Since my last update four weeks ago, I have read two more texts towards my DIY MFA, written more of my novel-in-progress, removed my sling and started physiotherapy.

Let's chat about the creative writing books.

The first book, and the focus of my August blog post, was Wordsmithery: the writer's craft and practice, edited by Jayne Steel. A month later, I find myself applying many of those techniques to my novel, and will use even more of them when I start editing. I would recommend the book to writers who have already studied Creative Writing as undergraduates. It is definitely at a post-grad level in my opinion.

September's text, The Craft of Fiction: how to become a novelist, by Jonathan Falla, is written for the skilled beginner. There were a few new ideas that I hadn't encountered before, and it was very useful for my study buddy as it explained, at a more basic or foundational level, many of the concepts we encountered in Wordsmithery. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a solid introduction to the theory behind creative writing.

I also worked through The Writer's Journey: mythic structure for writers, by Christopher Vogler, which was recommended as further reading on structure by George Green in chapter three of Wordsmithery. The Writer's Journey guides the novelist through the beats or scenes that are necessary in a traditional structure, and also considers the archetypal roles of characters. If you love Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, then this will take you on the journey at a deeper level.

My additional text this month is Reading Like a Writer: a guide for people who love books and for those who want to write them, by Francine Prose. I am only 50 pages into this one, so my review will follow in a later blog post.

The Craft of Fiction, by Jonathan Falla

What I learned and some of the exercises I wrote for it.

Chapter two introduces the basic premise of any story - somebody wants something very badly and is having difficulty getting it. Falla explains how this basic tension at the heart of a story is essential and far more important than the plot - however clever and elegant it might be. Without character and tension, there is no story.

The second thing that every story needs is a journey, be it external or internal. And the protagonist (main character) must be changed by that journey. The next paragraph is a summary of my protagonist's journey in my work in progress. If you wish to avoid any spoilers, you should skip the following paragraph.

In This Glass House April’s journey is from a naïve confidence in her intelligence and ability to achieve her (pretty selfish) goal to an understanding of the complexities of life, how easily tricked she can be, and that family and friendship rather than money is what she needs to be happy and fulfilled (self-sacrificing).

Chapter three considers the delicate balance between truth and story when writing autobiographical or historical fiction. A quote from Mario Vargas Llosa sums up Falla's argument that story is more important than facts.

"Literature, in order to convince the reader, must become a sovereign world, independent, a world that has emancipated itself from its mother."

In chapter four Falla outlines ten types of story and how their structure and purpose differ from each other. This was one of the most interesting and exciting chapters for me, and if you don't know your Rashomon from you Picaresque, I would recommend exploring those story types either by reading Falla's book or online research.

Chapter five goes into character, conflict and story, and explains why conflicted characters are loved by readers. Chapter six looks at voice, POV and tense. My study buddy had a lot of fun playing with second-person narration, and it worked surprisingly well. There is a chapter on narrative structure, and one on research and how to use it. The landscape chapter delved into the interrelationship between character, mood and landscape/weather. 

The chapter on interior design suggests many ideas that can be applied to my work in progress. Again, if you wish to avoid any spoilers, jump ahead to the next paragraph. Falla reminds the reader that the history of a building is written in its timbers or on its walls. A character might discover evidence of previous uses or crimes. A palimpsest is a document that has been written over several times. In This Glass House April might find evidence in the attic to suggest someone has hidden there or been held captive there in the past? Will one of the rooms be kept as a shrine to Dizzy? If so, is it dusty or regularly cleaned? In fiction, women are often imprisoned in cellars – can Louise’s basement reflect that tradition in some way? She is a prisoner of responsibility. Kitchens are where people congregate, but until April and Louise become friends in Act 3, April feels as though she is trespassing when she’s in the kitchen and avoids it as much as possible. When she takes over the housework, the kitchen still resists her – the oven is complicated, the organization of drawers makes no sense. Surfaces are hard and cold like Louise herself.

Chapter eleven is about revealing your character(s) in compelling ways and chapter twelve covers plotting while focusing on your story's overriding question. It also explains the value of foregrounding, and argues that shocks or jump scares do not work in fiction.

Chapter thirteen deals with dialogue. I attempted the exercise in this chapter which was to rewrite a script into prose and consider what had to be changed or added for the prose version to work. I used a BBC script, so I probably shouldn't share the results here without permission, and my attempt wasn't amazing enough to justify asking for permission.

Chapter fourteen, Fiction and Film, compared the camera's lens to narrative viewpoint and tasks the reader to consider the best angle/viewpoint for their story.

And chapter fifteen was about short stories, the same subject as October's text, Writing Short Stories, by Ailsa Cox. The principles of short stories bear repeating here:

·       Agility – get moving, launch straight in

·       Come late, leave early – enter narrative as late as possible and finish quickly.

·       Intensity – every word must count

·       Accuracy – say things once and say them right first time, do not repeat.

·       Single focus – one voice, one point of view. One single experience explored as far as possible.

·       Light structure – avoid obvious form (e.g. 3 Act structure)

·       Leave it open – avoid tight conclusions. Allow story to linger after reader finishes. Open suggestiveness, e.g.

o   For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.

o   “Too fast!” she screams. Ignore her.

·       Tight time structure – if flashbacks or jumps take reader out of the present moment, you weaken the present moment.

·       Rhythm and cadence – write it to be read aloud in a single sitting. Think about how the words sound.

·       Minimal information – Art is life with the boring bits left out. The short story is descended from the ballad, and too much detail weighs it down.

Falla gives an example of a minimalist short story and challenges readers to write one or more themselves.

The example first (much better and more accomplished than mine):

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Citizen and the Traveller

 ‘Look round you,’ said the citizen. ‘This is the largest market in the world.’

‘Surely not,’ said the traveller.

‘Well, perhaps not the largest,’ said the citizen, ‘but much the best.’

‘You are certainly wrong there,’ said the traveller. ‘I can tell you…’

They buried the stranger at dusk.

My story is in a first draft, and I doubt very much that I will edit and perfect it, but perhaps its roughness will encourage you to write something better. Feel free to post your own minimalist short story in the comments. I would love to read it. Instead of writing something related to my work in progress, I searched for writing prompts and found one at tckpublishing.com. An elderly couple (I reduced to elderly father for simplicity) spends all their/his money on lottery tickets, and their/his three adult children can't agree what to do with them (I took this to mean their parents, but as I wanted a very short story, I left it open as to whether the siblings agree with one brother's suggestion).

Just the Ticket

The father tossed one ticket onto a growing pile and pulled another from the carrier bag beside him.

Coin pincered between forefinger and thumb, he rubbed away thin coatings of foil. A smile brightened his tired face. “Five dollars.” This card was added to a second smaller pile.

“Are you sure he blew all his money?” Amy whispered.

Her brothers nodded their heads.

“What should we do?”

“Come back in two days. If he hasn’t won the jackpot, that pile of cardboard will make a fine pyre.”

And that concludes September's study. I should also review The Writer's Journey, but to do so here will make a very long blog post. I'll leave that gem for another time.

If physio goes as I hope, I should return to work at the start of October. I intend to continue studying this DIY MFA, but will, most probably, only have time to finish one text per month. This means that my next study update may be posted at the end of October. If you are interested in joining Paul and I with our studies, October's book is Writing Short Stories, by Ailsa Cox. Drop a message to my email address - see contact page - and I will add you to our Discord group.

Until next time, Carmilla.