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If you want to know how...
Handbook for Writers of English
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Practical Research Methods
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Writing Your Life Story
How to record and present your memories
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review) without the express permission of the
publisher in writing.
The right of Ade` le Ramet to be identified as
author of this work has been asserted by her
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
© Copyright 2007 Ade` le Ramet
First published 1997
Second edition 1999
Third edition 2001
Fourth edition 2003
Fifth edition 2004
Sixth edition 2006
Seventh edition 2007
First published in electronic form 2007
British Library Cataloguing in Publication
Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84803 222 4
Cover design by Baseline Arts Ltd, Oxford
Produced for How To Books by Deer Park
Productions, Tavistock
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NOTE: The material contained in this book is
set out in good faith for general guidance and
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particular circumstances on statements made
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should check the current
position with the relevant authorities before
making personal
arrangements.
Contents
List of illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xii
1 Getting started 1
Making time to write 1
Where do you get your ideas? 3
Writing aurally and visually 5
Drawing on your own experiences 6
Looking back into your past 7
Read, read, read 9
Checklist 11
Assignment 11
2 Writing non-fiction 12
Writing about what you know 12
Case study 12
Letting off steam 12
Changing work into leisure 14
Relating your life-story 18
Telling travellers’ tales 23
Case study 27
Finding funny moments 28
Following where your ideas lead you 29
Checklist 29
Assignment 30
3 Creating fictional characters 31
Basing characters on real people 31
Case study 35
Visualising backgrounds 36
Involving yourself in your characters’ lives 38
Changing the character 41
Relating to your character 44
Case study 45
v
vi / C R E A T I V E W R I T I N G
How would you react if they approached you? 46
Creating conflict 48
Checklist 50
Assignment 50
4 Setting and atmosphere 52
Getting a feel of place and time 52
Visiting locations 55
Case study 57
Case study 61
Imagining what it would be like to be there 62
Wearing different clothes and costumes 63
Checklist 66
Assignment 66
5 Showing not telling 68
Reacting and interacting with people and surroundings 68
Feeling the heat 70
Shivering against the cold 72
Case study 73
Revealing emotions 74
Expressing feelings 75
Case study 77
Moving your characters around the room 78
Speeding and slowing the pace with vocabulary 78
Flashing back and forth in time 80
Checklist 83
Assignment 84
6 Writing realistic dialogue 85
Developing a good ear 85
Acting out a situation 87
Losing your temper 92
Falling in love 93
Creating realistic accents and dialects 94
Case study 94
Swearing and slang 96
Case study 97
Checklist 98
Assignment 98
C O N T E N T S / vii
7 Finding true love 100
Writing a romance 100
Finding flaws attractive 101
Overcoming insurmountable obstacles 102
Driving fast cars and wearing fancy clothes 105
Enjoying sex and food 106
Heightening all the senses 107
Bringing the hero and heroine together 108
Historical settings 108
Checklist 110
Assignment 110
8 Haunting, thrilling and killing 111
Introducing a note of suspense 111
Confronting the fears within 112
Case study 113
Contrasting normality with terror 115
Writing a murder mystery 116
Case study 118
Choosing a murder weapon 118
Plotting and planning 120
Twisting the tale 123
Looking to the future 125
Checklist 128
Assignment 128
9 Writing for children 129
Thinking back to your childhood 129
Looking at life through a child’s eyes 130
Case study 132
Playing around with ideas 134
Writing for educational markets 135
Case study 138
Anthropomorphising animals 139
Writing about children 141
Writing picture books 142
Checklist 144
Assignment 145
viii / C R E A T I V E W R I T I N G
10 Sending your work to a publisher 146
Seeing your work in print 146
Playwriting for your local drama group 147
Writing for established TV characters 148
Entering competitions 149
Vanity publishing 150
Self-publishing 151
Writing a synopsis 156
Presenting your manuscript 157
Approaching an editor 161
Copyrighting and syndication 162
Keeping records 164
Finding support from other writers 165
Glossary 169
Answers to assignments 172
Useful addresses 173
Useful websites 175
Online dictionaries 175
Further reading 176
Index 179
List of illustrations
1. Analysis sheet 10
2. Framework for article 17
3. Suggested format for potted history 34
4. First background for young, smart anchor-woman
for regional news programme 39
5. Second background for young, smart
anchor-woman for regional news programme 42
6. Map of fictional location 59
7. Plan of obstacles to romance 104
8. Outline for crime novel 122
9. Twist clue format 124
10. Sample outline for non-fiction book 154
11. Sample chase-up letter 155
12. Sample covering letter 160
13. Sample front sheet 160
14. Suggested headings for expenditure record 166
15. Suggested headings for income record 166
ix
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Preface
WHAT IS CREATIVE WRITING?
When I first wrote this book, the term ‘creative writer’ con-
jured up an image of the artistic amateur. Few of the students
who joined my classes had any idea what creative writing was
or understood the workings of the publishing industry.
Things have changed dramatically in the intervening years
and now, when each new course begins, I find that most of my
students are extremely knowledgeable about the business of
writing. They will have seen writing competitions featured on
television, heard about writing initiatives on radio. They will
have read about university degree courses in creative writing,
joined book clubs or discovered the wealth of information
available on writers’ websites on the Internet.
So, what is creative writing? Chambers Dictionary defines
creative as ‘Having the power to create, that creates, showing,
pertaining to, imagination, originality’ and writing as ‘The act
of one whowrites, that which is written, literary production or
composition’. Therefore, the term ‘creative writing’ may be
defined as:
Having the power to create an imaginative,
original literary production or composition
and can be applied to avery broad spectrum of writing genres.
In this book we will be looking at:
X ways of drawing on personal experience in order to write
non-fiction articles on a wide variety of topics in a number
of different styles
xi
xii / C R E A T I V E W R I T I N G
X fiction writing and the world of genre fiction – science,
romance, horror and crime
X writing for children which requires specialised skills that,
once mastered, bring enormous satisfaction to both the
writer and the reader
X the impact of the Internet on the creative writer and the
benefits of Information Computer Technology.
Finally, there will be advice and guidance on how to turn your
writing into a marketable commodity for, even though many
people set out to write purely for their own pleasure, there is
little doubt that nothing can compare to the thrill of having
work accepted for publication and reading it from a printed
page.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I would like to thank authors Patricia Burns, Martina Cole,
Jonathan Gash, Michael Green, Susan Moody, Margaret
Nash and Ruth Rendell, agents Carole Blake of Blake Fried-
mann, Peters Fraser & Dunlop, editor Richard Bell of Writers
News, Harcourt Education Ltd. and Lonely Planet for their
invaluable contributions to this book.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Art of Coarse Sailing, Michael Green, Arrow Books.
Cinnamon Alley, Patricia Burns, Century Arrow.
Hush-a-Bye, Susan Moody, Hodder & Stoughton.
The Judas Pair, Jonathan Gash, Collins/Viking Penguin.
Some Lie and Some Die, Ruth Rendell, Arrow Books.
The Ladykiller, Martina Cole, Hodder Headline.
Ade`le Ramet
1
Getting Started
MAKING TIME TOWRITE
One of the first rules to remember is that writers write. You
should write something every day, even if all you do with the
finished piece is tear it up and throw it away.
Writing something, anything, every day will enable you to
build up the discipline and commitment required to ensure
that you can produce a complete manuscript in whatever
genre you choose.
Giving yourself permission to write
Due to a common misconception that unless you are a pub-
lished novelist, you cannot be considered a ‘real’ writer,
novice authors often find it difficult to convince either
their nearest and dearest or, indeed, themselves that their
desire to write should be taken seriously.
However, even the most famous authors had to start some-
where, so don’t be put off by outside pressures. Be assured
that your writing is more important than:
X mowing the lawn
X washing the dishes
X cleaning, dusting, gardening
1
2 / CREATIVE WRITING
or any other similar activity that will keep you from your pen
and paper.
Locking the door
One successful Mills & Boon author states that, once she had
made up her mind to become a novelist, she turned one room
of her house into a study, locked the door and forbade anyone
to enter whilst she was working.
You may not feel you have to go quite this far but it is
important to set aside both a space in your home where
you can work and make a regular time to write.
Making time
Lack of time is, perhaps, the most commonly used excuse for
not putting pen to paper. This can be justified with a number
of perfectly credible explanations:
X You have a demanding full-time job.
X You have a large family.
X You have to get those seedlings planted.
X You have too many other commitments.
X You’re too tired.
Perhaps all these excuses can be rolled into one simple
explanation:
X You don’t think you’re good enough.
Building confidence
Lack of confidence is a major stumbling block for the would-
be writer. There is no easy way round this but if you really
want towrite, the onlyoption is to get on and do it. Taking the
following steps can help:
GETTING STARTED / 3
X Set aside a corner in your home solely for your writing.
X Keep a notebook in which to jot down ideas.
X Select a suitable time to write each day and stick to it.
X Give yourself a time limit for writing, say, an hour a day to
begin with.
X Write something every day and even if you think it’s ter-
rible, retain it until the next day.
X Begin by re-reading what you wrote yesterday; at the very
least it will encourage you to rewrite. At best, it will be
much better than you thought and spur you on to write
more.
X Buy a good dictionary and thesaurus.
X Manuscripts intended for publication must be typewrit-
ten so, if possible, use a personal computer (PC). The
more professional your writing looks, the more profes-
sional you will feel.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?
Having made the decision to write, the next step is finding
something to write about.
Watching the world go by
Watch how people behave in everyday situations, jotting
down ideas in your notebook as they occur to you.
The next time you go to the supermarket, for example,
observe the behaviour of the other customers. Take a few
seconds to chat to the checkout girl or the assistant who packs
your shopping. Listen not only to the words they say but to
how they say them.
4 / CREATIVE WRITING
If you commute to work, use your journey time to study your
fellow travellers. Try to imagine what sort of homes they
come from and how they might lead their lives. Whatever
situation you find yourself in during your daily life, observe
the people around you.
Not only should you watch but you must also listen. Writers
are terrible eavesdroppers and will shamelessly listen in on
the most private conversations. You can pick up some won-
derful snippets that will effortlessly turn themselves into ideas
for all sorts of things, from brief letters to your favourite
magazine, factual articles explaining the apparently inexplic-
able, to lengthy works of fiction.
Keeping an eye on the media
Perhaps the richest sources of ideas are newspapers, tele-
vision and radio. Keep your eyes and ears open for the
unusual stories and quirky programmes tucked away
between the major items. All kinds of things can capture
your imagination.
For example, a BBC Radio 4 programme about the poten-
tially dull topic of making a will inspired me to write a short
story for Bella magazine’s ‘Mini Mystery’ page. The pro-
gramme highlighted the legal pitfalls facing people who wish
to make unusual wills and the idea captured my imagination.
Having gleaned the necessary technical legal information, I
soon had the protagonist, beneficiary and terms of the will
clearly formed in my mind. From there, it was a short step to
writing the story, sending it off to my editor and seeing it in
print.
GETTING STARTED / 5
Sources of ideas
Ideas are all around you, if only you can train yourself to find
them. Listed below are just a few possible sources:
X airports
X beaches
X buses, coaches, planes and trains
X cafés and restaurants
X clubs
X doctors’/dentists’ surgeries
X hairdressers
X school playgrounds
X shops
X stations.
The list is endless but as a general rule, ideas are to be found
anywhere a number of people gather in one place.
WRITING AURALLY AND VISUALLY
Having developed your watching and listening skills, it can
nevertheless be quite difficult to set them down on paper.
More often than not, a phrase that sounded wonderful in
your head looks dull and lifeless when it hits the page.
Later in the book, we will be looking at ways of bringing your
writing to life and obtaining that vital ingredient, reader
identification. You will learn how to stimulate the reader’s
senses so that they identify with the people being portrayed,
see and hear the sights and sounds you are attempting to
convey.
6 / CREATIVE WRITING
Long descriptive passages, no matter how beautifully writ-
ten, can be very dull without dialogue, action or interaction
to liven them up. People enjoy reading about people, so
even the most factual non-fiction article can be enriched by
the inclusion of a brief interview with an acknowledged
expert or a comment from someone involved in the featured
topic.
For fiction, too, there is no better way to convey setting,
atmosphere, sights, sounds and scents than through the reac-
tions of your characters.
Whatever genre you choose, be sure you know the true mean-
ing of each word you use, consulting your dictionary and
thesaurus whenever you are unsure about the spelling or
context of a word or phrase.
DRAWING ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES
One of the first rules awould-be writer learns is to ‘write about
what you know’. If, however, this rule is taken too literally, few
writers would ever gain the requisite knowledge to write an
historical romance, murder mystery or science fiction novel.
Far more practical is the advice from bestselling author
Martina Cole to ‘Write about what you know and if you
don’t know – find out’.
You don’t need to have lived in a previous century, be a
murderer or travel in space to write genre fiction. Thorough
research into the background against which your story is set
should provide you with the factual information you require.