Mo Fanning - British writer and comic

Tips

The power of the flashback

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You know how it goes. You’re watching a TV show, and all-of-a-sudden the scene changes. Flashback to five years earlier. If there’s one thing to be said for binge watching in the Netflix age, it’s that I’ve thought again about how I tell a story.

I’ve always known that a strict chronological timeline turns off the reader. Unless you’re an absolute master with a truly gripping story that evolves with every tick of the clock, you need to jump about a little when it comes to delivering back story. But, nearly every show I’ve watched this year employs flashback. Be it in the form of standalone episodes that focus on the motivation for one character, or juxtaposing scenes that find characters in better or worse situations in the past (or sometimes the future). 

Writers have often used prologues to expose a key event in the past or future before diving into their story, and whatever you think of them, done right, they serve the reader well. In my latest book, I’ve taken the decision to cut up the story with flashbacks. They’ve appeared in a late edit. Until now, back story was delivered in discrete chunks, where the first person narrator recounted their logic to the reader. The temptation was always there to make these more detailed, but I knew it would damage the pace and flow.

Bite-size back story

I tried to slice motivation into bite-size pieces, but the natural story began to feel too much like a book, taking the reader out of the action. Early on in this edit, I experimented with a prologue, and then with a first flashback. I read it all back, and to my surprise found it worked. What I’d tried to do was tell the story as it unfolded, planted small, but non intrusive questions in the mind of the reader. Each flashback picked these up and allowed me to explain things. Free of the five-line limit that I self-impose on back story, I could go to town. Explain why someone might act as they do and inform their future motives.

I’m not sure I could have done this in the first or second draft. It takes a few goes before I feel I understand my characters enough to explore their past. My real worry was would I be hurting the pace by taking people out of the story. By keeping the chapter numbering for the present tale, and labelling each flashback as ‘Six years earlier’ or ‘Five years ago’, the sense of the story remained. 

An early reviewer described my story-telling as episodic, and this feels like the next logical step to delivering on this.

How do you feel? Are you a chunk-feeder or ready to go the full flashback?

Writing tips: Hatches, matches and dispatches

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As Australians vote to allow same-sex marriage, I got to pondering how, when writing, I often base stories around major life events. The Armchair Bride brings former enemies together. Having it all sees the bride flee a dream wedding. My next book will see Evie find new ways to cope when every familiar situation ‘dies’.

Our holy grail is a killer narrative arc, but too often we take this literally. As a beginner writer, I used to litter stories with subplots and feel the need to explain everything away by flashback and reference to what went before. I didn’t trust my reader to make up their own mind. Big mistake.

To hold  attention, we create tension in our writing – a reason to read on. But we need to let the reader make up their own mind. The skill lies in planting the clues and shining the light on what we want seen.

The facts of someone’s life, presented end-to-end won’t excite the average observer. What matters is how we (or rather how our characters) tell their story. Not just to the reader and those around them, but how they relate events to themselves. And that’s always going to mean bias. Not that this is a bad thing. What matters is that your characters believe in what they do. Or if they don’t, they justify their actions.

Writing timelines

A powerful story rarely follows a straight timeline. As writers, we should feel empowered to pick apart a timeline and reassemble things, moving the emphasis onto key events. Often, these happen to be births, marriages and death. Not always literally. I’m not saying that no story will fly if there isn’t confetti. Birth might mean that a character becomes aware of being followed. A love affair can die. Rivals marry when they enter an uneasy alliance.

Strong narrative arcs don’t simply say what happened, they help the reader understand why it happened and why an event matters. They help the reader understand how the character moves from the first to the last page of a story.

Plotting

When it comes to planning a novel, some writers fill walls with Post-it notes, others compile volumes of research. The brave/foolish ones sit down with a blank document and see what happens. I’m a ‘seat of my pants‘ sort and tend to rely on minimal planning. That said, minimal doesn’t mean I get to completely ignore the timeline. When we tell any story, we need a firm grip on where things start and where (we think) they will end.

Something happens and it causes a situation that goes through every twist and turn until the something that happened either comes good, or dies and goes away.

And the things that happen might not be ‘major life events’ in the truest sense of the word, but to your characters, this is how they must be. Missing a train can be the birth of something that changes the course of a life. Starting a new job could lead to one relationship that kills another.

There might not be arguments about whose turn it is to change a nappy or sausage rolls at a wake, but hatches, matches and dispatches are the most powerful tools a story teller has. use them wisely.

Where to hunt a literary agent

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This extract is from my latest ‘how to’ book aimed at new and developing writers – Please find attached – A guide to getting your work in front of agents and publishers. It’s available to download from today.

There are many ways to track down a literary agent. A sure-fire hit (and a book everyone tells you to buy) is the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. It’s packed with listing for agents (and publishers), some giving advice on what they might be looking for and current client lists. There’s also an associated website. The book itself offers a range of advice articles and ‘state of the market’ summaries to help you bone up on what’s currently selling.

It’s long been the aspiring authors’ bible. The publisher of the Yearbook also offers a range of of ‘companion’ volumes that cover crime fiction, children’s fiction, life writing and historical fiction.

The problem with any reference book is that it goes out of date the second it leaves the printing press. The website is a good place to get a more current overview, but there are much better online tools out there to assist you in your search.

Websites to help find a literary agent

In the UK, I recommend Agent Hunter. If you’re in the US, stick to Agent Query (or Writer’s Market). None of these sites are free. They will expect a small sum in exchange for access to their market intelligence.

This is where you need to take care. There are plenty of insipid copies of the sites out there that don’t work as hard to offer up-to-date information. The ones recommended below have proved good for me (and writers I know).

Create a hit list

Just like when job hunting, you wouldn’t write to every company in the phone book, don’t submit to every literary agent you find. Use the data and intelligence out there to filter your list. The better websites allow you to do just that. They’re updated to show which agents are looking to grow their lists. Use the search functionality on your chosen reference site to find:

  • agents who accept work in your genre
  • agents actively looking to grow their list
  • agents who make it a priority to work with new writers

Search and discover

Supplement your hit list by using any search engine, hunting agents on Twitter. Add to your list until you have a top five or six that you want to approach.

Please find attachedGet your work seen by agents and publishers

There are plenty of books that teach you how to write – or write better. But then what? ‘Please find attached‘ is a guide for writers who are ready to submit their work to agents or publishers. It explains the role of an agent and the publishing process. It helps writers decide if self-publishing might work better. Along the way, there’s solid advice on how to write a killer query letter, tackle a synopsis that sells, and how to present your work at its best. Practical tips cover formatting and the etiquette of approaching an agent or publisher. It’s invaluable help that other guides tend to gloss over.

A must have for any writer ready to take the next step.

Buy my new book now

Submitting to an agent – what not to say

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Please find attachedIf you’ve reached the point where you think you’d like to find an agent or publisher for your writing, there’s plenty of advice online. My own book – Please find attached – is rammed to the rafters with tips on how to attract attention, write a query letter, synopsis, bio and generally convince the gatekeeper that you’re good enough to be let in.

But what about the things you should really keep to yourself? There is such a thing as Too Much Information. The ‘good ideas’ that risk ruining everything. And if that happens, here’s some advice on dealing with rejection. So what do agents and publishers insist are their biggest turn-offs. How can you turn ‘maybe’ into ‘no’?

Don’t send your cover design. Even if you paid a lot of money for it and you know that it’s perfect. Writers get very little, if any, say on the cover design for their books at big publishing houses. Agents less so. Nobody needs it. Never send it.

Don’t try to stand out by writing the query letter in the voice of one of your characters. Professional is your touchstone. Quirky lives elsewhere.

When asked for a bio, don’t be tempted to attach a CV or beef up a few ideas into a puff piece. The one or two short lines in your query letter will be enough.

If you absolutely must include your publishing history, avoid mention of anything that might peg you as an amateur. This usually means flash fiction contests or other competitions run by unpublished authors, disreputable poetry contests or off-the-grid Who’s Who listings. Keep quiet about self-published books – unless you can prove you sold 20,000 copies. Sold, not gave away free.

When you talk about how your work might sit well with other writers, you’re doing it to show you’ve thought about marketing. It helps the agent or publisher understand how you see yourself fitting in. Don’t go too far with this. Never compare yourself directly with other great writers. You’re looking to prove you know how to ‘sit alongside’, not equal or better. Absolutely never say you’re the new anyone, and avoid claiming that your book is ‘just like’ an existing title. Who wants to read the same book twice?

On the subject of knowing your market, don’t claim your novel will appeal to everyone. It won’t. You need to prove you understand the market. A teenage boy and a retired businesswoman are unlikely to read the same books. Claiming wide appeal suggests you have no market in mind.

You might think your book would make a great movie. Hold that thought. And never talk about who you would cast in what role.

Rhetorical questions sound cheesy. Avoid them in your hook and query letter. Stick to the facts of your story and avoid clichés. Too much gameshow host smarm and you undo all the good.

Avoid insincere flattery. ‘I would be honoured if you could spare the time …’ Your query letter functions like a job application. Would you apply for work like this?

Don’t tell the agent or publisher that this is the first book you ever wrote. Inexperience is no turn-on. Equally nobody cares if you’ve been writing since you got into long trousers. ‘Writing is my dream‘ suggests you could well be a nightmare to represent. There’s little value in explaining how your friends, parents or probation officer loves the book – unless the have influential columns in the national press … or notoriety. The only opinion that matters is that of the agent or publisher reading your work.

And never ever slate other writers. It’s a guaranteed rejection.

Finally, it may be good to talk, but don’t for one minute think that calling an agent to pitch is going to end well. You’re a writer. Write!

Please find attachedGet your work seen by agents and publishers

There are plenty of books that teach you how to write – or write better. But then what? ‘Please find attached‘ is a guide for writers who are ready to submit their work to agents or publishers. It explains the role of an agent and the publishing process. It helps writers decide if self-publishing might work better. Along the way, there’s solid advice on how to write a killer query letter, tackle a synopsis that sells, and how to present your work at its best. Practical tips cover formatting and the etiquette of approaching an agent or publisher. It’s invaluable help that other guides tend to gloss over.

A must have for any writer ready to take the next step.

Buy my new book now

Writing great dialogue: Word of mouth storytelling

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Storytelling dialogueInexperienced writers tend to rely on dialogue to deliver the story. It’s an absolute no-no. Victoria Wood satirised this best in her mock soap ‘Acorn Antiques’:

“Apparently, being spiteful and having lots of extra-marital affairs could bring back my jaundice, so I’m going to be really nice from now on.”

The fancy word for this is ‘exposition’. Dialogue that exists for the supposed benefit of the reader.

‘John’s dead,’ she said.
‘John, our grandfather? The man who brought us up single-handed after our parents died in that terrible plane crash? That John?’

There’s no reason why your dialogue can’t help to set up the character of whoever it is who’s speaking, but when they’re filling in the reader, it doesn’t work.

‘I blame it on my upbringing. If my father hadn’t been abandoned by his mother at the age of six so she could go on a round the world cruise, I can’t help thinking things would have been very different,’ she said.

Show don’t tell and other dialogue dogma

The temptation to do this comes from another age-old writing rule: show don’t tell. Inexperienced writers imagine that by showing someone talking, they’re not telling. They’re wrong.

Ask yourself if anyone would actually deliver the line you just wrote.

Are they saying what they’re saying because you want to fill in detail?
And actually, there are times when you need to have a character recount the plot. Police procedurals are rife with it, but even then, it can come over tired.

When characters first meet they know nothing of each other. Unless you’ve set it up (which you could well do), the first time they talk, there’s no back story. They only know of their immediate situation.

As the scene unfolds, you can tease out a story, but trust your reader to pick up things you leave unsaid. You can add in story around the spoken word. Often you don’t need your characters to know everything about each other or the situation, but the reader may be getting an insider view.

‘I blame it on my upbringing,’ she said.
When he didn’t react, she found herself explaining how her parents split. How her father struggled to bring her up when her mother booked herself on a round the world cruise.

Rules for writing great dialogue

  • DON’T have characters tell each other things they should already know, never let them remind each other about things that happened in the past, just so the reader gets it.
  • NEVER have characters explain everything in horrible detail.
  • DON’T have characters tell each other how it makes them feel – or worse why (especially if it’s because of that awful thing in their past).

I’ve compiled a whole load of tips on writing dialogue into a free e-book, available to anyone who signs up to my mailing list. Or you can buy it online if you’d rather feather my nest with your hard-earned cash.