beard in puzzlement. As far as he knew, no pet shop existed in this town. He walked up O'Niels Street every day on his way to the office, and he could not recall ever seeing a pet shop.

"We'll see," he said, preparing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

"We'll ask Mam then," they said.

* * *

Mr. Byrne turned into O'Niels Street, taking his usual route to work.

There was an alley halfway down the street. He happened to glance into it. Two doors down he saw a sign: "Zarcalambar's Exotic Pets". He stopped in his tracks.

"That's odd," he said to himself. "The kids were right: there is a pet shop here."

Mr. Byrne looked at his watch. He was early. He decided he had enough time to investigate.

He ventured down to the shop. To his mild surprise, there was no window display, but a thick red velvet curtain completely drawn. He pressed it. Somewhere inside, an old-fashioned bell tolled...

Open Thread 3

Hi all,

I considered writing an article on what we were doing last week: the ghost story. But I couldn't think of a single thing to add!

I thought an open thread would be more interesting. There are only two more sessions to go, so how about raising topics or issues here?

You'll see by the "syllabus" that I've left the final sessions a little vague, and with plenty of room for debate. This Saturday, 7 November, is all about improving your work.

Let's say you wish to write seriously, that you wish to enter writing competitions and the like. How do you ensure that your stuff gets noticed above somebody else's?

Why not discuss that right here, in preparation for Saturday?