Science Fiction writer Simon Morden writes violent novels. Another War (2005), was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award, and 2007 saw the publication of The Lost Art which has been shortlisted for the 2009 Catalyst Award for best teen fiction. He’s currently writing his next novel, ‘Equations of Life’, which he tells us is set in a future London packed with refugees, armoured nuns, Stalin-lookalikes, and seriously hard-core science. So how does he do it?

It’s easier than writing sex

The funny thing about writing violent scenes is that I find them so much easier and satisfying than writing sex scenes. But when I say funny, I mean it in an ironic, slightly disturbing and profoundly sad way. Why is it that I’m more at ease describing the moment of death, of desolation, of decreation, than I am a joyful coupling that holds the promise of new life?

It doesn’t reflect well on me, perhaps, but I’m not alone in this dichotomy. It’s not for nothing that there’s a Bad Sex award – given for crimes against literature – but no Bad Violence award.

It’s all in the drama

Much of the reason for this is that violent scenes are full of drama, intense emotion, and split-second critical choices. Capturing the essence of the scene is simply more straightforward than writing many other types of scene: it isn’t the problem of trying to capture every last detail, so much as deciding what to leave out since there is so much of it.

Random acts of aggression?

There is a problem, however. It could be argued that the modern world divorces us from violence and death. Most of us live in a society where rare acts of random aggression are the only times we encounter the squalid nature of the reality of knives, guns and fists, and death is often clinical and removed from the abrupt shock of trauma. It is important not to purvey an unrealistic, cartoon-style violence. People get hurt in fights, and it’s an unreasonable assumption that if a chair is used as a weapon, it’ll be the chair that breaks and not the victim’s skull.

Do your research

‘Keeping it real’ is your duty. Talk to the police – you might be able to go out on patrol with them – or with the staff at the casualty department at your local hospital. Veterans of our all-too-frequent wars aren’t likely to gloss over the facts, either. We have their memoirs, but also their memories. All I have to do is remember my father-in-law’s stories – a veteran of the Spanish Civil war, Dunkirk, Singapore, the Atlantic convoys and D-Day – if I want to be reminded of the reality of conflict.

When violence becomes pornography

It is true that violence in books is commonplace and often pornographic, simply present for the sake of being present: a filler, a convenient and familiar bridge for the plot to cross over on its way to the last page. It’s not a writing habit you should cultivate. But there will be other times where scenes which include violence are necessary parts of the story: they show the nature of the characters and move the plot forward in an entirely natural way, arising from decisions made and paths taken earlier on.

I have some rules of thumb I bear in mind when writing – flexible enough to withstand the impact of my imagination, and hopefully robust enough to keep me from pornography.

Violence needs to be a consequence of the plot

Raymond Chandler’s way of spicing up a plot was to walk a man with a gun into the room. But it was Chekov who nailed it with his rule regarding the gun over the mantelpiece: if you show it, you have to use it. Chekov knew that a plot device has to be shown before it comes into play – something called foreshadowing. So while entirely random acts of violence might happen to your characters, it will only appear so from their point of view: the act itself will have been planned by someone, somewhere, and there should be pointers to that in your story.

The act of violence needs to have consequences

That violence itself should have consequences for your character shouldn’t be something that needs stressing, but it’s often forgotten, often deliberately in order to serve an unrealistic plot. If your story is set somewhere with a functioning police force, violence will have legal sanctions (writers of soap operas, please take note). If it’s set in a more lawless environment, blood feuds and tribal or gang loyalties will play a part. Even in a war zone, there will be rules of engagement: a battle is not a free-for-all. And all this is aside from the medical, physical and emotional aftermath of conflict, which must be treated as seriously as the actual act itself.

It needs to be true to the characters

Your characters are allowed to be unskilled at physical combat, lousy shots, faint at the sight of blood and be generally terrified by the chaos of violence. They are also allowed to remember their training, take a deep breath and keep calm while all about them are losing their heads. That still leaves room for extraordinary bravery, appalling cowardice, gracious mercy and utter depravity – but what they bring to the fight is what they have inside already, regardless of what they take away.

Writing violence is easy to do, but it’s just as easy to get it wrong. I’d argue that getting it right shows a greater degree of maturity and mastery. Violence shouldn’t be used as a filler or as a spice – like everything in your story, it should be there because it ought to be.

Related posts:

1. Writing Fantasy Fiction
2. Creative Writing Course: Writing from a point of view
3. Writing historical fiction 3 – using fact in fiction

Choosing a genre: so what kind of animal is it?

I worry a lot about genre. My first novel, Charity's Child, proved difficult to classify. I couldn’t even decide whether it was aimed at young adults or fully-fledged ones (happily, people across a wide age-range have told me they liked it). With my second novel, Low Tide, Lunan Bay, I decided to go for something easier to pigeonhole. It was going to be hen-lit … forty-somethings looking for love.

But I decided my heroine needed to lose ten years, which meant it was no longer (quite) hen-lit. What’s more, my third draft introduced a mystery element I hadn’t foreseen at all. Instead of finding true love second-time-around online and all being (eventually) rosy, Abbie, my heroine, meets an apparently wonderful man called Bill and then her eleven-year-old twin daughters start to cause concern. Could her new relationship somehow be responsible?

Adding a mystery

A mystery element was now present. I found myself writing about my own anxieties – how do you balance children with new love and who (online and offline) can you really trust? When things go wrong, how far are you prepared to go to protect yourself and your loved ones?

My publisher, Robert Hale, liked the story but asked me to shorten it. In the final version, the mystery element became more prominent. A reviewer said it “plunges the reader into unexpected thriller territory” (Kay Green, Circaidy Gregory Review, May 2009), which I rather like.

Crossing genre

One way to describe Low Tide, Lunan Bay is as a mix of two genres, romance and mystery/suspense. I’ve been asked whether this poses problems for marketing (which shelf does it go on in the bookshop?), but it seems not. Romantic suspense has become a well-established genre of its own – and goes back, when you think about it, quite a few years. Daphne du Maurier’s books have been classified that way, as have those of Mary Stewart. More recent authors of this mixed genre include Linda Howard and Nora Roberts.

Knowing the genre conventions

I’ve told you how I did it – now let me try and work out how it should be done. At the very least, try to get clear from the start what genre you intend to write. Don’t (as I did) change your mind halfway through. Study the conventions of your chosen genre. Romances have a hero and a heroine (if they are heterosexual romances, that is) and usually (though not always) a happy ending. Suspense novels contain mystery, probably a false trail or two, an element of danger and someone to solve things in the end.

How you weave these elements together is up to you, but they all need to be there in some form. The same applies to whatever genre (or genre-mix) you are writing. Be aware of the conventions so that, if you decide to break them, at least you’ll be doing it with your eyes open, fully aware of the risks. Remember, readers like (up to a point) to know what to expect.

Keeping an eye on the market

Keep a close eye on the market. Find out as much as you can about what’s selling, what publishers are looking for (though the trouble is, fashions change quickly and by the time you’ve written your book it may all be different). Find out all you can … but when you sit down to write, shove it all away to the back of your brain. It’ll still be there, subtly influencing what you do, but your imaginative, creative side will be in control, as it should be.

Writing the first draft

I write my first drafts with no clear end in sight, allowing my characters to take me where they will. I like John Braine’s advice from his wonderful book: Writing a Novel (Methuen 1974). All that matters about the first draft, he says, is to finish it. (Actually I think he attributes the advice to Hemingway, but whoever said it first, it’s kept me going on many a word-jammed morning.)

When the first draft is finished, I leave it for a while… then I read it through and extract from it the synopsis of my story. It’s not set in stone at this stage, but it will guide me as I start my next draft. I also find it useful to get hold of a diary or calendar for the year(s) in which year the novel is set. It’s a good way to keep track of Easter and other breaks, the progress of pregnancies and so on. If you leave such things too late, you’re in a mess.

The fun bit of your research is to read, read, read. Focus on your chosen genre but don’t restrict yourself to it. All sorts of unexpected influences can nourish your work. Good luck and have a thrilling time!

Related posts:

1. Writing love scenes that sizzle
2. Writing Fantasy Fiction
3. Legal thriller by name, but not by nature?

Research is Like Underwear…

In 1541, if you came from London, you considered Yorkshire to be a barbarian land. Once you turned off the Great North Road, the journey to York was a ‘wretched track’. The woods contained boar and wildcat and the locals still shared thatched hovels with their cattle.

This is what we learn from the first few pages of CJ Sansom’s Sovereign. Interesting, but not gripping.

Now let me add that our hero, Matthew Shardlake, is exhausted. He’s just buried his father and discovered the family farm is in massive debt. He’s risking travelling at night because he’s afraid he will miss his deadline for a ‘strange mission’ he has been given by the Archbishop. Meanwhile, the man who’s supposed to protect him is complaining that they’re lost and in danger of being kidnapped.

Now would you want to read on? Sansom has woven the research into a background that reinforces the plight of his characters. Already, we’re in suspense. That’s one of the reasons the Shardlake books are bestsellers. That’s also why research is like underwear. It’s crucial to help form what appears on the surface, but…

…we don’t want to see it hanging out on display

Readers have to be given enough background knowledge to make sense of your story, and a certain amount of scene-setting is unavoidable. The tricky part is finding a way to do it without overwhelming readers who didn’t know before, or boring those who did.

Maps can be useful. Long explanations are rarely welcome. Having one character tell another what they should both already know isn’t credible. There are better ways.

Bernard Cornwell tackles this brilliantly at the start of Gallows Thief. Sir Henry Forrest, a respectable gentleman, is being given a tour of Newgate Prison by one of the turnkeys. As the turnkey takes pride in showing off the horrors of the place, we feel Sir Henry’s shock and disgust. We feel pity for the prisoners – and incidentally, we and Sir Henry learn a great deal of the history and layout of Newgate.

Finding your way into the world of the story

How do you get past the facts and into the imagination?

Surrounding yourself with photos is a great way to get ‘in the mood’. For years I didn’t have a room to write in, but a couple of cork boards covered in pictures came out from under the bed whenever there was a quiet moment.

Some people have a coin, a piece of old silk, or anything else tangible from the period they’re writing about.
Dressing up is fun. Wearing the sort of clothes your character might have worn may offer a whole new perspective, although you may want to warn your loved ones first.

Manda Scott ‘dreamed’ her bestselling ‘Boudica’ series. It’s not a shortcut, though – she also did plenty of solid research.

Finding your way into the scene

Sometimes it helps to think of a modern parallel to bring a situation alive. I found it hard to visualise my two bachelor medics sharing their lodgings until I realised that they weren’t living in a museum, they were living in the ancient equivalent of a student flat. (If you think this is unlikely, an acquaintance who helps to excavate a famous Roman fort assures me, “They were so messy! They just threw their rubbish everywhere!”)

So now you’re busily writing your novel. Here are a few of the questions and compromises you may come across:

Oh look! I’ve found out something interesting!

Sooner or later you may stumble across a fact so fascinating that it simply has to appear in your novel.
This is the time to take a deep breath and think carefully. If it really belongs there – great, in it goes. But does it? Does it move the story along, or are you having to fiddle with the plot to fit it in? Once you’ve spent time ramming it in, will you then have to waste more time editing it out again? Maybe it’s worth keeping for a more suitable occasion.

Then there’s the question of what everybody else believes is true about the past, even if it isn’t. I’m in a small minority of people who suspect that our ancestors weren’t much shorter than we are, and somewhere I have an article by a respectable bone specialist who thinks the same thing. However, one of the copy editor’s suggestions on the first book was that I shorten some of characters because they seemed inordinately huge.

He was right. A first novel probably wasn’t the place to show off that I’d read something interesting. Once you’re well established, however, that rule may change. Lindsey Davis has made something of a game of it – check out ‘historical errors’ and ‘deliberate insertions’ in the entertaining rants on her website.

Watch your language

No matter how you may love the middle ages, any urge to write your fourteenth-century dialogue in perfect Chaucerian English needs to be suppressed – at least if you ever hope to snare a mainstream publisher. You may know that a wang-tooth is a molar, but most readers won’t. Nor will they want to bother looking it up like I just have.

The challenge, if your characters would have spoken a fore-runner of English, is to make the dialogue sound authentic whilst making it comprehensible. It’s worth taking a look at your favourite authors and analysing how they do it.

Inappropriate similes may have to be kept under control, too. Ancient characters couldn’t ‘pocket’ money. Neither could they button their lips, or zip down to the Forum for the shopping.

Oh dear, that’s not very nice

Another balance to be struck is that between authenticity and modern sensitivities. An ancient Roman is not going to suggest abolishing the slave trade any more than a Victorian patriarch would tell his tired servants to put their feet up while he and the mistress do the laundry.

On the other hand, if your Roman hero regularly beats his slaves and your patriarch makes money out of sending small boys up chimneys, modern readers may not want to spend long in their company. Whatever you think of the less palatable views of our ancestors, it’s worth thinking about how you are going to present them.

Writers make things up

We’re writing fiction. We are allowed to invent.

Nobody knows the details of how a Roman Army hospital was run. (If you do, where were you when I needed you?) When it became obvious that some background was needed in my first book, I took what we already know about Roman army administration – i.e. there was lots of it, and they were very fond of lists – and invented something that suited the story.

Again, it’s a matter of personal judgement. Or perhaps something else is going on? Many writers have the bizarre experience of inventing something and then finding out afterwards that it’s true.

Almost the Last Word

Historical novelists frequently add an Author’s Note. This is a chance to point interested readers to places where they can find out more. It’s sometimes used to help separate fact from fiction, to explain the writer’s choices between competing theories of history, or to acknowledge where they’ve deliberately changed something. It’s also frequently the place where an anxious author says something along the lines of: Dear reader, I’ve done my best with the research, but please be gentle with me….

And mostly, thank goodness, they are.

Why we came here in the first place

We don’t read novels to learn facts, although we may pick up some in passing. We read novels for a chance to live in other people’s lives. I’ll finish with the mention of Rosemary Sutcliff, who was one of the great storytellers of her generation. When asked about the rare occasions when she had to decide between historical accuracy and a good story, she said she chose the story. Her Eagle of the Ninth series is still in print, and there are people who grew up to be historians or archaeologists today because they fell in love with the past through her books. That’s the best legacy any historical novelist can hope for.

Resources:

The Historical Novel Society – to find like-minded souls and read reviews of all the latest historical fiction.

Here’s the full interview with Rosemary Sutcliff.

Excellent advice from Bernard Cornwell on his website.

This post is copyright RS Downie, 2009. No reproduction of this material is permissible without the author’s permission.

Related posts:

1. Writing historical fiction 1 – creating your historical world
2. Writing historical fiction 2 – doing the research
3. Writing historical crime novels – interview with R.S. Downie

You can’t please all of the people…

Here’s a confession: the earliest edition of my first book contained a wrong Latin ending. I only found this out when it was firmly and very publicly corrected by a reviewer in a national newspaper. It was a small thing – just two letters – but as he said, it cast doubt on the rest of the research. He said nice things as well, and later chose the book as one of his top thrillers for Christmas, but at the time I barely noticed the positive points. I was mortified. I felt I’d let everyone down. I lay awake fantasising about recalling all the copies so I could set fire to them and then fling myself on the pyre.

So I’m hardly in a position to criticise the apocryphal author who put the words, ‘Hi honey, fix yourself a sandwich!’ into the mouth of Mary Queen of Scots. The point is, if you’re inaccurate enough to jolt a reader out of the story, then you’ve failed.

Nobody’s right all the time – and a surprising amount of knowledge is soon out of date – but a reader who has taken the trouble to pick up the book wants to enjoy it. I think we have a duty to try and get things as accurate as we can.

Is there a ‘right’ way to research a novel?

Firstly – a word of reassurance. ‘Research,’ in this context, just means ‘finding things out’. You do not need to be an academic: ordinary people can do it, albeit often more slowly than somebody who already knows where to go. Different writers work in different ways. Apparently some of them even hate doing research, but if you’re reading this, that’s unlikely to be your problem.

Some advise that you should write the story first and then do the research. Others suggest finding out the basics, then writing the first draft and going back to check the details later. This is something you’ll probably have to do anyway, since often what you need to know won’t be clear until you’re well into the story.

Personally I like to visit the location and read background material for several months whilst sketching out rough ideas. I then resolve to concentrate on writing, but am frequently sidetracked, because…

Research can be more fun than writing

I should know. I signed up for a brief archaeology evening course ten years ago and now spend a substantial part of every summer scrabbling around in mud with a trowel. It’s enormous fun and inspiring in that you do get a sense of the physical past, but it’s not the most efficient way to learn and does eat into the writing time.

Here are some better (and worse) ideas to try. Most of my experience is with the 2nd century, so if you have any more suggestions, please chip in.

Some Good Places to find things out:

• The location. Usually requires several visits, especially if it’s in a nice place.
• The library – the best books will have lists of further reading at the back, and libraries can get hold of almost anything for a small fee. Try the children’s reference section, too – children want to know sensible things, like what people ate.
• The internet (but see ‘not so good’ below). Check out your library website. Most public library tickets give access to swathes of online reference material for free, including…
• …old newspapers
• Archives – again, try the local reference library for sources.
• Museums, restored period homes etc.
• People who were there (if there are any left)
• Contemporary literature, paintings, recipes, music, dance – what were people enjoying at the time?
• Maps – old and new, because rivers change course, and coastlines shift …
• Specialist groups and local history societies
• Re-enactment – this can include both public events and private experiments with WOAD in the kitchen
• Ask an expert – more below.

And some not so good…

• Other novels
• Wikipedia – always cross-check! Links to sources are often useful, though.
• Memories of school - what you think you remember!
• The internet. Anyone can set up a website. Enthusiasm and confidence don’t always mean accuracy

Asking the experts

Some people – especially crime writers, it seems – are adept at finding specialists who can help them get their facts straight. Others of us research our unpublished novels without talking to anybody because we are too embarrassed. (Though I really thought I’d got that Latin ending confirmed…)

Armed with a publishing contract, I’ve since plucked up the courage to consult some experts and one or two others have got in touch. All have been both kind and helpful, but do bear in mind that some people receive a lot of requests. Guy de la Bedoyere makes some good points about this on his website – which, incidentally, is an excellent source of information on Roman Britain.

At the risk of stating the obvious, if you do find a helpful contact, do what homework you can beforehand. Having some background knowledge will help you to both focus your questions and understand the answers. If the person has written a book about their subject, it’s courteous to have read it beforehand – but don’t pretend you have if you haven’t. It shows. And finally – take notes, or write everything up straight afterwards.

The camera never forgets

A good camera is essential for those of us with the memory span of a gnat. It can also save a lot of time. Provided the staff don’t object, taking photos of those long information panels in museums means you can read them at your leisure on the computer.

Sooner or later, though, you have to put the research aside and write the story. In the last post in this series, we’ll be looking at how fact and fiction work together – and I’ll be explaining why research is like underwear.

This post is copyright RS Downie, 2009. No reproduction of this material is permissible without the author’s permission.

Related posts:

1. Writing historical fiction 1 – creating your historical world
2. Writing historical fiction 3 – using fact in fiction
3. Writing historical crime novels – interview with R.S. Downie

Twenty years ago I knew nothing at all about historical fiction except that some of the novels I’d enjoyed had been set in the past. I’ve learned a great deal since then, mostly from other writers and sometimes from my own mistakes. I still have much to learn and frequently don’t practise what I preach – but if you too are fascinated by the past and want to set your story there, I hope you’ll find some useful pointers in this series of articles. If you have anything to add or questions to ask, feel free to post your comments below.

Historical fiction – where is it?

Despite there being a Historical Fiction Society, there’s no Historical Fiction section in my local library. Instead, Society members’ novels are nestling in amongst Romance, Action and Adventure, General Fiction, Crime, Fantasy and Horror. If there were such a shelf as ‘Literature’ – which there isn’t – there would be plenty there, too.

Setting your novel in the past doesn’t determine what kind of book it will be, nor who might want to read it. All the usual wise advice about novel-writing – which you can find elsewhere, some of it in The Crafty Writer Bookshop – will still apply. As ever, much can be learned from reading widely, including reading outside your own genre. There are, though, some points that will be particularly relevant to ‘historicals’, whatever kind of tale you are telling.

Know where you’re taking your reader

Screenwriting guru Robert McKee (author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting) tells his students that it’s essential to know the world of your story. This applies whatever you’re writing, but especially in a novel where you want to take a reader to a place that’s deliberately distant from your own.

What does your world smell like? Feel like? Taste of? Who’s in charge? How do people earn their living?

You may need to do less homework for a light romance than for a novel about the battle of Waterloo, but you will have to do some. (I’m not insulting romance writers here, but assuming romance readers are less likely to care about the finer points of weapon design.) Most of what you know may never appear on the page, but it will underpin whatever you choose to reveal to your readers. This has two benefits – firstly, the more you know, the wider and more original your choices will be.

Secondly – it will help to ‘ground’ your story on a convincing base. For example, if your characters are travelling on horseback, there will have to be arrangements in place to care for the horses. We don’t need to see this happen. We don’t even need to be told that it’s happening. But you can’t send characters galloping from Dover to Hadrian’s Wall in an afternoon. Oh, wait a minute – you can if you’re Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. But that was light entertainment, and unless you’ve got Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman up your sleeve, it’s best to stick to what’s possible.

The point is, the more confident you are about how things work in the world you’re creating for your readers, the more comfortably you and they will be able to move around in it.

If you don’t know, don’t fret

You can worry too much about all this. Someone – if anybody can remember who, please say so – once bemoaned the difficulty of getting his characters in and out of rooms if he didn’t know what the door handles were like. This is not a problem for me: I have pictures of Roman door handles. (Yes, it is sad.) But I’ve wasted inordinate amounts of time wondering whether to put sheets on ancient beds.

In retrospect, this was more about avoiding writing than doing it. If you wait until you know everything, you will never write the novel. If you’ve tried to find out and can’t, it’s best to move on. Often the answer – or an unexpected solution – will pop up when you’re not looking for it.

Leave space for the reader

To sum up, the writer needs to know enough, but not too much. Even in the ‘real’ world none of us takes the time to notice everything, and we’re telling stories here, not writing textbooks. Try sketching in some details and letting the reader’s imagination do the rest.

Here’s an example, chosen for practical reasons rather than literary ones (i.e. I own the copyright).

Ruso was still pondering the body in the mortuary as he walked out of the East Gate of the fort. He was barely aware of his progress until he was abruptly recalled to his surroundings by a shout of ‘Get up!’ from further along the street. A man with a large belly was glaring at a grimy figure lying across the pavement just past the fruit stall. A woman with a shopping-basket put down the pear she was examining and turned to see what was going on.

The man repeated the order to get up. The woman stared down at the figure and began to gabble in some British dialect. The only word Ruso could make out was, ‘water’.

‘Burn some feathers under her nose,’ suggested the stallholder, bending down to retrieve a couple of apples that had tumbled off the edge of his display.

Ruso veered into the street to avoid the commotion and narrowly missed a pile of animal droppings. He frowned. He must try to concentrate on what he was doing. He had come out for a walk because he was unable to sleep. Now he was walking, he was having trouble staying awake.
(Chapter 2, Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls, published in the USA as ‘Medicus’)

In this scene I used small details that might trigger the reader’s memories of familiar street markets. I then tried to put in other material that would distance the scene from a modern experience. The woman begins to ‘gabble in some British dialect’ which the lead character, who isn’t a local, can’t understand. There are animal droppings in the street. Somebody recommends a cure that, to us, sounds quite bizarre. I also hoped that the way the sick woman is treated would imply a harsher society than our own, and raise tension as the reader wonders what’s going to happen to her and whether the lead character (who we know by now is a medic) is going to do anything about it. Some writers would use far more period detail. The choice is yours.

In the next post I’ll be thinking some more about research. In the meantime, next time you pick up a novel, you might like to ask yourself how the writer has created their world and why you believe in it – or why you don’t.

This post is copyright RS Downie, 2009. No reproduction of this material is permissible without the author’s permission.

Related posts:

1. Writing historical fiction 2 – doing the research
2. Writing historical fiction 3 – using fact in fiction
3. Writing historical crime novels – interview with R.S. Downie

TCW: First of all what do we mean by a micro-budget film?

JT: There are no hard and fast rules but I am going to be talking about films costing well under £1million and in most cases less than £250,000.

TCW: Can you give us some examples that we might have heard of?

JT: Two highly successful examples were ‘Open Water’ and ‘The Blair Witch Project’.  It’s always hard to get accurate information about exactly how much a film to cost to make – these are my estimates based on publicly available data.  ‘Open Water’ cost an estimated $130,000, but grossed at least $9m. Recent examples from Europe include ‘Once’, and ‘Mum and Dad’.  Once cost about £100,000: it went on to take roughly £10m in cinemas and won an Oscar for best song.  ‘Mum and Dad’ is a horror film, funded by Film London through its Micro-Waves scheme which means that it cost under £100,000.  Other examples: ‘Scenes of a Sexual Nature’ and ‘London to Brighton’.

TCW: So what are the screenwriting skills?  Are there hard and fast rules?

JT: When a producer looks through a script, he instinctively counts up the locations and the characters.  A micro-budget film should usually have as few of both as possible.  However, I’m going to add a caveat – all of the films I have quoted as examples break at least one of the rules.  For instance, ‘Once’ has a lot of locations; ‘Open Water’ was shot from a boat.

TCW: But aren’t some locations available for free?

JT: That’s true – but in film production, time is money and when you move the cast and crew from one place to another, that often means half a day lost.  Assuming the shoot lasts 18 days – that’s about four minutes of film per day – a few changes of location might use up 15-20% of your whole budget!  Also – keep the locations as simple to use as possible.  Avoid crowded public spaces such as trains, airports, bars etc which are being used by the public at the same time.

TCW: And the same applies to characters – as few as possible?

JT: By and large yes.  Actors cost money and even getting several cheap actors involves time spent in casting.  Furthermore, it’s not just a question of how many actors you have in total – you also need to think about the length of each actor’s involvement.  Ask yourself this – can I avoid having all the actors involved for the whole shoot?  In a micro-budget production, it’s not just speaking parts you need to economise on.  Extras could also eat up a large portion of your budget – sometimes literally as all your cast and crew will expect to be fed!

TCW: OK that’s actors and locations – what about the technical stuff?

JT: To make a film you need a camera, lights and sound.  Each has associated costs which we should try to reduce.

TCW: So that means hand-held cameras?

JT: It certainly helps if you can cut down on tripods, dollies etc– and if you have a valid dramatic reason for rough hand-held camerawork, that’s even better.  An example was ‘The Blair Witch Project’, which was (according to the story) put together from videos made by frightened kids in a wood.  Another example: the quasi-documentary style of ‘London to Brighton’.  Less well-known examples: ‘Zombie Diaries’ and ‘The Last Horror Movie’.

TCW: And the lights?

JT: The best light of all is of course the sun.  That’s why the film industry gravitated to Hollywood in the first place, and it puts Northeast England at a bit of a disadvantage.  It may be easiest to take a decision at the outset that the shoot will be mainly outdoors.  A good example is ‘Scenes of a Sexual Nature’, which is set on Hampstead Heath.  There may be days lost due to rain, which means money down the drain, but that still might be cheaper than arranging to light indoor locations.

TCW: So are night scenes out of the question?

JT: It’s often possible to shoot “day for night” – the work is done in daylight but filters etc are used to make it look as though it’s dark.  Example – This is ‘Not a Love Song’, a film written by Simon Beaufoy of ‘Full Monty’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ fame.

TCW: And then there’s sound …

JT: It’s often very difficult to get this right on a low budget.  Once, as I said earlier, used a lot of music.  This was recorded in a studio and then the studio recording was grafted on, instead of live sound recorded on location – this must have saved money.

TCW: So is music a good way to keep things cheap?

JT: Not as a rule, no!  If music is to have real emotional resonance, it usually needs to be popular songs that the audience know – and getting the rights to use these songs is usually really difficult and expensive.  Once was exceptional because the producers gave a starring role to a relatively little-known artiste, and relied on his (cheap) music to move the audience.

TCW: Does all the emotional impact have to come from the actors?

JT: The things that expensive films rely on – such as stunts, effects, violence – aren’t completely taboo, but you have to use them in a cost-effective way.  For instance, ‘Open Water’ used real sharks, which were hired from a professional outfit for two days.  The sharks ate up a lot of the budget, so it was essential that the filmmakers really made effective use of the footage they got in those two days.

TCW: Is there a common factor which links all of these stories?

JT: Many of the good things about these films are also characteristic of the best blockbuster films.  You need a simple story which can be summed up in one sentence.  ‘Open Water’ is about two people who go diving, get left behind and then threatened by sharks.  That’s about as simple as a film story can get.  Once is also simple, but it’s more character-driven.  A lot of micro-budget films are horror films.  A horror film-maker has some inbuilt advantages: the audience doesn’t generally expect to see big stars in horror films, and a lot of the best horror films are low-budget.

TCW: Don’t big stars sometimes do low-budget films because they like the story?

JT: Yes – usually character-driven stories.  An example is ‘Scenes of a Sexual Nature’, which had a terrific cast including Ewan Macgregor.  If your story is so good that you pull in a big star, you know you’ve done a good job.

TCW: And the length?

JT:Don’t worry if your film is short – most micro-budget successes are under 90 minutes, sometimes under 80.

Jack Tarling is a producer of short films  for Northern Film and Media and the UK Film Council.  He has worked with award-winning director Peter Snowdon and Third Films  Keith Jewitt is the founder of the North East Screenwriter’s Group which meets on the third Saturday of each month at the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle upon Tyne.  His films are ‘69 Miles to London’ (Shakabuku Films, 2007) and ‘Litterpicker’ (Pinball Films, 2008)

Related posts:

1. Writing Short Films
2. Screenwriting: Writing for the Camera
3. Rushes Soho Short Film Festival

Contrary to what most people believe, it is difficult to write a good love scene; writing in deep point of view and using the right combination of words so the reader feels what the character does emotionally and physically.

Elements for writing a good love scene

What are the elements for writing a love scene that makes the pages sizzle? Know your characters and their GMC: goal, motivation and conflict. The outlook of a character who grew up alone without a mother or family to care for him is going to be different from a heroine who grew up in a loving family. When you have a hero that has been aloof and finally opens up and shares the tender part of himself with the heroine, that’s a big moment.

What does he/she have that completes the person that no one else has done before?

The types of words used when writing a love scene are important. They are descriptive and affect the senses: warm and hot, fluid, enticing, silky, wild, dangerous and primal. Cold words have the opposite effect: icy stare, cold lump in the stomach, brisk, chill of apprehension.

Here’s an example if the hero were a contemporary cowboy and the heroine sees him for the first time:

Kendra clutched the strap of her portfolio in a white-knuckle grip as her mouth went dry at the sight of her husband-to-be. This was her first look at Jake Grant, the man she agreed to marry for six months. She needed his protection and the solitude of his ranch, he needed her money.

Her heart sped up as he picked up another bag and tossed it on top of the others in the truck. Heat blossomed on her cheeks and it wasn’t from the Texas sun. It was because of him. Jake. Instead of dreaming of a knight-in-shining-armor, she fantasized about a cowboy in a black hat riding with her off into the sunset.

She licked her lips. Could she keep her distance and stick by their agreed upon hands off policy? Everything was so much easier when they spoke on the phone, when she hadn’t seen him.

A stampede of longhorn cattle was about the only thing that could pull her gaze away from this man. His sweaty, gray cotton t-shirt clung to his body, outlining his rippling muscles. He stopped and lifted the edge of the material to wipe the glimmering sheen of perspiration dotting his brow.
Tanned skin, a sculpted torso…

If seduction had human form it would be Jake Grant. A slow smile lifted her mouth as she stood in the shadows. Anything could happen in six months…even love.

Physical and emotional

In the example, we can see and feel the heroine’s reaction to Jake. Can you see how I used heat in the example to tie everything together? It’s internal and external. You know when Jake and Kendra do interact sparks will fly.

Remember, making love is more than physical, it’s emotional. The characters are emotionally and physically bare. Vulnerable.

Crossing the line

A relationship is something that complicates the hero and heroine’s lives and having sex makes the situation between them worse. Once the line is crossed, the dynamics between the couple are taken to another level. You must show the emotional as well as the physical side once the couple crosses the line of intimacy. How does it affect the characters and their future? Are the risks worth the price of becoming intimate?

The consummation

There might be a variety of reasons they consummate their relationship:

• Intense attraction
• Loneliness
• Anger/Fear/Revenge
• Power/Control
• Magic (fantasy, paranormal romance)

The real key to writing love that sizzles is knowing your characters and making the love scene part of their character growth arc and part of the plot. Just as in real life, we deal with the consequences when we choose to make love.

Notice I keep saying make love, not sex. It may start out as sex but as the feelings between the hero and heroine grow, their point of view changes.

Beware of formulae

There is no formula for romance. Word count is a big factor. If you’re reading a Harlequin/Silhouette (category romance) it may look like there is a formula but there isn’t. You have a certain amount of pages for the story where pinch points, midpoint, darkest moment all fall within the guidelines. As a writer targeting this publisher I’ve done my homework.

Writing to genre

Science fiction, fantasy and Westerns all have certain aspects that readers expect and love. Romance fiction is no different, and in this genre “happily ever after” is the most important.

Pollyanna Williamson writes as bestselling authors Tambra Kendall and Keelia Greer. Her most recent story, Cowboy of the Night, is a paranormal love story about a vampire cowboy.

Related posts:

1. Writing for children: sex, love and romance
2. Romance fiction: more than just sex
3. Writing Romantic Suspense – When Love Gets Mysterious

Alex Kinsey is a 28 year old actor and director. Acting work has included short films, TV dramas, commercials and theatre work. He wrote, directed and produced his first short film ‘Smile’ – a strange tale of a sinister meeting in the ‘Get Carter’ car park in Gateshead. Alex directed the short film ‘Maybe One Day’ through the Stingers scheme in 2008. Another recent short film he wrote and directed, ‘The Other Woman’, can be seen on Northern Film and Media’s website.

A director’s experience

I was offered the opportunity to direct a 5-minute short film through the Northern Film & Media (the UK Film Council’s North East screen agency) Stingers film scheme. Craig Rutherford’s script ‘Bus Stop’ had been selected but had no director attached. Having previously directed my own film script with funding from NFM, I was very keen to do more and while the script was not the sort of thing I would write myself, I was pleased to have the chance to direct another professionally produced short.

I was lucky to be working with two young and talented people: my producer, Jack Tarling, and the writer, Craig, who were both enthusiastic about creating a film we could all be pleased with.

Script development

The process started with a number of meetings to discuss all aspects of the production. Craig and I developed the script and made some changes to the order of scenes to create a final version that we would plan to shoot – as Craig himself said, it helped to have a fresh pair of eyes on the script to make sure the story is told effectively.

Once we had a version of the script we were happy with we submitted it to NFM for sign-off and we made some slight changes based on their suggestions. This was where a continuing dialogue with the writer was essential. At this stage my producer and I wracked our brains trying to create a solution to an issue that the Film Council raised about the story. We sent it back to Craig and he wrote in some new developments which we used to tweak the script. By now the film had become a collaboration between the three of us, writer, producer and director – and with the additional input of my editor, Nick Light, I am sure this is one of the reasons why the film was a success.

Period choices

The film is about a widowed old lady who finds a line of poetry grafittied onto her local bus stop. It emerges that the poem is one written by a lover of hers from the past and he has come back to find her, decades later. I had an idea of it being a war-time romance and due to the timings this would mean in the present day the lady would be in her 80s. So I suggested the idea of setting the film in the 1970s. This would mean so many extra complications and effort but the producer and the writer both liked the idea and we set about finding a location (houses, street and a bus stop) that could pass as being in the 70s.

Pre-production

The pre-production went on for about three months, which included finding all crew and cast – which is difficult when the budget is so tiny and there are so many people needed. Making a film can take over your life, but unfortunately it won’t pay for it – so we were all having to fit it around our other jobs. Having my producer on speed dial became essential for the number of phone calls that are needed!

I was introduced to two wonderful artists who helped create the props, costumes and set-dressing – Molly Barrett and Kate Eccles. It was the first time they had worked on a film but their enthusiasm, dedication and artistic talent contributed to the film immeasurably.

A collaborative vision

It was only the second film I’d directed, so I still learned a huge amount and if I was to make the film again there is a lot I would do differently, but the Film Council seemed very happy with the finished film and we received favourable comments from the audience at the screening in Newcastle.

Making a short film is a great experience, but I don’t think I would ever be precious about controlling all aspects myself. I liked working with the writer, the producer and my editor, listening to their suggestions and putting together a piece that was created by a number of people rather than simply one person’s vision.

Recommended reading

To find out more about the art of digital filmmaking, check out Digital Film Making by Mike Figgis.

Related posts:

1. Screenwriting: Writing for the Camera
2. The Art and Science of Screenwriting
3. Writing Short Films

Reports, particularly company annual reports, aren’t high on the list of most people’s bedtime reading. They can be hard to read (though according to a 2006 University of Michigan study this might be intentional), and often tend towards combining tedium and complexity.

There are a lot of different types of report a freelance might be called upon to write, for a wide range of different audiences:

• reports from meetings and conferences;
• reviews of products or topics, such as green energy or influenza;
• annual reports on a company or charity;
• budget and credit reports;
• reports on an ongoing or completed trip, project or research;
• policy reports and recommendations for future planning.

To write a good report, the writer first needs to answer two questions:

1. who is it for?
2. what is it for?

Language and layout

The language used in the report will depend upon who the audience is – it’s no good writing complex technical jargon for a lay audience, or using overly simple language for a report intended for scientists or medics. The audience will also decide the writing style, whether it’s going to be formal or informal.

Because reports can be complex and very ‘information-dense’, the report still needs to be clear and easy to read, using active rather than passive language, keeping sentences short with one idea per sentence, and splitting blocks of text up into short paragraphs. The layout can also help the readability, including informative subheadings, which break up the page and draw the reader’s attention, and bulleted lists, which can make complex lists a lot clearer. Other visual aids include call-out boxes (a box containing supporting information), pull quotes (a bold quote, often in a larger font, that emphasises a point), graphs, photos and other illustrations. These not only support the content but also break up the page visually.

If the report is going to be printed, work with the designer if possible, to balance between the needs of the design and the message in the text – one can overpower the other if this balance is not maintained.

Style and content

Think about the purpose of the report. This will determine the content. It’s a good idea to research similar reports to get a feel for the sections required. Reports need to tell a story, so make sure that the sections fall into a logical order – this will also help the reader.

Obviously, the report should be accurate and internally consistent, because people may use it as a basis for important decisions. It should also be concise – if it is over-long, readers may never get to the end, where the important conclusions might be, or miss useful content in the middle. Reports should generally be objective, unless commissioned specifically to give a particular point of view.

Annual reports, especially those for publicly-listed companies or charities, have very specific requirements for content, and it is important to have these requirements clear before beginning writing.

And finally …

Reports don’t have to be hard to read (though they may need to be a little dull, depending on the audience) provided the writer keeps things clear, concise and simple.

A bit of extra reading

• Tips for writing non-profit and company reports (be aware these are US sites and requirements elsewhere may be different)
• Links to sites on writing reports and press releases
• And lastly, how not to write a report…

Related posts:

1. Report writing – finding work
2. Beginner Blogging for Writers: part 2
3. Beginner Blogging for Writers: part 1

There are a lot of different types of report a freelance writer might be called on to write, for a wide range of different audiences. They include

• annual reports for a company or charity;
• reports from meetings and conferences, including those looking at research areas or products;
• reviews of products or topics; and
• business intelligence and market research reports.

Like all freelance work, there is no simple one stop shop for finding all the work you need (but if you know of one, please let me know…). There are as many places to find work writing reports as there are types of reports.

Annual reports

PR companies are often responsible for producing annual reports for large companies, especially those listed on the stock market. Search on Google for PR companies in your area of expertise, or keep an eye out for PR job ads in the papers (the Guardian covers media and PR jobs on a Monday, or use its jobs website ), and contact them to see if they use freelancers. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for job ads for communications departments of companies that are in your field. PR freelance rates are generally quite good but writing annual reports is a competitive field to get into. Charities also produce annual reports – consider doing a couple for free to build up your portfolio.

Product and topic reports

PR and communications companies sometimes produce reports covering research on behalf of clients, perhaps showcasing the clients’ product and comparing it with other similar products. These can be based on published papers, or on presentations at a conference. Though often produced by staff writers, these reports can also be sent out to freelancers (and might get you a trip somewhere nice – or rather a trip to an airport and conference centre that might have a window that looks out over somewhere nice). Similar reports can review products in a market, or topics of interest such as ‘flu or green energy.

Business intelligence and market research reports

If you have an analytical brain and are good with numbers or markets, business intelligence and market research reports are a growing field – these are high-ticket reports used by companies to get background on new fields or new markets. Googling ‘business intelligence reports’ or ‘market research reports’ brings up a whole host of reports publishers, many of whom use freelance writers to produce the reports. Check out the ‘careers’ or ‘about us’ pages, which may include details of freelance requirements, or simply contact companies on spec.

Opportunities to write different types of reports also come up on PayingWriterJobs and Freelance Writing Jobs.

And finally …

Report writing requires organisation and an ability to meet deadlines, familiarity with the fields under scrutiny, comfort working with numbers and capacity to work alone and at a distance. But if you can do it, it’s an interesting market to tap into, and might even get you that view out of a hotel window!

Next week Suzanne will give us some tips on the nuts and bolts of report writing for when those commissions start rolling in …

Related posts:

1. Report writing – the nuts and bolts
2. Writing for women’s magazines
3. Freelance writing markets