Thread by @timlottwriter

I'm collating all my #timlott101 posts into a thread, #writingfiction101 so it's easier to access. Bear with me, it''s a bit of a long process and I'm a bit of an idiot. Expect false starts.

1. If you're thinking of writing a novel, don't be intimidated. Anyone can write a novel. The problem is writing a readable one. That's the task that must never be underestimated.

2. Don't be discouraged if what you write is rubbish. Firstly, it may not be rubbish ( although it probably is if it's anything like mine). But a very bad first draft is infinitely preferable to no draft at all.

3. Writing a novel is a marathon. I usually write up to ten drafts, including my agent's and editor's comments. The first draft is the most painful. By the time you get to draft three, it feels like fun.

4. There are two things that are far more important than everything else when you are writing a novel. Plot. And Character. Everything else is secondary.

5. Writing teachers say, 'show don't tell'. But you can't help but tell. Showing is simply the highest form of telling.

5. Writing teachers say, 'show don't tell'. But you can't help but tell. Showing is simply the highest form of telling.

6. What do we mean by 'showing' and 'telling'? Daisy admiring Gatsby's collection of shirts and bursting into tears is showing. 'Daisy knew it was never going to work out between her and Jay' is telling.

6. What do we mean by 'showing' and 'telling'? Daisy admiring Gatsby's collection of shirts and bursting into tears is showing. 'Daisy knew it was never going to work out between her and Jay' is telling.

7. Never confuse empathy with sympathy. Empathy is when we can imagine doing what the character does, if in their shoes, however appalling. Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is NOT the same as liking the character. We have empathy for Macbeth.

7. Never confuse empathy with sympathy. Empathy is when we can imagine doing what the character does, if in their shoes, however appalling. Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is NOT the same as liking the character. We have empathy for Macbeth.

8. An interesting character contains internal contradictions that they struggle with throughout the story.

9. Fiction is about change.

8. An interesting character contains internal contradictions that they struggle with throughout the story.

9. Fiction is about change.

9. Fiction is about change.

10. The central question of any proper work of literature, as the brilliant Will Storr writes in 'The Science of Storytelling' is simply 'Who is this person?'.

10. The central question of any proper work of literature, as the brilliant Will Storr writes in 'The Science of Storytelling' is simply 'Who is this person?'.

11. The greatest crime is to bore your reader. It is your responsibility as an author to engage them, not sit back and wait for them to recognise your monotonous genius.

12. Keep the narrative moving forward. If you have to use flashback, make sure that the flashback moves forward within its own frame. Same with flash forward.

13. Most books on writing novels are not much good. And I've read them all. Read John Yorke, Will Storr and Scarlett Thomas - and for a real beginners' guide, Nigel Watts is excellent, if dated.

12. Keep the narrative moving forward. If you have to use flashback, make sure that the flashback moves forward within its own frame. Same with flash forward.

13. Most books on writing novels are not much good. And I've read them all. Read John Yorke, Will Storr and Scarlett Thomas - and for a real beginners' guide, Nigel Watts is excellent, if dated.

14. Be careful who you get advice from. Writers' groups are great for emotional support, but not much use for constructive advice. Reading a text properly is a highly skilled process. Ideally, don't listen to anybody who hasn't written a book you like themselves.

15. The greatest achievement for an author is to produce an emotional, rather than an intellectual, response in the reader.

16a. If you give your protaganist a question to answer, a problem to solve or a goal to achieve at the start of the story, it will make your path through the narrartive much easier

16b What your protaganist needs and what they think they want can be very different things. Much drama is founded around this gap. Lear wants power without responsibility. He needs humility.

17. It's a good trick to give your protagonist a secret, something to hide.

18. Character names may seem trivial but they are important. Would 'The Hunger Games' have been as successful if Caitness Everdine was called Sally Splott? In 'Brideshead' Charles Ryder rides on the coat tails of Sebastian Flyte. Who metaphorically flies.

19. Don't sweat the small stuff. Not until the third or fourth draft anyway. Get the story roughly right and the characters roughly right first. In the final drafts go through everything with a very fine tooth comb. Not a word should be out of place.

20. What are you writing about? Find your theme, and the story will follow.

21a. Think about what your protaganist wants. Then ask, 'how are they going to get it'? And then 'what stands in their way'?

21b David Mamet writes “In the perfect play we find nothing extraneous to his or her single desire. Every incident either impedes or aids the hero in the quest for the single goal.” This is a bit purist for the novelist. But it's a useful thought.

21c When at the start of my thread I mentioned the best books on writing I forget to mention David Mamet's 'Three Uses of the Knife'. Novelists can learn a lot from dramatists ( shout out to
@MarkRavenhill2
)

21d ‘Every single moment, every single person wants something. He is a wanting machine, ever wanting. Often many things, often conflicting things. Understand this about your characters and yourself.’ Charlie Kaufman.

22. The central questions of writing a novel are 'what happens next'? and 'why should anyone care'? Action is the language of prose - not merely the prose itself. When something important happens in a novel, it has to mean something. Or it shouldn't be there.

23. The difference between writing fiction and non fiction is the difference between planting a garden and building a house. With a novel, you have to do a lot of waiting, and a lot of digging and a lot of pruning. And you never know quite what's going to come up.

24a. The truth of your writing is what will make it real. That, along with the elegance of your structure. You can't hide forever behind flowery prose. Lots of people can write nice sentences. Very few people can tell a story

24b. "The hardest thing in the world is simplicity. And the most fearful thing, too. It becomes more difficult because you have to strip yourself of all your disguises, some of which you didn’t know you had. You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone."J. Baldwin.

25. Every sentence in the perfect novel has a purpose, every word a place. At the start of your novel, you won't know what purpose or what place. By the end of your novel, you need to know.

26a The three act structure doesn't only work in drama and film, but also in novels. But what is it? Man walks along the road, fall into a hole, gets out again. Beginning, middle, end. If he learns something in the process, then thesis, antithesis, synthesis

26b This is not arbitrary. It is the way the mind works. Story reflects this. Three act structure is more or less inescapable. The story theorist Tzvetan Todorov’s refers to these three stages as ‘equilibrium, disequilibrium, equilibrium’.

26c It's ‘setup/confrontation/resolution’ or psychologically 'no knowledge/approaching knowledge/understanding + acceptance of knowledge.' This underpins all classic stories. And usually modernist and postmodern ones too, try as the writer might to abolish them.

26d I might get round to talking about five act structure at some point. Worked for Shakespeare can also work in novels. The point of thinking about 3 or 5 acts is to give you some guiding path for your protagonist. 'What happens next' is always the central problem.

27. What is a protagonist? Simply the character we are most interested in the fortunes of. There can be multiple protagonists. But once they are deemed such, they should have a story arc, unlike minor characters.

28a Remember the 3 C's. Conflict, Contradiction and Change. Conflict can be interior or exterior. It is not just people shouting at each other. Contradictions tie the character up in knots,trying to square them. The whole story of Tony Soprano can be summed up thus:

28b ...To be a good mob boss, Tony Soprano has to be ruthless, cunning and feared. To be a good father and husband, he has to be loving, kind and responsible. The tension implicit in this contradiction carries the whole series. And explains why T has panic attacks.

29. Best definition of characters in story from David Mamet: ‘ Drama is a conversation between characters who are all arguably in the right’. In a Mamet play, your empathy for each character shifts all the time. This is an unsettling but thrilling experience.

30. Don't try to understand everything there is to understand about writing novels. Don't overthink. It will just confuse you. You'll get bogged down. The main thing is to write. Learn as you write.

31. I suggested yesterday that all central characters/protagonists should ideally have a story arc. But what does that mean? Simply that their story ( lodged withing the larger Story ) should also have a beginning, middle and end.

32a . Dialogue is difficult to teach, although it can be learned through practise. Important to remember that it is not 'natural' speech - that would be very tedious - but a simulacrum of speech.

32b Dialogue, like everything else in your novel, should be there for a purpose. It will highlight conflict, move the story forward, provide exposition/description etc. It also breaks up unwieldy chunks of narration, lending texture to writing.

32c Dialogue is not merely what people says but what they don't say, as in Character A 'I love you', Character B responding, 'I know'. The reason dialouge is so hard to teach is that, like speech itself, it is highly subtextual.

33a Exposition is a dirty task, but it has to be done. What is exposition? It is communicating the necessary, but often dull, information about the world your characters inhabit. Where they live, what their backstory is, what they look like etc.

33b Exposition comes through authorial voice,character voice, or dialogue. It is crucial because without exposition you can't orientate youself as a reader. One of the most common mistakes I find reading a beginner's Ms is that I don't know what the fuck's going on.

33c Hollywood says 'use exposition as ammunition'. Make the chore of information entertaining. In TV - at the start of 'Happy Valley' - the cop apprehends a druggy in a playground. 'Who are you?' the druggy asks. Her answer is pure exposition. But it's dramatic.

33d In Victoria theatre, in a country house drama, they might have a couple of housemaids come on at the start of the play, dusting tables. Maid A - " I hear Lady X has got into terrible trouble over the new gardener'. Maid B - 'Yes and Lord A is furious'.

33e Shakespeare's exposition - Act 1 Scene 1 King Lear
EARL OF KENT
I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall.1
EARL OF GLOUCESTER
It did always seem so to us; but now in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the Dukes he values most.

34 The theme of your book will often emerge spontaneously ( all stories have a theme, even if it's a simple as 'Good triumphs over evil'). But it must emerge between the lines. 'You must work out what you want to say, and then not say it'.

35. Most stories sag in the middle. Hollywood calls this 'Second Act Problems'. How do we solve it? By designing a mid point, or running sub plots. More on this tomorrow. Thanks for listening, don't forget to retweet the good stuff.

36. Be ruthless in editing. If a passage is not doing anything narratively or in terms of character kill it, however much you love it as writing. Once my agent said my novel needed 30,000 words cut. I did it. It didn't hurt. The novel was better.

37a The importance of the Mid Point of a story is a key concept that many novelists are unaware of. Not so dramatists and screenwriters. And yet it is apparent in many classic novels.

37b Half way through Gatsby, Jay finally confronts his object of desire, Daisy. HWT Great Expectations Pip rejects Joe and meets Estella as a full grown woman for the first time. HWT Pride and Prejudice Darcy, to Elizabeth's amazement, proposes.

37c The mid point is looser for novelists than dramatists. The novel is a baggier form. It is more of a general concept than an exact midpoint - a central pivot or reversal at the heart of the story. It's the moment our protaganist reaches the centre of the forest.

37d Here are some things the mid point can represent: 1. The Moment of No Return. Things have gone too far now for the protagonist to retreat and return to the life before.

37e 2. The Mirror Moment - The dawning of a new truth for the protagonist, a flash of crucial knowledge or self-knowledge. 3. 'Need' for the first time rises to the surface to supplant 'want.' 4. The protagonist becomes proactive rather than reactive.

37f For more on the importance of the mid-point read John Yorke's brilliant 'Into the Woods'.

38. You have to keep moving forward. Writers usually run out of steam at 15-20,000 words. Then they start introducing flashbacks or new characters in order to disguise the fact that they don't know what happens next. And the reader gets bored.

39. I read too many manuscripts in which the characters are largely interchangeable. All the characters are simply voicepieces for the writer. Distinguish all your characters carefully. Are they impulsive or angry or shy or cunning? Attach and maintain that aspect.

40. Structure is important but don't get too hung up on it, or you will go mad like this poor sap.

https://twitter.com/timlottwriter/status/1432639833579704326?s=20

41. Should I start my novel with a moment of big drama? Agents and editors seem to like it. I distrust it though - too desperate for attention. A good novel will build slowly to a climax, as you establish plot, character etc.A confident 'voice' will carry you through

42 What is 'voice' though? It's the watermark of your invidividual personality as a writer showing through. The voice of Martin Amis is easy to hear. The voice of Sally Rooney or Anne Tyler is subtle. But all are distinct, and all have conviction.

42b 'Voice' says to the reader, 'this writer deserves my trust'. It is similar to but not the same as style. Style or voice can carry a novel as much as plot or character, but in truth it rarely does so successfully. Editors are rather in love with style though.

42c As for what the difference between voice and style is..it's a blurry line. Voice is a wider category. A character can have a voice, but not a style.

43. Loved #markravenhill101's Tweet 'dig into a moment'. An effective writer in novels/drama knows how to go in close, to slow down time, to excavate an experience in depth. Skim the surface and you may have a bestseller (unlikely) but you won't have a good novel.

43b You don't have to tell the reader what's going on under the surface of your novel, but you absolutely need to know. Although it might take some time to work out. And you never work it out completely because writing is the work ultimately of your unconscious mind.

44 How do you handle backstory? With caution making sure you don't use it as an excuse not to move the action forward. Shakespeare hardly ever used backstory. It's not essential, but it is one way of explaining character motivation - if you feel the need to explain it

45. Description is a translation between the visual world and the world of prose. I have a bad visual imagination so I use the Internet shamelessly. If describing an old man's face, I do an image search on 'old man's face'. Then I write what I see. Or I look in a mirror.

46a How to you handle big moments when writing a novel? A death, a catastrophe, a declaration of love, a stunning revelation? I would suggest two things. First, under write rather than over write. The temptation is to start throwing adjectives about.

46b 'She screamed'. 'He collapsed' Her blood turned to ice' But big events like death are inexpressible in words. Better to narrate them neutrally than run around shouting. Secondly, go in close and slow down time, 'dig into the moment' as #MarkRavenhill101 puts it.

47 Apparently being a novelist is many people's fantasy profession. And it is a fantasy. Even for the successful writer ( anyone being published ), a career is full of loneliness, disappointments and rejections. But it's absolutely worth it because you are making art.

48 5 act structure. So here's a diagram I invented to try and unpack story structure.

https://twitter.com/timlottwriter/status/1433387897818947587?s=20

49 You have to dig to find this structure in novels - in much of Shakespeare it is more evident - but it is often present as a kind of shadowy watermark. 'Great Expectations' is a good example.

50a With the input of John Yorke, I have written a document analysing how 'Great Expectations' works in terms of five act structure, but I am not tech savvy enough to work out how to share it here...

51a #timlott101 There are other theories about story structure, notably so called 'mythic structure', arising out of the work of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. George Lucas used this template to create the immensely successful Star Wars franchise so there must be something in it

#timlott101 51b I once tried to write a novel by this structure. I failed. If you write a novel using any structure template too assiduously it will fail, because writing is organic and structure is rigid. But structure is still worth knowing about if only to give you clues.

#timlott101 51c If you want to do better than me at writing by mythic structure, try reading 'The Writer's Journey' by Christopher Vogler, or ' The Seven Basic Plots' by Christopher Booker.

#timlott101 52 Which point of view should you write from? Impossible question. First person limits your viewpoint. Third person expands it. But expansion can be more problematic than constriction. For me, it's always a matter of trial and error. Sorry not to be more helpful.

#timlott101 53a EM Forster defined causality as the difference between story and plot. 'The King died and then the Queen died' is story. 'The King died and then the Queen died of grief' is plot. A story is just 'things happening'. A plot is bound by cause and effect.

#timlott101 53b I've always had my doubts about this definition because much that happens in a novel , as much that happens in life, is accidental and comes out of nowhere i.e. it is, as far as the plot is concerned, acausal.

#timlott101 53c Don't worry about the difference between 'narrative' and 'plot' and 'story' and 'discourse; etc. The thing is, in the main, events in a story should show good causal progression or they ramble. Check this

#timlott101 54 I teach a module called '15 Common Mistakes of Novice Writers'. One of the main items is the insufficient motivation of characters. So often I read of a character doing something and just think ' nope -they just wouldn't do that'. Then the author has lost me

#timlott101 55. If you can remove all the cliches from your writing, you're half way there. If I read a text talking about 'fat tears' or 'eyes as blue as the sky' I know that the writer is either lazy or under read.

#timlott101 More than half way through now. If you're interested in learning in more depth, or individual help, it's timlott.com

#timlott101 56a Research. Personally I don't enjoy research and leave most of it until the end. Also explains why I've never written a historical novel. However, you can't beat good research to make your book more convincing, since fine detail adds so much to your prose

#timlott101 56b I greatly admire Tom Wolfe, who, at the age of 70, Tom Wolfe spent more than a year on campus researching his novel 'I Am Charlotte Simmons'. Result - an old man writing a totally convincing novel about teenage college life.

#timlott101 57a The difference between a one, two and three dimensional character? One dimensional characters are very simple, like Mrs Micawber who amounts to 'I will never desert Mr Micawber'. They can never be protagonists, they don't have the heft, but they are necessary.

#timlott101 57b A two dimensional character ,or 'flat' characters as Forster described them, have more than one quality, but these aspects are fixed. 'A flat character never surprises' - Forster. They can work as protagonists - Superman for instance. Or Jean Brodie.

#timlott101 57c Comedy relies on two dimensional characters, from Tom and Jerry to Mr. Bean to Basil Fawlty. This is what makes us laugh - how fixed they are within their limitations.

#timlott101 57d A three dimensional character is primarily a character that undergoes a change during the arc of a story. If the character is three dimensional, if they want something, they’re going to have to change to get it. Or at least, spend the book trying to change.

#timlott101 58 I have said that character desire is very important to a narrative. It doesn't even have to be the protaganist's desire. The plot of 'Pride and Prejudice' is driven by Mrs Bennet's furious need to get her daughters married off.

#timlott101 59 You can write a technically perfect novel with beautiful writing and superb structure, but it can still be utterly dead without the holy ghost of individual vision/imagination.

#timlott101 60 You can write a bad novel, but if you write it at the right moment, it can be a huge success. '50 Shades of Gray' for example. You can also write a great novel at the wrong moment and no one will be interested. Culture rides on tides. Catch a wave and you're made.

#timlott101 61a There are two primary emotional barriers to starting to write a novel - fear and guilt. Fear of what lurks in your subconscious, fear of failure, fear of ridicule, fear that you're not 'good enough'. People who try to write a novel are brave.

#timlott101 61b One woman said to me ' I have a great idea but I'm scared to start'. I understand, I said. Once you start, either you are going to give up one day and face the fact you are never going to write a novel. Or you're going to have to finish the damn thing.

#timlott101 61c As for guilt, the problem is sitting in a room staring out a window when there is a lawn to be mowed or floor to be mopped. You feel like a fraud. But you're not. As I say, you are brave.

#timlott101 62 Subplots. Firstly, a subplot is just that. It shouldn't overshadow the main plot. Second, it has to feed into the overall theme of the story, supporting it or contradicting it. Look at the subplots in Lear. Without this a subplot is free floating, unmoored.

#timlott101 63. Fortunately for the writer, human beings are divided - between their self interest and their social responsibilities, between their conscious and their subconscious mind, between what they want and what they need. The ensuing struggle is a gift for novelists.

#timlott101 64.a 'We integrate the Other in order to be immunised from it. All learn from their dark shadows…the assimilation of darkness is crucial to growth’ - John Yorke. Batman learns from the Joker, Pip learns from Magwich. The antagonist represents the denied self.

#timlott101 64b When we have dual protagonist - in, say the 'buddy' story - they often swap roles by the end of the story. In 'Thelma and Louise', Thelma is childish and irresponsible at the start of the story, and Louise hard bitten and nobody's fool.

#timlott101 64c At end, L has softened and It is T who takes the final responsibility for the decision to drive into the ravine. This swap is foreshadowed early in the film when, as they set off, T puts on L's hat and cigarette, looks in the mirror and says 'look I'm Louise'.

#timlott101 65a 'The craft or art of writing is the clumsy attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness. In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable....'

#timlott101 65b '...sometimes if he is very fortunate...a very little of what he is trying to do trickles through —not ever much. And if he is a writer wise enough to know it can't be done, then he is not a writer at all. A good writer always works at the impossible.' Steinbeck

#timlott101 66a Think about your character's central flaw or blind spot. We all have them. Where our most sacred belief is, there also is what Will Storr calls our 'sacred flaw.' It is the key to so much self destructive behaviour and behind many great characters.

#timlott101 66b The Greeks talked of the 'tragic flaw' or Hamartia, a character failing that led to downfall of the hero. But the flaw doesn't need to be tragic. It just needs to propel action.

#timlott101 67 Honesty is the key to good writing. ‘A writer’s knowledge of himself, realistic and unromantic, is like a store of energy on which he must draw for a lifetime; one volt of it, properly directed, will bring a character alive’ – Graham Greene.

#timlott101 68 Meg Rosoff “The voice lies between the conscious and unconscious mind..It is not a technique to be taught. It is the deepest possible reflection of who you are..in your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul”

#timlott101 68b“ Stop thinking about your voice. Think about your life instead. Live. Take risks. Seek wisdom. Confront the unconfrontable. Find out who you are. Let your voice gain power as you go” - Meg Rosoff

#timlott101 69a Dialogue. The central thing to understand about dialogue is that it is that it isn’t just an exchange of factual information. Information exchange it is just one of the many functions of speech. People lie and evade, both to others and to their selves.

#timlott101 69b Sometimes they don’t know what they think but say something anyway. Or they get the wrong end of the stick. Or they’re offended but don’t want to show it. Or they are angry and they want to get back at someone but do it in a way that they will be able to deny.

#timlott101 70 Time and place can be as important as characters in your story. People want to be transported. 'Gone With The Wind' taken out of the deep South is pallid. 'The Magus' taken out of Greece falls flat.

#timlott101 71 Terms like ‘plot point’,‘reversal’,‘turning point’ ‘pinch point’ ‘crisis’ and ‘critical choice’ are used by different story teachers in different ways. All simply mean a moment when the character has to adjust their world view or behaviour in pursuit of their goal.

#timlott101 71b A good story will be full of such moments. Events like the 'inciting incident', the midpoint or the 'climactic moment' are simply some the most important/ consequential in the story.

#timlott101 72 Five Act Structure ( 2 ) Remember this diagram? I'm going to try and explain how it works in one of the classic stories, 'Great Expectations'.

72 a In the first act, we are introduced to Pip's accustomed world ( stasis ) and some of the main characters ( Joe Gargery, Miss Havisham, Biddy. The main goal/desire is established when Pip meets Estella as a child, becomes ashamed of his coarseness and falls in love with her.

72b The inciting incident kicks of the second act, when Pip comes into a fortune and leaves for London to be trained as a 'gentleman' so that he can win over Estella. This is the 'dream stage'. Everything is going well as his education progresses and he makes new friends

#timlott101 72c The 'midpoint' - which in a novel is more a concept than a 'point' - straddles several chapters. Pip's pride is revealed when he rejects and humiliates beloved Joe Gargery when Joe comes to visit. Shortly afterwards he meets Estella for the first time as a woman.

72d The Frustations Stage is underway. Things will get worse before they can get better. Estella is dismissive and Bentley Drummle is on Estella's heels to marry her. The Worst Point (s) come when Pip learns Estella is to marry Drummle and the appearance of Magwich the convict.

#timlott101 72 e After this, Pip finally turns his prideful heart around. Firstly repulsed by Magwich, he helps him to escape justice. They make a run for it, pursued by the police and Compeyson. We are at the Climax. The climactic moment comes when the boat capsises

#timlott 101 72f We are at Resolution. Pip tenderly nurses Magwich as he awaits a death sentence. He returns to the forge, sadder and wiser,surrounded by those who love him. He is 'Reborn'. He gets his Reward finally reunited with Estella in the grounds of Satis House.

#timlott101 73 We talk of a 'character driven' or 'plot driven' novel as if they were separate things. But they are two sides of the same coin. Change one, you change the other. If Hamlet didn't want to avenge his father, there is no plot to Hamlet.

#timlott101 74 One of the most common mistakes for new writers is what Richard Skinner at the Faber Academy calls 'front ending'. It's throwing everything at the novel at the beginning willy nilly and then running out of steam after 20-30,000 words. Pace yourself.

#timlott101 75 A piece of advice for anyone who is tempted to write a dream/dreams into their novel.
Don't.

#timlott101 76a Sacred flaw (2) “You have a wound. It is both specific to you and common to everyone. It is the thing about you that must be hidden and protected, the thing that must be tap danced over five shows a day.." Charlie Kaufman (more )

#timlott101 76b "It is the thing that makes you weak and pathetic. It is the thing that truly makes loving you impossible. It is your secret, even from yourself. But it is the thing that wants to live..the thing from which your... screenplay is born" Kaufman. Substitute 'novel'.

#timlott101 77a Want/Need. The 'want' is more superficial, more ego-driven than the need. The flaw, or need, or lack, or wound,being unconscious,needs to be brought to the surface and confronted during the course of the narrative for the character to become properly integrated.

#timlott101 77b ‘ A neurosis is a secret you don’t know you’re keeping’ remarked the drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The thing about the persona is that people don’t know they have one. It’s not that they are consciously ‘putting on an act’.

#timlott101 77c The drama of a novel therefore represents a roadmap of change - one that charts a growing awareness of the of the protagonist's flaws and their gradual acceptance and integration of those flaws.

#timlott101 78 John Yorke, astutely, says a writer should answer these questions:
Whose story is it?
What does the character want?
What do they need?
What is their crucial flaw?
What obstacles are in the character’s way?
What’s at stake?
Why should we care?
What do they learn?

#timlott101 79. Character may change according to who the character is interreacting with. We all swap masks when, say, addressing an authority figure or a lover or a child or a parent. Reflect this in your writing.

#timlott101 80 Some ways to add to tension. 1. Raise the stakes. 2. A ticking clock. 3. Conflict. 4. Secrets. 5. Hold back information. As screenwriter William Goldman so rightly says, : ‘Make 'em laugh. Make 'em cry. But most of all, make 'em wait”.