Three rules for writing the other kind of happy ending

I want to write an ending for my MG novel. The threads I wove are being tied tightly together. I'm circling that satisfactory feeling of closure. The kind of closure where the sign for the broken bridge has fallen face down in the dirt. But this is MG and I need to tread carefully.The end doesn't have to be conventionally happy but it must be logical, signalled and contain a sense of closure.

There are three rules for the other kind of happy ending:

• Make sure your end links with your beginning
• Keep the writing tight: sagging contemplation is not a good look
• The resolution must be clearly explained: it is the moment when young readers realise they got reading right

As a teacher, I keep in mind the fact that unexpected, poorly-signalled endings, the kind designed to catch-out the reader, would reinforce the idea that they can't read well. That is not a happy ending.


“Every story has a happy ending, you just need to know when to stop.” Annie M.G. Schmidt

EDITING - THIS IS AN AUDITORY VERSION OF WHY EDIT - HOSTED BY TUUUNES The Apples in Stereo: "Play Tough"

Apples in Stereo are responsible for one of my favourite tracks of all time. Not high brow in musical circles, its jangle makes me happy.  I wanted to post it for my TUUNES on Tuesday before I was overcome with disappointment at how-less-than-clear the wonder of the track is... in this version.

Saturday you woke me up from a dream
Torn out of the pages of a magazine

You got to play tough, my love
You got to play cool
You got to play tough, my love
When you play me for a fool
(When you play me for a...)

Saturday you woke me up into a drag
Peaches in the creases of a plastic bag 

Lyrics to lap up!

However, back to editing. Press play on the track below. It is the band singing live. You can almost hear what a brilliant song it is, a perfect harmony of lyric, tune and voice BUT look up the track as it appears on the album New Magnetic Wonder. This version is not available on Youtube and I can't make it appear here by willpower alone, which is a shame - it was the last version of 'How To' I tried last night.

Please look up the tune, it is superlatively good ;) SPOTIFY will help you out. I made a link to my playlist of one track. It was the best I could do.

http://open.spotify.com/user/elaineamsmith/playlist/4taKmc30pQz7u5ZTGLcdwM BLOG

The gem of an amazing song is here in this version - with a little polish (as an analogy of editing for the novel) - the true genius of this track would be able to shine through.

I have 2000 words left to write 9/10 mostly all dénouement and no action: I have to write it so I can cut it out later ;)

How is your writing going?

READING: CAFE CULTURE, LITERALLY

libros buenosaires

National Literacy Trust Policy Adviser George Dugdale said:

“Literacy is at the heart of education and social justice, and in the modern world it is increasingly crucial. However, recent international comparisons have revealed worrying statistics about literacy in the UK."

My suggestion, to redress the balance, is to get books to adults, and children, in a non-threatening situation. The youngest children mimic their parents. Older ones influence their peers. Get books into Starbucks! 
Increase literacy, one latte at a time ;)

"The most beautiful thing about reading is talking about it," said Hernan Lombardi, Buenos Aires's Minister of Culture. In April of this year, a new city government scheme was created: 

• The plan was to put books on display in cafes and encourage patrons to pick them up and read them while they are there. 

• The aim was to promote literature and to encourage adults to read. The first collection chosen was the works of the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges. 

I miss Borders. Books and coffee: what a great combination. Many cafes, ranging from Betty's (deliciously quaint) Tea Rooms to the local MaccyDs provide newspapers. Imagine the scope and reach of a national scheme to increase reading by having libraries in cafes? Twitter trending on the great author debate - one author at a time. The coffee, and tea, shops of Britain - in town centres, train stations, shopping centres - all providing books to encourage reading and debate. 

 Starting one author at a time? Who would you select? 

If you are local, this event might be inspirational:

Life Stories Cafe:  True Storytelling Event 


Woolfson &Tay, a new independent bookshop, cafe, and gallery in Bermondsey Square, London SE1, has a programme of events including author talks, poetry open mics, and photo exhibits.  In December they are introducing: The Life Stories Cafe, inaugurated by poet Dorothea Smartt. 


Friday, Dec. 3   7.00 pm   £5   Bring your own wine - corkage applies.

Two hours of separation from the 10 Rules for Writing Fiction

Merisi's blog -The papers: Viennese' style.

My Sunday morning newspaper is too small.

I still read for hours. I range wider (the image of a dusty cowboy distracted me for a minute - but it's OK I'm back) and the subject I read about can get worryingly specific. I've got one more hour, from the moment I press post, to enjoy the inky version of my Sunday morning reading.

I started with the round up from The Adventures in Children's Publishing and two hours, and a nagging headache later, I found myself back where I was last February. Aspiring writers, and the ones already knee or neck deep in the process, can benefit from the advice compiled in The Guardian. Authors were asked to write their Ten Rules for Writing Fiction.

I should be doing the Philip Pullman! I think Ian Rankin has it in a nut-shell in 5,7,8,9,and 10.

Michael Morpurgo MBE, OBE and previous Children's Laureate wrote his rules with voice, can't you just picture the soft leather chairs in his library? His wife, Clare, bustling aboutgrinning and chiming in from the doorway?

Michael Morpurgo

1 The prerequisite for me is to keep my well of ideas full. This means living as full and varied a life as possible, to have my antennae out all the time.

2 Ted Hughes gave me this advice and it works wonders: record moments, fleeting impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadnesses and bewilderments and joys.

3 A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion.

4 It is the gestation time which counts.

5 Once the skeleton of the story is ready I begin talking about it, mostly to Clare, my wife, sounding her out.

6 By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I'm talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren.

7 Once a chapter is scribbled down rough – I write very small so I don't have to turn the page and face the next empty one – Clare puts it on the word processor, prints it out, sometimes with her own comments added.

8 When I'm deep inside a story, living it as I write, I honestly don't know what will happen. I try not to dictate it, not to play God.

9 Once the book is finished in its first draft, I read it out loud to myself. How it sounds is hugely important.

10 With all editing, no matter how sensitive – and I've been very lucky here – I react sulkily at first, but then I settle down and get on with it, and a year later I have my book in my hand.

Then. After the reading comes the writing. I am two chapters from the end of COUNTERS. Betrayal. Abandonment. Reconciliation. Hope. 

Not much left to write at all.

TAKING ACTION TOGETHER: ANTI-BULLYING AS THE WEEK CLOSES

15 - 18 November 2010 was Anti-Bullying Week.

When emotional literacy is given one fifth of the time devoted to developing literacy in schools, it is encouraging to see that events like  Anti-Bullying Week work to redress the balance a little.

When bullies are the embodiment of all things  'anti', 'smash', 'beat', 'grab', 'stamp' and 'fight', the wise ones at the Anti-Bullying Alliance  suggested it was time to step away from using negative language to promote tolerance and respect. Isn't that the most profoundly simple and obvious suggestion you have never heard?

In honour of this idea - the one that made me feel like I was suddenly antipodean - they suggested  writing slogans with only positive connotations and language. And, are we not writers?

When the affects of Bullying are so negative, it is hard to think in the positive. This is my attempt.

                   Make like sociable: Safe   

THE THREE STEPS TO BEING A STRESS-HARDY WRITER

from The Writers' Cabal

Stress-hardy.

Isn’t that a great phrase? I think it is the definition of anyone who writes a novel.

Most writers have to combine many different roles within their close and extended family, in the work place and in the hinterland of existence termed: presence. How do they do all that? Strong belief: in their life choices, and the activity they have chosen to dedicate their time to.

THE THREE STEPS TO A STRESS-HARDY STATE:

Control: the choices made and the problems encountered are ours to control and to make happen. If your version of complicated is a mess of the-everything-necessary: keep all the ball moving and juggle!

Commitment: for writers success is not the base line, it is the goal. Improvement is the measure by which each day is judged. It is not luck, but tenacity and perseverance, that is necessary to make the commitment worthwhile.

Challenge: Positively relishing the challenges. Writers must see criticism and rejection as a setback and not a catastrophe. The development of skills and reaching out to others, balanced with giving back when others have help you, equals self-improvement.

These are the steps to being self-hardy, to coping with the challenge all writers chose for themselves – the brief version would be :

Think it. Say it. Do it. Be it. 

WRITING ON WEDNESDAY: GROWING start somewhere promising then deliver

All about the suit design... apparently ;)

I'm thinking about writing so it must be Wednesday or a day of the week with a "d" in it.

I found this advice on The Guardian site. Then condensed it a little.

Bait the hook.

Main character:

What do they have?

What do they need?

The protagonist needs to start off fairly ordinary, a mirror to ourselves,  but with an ember of something more.

Identify the catalyst (the inciting incident): 

what

when

why

and a measure of how extreme it is.

What has already been tried but failed?

For the character:

What is the cost of action?

What is the reward?

Make sure we know when the character strays past the point of no return.

The choices for the character are universal:

do nothing

run away

take the risk and act

Writer, first do the JK - think about the story as a whole and plot a roller coaster ride:

From scene to scene, raise the stakes:

If you can't put them in peril give them internal angst

Apply external pressure.

Keep up the pace.

Turn up the conflict.

Strengthen those obstacles and build them higher.

Make the protagonist principled so you can test them:

struggle

fail

succeed 

the outcome doesn't really matter, because they are all human.

The character needs a catalyst and enough room to develop and to grow. 

I have five of these statements pinned up - very large - over my PC.
The one I think is the greatest of them all? Raise the stake - and then thrust it through to the heart!