The Aim of a Story

ALL writers must create what John Gardner termed the 'uninterrupted fictional dream'.

What does this mean?

When you pen a story you must aim to ensnare the reader in a waking dream so evocative that the reader cannot even break their gaze for a single second. The toast will burn, the kettle will boil and all the water evaporate, the final minute goal by Manchester United will be missed, the tile will fall from the roof and smash the window and they won't hear it...and all because what you wrought with words was so mesmeric that the reader couldn't look away.

Once you have this as your aim then you can ask the right question:

how do I do it?

Good question :)

ZHZ. 

What Do All Writers Have in Common?

There's one thing, one thing alone all writers have in common.

It comes before a writer becomes...a writer. And it follows ever after.


It is a sort of being.


And in this being and fulfillment and song and motion the parameters are set for all the things that a writer will become later on.


Before a writer becomes a writer, they are first a

reader.


So read and read and read

And then perhaps you can write and write and write.

ZHZ. 

The W Spot

I am a firm believer that Writer's Block doesn't exist. Or rather, I choose to believe it doesn't. However, that's only partially true: it's true for me, but it might not be for you. Like many things, it's all about your state of mind.

If I could guarantee that with the click of your fingers you could hit that zone inside yourself, that prefect place where writing is born, unleashed all by itself you'd bite my right arm off.

And like the best things in life, you can have it absolutely for free.

"But what about me?" You cry. "I'm different. I can't do that! My mind goes blank".

Rubbish. You kick yourself in the shins and you say it smarts, of course it does. You slap yourself in the face - of course, it stings. You convince yourself you've got no imagination - of course, you won't have any! It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"I've tried all that positive thinking," you insist, "it doesn't work!"

Who's talking about positive thinking? I'm not. I'm talking about a mindset not mind delusion. I'm not advocating talking yourself into believing something that isn't true. Give yourself a chance to succeed.

Here's what I advise:

1. Take some time out with yourself where you won't be disturbed for an hour.
2. Close your eyes and imagine a time when the writing flowed, all by itself, zen, effortless
3. Cherish that memory and look and hear and feel that moment
4. Now, heighten that memory: can you remember what was in the background? Was there music, was it the light, was it warm, was it cold?
5. Now open your eyes.
6. Take a pen or use your keyboard, whichever you feel is right for you and write down the memory of that moment
7. Now close your eyes again and remember that moment again: feel it, see it, hear it
8. Once you've identified the triggers, recreate them, the environment, the ritual or whatever it was that put you in the zone...

Does it sound too easy? Perhaps it is as easy as that. Know thyself. It isn't about copying what J K Rowling does or what Steven King does: it's about understanding what makes you tick. So go and tick tock, tick tock.

ZHZ. 

The Ear vs The Eye

There is something the ear can discern that the eye cannot. It is rarely mentioned, but it is there like a speck of dust in the corner of your eye...yes, there it is...it is an edge, in fact it is THE edge the ear has over the eye. It is rhythm.

One of the best techniques to aid anyone to write is to read your work aloud. Even better to let someone else read it for you. When the sound of the text that you have written expands and explodes and rumbles in your eardrums and you hear the voices of the characters you created, at that big bang moment they become separate from you, independent, alive. And you hear the gaps, the sighs of the sirens and the groans of the slaves, the waves lashing the rocks, the crunch of a boot on gravel, the weeping of the widow and the laughter of the child. You hear it all. And you know from rhythm alone that is just does not sound right.

Or it does.

The ear is a magical thing. Use it. Perhaps you need to take time out and away from your friends and family so that they do not think that in your solitude you finally succumbed to madness, the kind that comes from looking at the sheer whiteness of the blank page. It is not madness to listen to your words lifted from the page and given life through sound. It is essential.

The eye jerks from side to side and sometimes skips letters and makes up others. It is easily misled. Illusion rules the land where the one eyed man is king. So release those sounds and make your characters real, slip away into the land of sound where even silence carries significance and find your own voice, your own rhythm.

ZHZ.