Wednesday Writing Spot – Page 3

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Write about your ancestors – Emmeline Pankhurst and I…

Written by Della Galton on July 24, 2013. Posted in Wednesday Writing Spot. 12 Comments

Genealogy is a fascinating subject and I know more than one writer who has both researched their family tree and then used their ancestors as characters in either a short story or a novel. I love this idea. I believe that writing with emotion is the way to sell your work – and what better way to do it!

We are linked to our ancestors, we are bound to have some emotional involvement with them – especially when we start researching their lives. Hence we are halfway there if we create characters who are based on people in our past. We may not know much about them, but we will know something, and it’s amazingly inspiring and satisfying to recreate their lives in fiction.

I have a very complicated and (at least to me) interesting family history. My father was one of six. He also had six children. (there are four different mothers). I wasn’t brought up with any of my paternal brothers and sisters, but in the last fifteen years I have met two of my brothers.

Last week I met one of my cousins for the first time, and two nephews, and a couple of uncles and aunts. Fabulous stuff. Now, on to something quite interesting that arose when we were chatting about our family history. I was born Della Parkhurst. My father was Peter Parkhurst, his father was Patrick Frank Parkhurst, his father was Frank William Parkhurst.

So what does all this have to do with Emmeline Pankhurst? Well… according to one of my aunts, who’s the custodian of our family history, Frank William Parkhurst was actually a Pankhurst, but he and his wife, Florence, were so horrified by another member of their family, Emmeline Pankhurst doing such embarrassing things such as chaining herself to the railings that they decided to disassociate themselves from her and changed their name by sleight of pen from Pankhurst to Parkhurst.

I was blown away when I learned of this fact. So if this is true – and apparently it’s been passed down my family over the years, and everyone thinks it’s true, then I’m related to Emmeline Pankhurst. How amazing is that. (It also explains a lot about my character, tee hee!).

I haven’t actually chained myself to any railings, but I have been passionate about one or two causes and have even been an activist in the past (long story). However, I would definitely have been up for some railing chaining in Emmeline’s time. My next step is to dig around a little and see if I can verify this, one way or the other. I’m sure one of you genealogy experts can tell me how to do it too.

Now, lets get back to writing, and also on to the most bizarre bit of this story. I sold a story a couple of years ago which was called Fifteen Minutes of Fame – it was published by The Weekly News, and it was about a girl who chains herself to the railings to save her grandfather’s allotments. Someone then lies to the newspapers that she is the great great great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst.

How spooky is that 🙂

If you’d like any more advice on writing short stories, please check out my writing guides. How to Write and Sell Short Stories and Moving On, Short Story to Novel, published by Accent Press and The Short Story Writers’ Toolshed published by Soundhaven.com

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Getting Ideas – Guest Post from Patsy Collins

Written by Della Galton on July 17, 2013. Posted in Guest Posts, Tips on writing, Wednesday Writing Spot. 13 Comments

This week on the Wednesday Writing Spot, I am delighted to welcome writer, Patsy Collins, who is talking about where she gets her ideas from and her fabulous new short story collection, which is called Up The Garden Path. It’s lovely to have you here, Patsy. Now it’s over to you…

As writers we are often asked where we get our ideas from. It seems such a reasonable question but it’s very hard to give a satisfactory answer. Each writer will get their inspiration in a different way to that of their colleagues and they’ll probably draw on a number of resources. Ideas are everywhere you see. That’s both good and bad. We don’t have to wait for the ideas shop to open, but those little story sparks don’t come neatly labelled ‘romance novel suggestion’ or ‘ghost story premise’ so we need to train ourselves to spot them.

My new short story collection contains twenty four short stories and each is the result of a different stimulus. It’s a bit like picking wild mushrooms, really. If you want nice, safe mushrooms you need to know what they look like or you’ll end up with something toxic, or hallucinogenic or bitter. Of course if you actually want to poison someone you’ll need to be on the lookout for something different (pale gills and skinny stalks are a good sign in this case). ‘Write what you know’ is good advice. That’s what I did for ‘A Piece of Pink Ribbon’ which is set on a farm and ‘Coming Home’ which is about separation when someone is away at sea. It also explains why all the stories in the collection have a horticultural theme – I’m nearly as keen on gardening as eating cake. Real life events can be a great source of story ideas, but the truth often needs adapting. Weirdly when we write something strange, funny or touching that really happened it often doesn’t feel believable. ‘Watchdog’ is based on a real event (although not one which happened to me) but to make it work I had to change reality. Whenever I come across an unusual name eg ‘Mrs Dalrymple’ overhear an interesting comment such as ‘Your Granddad is Stuck Up a Tree Again’ or want revenge on an annoying boss (‘Blooming Talent’) I make a note in a computer file. Sometimes the prompt is as simple as the smell of ‘Strawberry Jam’ and at others it’s as complex as family politics (I’m admitting nothing!). It doesn’t matter where the ideas come from, it’s what you do with them that counts. I hope you like what I’ve done with those which resulted in ‘Up the Garden Path’. The book is available here – or here.

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Plotting the longer Short Story

Written by Della Galton on July 10, 2013. Posted in plotting, Tips on writing, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing, Writing problems and solutions. 3 Comments

Plotting was the bane of my life when I started writing. It still trips me up now occasionally, particularly when I’m changing lengths, for example from 1000 to 2000 words. So here are some tips for writing the longer short story. They are very popular in fiction specials.

This advice also works well when trying to reduce your longer stories to short ones. Just reverse it.

What’s the difference between 1000 words and 2000 words in plot terms?

There is not as much difference between the two as I thought when I first started writing. I assumed that if I needed one or two main characters with a problem to solve in a 1000 word story, then I’d probably need more characters and more of a problem for a 2000 or 3000 word story.

I soon discovered that this was not the case. You won’t necessarily need more characters or more plot for a longer short story, but you will need more development of both. This is usually achieved by writing more scenes.

Very short stories

In a 1000 word short story you won’t have room for more than a couple of scenes, probably three at the most and that might be pushing it. We will probably join your character at the point of change or conflict. For example, let’s assume your character is worried about a forthcoming appointment she has the following day. Your story might go something like this:

Scene one

Your character is discussing her worries with friend or partner.

Scene two

Your character goes for the appointment.

Scene three

Resolution and possibly a twist.

If you did follow the format above for a 1000 word short story, then you’d have to make your scenes extremely short – you’d have just over 300 words to devote to each one.

If you had more space to play with, you might also have a flashback of exactly why your character was so worried about her forthcoming appointment. Your story might then go something like this:

Scene one

Your character is discussing her worries with friend or partner.

Scene two

Flashback in your character’s viewpoint to show a previous occasion when she had to go to an appointment and it didn’t work out – hence meaning the stakes for today are higher and we (hopefully) care about it more.

Scene three

Your character at the appointment.

Scene four

Resolution and twist

The number of characters and the plotline are the same, but the story is longer and has more depth because we have more development of both.

This helped me so much when I first got it. Hope it helps you too. And if you’d like any more advice on writing short stories, please check out my two writing guides. How to Write and Sell Short Stories published by Accent Press and The Short Story Writers’ Toolshed published by Soundhaven.com

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Plotting the Short Story

Written by Della Galton on July 4, 2013. Posted in plotting, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing. 2 Comments

Plotting a short story is something that many writers, both new and experienced, find difficult. I include myself in this. It is not always easy, and I say not always, because occasionally we all have those magical days when it is.

For the days when it isn’t, I have outlined some techniques below that should hopefully help.

Starting from Scratch

Give your character a dilemma to solve. Preferably make it the sort of dilemma that will force your character to re-evaluate his life or his attitudes. In this way he will have changed before the end of the story.

Be as nasty as you like. The tougher the problem that your character has to face, the more drama you’ll be able to create.

Make sure the resolution to the dilemma is credible, but also make it as unexpected as you can. This is the tricky bit. Knowing you have to provide a resolution to the story before you start can be very off putting for some writers (it is for me!).

Starting Halfway through

Now, this might sound strange, but I find this is by far the easiest way to plot. By starting halfway through I am saying that you should just start writing. Certainly give your character a dilemma to solve, but don’t worry about the rest.

For example : I once sold a story of 1000 words called The Best Laid Plans, which I’d started the previous year and got stuck on. My original idea was as follows:

The story opens with Katie in bed in hospital on her 25^th wedding anniversary, which is not quite how she planned to spend it. Since she married Paul most of their anniversary plans have gone wrong. On bad days she thinks they’re jinxed and on good days she thanks her lucky stars they ever got this far. This was a light hearted story and the humour was provided by flashback (the story is in Katie’s viewpoint) to previous disastrous anniversaries.

I got stuck at the 750 word point, which I frequently do. I couldn’t think how to resolve this story. This is where the plotting bits come in. Because the story is already half written, there are only so many options.

They could have a late anniversary celebration which could go wrong
As above, but it doesn’t go wrong.
They could split up (not very satisfactory for Woman’s Weekly)
They could decide not to celebrate on the actual day itself, but at other times in the year, after all a marriage isn’t about just one day a year.

I stopped here because I’d found my solution. I used a mixture of number 1, 2 and 4.

Plotting is actually just a chain of events that leads your character to a satisfactory resolution and that resolution will largely be determined by market.

Problems Finishing

When you’re stuck on a resolution – this is another problem I have frequently, then I suggest you ask yourself the following questions:

What is it that I am actually trying to say?
What is this story about?

The Best Laid Plans was a humorous story, designed to entertain, but it did have a serious underlying message – a universal truth, if you like. A wedding anniversary is the day that couples celebrate on, but the other 364 days of their marriage were just as important. They could also laugh about the things that went wrong.

The answer is in what you’ve already written

The seeds you’ve sown early in the story will provide you with the ending. Look at what you’ve set up carefully and then explore every possible option. One of them will be the right one.

The Title

Another quite useful thing I’ve learned is that the title should underline the theme, as in The Best Laid Plans – so if you are the type of writer who knows the title before they begin, then this can be very helpful.

And if you’d like any more advice on writing short stories, please check out my two writing guides. How to Write and Sell Short Stories published by Accent Press and The Short Story Writers’ Toolshed published by Soundhaven.com

Next week we’ll look at plotting the longer short story.

Happy writing.

The Wednesday Writing Spot. Tips on Winning Short Story Competitions

Written by Della Galton on June 19, 2013. Posted in competitions, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing, Writing problems and solutions. 8 Comments

This is the first of four posts about various aspects of short story writing, which will go out over the next four Wednesdays, in my new Wednesday Writing Spot. I hope they are helpful.

I have spent a fair bit of time judging short story competitions, and I have been asked to judge two more this year, I’m judging the short story award for the Wells Festival of Literature, more details here and also the H E Bates Short Story Competition, more details here so I thought it would be a good plan if we started with some tips on winning competitions.

So what do I look for when I judge a competition? How exactly do stories lift themselves to the top of the pile?

These elements are in no particular order.

A good title

This helps attract my attention although if the story doesn’t work – it won’t be enough on its own.

Good writing

This always attracts my attention. And by good writing, I mean that the story is well crafted. There will be good sentence construction, no clichés or tired lines. There will be an intriguing opening, probably a few particularly good lines – I often point out examples of these in my individual comments, if I’m doing critiques too.

The story works

This means that the whole story has to work – from beginning to end. There must be a good strong premise, which is developed throughout the story and the ending must be satisfactory. By satisfactory I mean that it should work for that story. It should tie up with the beginning without being predictable. It shouldn’t be obscure or too obvious.

Originality

It helps if I haven’t seen the plot line before – this is tricky because I’ve seen hundreds. If I have seen it before it helps if there is a new angle – maybe humour, or a different structure.

Believable characters

They must be believable and not cardboard cut outs. Characterisation is probably one of the most important things in a short story – or any story, come to that. If I get the sense that these characters could actually exist that is a great start. In many of the stories I read I find that the characters are not fully developed, which means that often they are not quite believable.

Character motivation

This is strongly tied up with believable characters. Would they really do that? Ask yourself when you are creating a character if their actions are likely. If a character’s actions strike me as unbelievable I tend to lose interest in the story. Characters can do unlikely things in a story, but you have to make me believe they would do them.

Emotional involvement

Again this is strongly tied up with believable characters and character motivation. Am I involved with these characters? Do I care what happens to them, or are they so insipid and unbelievable that I’m not that bothered? The acid test here, is do you care about them? Really care, I mean? Are you moved when you write about them or are they just a means to get your plot on the page?

An intriguing plot/dilemma

Do I want to keep reading? Is there enough of a hook which starts at the beginning and draws me through. It’s quite hard to do this in a short story, but if you can do it, you are likely to succeed.

Good dialogue

It’s hard to achieve but good dialogue (where everyone doesn’t speak in exactly the same way) goes a long way to making characters believable.

An unusual setting

The more competitions I judge the more I think that this is important. An unusual well drawn setting can make your story stand out from the rest.

A point

Yes, stories should be entertaining but they should also have a point. This is a fact I overlooked when I first started writing short stories. Think about your story’s overall message. Is there one? Or are you just writing about an incident that is actually quite slight – and may have been amusing when you thought about it, but isn’t really enough to hold a reader’s interest? Stories that are too slight can come across as anecdotal.

Good presentation, grammar etc

This is not the be all and end all. If you have written an excellent story and it’s badly presented you may still get placed. (If the judge sees your story) But bear in mind you probably won’t get past the first reader in a national competition.

Something very important to remember

When you enter a competition where there are hundreds of entries and only three or so prizes the initial readers will be looking for a reason to throw your story out of the pile. Don’t give them one.

And, one last thing, most entries arrive on the deadline in a competition. This is fine, as long as you haven’t written it the day before in a panic because if you have, then you won’t have had a proper cooling off period in which to edit it. Write your story in good time, then put it aside for a week or so, then edit it. You are much more likely to produce a polished piece of work.

Good luck.

Next week we will take a look at story arcs.

PS Below is the update on entries received so far for the Wells Festival of Literature Competition.

Total On-line Entries so far this year:

Poetry: 17
Short Stories: 29
Crime Novels: 4

We have also received a similar number of entries using the traditional pen and paper method.

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