And yet another about the Hidden Story
Had this blog post open for a while, because I thought this writer put it well when he said,
The major players in your story must have… subterranean motivations, and ideally provide such curiosity-sparking mysteries for your readers. Perhaps you eventually reveal what makes those gears whir — in a revelatory flashback, for instance, or a final, crucial sliver of information presented in act three — or perhaps you don’t. What’s important is that you must know what makes them tick (and tic), and slyly weave these details into your narrative.
Don’t put it all on the page. Hold a few of those cards close, damned close, to your vest. And understand that if your entire knowledge of your characters is what your readers directly experience on the page, you may have written a Good story … but probably not a Great one.
Not always so easy.
I just started the first scene of the new draft – and really, it’s the prologue. I’d devised an entire back story for the Lovable Schmuck that will probably never make it to the pages – but writing the resulting voice for him? Harder than I thought. I thought I had it when I was drafting his character, but now that I’m actually making him interact with others, I’ve had to stop and think.
The trick, I reckon, is in the nugget dropping. Leaving a trail of clues along the way before the final Ah Hah at the end. And the hardest part of all: doing it elegantly. Avoiding an extra scene, when a sentence or two will suffice. Crafting the smallest moment that paints the thousand words, without detracting from the main story but adding to it.
Am I up to the challenge? I’m hoping so.
Carrots – The art of rewarding good work
So it’s Saturday, and I have a lovely long weekend. And I’m still procrastinating, although I think I’m getting closer to doing what I need to do.
Just read a post on Word Wenches about Risk and Reward. And I suddenly remembered this nifty little notepad I bought from Kikki K in late June this year. Read more
Hidden story – another example for minor characters
Was day dreaming in the car this lazy Saturday afternoon, when I stumbled upon a hidden story in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Remember how FiFi (played by the very elegant and sylph-like Kristin Scott Thomas) always wore black to weddings? It was always there in the background. Fiona, smoking, always in black. She mumbles something about it to an old lady at a church once, but beyond that, we just think it’s her special thing. Her private diatribe against the entire enterprise, perhaps.
Until she owns up to Charles (Hugh Grant) that her love of her life is
You, Charlie.
It’s always been you.
Since first we met so many years ago.
I knew the first moment.
Across a crowded room. A lawn, in fact.
Doesn’t matter.
Nothing either of us can do
on this one. Such is life.Friends isn’t bad, you know.
Friends is quite something.
And then when he prepares to marry Duckface, Fifi is seen in the church to have broken her fast of wearing black, and the audience finally gets the Ah Hah!
Hidden story for minor characters. Doesn’t have to be huge. Just has to be effective and elegant.
The Last Days of a Rake
The Last Days of a Rake by Donna Lea Simpson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Or rather, the last night before he carks it.
Not quite the romance novel really, because it deals with the regrets of a reformed rake on his deathbed and how he was a rather scummy scoundrel. A little like Peter O’Toole’s Casanova in the Casanova miniseries, starring David Tennant.
The book itself was quite well written – almost lyrical in places, though short. In the end, I came away feeling quite sad for all the characters. I do like the idea of the book within the book, however. Rather like The Mysteries of Udolpho in Northanger Abbey. Hmm!
Try it out. It’s free after all, in Carina Press. And it only took me two 20-minute bus trips to finish it.
