Ray-Anne Carr

2 weeks in the Ionian should give me the boost I need to finish the thriller revision, and gear up for the next couple of books which will take me over the summer.

What is the soundtrack to your writing?

What CDs/ downloads do you play when developing your story?

Romantic Angst -

Toe tapping humour?

Perhaps this is the big action scene/ battle?

Then of course, there are the re-writes and the editing.

or depending on your mood - and what draft you are working on..

Many romance authors create a soundtrack compilation to accompany the story - and have this available to share with their fans/readers. Song lyrics are selected to match the tone of that part of the work.

I’m not sure I would go that far, but yes, I do like to create playlists of about 40 mins to allow for a break away from the screen, and have a variety of personal and writing playlists, plus my CD collection.

Music. An essential part of my writing tool bag.

 Jurgen Wolff * had an excellent blog and several websites for creative people and his daily blog is always interesting. Through Jurgen I have come to know of the TED Lecture series where leading experts in all fields of modern life are invited to give short presentations.

It is an awesome reference on the mind processes of some of the most inspiring people in the western world today.

 This morning I listened to J J Abrams talking on the Mystery Box.

J.J. Abrams traced his love of the unseen mystery — the heart of Alias, Lost, and the upcoming Cloverfield — back to its own magical beginnings, which may or may not include an early obsession with magic, the love of a supportive grandfather, or his own

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/205. 

Go here to watch on YouTube:  J J Abrams

In another genre, Amy Tan spoke at this year’s TED Conference. 

‘Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, journeying through her childhood and family history and into the worlds of physics and chance, looking for hints of where her own creativity comes from. It’s a wild ride with a surprise ending.’

Brilliant. Fascinating to learn about the completely different mindset of another writer.

Go here to listen to it - http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/250

 * http://www.timetowrite.blogs.com/

This is the DILEMMA

I am about to start a two week holiday in the Greek Islands.

Question: Do I take a complete break from this writing business? Do I go on strike, and refuse to give in to the separation anxiety, angst and general lack of functionality associated with not telling lies on paper on a daily basis.

IN other words. Do I actually take a holiday from writing anything other than postcards?

OR? Do I accept the inevitable and stash enough paper and pens in my hand luggage [ just in case the suitcase goes missing in two airports, you understand] since this greek village has a ’mini-market’ where the supply of children’s school exercise books and pencils can be very limited. I may, gulp, RUN OUT..

CRISIS.

And what if I am obliged to read fiction written by other authors who, another gulp, are ten times better than I am at holding the reader spellbound on her poolside lounger? Forcing me to face the fact that I am doomed as a thriller writer and my old day job is a much better idea.

DECISION AND ACTION.

Two new A4 pads- squared paper of course, and six ballpoints.  No laptops. No palm held.

RESOLUTION.

I feel a lot better now. Thank you for your concern. Nothing else to see here, go about your business folks. All well. Move along.

Borders have a series of Interviews with authors such as Lee Child, John Barrowman, and Freya North which are great – lovely to hear your favourite author live.

How do you spend your time? What makes your brain buzz?

Business versus Creativity?

For the sake of discussion, let’s say that I have to divide my working life as a writer of fiction into three basic - and very broad- categories.

For some people, creating the manuscript is the number one priority.

Without a wonderful story to promote, you don’t have anything to sell, but what if you were a beginner - or were being published by small press publishers, who did not have a large budget for promotion and marketing, how would you manage your time to achieve all of these tasks?

• You have a book you want to sell.
• AND you want to learn your craft.
• AND you have a deadline for a bigger, better, more compelling book in your contract.

How do you manage your time? By hours each day? By hours each week?

Talking to other writers, this seems to depend upon :

• what stage you are at in your career. Published authors feel obliged to spend a lot more time on promotion and less of learning craft techniques than unpublished authors
•  the kind of writing you have chosen to specialise in. Graphic novels, mainstream commercial fiction, childrens’ books, romance etc. Each specific genre has their own specialist interest groups and online networks. Other non-genre fiction writers may struggle to compete with that word of mouth connection and persuade reviewers to take their books 
• how interested you are in maintaining an online presence. Many writers are not keen on MySpace or FaceBook but are willing to blog a paragraph now and then
•  the writing. Some people love to write flat out for several hours. Others like to write in short bursts of perhaps an hour then break. They use the down time for the other tasks
• being organised and disciplined. Let’s be honest. Not everyone is talented in this direction. And most of use do have lives.

Overall conclusions?

If you imagine a self-employed entrepreneur, who is creating a unique product which they then want to promote and sell to a manufacturer/ investor… would that person not need to work in all three categories?

For example. A person making silver jewellery.

That person would need to work on learning the skills in silver smithing that they would need to create the finest version of their design.

Then find markets for their stunning work.

Time Management. Easy to say, hard to do..

The Opponent.

I am currently working on extra character layers for the Antagonist in my thriller novel, brainstorming on how to make this character as compelling as possible.

First. How do you define the Antagonist?

For me, I have to start with a definition of the Protagonist – the character who owns the story, and whose active pursuit of her goal will drive the plot forward.

The Antagonist is the equally fascinating character who by pushing against the protagonist shapes the story and drives the plot by forcing the protagonist to act.

There a number of key aspects I want to keep in mind;

1. The Antagonist is the character who shapes the plot, the most important person in the conflict, the character who makes the reader worry and keeps her turning the page.

 If I have worked hard, my reader will have sympathy and empathy for my heroine. The antagonist is now going to start throwing rocks at her.

1. The antagonist must be strong and active, somebody the reader fears will defeat the protagonist.

 My heroine is strong, intelligent and a survivor.

My opponent has to be all of those things and more.

1. Since I am writing a thriller, I want the antagonist to be just as compelling as the protagonist, just as fascinating to read, just as smart, just as funny perhaps, just as good at what he does. In fact, the antagonist should be formidable in every way possible, and stronger than the protagonist – making her work hard and be creative. NOT just REACTIVE but PROACTIVE.

I need to show my antagonist in his ordinary life, doing his job. Even if this is carving the Mona Lisa with a craft knife on the stomach of his victims.

1. But the antagonist is also in need of something. He is pursuing his goal for the same reason that the heroine is pursuing hers: it’s important to his sense of self-worth, his identity. He may not have a character arc as powerful as the protagonist, but he certainly cannot be pulled out of the wings, twirling his moustache, to be the bad guy as in a children’s cartoon. No. He has to have a character profile. His own needs and goals. His own problems.

 Why does he love the Mona Lisa? Is he Italian? What is his motivation?

1. The antagonist’s pursuit of his goal must be in direct opposition to the goal of the protagonist – creating ‘ Conflict Lock’ so that the two characters are locked in until one of them wins. It is this key conflict which is going to shape the plot- and shape the action of my hero, since she will be forced to react and act proactively is she intends to be the winner.

What is the Conflict Lock?

This is where the two characters may either both have the same goal – or they have different goals which are in direct opposition.

The best way of seeing this visually is by drawing up a 4 square grid and I tip my hat to Michael Hague and Jennifer Crusie for showing me this technique, which you can use from the Act level right down to individual scenes.

The top two boxes are your protagonist’s goal and conflict (the action that is causing her conflict).
The bottom two boxes are your antagonist’s goal and conflict (the action that is causing his conflict).

The idea is that the protagonist’s goal is the one thing that is blocking the Opponent from obtaining HIS goal. And the Opponent’s goal is blocking our Heroine from obtaining HER goal.

You should be able to draw an arrow from Goal Row 1 to Conflict Row 2, and Goal Row 2 to Conflict Row 1.

Result  = Conflict Lock.

1. The key turning points of my story should track the building conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. From the start, I want to be able to imagine the Final Fight to the Finish between my hero and the person who has been blocking her all the way. I want to be able to track the fight between these two people all the way from the Inciting Incident – which should be caused directly or indirectly by the Antagonist – to the one to one final fight. Where only one of them wins – and the reader/audience will not know who this until it physically happens.

The reader wants to be on the edge of their seat to find out who will win – and it is no contest if the opponent is way superior to our heroine – they should be equally matched. Think of an equally skilled football game.

1. BOTH of these two key characters MUST be actively fighting for their goals – which might be the same goal. Two treasure fighters after the same sacred icon aka Lara Croft or Indiana Jones. Or one corrupt cop trying to keep hold of his million dollars so he can buy his life back, while the less corrupt cop tries to take the money from him as evidence. Or a divorced mother finds that her estranged husband has run off to India with their daughter, vowing never to return. That active fight will force the hero to change, adapt, be smarter, quicker, better.

1. Both of these two key characters will be forced to make decisions and take actions. Leading to character arc for one or both. Or a bullet and a medal.

1. I want to have my protagonist on the page as soon as possible – the first paragraph if possible. And that means I need my antagonist right there – or the result of his actions and decisions, as part of the SCENE ANTAGONIST who is linked to the main antagonist.

Example. Cops going to murder scene- finds the work of the antagonist, with clues.

Now. All I have to do is create this fantastic character. GULP!

 A question.

Why is it that, while re-writing your current epic thriller, you always get a KILLER idea for a NEW book, which is so MAGICAL and AWESOME, and TERRIFIC, that you just want to throw the book you are writing NOW into the back of the wardrobe where it belongs with all of the other discarded items, and start this NEW, better story which is bound to be a bestseller?

This new idea is TOTALLY commercial and High Concept.

You can already SEE the movie for this NEW idea.

You can hear the agents and publishers hammering on your front door, any door, fighting for the chance to carry this NEW book.

And NOT the book you know that you have to finish, and which, until yesterday, you thought was pretty good. It only needs another couple of weeks of 10 hour days of slog, re-structuring and complete change of opponent motivation etc to create a decent second draft.

While, all the time, this new cunning idea- which has amazed even you, goddess of genius, by how clever and unique it is- is lurking on a note card. Tempting you away from the true path of the righteous professional writer.

Sigh…

What is the Central Dramatic Question?

Using the example I thought of yesterday-

Will John be able to track down his estranged wife Janet in a strange and alien environment and be reunited with his 5 yr old daughter?

At this point Janet could be an astronaut or a deep-sea diver or a tropical fish.

All you have is a situation.

We want to create a thriller.

So what if Janet is actually a loving mother who has just gone into the witness protection program after seeing a gang murder in the park on the way to her ‘mommie and child’ swim class.

She cannot tell John where she is.

Cover story – she has gone to see her hippie parents who live in India for a holiday. Back in a few weeks.

The idea is that you work on the Central Dramatic Question so that it can sustain the weight of an entire book. AND involve the reader emotionally in the outcome. There should be inherent power in the question.

THEN you build this into the Central Story Sequence and create a much more powerful sequence.

How to determine the Central Story Sequence?

Use five steps.

1. Visualise the fight to the Finish between the protagonist and antagonist

Does the level of conflict in your script build to a fight to the finish – one that you can really visualise?

Eg. Let’s say that Janet is in witness protection.

There are so many ways of thinking about the final battle – what if?

1. John will have learnt a lot about what is wrong with his own life on the journey to find Janet and his child, so that you can track a character arc for John. The final battle could be between John and the gang members who know that Janet is a witness to the killing. Or
2. When Janet does not come back, John flies into Goa on a commercial flight after hiring a private detective who specialises in child abduction by spouses. And heads straight to the luxury hotel the grandparents are running, wearing his Dallas casual gear. Big fight. Local police arrest John after he trys to deck the grandfather when he claims that Janet and Lucy are not there. Grandfather is Ex-FBI. He comes back to US with John and they start the search. They both fight the gang who are trying to kill Janet and Lucy.
3. There could be a shoot out – or they could all escape in a speed boat leaving the cops to have the shoot out in the burning warehouse.

2. What is the Central Dramatic Question?

What is the question in the mind of the audience once the fight to the finish has only just started- and they do not know how it is going to turn out?

This is the point of no return – the high point of suspense in the script.

Eg. Will John be able to track down his estranged wife Janet and be reunited with his 5 yr old daughter?

 Be brutally honest with yourself- get down to the real question in the reader’s minds.

 3. What action by the Protagonist touches off the fight to the finish – giving rise to the Central Dramatic Question?

Focus on the actions of the protagonist because that is where the focal point of the audience will be.

In our example. It will be the point when John finds out where Janet and Lucy are being held/living and goes to the Safe house. Unaware that he is being tracked by the gang member.

4. What earlier Action by the Protagonist sets up the Potential Fight?

Go backwards in the story.

Perhaps a third or a quarter the way into the story. [ Turning Point at end of Act One

This is where we are setting up the conflict and comes to a point when the protagonist and the antagonist have a run-in, or cross-swords, a shoving match.

Construct a scene which sets up the potential fight later in the story. Work on the conflict. Develop it.

In our example, let’s say that John is devoted to Lucy but still cannot make it to her 5^th birthday party because he has to fly out at short notice overseas for a client. He has a change of mind at the last minute and decides to fly back for one surprise overnight stay, before flying back out when Lucy goes to school. He arrives back in time for the birthday party carrying presents. The house is empty. They are both gone.

Note says that she has taken Lucy to India to meet her grandparents for holiday.

He is beyond furious.

5.Do the Set-up and the Touch-Off have anything in common that can bind them together?

This is going to help to unify the script and tie the plot together.

Create a valid chain of logic which makes the script coherent and solid.

Eg, In our example, John gives Lucy the presents he bought for her birthday but not realises that they are show-off expensive toys she does not need or want. He though he knew what she needed – now he does. She wants her parents.

With all of these elements in place you should have a single, solid plot line – or desire line, or action line, whatever you want to call it, running through the entire story.

So. Setting up the three sentence proposition for this story from its component parts.

Set-up the potential fight.

John arrives home unexpectedly for his daughter’s 5^th birthday party to find a note saying that Janet has taken Lucy to India for a holiday. He is furious.

Touch off the fight to the finish.

John find out where Janet and Lucy are being held in a safe house and takes off to see them, unaware that he is being shadowed by the murderer.

The Central Dramatic Question = Will John be able to track down his estranged wife Janet and be reunited with his 5 yr old daughter?

 Then all you have to do is create another 100,000 words of compelling story. GULP!