Writing Like Standing on a High Wire, Playing the Violin

I was in Bath yesterday afternoon. The sun was out and everyone was enjoying the Bank Holiday atmosphere. On Stall Street, outside the Pump Room, a street performer was doing a high wire act so I stopped to watch. He was standing on one leg on his wire about nine feet from the ground and playing a violin. Amazing!

I carried on watching, he carried on playing the violin and standing on one leg. Hmm. I felt less amazed. Not to detract from his ability - I can't play the violin, or stand on one leg for so long, let alone be on a high wire - but I couldn't help feel he'd established he could stand on one leg while playing the violin on a high wire. There needed to be something more. He could have run up and down the wire, or even changed legs. As it was, I went on my way. (BTW returning later after lunch he was still up on the wire, more or less the same place, and still playing the violin. I'm not sure if he'd changed legs.)

Sometimes reading student work feels like this. You settle down to a promising start - some sparky dialogue, some vivid description. Great, I think and cheerfully read on. And on. Half way through page 2 I'm getting twitchy and thinking to myself, move on. The dialogue is losing its sparkle, the description is getting a bit dull. Where's the story?

When we're writing it's easy to get stuck in one place. We've all got writing preferences (I like a good row, myself) so we tend to write that. If you're lucky, your preference is for moving the story on. If you're unlucky, your preference is for a static form of writing such as description. If you're really unlucky, you like writing description and you're on a Creative Writing MA and getting your description praised to the heights.

But however clever your writing is, however beautiful, it's a bit like the guy on the high wire. You need to move on and do something else, preferably some action that moves the narrative along, or you'll lose the punters/readers.

Let's all be like Goethe!

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative or creation there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man would have believed would have come his way.

What ever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it." Goethe

It's Monday, and the start of a new month. If you're thinking about starting that novel, sending out that short story to a competition, going to that writers conference, why not do it now? The only certainty in life is if you don't do anything about it, nothing will happen. No one is going to do it for you. Do it now, whatever it is, commit, and let the action empower you. Be like Goethe.

Never Drink Tea

Tea drinking should be banned from all novels, in my opinion, along with flashback. Flashback puts the action into reverse, but tea drinking - oh, tea drinking - seduces us into thinking something is going on when really it isn't. Avoid tea drinking at all costs.

Okay, so that's a bit extreme, and I must confess to having allowed a cup or two to pass my characters' lips. But it's a nasty habit that is best avoided. Think about it. Two characters sit down with a nice cup of tea (or coffee) and talk about their problems/what's on their minds. By definition, the scene is static. You're going to have to work very hard to get much action going on - fondling the sugar tongs, perhaps? A bit of kitchen table stroking? Consider what you could add to the flavour of your novel by setting the scene elsewhere.

For my most recently written novel, Kissing Mr Wrong, in the second draft I took some tea drinking scenes, whisked them away from their domestic location and set them: window shopping down Milsom Street in Bath; standing in the queue for the Banksy exhibition at Bristol City Art Gallery; buying samosas from the Guildhall deli; folding leaflets and stuffing envelopes for a mailshot. Same conversations, same scene intentions, but now lots of fun details to play with and for the characters to comment on.

Take your characters away from the tea cups and give them something fun to do. Giving up tea and coffee is good for your novel's health.