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A while back, me and a few online writing buddies were chatting on The Word Cloud (free writers online forum at xxx) about how to increase tension in a scene and make it more dramatic.

A can’t remember the majority of our ideas, but one guys suggestion continues to stick in my mind:  If you’ve got a boring scene, he said, just add some ninjas!

We laughed (LOL-ed).  Then asked, okay, but seriously, how?

Well, recently I stumbled across the fabulous TerribleMinds.com blog.  Entertaining and enlightening (with a good splattering of colourful language) this site is a fantastic writers resource.  One posts in particular leapt out at me:

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/11/08/25-things-you=should-know-about-suspense-and-tension/

That’s right – 25 ways to increase suspense and tension in your story.  I recognise a whole bunch of these in my current WIP, but the ones that leap out are Number 5 (Bear under the Table), Number 9 (Save the Date) and Number 14 (Personal Suspense above Global Suspense).

When I’m thinking about adding friction in a scene I often return to this blog for a quick mind-jolt.

And there’s not a ninja in sight!

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The other night I watched the first part of the American Horror Story Halloween special.  The episode stars Zachary Quinto as one of the ‘Murder House’s’ previous owners.

In the opening scene Quinto’s character “Chad” is arguing with his partner “Patrick” (played by Teddy Sears).  It’s brilliantly scripted and artfully acted.  And watching it got me to ponder how we, as novelists, can convey the depth of emotion.

I’m the kind of writer who ‘watches’ the scene unfolding in their mind’s eye as they write.  In my mind, my characters are masters of subtle gestures and slight overemphasis on words.  But getting that across on paper often seems clumsy – after all, too much deep breathing, eye rolling and sighing makes my character seem farcical.  It takes several edits before I’ve got the prose cleaned up enough to convey the imagery I’m after – the twitch of an eyebrow, the trembling of a lower lip, the downward glance.  And even then, I’m not entirely satisfied.

I guess that’s why I love to convey my PoV character’s inner thoughts along with the dialogue – especially if what they’re thinking isn’t what they’re saying or doing.  My characters can be screaming inside, but calmly pouring a cup of tea on the outside.  And, unless using voice over (as used to brilliant effect in the fantastic TV show DEXTER) it’s the added bonus novel-writing has over screenplay.

But, whatever media I’m writing for, watching great actors at work in TV series and film is a wonderfully rich learning experience and inspiration.

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What with fitting my writing around a full-time job and other commitments it’s often easy to lose sight of what I’ve achieved in the rush to move on to the next thing on my ‘to do’ list.

So I thought I’d take a moment to think back on 2011, and remember, what exactly was it that I did …

Finished first, second and (almost third) drafts of my WIP

During 2011 my WIP has gone from weirdly cheesy romantic suspense (first draft) to dark thriller (third draft).

Learned to love editing

When I first started revising my first draft in early 2011 editing felt like the most boring, tedious thing ever.  Now, having seen how much the story has improved from the editing process, I’ve learned to love it.

Won the slogan competition for the first UK Festival of Romance

Rather than pen a few short stories as well as my WIP, I concentrated on just one piece of writing throughout 2011 – my novel.  Entering this competition was a bit of fun one weekend.  It was fabulous to win, and the tickets to the Festival of Romance were a great prize – what a fun event. http://festivalofromance.co.uk/

Learnt about the intriguing art of Speechwriting

There are many parallels between speechwriting and novel writing – story telling, metaphor to name a few.  But whereas a novel is usually read, a speech is performed.  This course taught me so much about the use of language and word selection to engage an audience (reader).  http://www.bespokespeeches.com/

Met a group of lively, dedicated and all-round awesome writers at York Festival of Writing

The York Festival of Writing http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/events.html is a must for all those aspiring to publication – a huge, varied programme of lectures, panels and workshops plus the chance to meet agents and publishers both in formal ‘pitch’ sessions and informally in the bar.  In 2011 I was lucky enough to be seated at ‘that’ table for the Festival Dinner and to meet the most wonderful group of aspiring writers …

… and, with them, became a founder-member of the Nomad Novelists Writing Group

So named due to our various locations around the globe – a great source of support, challenge and feedback as we all pursue our writing journeys.  http://nomadnovelist.wordpress.com/category/nomad-novelists/

Got inspired by the honesty and insight of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman

In a humble and honest lecture at BAFTA, Charlie Kaufman spoke about his writing process and the highs and lows of writing for the screen. You can watch it here http://guru.bafta.org/charlie-kaufman-screenwriters-lecture-video

Read a lot of books!

New books by authors I’ve read before and new books from authors I hadn’t read before.  I’ll be doing another post on this soon.

I wonder what 2012 has in store?

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To be honest, I’d not thought all that much about continuity until recently.  It was when I was watching one of the (many) special features on the LOST box set that it struck me – who was looking after the continuity in my story?

On the special feature I was watching, members of the LOST crew spoke of the challenges they faced in managing the props on such a quick-moving, multi-shooting TV show.  One of their biggest challenges, they said, was keeping track of the guns.  That was because, as those stranded on the island in LOST had only a finite number of guns, if a character needed one there had to be a logical way for that character to get their hands on one.  And that meant they needed to know exactly where each gun was (and with who) at any given time.  Given the show’s non-linear timeline – jumping forward, back and sideways in time – this was an interesting problem.  Anyway, they got around this potential headache by keeping a whiteboard which listed each gun and tracked its position at any point in time across the series.

And this got me thinking.  Should I do that?  Not with guns, but with the key items that needed to survive the twenty-one year timeline of my story and end up in the possession of the right character.  After all, if an item starts off in Oxford in Chapter 1 and needs to be in Arizona by Chapter 16, there has to be a logical explanation of how it gets there.

Hence edit 3.2.  And although I’m relieved to say that so far most items have been in the right place at the right time.  I have spotted a minor character whose hair colour changed mid-scene!

So thank you creators and crew of LOST.

Because of you, I’ll always remember to ‘keep track of the guns’.

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“It’s almost Christmas, but the finances of the de Luce family  are looking anything but merry.  So Colonel de Luce  rents out the family home to a film company looking for the perfect English country house location. But as the snow falls, cutting them off from the outside world, a gruesome murder is discovered.”

This is the first of the Flavia de Luce novels I’ve read.  Find out what I thought at http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/crimefiction/?p=516 

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I’ve never been a member of a writing group before.  Sure, I’ve contributed to online forums and attended writers events, but an actual writers group … no.

That is, until now.

After meeting at the wonderful York Festival of Writing in April (make a diary note, the 2012 Festival will be in September) a group of us bonded over dinner and wine (a lot of wine!) and a few months later the Nomad Novelists Writers Group (NNWG) was born.

At the end of October we held our first official meeting. And so, with nervous anticipation, we travelled to Oxford from our various far-flung corners of the UK, to discuss, critique and generally celebrate all that is creative writing.

A few weeks before the meet up we’d shared a few thousand words of our WIPs.  With a range of genres represented – thriller, romance, sci-fi, fantasy and young adult – there was plenty of variety and the chance to read both familiar and new types of stories.

There’s something rather scary about sharing your work in progress – or at least I think so.  On the one hand you want desperately for your fellow writers to love it, on the other you know it’s not ready yet and so they will see all the flaws and kinks you’ve yet to smooth out.  And so you wait, tension mounting, until it’s your turn to get your feedback.

And it’s so utterly worth it.

The critique, and group consensus, shows the bits that appeal and intrigue the reader, and also highlight what slows the pace or (especially in my case) becomes repetitive.  And just having the chance to discuss your work, your characters and the story you’re telling is so incredibly motivating.

And aside from the valuable insights on my own work, the brilliant fun of staying with friends at the University of Oxford and experiencing the beautiful city in autumn, the thing that stays with me is the astounding enthusiasm, creativity and talent of my fellow Nomads.

The act of writing might a lonely one.  But with a group of like-minded writers around you (in person or virtually) the journey as a writer need not be one of solitude.

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To stressed-out writers.

For all those other stressed-out writers out there, Roisin Anna Murphy captures the love-hate transition between being writer blissfully setting out on the journey of first draft discovery, through their transformation into their better informed but highly self-critical alter-ego as they work their way through ‘yet another’ edit.

Still, couldn’t live without it

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The Awakening is billed as a horror/thriller.  Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy, and directed by Nick Murphy this is a the story of Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) – a Cambridge educated, acclaimed author, and paranormal hoax exposer – who is invited by the Master (Dominic West) of a boys boarding school to investigate sightings of a child ghost that led to the death of a pupil.

Personally, I’d say this is more of a thriller/suspense than a horror – there’s lots of opportunity to grip the arms of the chair/the person your watching the film with/random strangers as the suspense builds, but not too many hiding behind cushion/handbag/cat moments.

Beautifully set in the war ravaged time of 1921, this delightfully clever story twists and turns throughout it’s 107 minutes running time.  I found everything about this film elegant and engaging, the characters are perfectly flawed, and the story an original take on the usual ghost genre.

So I was disappointed when I heard several people reporting to have been bored by the film as they left the cinema.  I can only assume that this was because of the slow-burn pace, as the story focused on unpeeling the hidden inner secrets of a handful of characters layer by layer, rather than a slashing through a crowd of nameless and thinly sketched victims.

This is an intelligent and subtle film, where nothing is obvious, and the story will have you guessing and thinking about it well after the final credits have ended.

I’d highly recommend it.

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Tonight, all across the UK, there’ll be firework parties and displays lighting the sky to a chorus of bangs and whistles.

No matter how long each display lasts, be it five minutes or fifty, you can bet that the time it took to prepare for it was at least twice as long.

As a kid, especially when my younger brother and sister were little, my Dad would embrace this tradition and set about creating a little display in our back yard.  For one night only, our garden was transformed into a magical world of dancing Catherine wheels, glorious sparkling fountains, and whiz-bang rockets.  As Dad set off each firework in his pre-determined pattern, Mum kept a close watch on where us little ones twirled our sparklers.  Rain or clear skies, the show always went on.

It strikes me that creating a firework display and creating a work of fiction have some parallels.  Both require longer in the preparation than in the enjoyment .  All the creativity; the plotting and positioning of each key element, the checks and double checks to ensure everything is just right – it all goes on behind the scenes.  And so, when eventually the finished article is presented to the world and (hopefully) enjoyed, everyone marvels at just how effortlessly right it is.

Have a wonderful evening

“A community is left reeling when twelve-year-old Daniel Blake is discovered to have brutally murdered his schoolmate Felicity Forbes.”

This is the first book I’ve read by author Simon Lelic.  It’s a legal thriller tackling the shocking subject of murder of a child by a child.  Usually this is not a subject matter I would pick to read about, but Lelic explores the personal and societal impact of this a horrific murder in a small community with such sensitivity that it’s hard to put the book down.  It’s a classy, compelling and thought-provoking thriller – utterly superb.

Read the whole review here: http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/crimefiction/?p=472