Flashback and Backstory 1

Flashback and backstory are often confused but they are two different things. Flashback is this:

In the morning Dolores stared at herself in the mirror. Last night it had all been so different. She'd walked into the bar and seen Emilio glowering at a table in the corner, so she'd gone over to him.

'Hello, Emilio,' she'd said.

Emilio looked up. 'Dolores! What are you doing here?'

'I came in looking for Juan - have you seen him?'

'No. Have you seen Conchita?'

'Not since this morning.' Dolores licked her lips. 'How about buying me a drink?'

etc etc etc until

Dolores shook her head. Thinking about last night wouldn't make any difference. She began to slowly, sadly peel her false eyelashes off.

And this is Backstory:

In the morning Dolores stared at herself in the mirror. Last night it had all been so different, so different from West Whimpering, the place she'd grown up in. She lived there for her earliest years. West Whimpering was a sleepy little town, and the inhabitants liked it that way, but Dolores had always yearned for something better. She finally left to go to the University of Watereddown to read History, but there she'd met Alberto and ended up in this one horse town. It was just like West Whimpering, but with rancheros, she thought, peeling off her false eyelashes.

Both have their place, which is often the dustbin in my opinion. At which point, if I'm teaching this in class, some students look aghast and clutch their manuscripts to their chest, fretting at the thought of ditching most of their work.

So, why don't I like them?

Flashback stops the action. If you look at the example above, what is Dolores actually DOING while she's having this long thought about the night before? Staring at herself in the mirror. It's hardly the most dramatic writing. But but but, the student stutters, there's lots of action in the bar with Emilio. Yes - but it's all in her head. What is actually going on in the narrative present? Nothing! Nada! Niente! Zilch!

Other negatives about flashback include confusing the reader as to where they are in both time (this morning or last night?) or location (the mirror or the bar?), and confused readers become non-readers in a surprisingly short space of time. Also, by definition, the action contained within the flashback has already happened and is now over. This makes it intrinsically less interesting, like listening to a friend's story about the dream they had last night. What is interesting is what is happening in the present story ie what is happening now.

But but but, the student stutters again. What about XYZ who does flashback brilliantly? Which may well be true. There are writers who handle flashback well. But is the student XYZ? Probably not. Most students use flashback as a means of writing themselves into the story. They have their character sitting on a plane, train, in front of a mirror and remembering back to the action, and it's just boring.

The simple solution is to start with the action. Start with Dolores walking into the bar. If you want to flag up that things are going to go wrong for Dolores, why not begin:

It all seemed so promising when she walked into the bar and saw Emilio sitting there.

Or:

This is going to be a great night, Dolores thought as she walked into the bar and spotted Emilio.

This is getting to be a long post. So, having finished off Flashback, I'll tackle Backstory tomorrow.

Writing Lessons From Cats

1. Cats choose who to approach for stroking. Writers should choose their supporters and feedback givers with equal care.

2. When cats are hungry they persistently mew until they get fed. Writers who don't send work out aren't mewing, and won't get fed.

3. Cats defend their territory against all comers including big dogs. Writers should hang on to the truth in their work, even when faced with negative Dobermans but....

4. Cats are flexible, and writers need to be flexible too.

5. Cats are meticulous about grooming their fur. Writers need to groom their prose with equal attention to detail (but they don't have to do the leg in the air bit).

6. Cats come in all shapes and sizes, and so do writers.

7. All cats are beautiful, from pedigree to moggy. Writers are beautiful too, whatever the genre and style of their writing.

8. Cats that lie around all day doing nothing become fat and flabby. Sadly, this is also true for writers.

(My thanks to Tootsie and Toasty for inspiring this post.)

Feedback: Problems and Solutions

I've recently come across some paid-for feedback I'd mislaid a few years ago. I'm pretty certain I mislaid it because I was so dismissive of the comments - they seemed to have made so many daft comments, what did they know?

But a few years have passed and I'm now less emotionally attached to the work - actually, I'd forgotten about those pieces. Reading them through, plus the feedback I can see that - despite my negative attitude at the time - ahem, they were right. They weren't works of genius. There were more than a few flaws.

Now, because I was so dismissive - which was could be seen as another term for defensive - I didn't recognise that there was quite a lot of good advice in that feedback. In fact, had only I been open, there were rather a lot of things I could have taken on board. My mistake.

But what I wasn't mistaken about were their solutions to the problems. The problems were there all right - and now I can see them - but their solutions don't work. At least, they don't work for me, they didn't then and they don't now. The unsuitable solutions gave me the ammunition I wanted to dismiss their comments. But, with hindsight (always so handy) I can now see that the analysis of the problems is accurate.

There are two stages to feedback: analysis of the problems and suggestions for solutions. If the solutions are wrong for you, you don't have to act on them. But to use them as reasons to dismiss all of the feedback, well, that's wasting an opportunity.

Tips for Authors Giving Talks: Everything Else

1. If you make references to a book, website, address, there's bound to be someone in the audience who needs it spelt out in great detail, and then they're going to want to check they've got the exact spelling. Pre-empt this by preparing a handout with all the references/websites/info on it. Hand it out at the end (or they'll spend the whole talk reading it), and tell them this is what you're going to do at the beginning so they don't need to make notes while you're talking.

2. Another given in any audience is the person with the endless question. I've sat in audiences where the speaker has nodded politely as the questioner has gone on and on and on, and willed the speaker to shut them up. Don't let this be you - it's perfectly possible to move them on while being polite.

3. Always have more material than you need. I make sure I have a few extra points or topics which are disposable - if I'm running ahead of time I'll use them, if I'm running late I ditch them.

4. Wear something interesting. When I'm a audience member I get fed up when I feel the speaker hasn't bothered with their appearance. And if I drift off in an author talk I can always wonder where they got their shoes/shirt/bracelet from. Lots of authors have a signature outfit eg Jacqueline Wilson with her rings, Minette Walters with her trilby.

5. Establish beforehand what equipment you'll have, such as a visualiser (my favourite bit of kit), AV, power point etc. But come prepared for there to be nothing, not even a chair. It happens.

6. Don't trot out the same speech to every audience. Prepare afresh each time, and that way you won't get bored with the same material. Yes, you're going to be covering similar ground each time, but add new material, play around with what you've already done. It should be different each time.

7. Practice, practice, practice. Say your speech aloud - don't mumble it. Do it in front of the mirror, the goldfish, the baby. I'd be wary of doing too much in front of your nearest and dearest - they want to be helpful but criticism can be very deflating and lead to a loss of confidence, and confidence is everything in this business. One big speech I gave nearly got derailed when my nearest and dearest, on hearing the new thing I was planning, commented that I had to have balls of steel to think I could carry it off. This was disconcerting, to say the least. I went ahead and did it, but had a horrible flutter of nervousness in the seconds beforehand, which could have spoiled the whole talk. I've not done it since.

8. There's often someone in the audience who is distracting. I once had someone in the audience, right at the front, who was frowning and shaking her head all the way through. She looked as if she was occasionally muttering something in a bad tempered way. I tried to concentrate on the rest of the audience but out of the corner of my eye I could see this lady who looked as if she was disagreeing with everything I said. At the end she came up, and I braced myself to be told how useless I was. To my surprise she apologised. The audience member she'd been sitting next to, she explained, had been giving a very irritating running commentary on what I'd been saying and she'd been utterly fed up with her - not me.

9. Remember the 3 Es: Enthusiasm, Energy and Enjoyment. They go a long way in entertaining an audience. If you don't feel enthusiastic about your subject or you're listless then the chances are you won't enjoy it. Get your energy levels up by jumping on the spot before you go on, develop a mantra that gees you up mentally - if you're prone to sit there thinking 'it's going to be a disaster, I'm going to die' change the record to 'it's going to be great, it's going to be fun'.

10. Remember that you can always fake the 3 Es, and fake confidence. I'm a naturally shy person. I get anxious and self conscious at parties and retreat into my shell. But I do have an alternative persona that I can slip into, and she's never nervous, always has energy, is endlessly enthusiastic. She takes control and is boundlessly self confident. She's not me. But then, who's to know I'm faking it?

There are still some places on the How to Sell a Novel day course in Bath on 3rd July - click here or contact sionhillcourses@hotmail.com if you want more info.

Tips for Authors Giving Talks: Choosing The Reading

1. Choose a piece that is self contained and doesn't need lengthy explanations to make sense.

2. If you do need an explanation for the reading to make sense, then write it out on a separate piece of paper because the last thing that will be on your mind is exactly who is who and why they're there. You're bound to miss out the vital bit of explanation.

3. Choose a piece with as little dialogue as possible. This may sound counter-intuitive, because some of your liveliest writing will be dialogue based. But it's fiendishly difficult for an audience to listen to something that was designed for reading, and keep track of who is who. Even if you are as good as Martin Jarvis at doing different voices I'd avoid too much dialogue.

4. Go for something up beat. I once heard an author read out something horribly depressing which didn't reflect the tone of his novel. I asked why he'd chosen it, and he said it was a self contained scene. This is good - see 1 - but not at the expense of giving the impression that the book was a misery fest. There weren't many sales that afternoon.

5. Don't hesitate to edit your writing to get a useable piece. You've written a novel which is to be read, so the chances of having a section that is perfect just as it is are remote. Take out the bits that won't make sense if you haven't read the book, add little bits of explanation if it helps the reading flow.

6. If you can't find a suitable section, look for two sections you could put together to make a longer reading.

7. Time your reading properly. That means, reading it out loud, including any preamble that you're giving. I think the ideal is about 3 minutes. 5 minutes is too long, unless you are very confident of your reading skills.

8. If you've got a long slot, it's almost certainly best to use two short sections, separated by your general talk. People aren't used to sitting and listening for any great length.

9. Don't feel inhibited about using a great section that doesn't reflect your book. I saw an author do the most fabulous reading which was utterly hilarious. It was the only funny bit in the book.

10. Watch out for sex. Something saucy always brightens up the audience's day, but will you be able to confidently read out a detailed sex scene in front of a bunch of strangers? Even the most confident of authors will lose their nerve.

And on Monday - heavens, I had no idea I had so much to say on the subject - I'll be doing all the things that haven't turned up already.

There are still some places on the How to Sell a Novel day course in Bath on 3rd July - click here or contact sionhillcourses@hotmail.com if you want more info.

Tips for Authors Giving Talks: How Not To Be Boring

1. Involve the audience. Get them sticking their hands up, answering questions, waving pieces of paper, eating chocolate.

2. Be unpredictable. Bang tables, scream, jump up and down, run into the audience. This is also useful if you think people are nodding off - especially the screaming. That'll wake 'em up.

3. Be unpredictable early on. Everyone will be very attentive as they wait for you to do another unpredictable thing. Then they'll forget. Then do something unexpected again.

4. Pitch your material to your audience. Do research to find out what sort of things they're likely to be interested in. Are they a general audience, in which case celebrities or something local are usually good bets, or a writer/reader audience, who'd rather have something about the technicalities of writing.

5. People like the idea they're getting some inside info, so give it to them.

6. People need to hear what you're saying or they'll drift off. If you're not miked, the easiest way to pitch your voice so it carries is to talk to someone in the last row. You'll automatically adjust your pitch so you can communicate with them. If it's a dark auditorium there's usually an illuminated Emergency Exit sign at the back. Talk to that.

7. Keep your face up when you are talking especially if you're working from a script. I've had training at drama school on how to keep my face up when working from a text. You learn to hold the script up high then drop your gaze down, memorise a line or two, look up and say them, then look down again for the next couple of lines. It's a really hard skill to master. Much easier to work with index cards and bullet points, so you talk freely around your topics, only looking down for prompts. Watch out if you've been given a low lectern. The natural thing to do is put your notes on it, which means you have to look right down to see your script. If you have to work from a written text then copy it into a big font size so you can read it easily.

8. Vary your tone, vary your pace. Last weekend I was at my nephew's wedding and he gave a fantastic speech - you'd expect it, he's a politician. It started with a joke, then it went a bit general, then he did an emotional bit where he spoke directly to his bride of how much he loved her (not a dry eye in the house) then he brought it back to a general, but audience inclusive section. Brilliant stuff.

9. Jokes help. Self deprecation is good too. If something goes wrong, laugh. Be light, be playful. Even if your book is very serious, it doesn't mean that your talk has to be nothing but doom and gloom from start to finish.

10. If you're using a power point presentation, don't repeat what's up on the screen. That is soooo boring. Everybody reads the screen, then is bored as you repeat it. Better to have some good images up on the screen which you talk around.

How to choose your reading tomorrow....

There are still some places on the How to Sell a Novel day course in Bath on 3rd July - click here or contact sionhillcourses@hotmail.com if you want more info.

Tips For Authors Giving Talks: When Things Go Wrong

1. Plan your talk. Even if all you're doing is talking about your book and how/why you wrote it, plan what you're going to say. Write down any anecdotes you want to tell - I can guarantee you will forget them. You're also likely to get them in the wrong order, and that will throw you. Write down any important names or facts as you will forget them too. I speak as someone who has forgotten a) her name and b) the title of her book when giving a talk. And it was being recorded. Oops.

2. If your brain freezes, stop and look at your notes. Take your time to find a place where you can confidently start again; no audience will expect you to do it all from memory.

3. If your notes have mysterious got into the wrong order, stop, smile and say something like, silly me, I've got these mixed up, I'll just get them into the right order. Then sort them out and continue. So long as you look in charge, things can go haywire and the audience will still be happy.

4. Sometimes you can get very conscious of your hands. They seem to be just hanging there, like useless slabs of meat. The actor's trick is to press your thumb and middle finger together. This gives your hands something to do and stops you feeling self-conscious about them.

5. Making eye contact with the audience is good, but can unsettle you. You can find yourself locked into eye contact with someone in the audience. If you're a new speaker another actor's trick is to look at the audience members between the eyes. This gives the impression that you're making eye contact, without actually doing so.

6. If your mouth dries, lick your teeth. Amazingly, this works instantly.

7. If something goes horribly wrong, acknowledge it. Don't try to battle on, hoping that no one will have noticed. The chances are they will. Smile, apologise, sort yourself out, then carry on.

8. On the other hand, they almost certainly won't notice if something goes wrong from your point of view. Let's suppose you realise half way through that you've missed out an important fact, anecdote, point, whatever then either incorporate it as soon as you can, or leave it. No one but you knows what you were intending to include in your talk, so they really won't know what they've missed. I once acted in a Restoration comedy opposite an actor who gaily missed out pages of dialogue. We'd jump around the text like rabbits on heat, with myself and the other actors trying desperately to get back on course. I don't think the audience ever realised there was ever a problem and if it didn't make much sense, well, they just accepted that.

9. Track time. I take off my wrist watch and put it where I can see it. I like planning my talks on index cards, and reckon on one card per 5 minutes. It's an easy way of keeping track, and seeing if you should be speeding up or slowing down.

10. What to do if you run out of material? Ask for questions. I have been known to prime a friend. in the audience with a question I'd like to be asked. (I once did this when sharing the platform with a very famous author. Because I knew everyone had come to the talk for them, not me, I primed my friend Ginny to ask me a question, so I'd not be entirely left out. She asked her question first, and set off a series of questions that were all aimed at me.) Alternatively, you can start your talk by saying you're going to open the floor to questions at the end, so you want people to think of some really good ones. If there's one of those horrible sticky silences try 'A question people often ask me is....'

Tomorrow I'm going to be covering how to make your talk not boring.

There are still some places on the How to Sell a Novel day course in Bath on 3rd July - click here or contact sionhillcourses@hotmail.com if you want more info.