-1-

WHATEVER IT TAKES

An exploration of Writing Tools and Strategies for Completing a

Novel

Chaffey’s Island: a novel

by

Louise Ousby

October, 2009

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of

Master of Creative Writing (romance)

Faculty of Creative Industries

Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove

-2-

-3-

Abstract This thesis consists of a novel written with the express purpose of exploring what practices

and strategies are most useful in writing novel-length fiction as well as an exegesis which

discusses the process.

By its very nature, an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing is broad and general in

approach. The Creative Writing undergraduate is being trained to manage many and

varying writing tasks but none of them larger than can be readily marked and assessed in

class quantities. This does not prepare the writing graduate for the gargantuan task of

managing a project as large as a single title novel which can be up to 100,000 words and

often is more.

This study explores the question of what writing tools and practices best equip an emerging

writer to begin, write and manage a long narrative within a deadline.

-4-

Keywords Writing, fiction, novel writing, deadline, tools, techniques, plotting, collage, character

profile, character interrogation, narrative, goal, motivation, conflict, journaling, editing,

creative practice, plotting, editing

-5-

Acknowledgements To Joseph who has never wavered in his love and belief in me and who was with me on

that fateful day in outback Queensland where the ‘what if’ question was born. Without

him I might never have had the courage to start. To my support team and cheer squad

who began as Hamish and Geraldine but whose numbers increased to include Joseph,

Tammy, Richard, Kristy, David and Cathy. Without them I might not have persevered to

completion. To my QUT Romasters cohort: Lisa Barry, Sandra Barletta, Catherine

Cockburn, Marilyn Carey and Melynda Genrich whose friendship, camaraderie and

support have been invaluable. To my son, Hamish, who has kept me thinking, imagining

and, most importantly, laughing. To Richard, chef extraordinaire, for his many hours of

expert culinary advice as well as a kangaroo tail to test the recipe. Finally, my thanks

must also go to Dr Glen Thomas, my supervisor, for his deep font of knowledge, his

endless patience and his quirky humour. Truly a hero.

-6-

Statement of Authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet

requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best

of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or

written by another person except where due reference is made.

Signature

Date __________________________________

This exegesis is weighted 35% of the overall mark for the Masters by Research –

Romance Writing. The remaining 65% is for the creative component, a novel of 99,861

words titled Chaffey’s Island. My goal in undertaking this research was the development

of a consistent and effective discipline of practice in writing novel length fiction within

a limited timeframe. My research question became, therefore:

‘What strategies and tools can a writer use when creating novel-length fiction within a

deadline?’

-7-

CONTENTS WHATEVER IT TAKES ............................................................................................................... 1

Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3

Keywords ............................................................................................................................ 4

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 5

Statement of Authorship ..................................................................................................... 6

CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................... 7

THE PROJECT ........................................................................................................................... 9

Writing to Deadline ............................................................................................................. 9

The Research Material ...................................................................................................... 10

Genesis – ‘What if' ............................................................................................................ 10

The Magna Cartas ............................................................................................................. 11

The Collage ........................................................................................................................ 12

Plotting or Not Plotting ..................................................................................................... 12

An Open Mind ................................................................................................................... 14

The Soundtrack ................................................................................................................. 15

Writequickly.com .............................................................................................................. 16

Goal, Motivation & Conflict ............................................................................................... 18

Feedback ........................................................................................................................... 19

THE BLACK MOMENT ............................................................................................................ 20

Overcoming the Inner Editor ............................................................................................. 20

Journaling .......................................................................................................................... 22

Freewriting ........................................................................................................................ 22

Scene Tracking .................................................................................................................. 22

CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................... 23

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 25

APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... 27

Appendix A - Collage ......................................................................................................... 27

Appendix B - Magna Carta as recommended by Baty (2006) ............................................ 28

Appendix C - Character Profile as recommended by Wiesner (2005) ............................... 29

Appendix D - Plot Sketching as recommended by Wiesner (2005) ................................... 30

Appendix E - Character Questionnaire as recommended by Daws (2003) ........................ 31

Appendix F - Interrogating the Scene as recommended by Daws (2003) .......................... 32

-8-

Appendix G - Scene Tracking as recommended by Martha Alderson (2004b).................. 33

Appendix H - Notes made while Scene Tracking .............................................................. 34

CHAFFEY’S ISLAND .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

-9-

THE PROJECT

Haseman has said that ‘research design needs to flow from a central research question

or problem statement’ and that ‘Practice led research is intrinsically experiential and

comes to the fore when the researcher creates new artistic forms’(Haseman, 2006).

Haseman’s statement implies that the best way to discover what strategies and tools

work best for writing novel-length fiction is to test them out while writing a novel.

Brien goes further and asserts ‘it is as researchers that creative writers can provide

valuable insights into the creative process’(Brien, 2006). My own interest in pursuing

this line of research stems from my frustration with my undergraduate degree in

Creative Writing. I had undertaken the study to learn how to write novel-length fiction

and, though I learnt how to write many things in the degree, novel writing was not

amongst them. Nevertheless, in the university breaks and any spare time I could

wheedle from my schedule, I managed to complete a 130,000 word rambling narrative

not long after graduation. The work was riddled with problems and lacked structure,

comedy, tension and conflict. Problems I had no idea how to fix. Haseman and Brien,

however, were suggesting that by undertaking a research project, I would discover the

tools I needed to write any novel and perhaps fix my first.

By the commencement of this Masters by Research I had written two complete novels

and 50,000 words of a third and was closer to understanding novel writing but a long

way from having confidence with the medium. Nor did I have a professional discipline

of practice. I write romantic comedy with elements of mystery and suspense and, as

with all commercial fiction, publishers of this subgenre expect authors to write

regularly and meet deadlines. As it has always been my intention to seek publication, I

felt it imperative that I develop a discipline of practice that would not only have me

able to produce work of a consistently high standard on a regular basis, but produce it

to deadline.

In his article titled ‘The Preface as Exegesis’, Nigel Krauth writes:

A preface provides a way into understanding a book: by stating its subject and

scope, by commenting on techniques employed or themes addressed, or by

focusing on a central or contentious issue. Prefacing involves an explicatory

introduction to a reading of a work. (Krauth, 2002)

Using Krauth’s explanation, this exegesis is written in preface form as a record and an

exploration of the process of writing the novel ‘Chaffey’s Island’ and researching

various writing techniques to help complete the task.

Writing to Deadline I had come across the notion of writing to deadline previously by participating in

Nanowrimo(Baty, 2006). In No Plot? No Problem Chris Baty writes, ‘Deadlines are the

dynamos of the modern age. They’ve built every city, won every contest...Deadlines

bring focus, forcing us to make time for the achievements we would otherwise

-10-

postpone’(Baty, 2004). However, even having completed Nanowrimo two years

running I still did not feel my creative practice had the discipline it took to produce

publishable manuscripts to a contract.

What was necessary was a standard or benchmark to aim for within the deadline. I

looked amongst authors in the subgenre of romantic comedy and chose Jennifer Crusie,

Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Rachel Gibson because of the consistent high quality of

their writing. All three writers are, in my opinion, masters of the subgenre and achieve

a standard worth striving towards. Next, for the novel to be completely fresh and the

research valid, I undertook not to use any of the material I had previously written, nor

any of the notes for story ideas I had collected.

The Research Material Following is a list of the writer’s methods, tools and practices I tried in the course of my

research.

The ‘what if’ question (King, 2000)

The two Magna Cartas (Baty, 2004)

The collage (Hannay, 2006) (Crusie, 2003)

Plotting – First Draft in 30 Days (Wiesner, 2005)

Plotting or Not Plotting (Sugden, 2006)

The soundtrack (Wiesner, 2005)

Writequckly.com – Write Any Book in 28 Days (Daws, 2003)

The Hero’s Journey (Vogler, 1998) (Daws, 2003)

Goal, Motivation, Conflict (Dixon, 1996)

Scene Tracker Template (Alderson, 2004b)

Blockbuster Plots (Alderson, 2004a)

Genesis – ‘What if' In his memoir On Writing, Stephen King asserts that ‘Stories are found things, like

fossils in the ground’ (King, 2000 p128) and that ‘The situation comes first. The

characters – always flat and unfeatured, to begin with – come next’(King, 2000 p129).

Having opted, for the sake of the research, not to use any of the material I had

previously written or prepared to write, I needed an entry point, an idea to begin with.

King goes on to say that ‘The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a

What-if question’(King, 2000, p133) and I saw this as a way of beginning a novel from

nothing.

In 2006, on a trip to the outback I passed the uninhabited pub at Betoota, surrounded

by a wire fence and completely isolated in the wilderness. Betoota is marked on the

-11-

road maps and the mileage signs in the Diamantina area and yet the pub is the only

residence and no one lives there. Driving past, my brain buzzed with questions. Who

owned it? How could anyone live in such an isolated place? I wondered why it was

surrounded by the fence, if maybe the person who owned the pub had died. Who would

inherit it? What if you inherited a pub in an isolated place like Betoota? What if you

were young, female and inherited a pub surrounded by a chain link fence in the middle

of nowhere?

Now that I needed a ‘what if’ question I went back to that memory of Betoota for the

genesis of my novel. What if a young city woman inherited a pub in the middle of the

outback? In reality, it wouldn’t be possible for one person, man or woman, to single-

handedly run such an isolated pub so I tweaked the local geography and invented

Scott’s Crossing, an imaginary nearby settlement. Scott’s Crossing became a valuable

source for interesting characters and sub-plot threads. The second tweak I gave reality

was to put the pub on higher ground so that when the area was inundated with floods,

it became an island, Chaffey’s Island.

At this stage, I also made some decisions about my two leading characters. My heroine

would be a chef to make it more likely for her to be tempted to take on the pub and my

hero would be the lawyer handling the deceased estate.

The Magna Cartas According to Stephen King, ‘Fiction writers...don’t understand very much about what

they do – not why it works when it’s good, not why it doesn’t when it’s bad.’(King, 2000,

p. xiii). King’s assertion seemed to correlate with my own writing experience to date

but I was hoping through my research to alter that. In my earlier novels I sometimes

found the ideas would peter out after a time or, worse, would head off in a dark

direction, one not at all suitable for romantic comedy. Therefore, in exploring the nuts

and bolts of my writing technique I hoped for two results.

Firstly, to develop a discipline of practice that would give me the ability

to meet publishers’ deadlines.

Secondly, to gain some insight, and therefore, a modicum of control over

a story as I am writing it.

However, I had no desire to control the story to the extent where it lost its vitality and

spontaneity. Instead, my aim was to find a way to keep generating the writing even

when I couldn’t clearly see a way forward.

My second novel, ‘Getting Cross’ was written during my first attempt at Nanowrimo

(Baty, 2000). The task of writing fifty thousand words in thirty days is designed to have

participants writing ‘with velocity’ as Baty terms it (Baty, 2004) and deliberately allows

little time for reflection and editing. In this first attempt, I found my story went to

darker places than I had planned for it. The heroine’s son came close to being killed in

the first half of the story, causing her great upset. Naturally enough, she lost all her

-12-

appetite for romance as she sat by his bed in hospital. Not only did the son sabotage the

romance, he killed off all the comedy. It took many months after Nanowrimo was over

and done with to salvage the story from that dark place.

Chris Baty’s solution to this dilemma is to create what he calls ‘The Two Magna Cartas’,

two ‘frame-worthy’ lists before commencing writing. The first is a list of elements the

writer wants to include in the novel and the second is elements to be excluded because,

as Baty says, ‘the things that you appreciate as a reader are also the things you’ll likely

excel at as a writer’(Baty, 2004).

Given the problems I encountered with my first two attempts at novel-length fiction, I

was more than open to Baty’s suggestion, including humour, believable plot and strong

emotional conflict on my inclusive list. Irredeemably bad villains, pathos, angst and

sadness were on my list of exclusions. Amongst the inclusions I listed a hero with

strong principles and quirky secondary characters. To revisit these lists now that the

novel is complete and I am so familiar with it makes for interesting reading because I

believe that my hero and heroine both have strong principles, the secondary characters

are quirky and Trev, the villain, is not irredeemably bad(Ousby, 2007). From this I

have drawn the conclusion that creating a framework for the writing in this way is a

valuable exercise and one I will repeat in the future.

The Collage At the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in 2006 I attended a workshop run by

author Barbara Hannay on the technique of collage as a visual tool for novel writing

(Hannay, 2006). To create a collage for a novel, a writer collects pictures and small

artefacts that evoke the story and characters, fixing them onto a background to create a

large composite picture. Not only does this exercise compel the writer to think deeply

about the visuals in the story, but the finished collage becomes a great tool to stimulate

the writing.

During the salvage process of my second novel, ‘Getting Cross’, I kept the collage within

view when I wrote and found that not only did the collage inspire the writing, but it

inspired the brainstorming of ideas when the storyline seemed to stall.

During the writing of ‘Chaffey’s Island’, the task of researching different writing

methods at times slowed the flow of the story to a standstill and I found the collage an

excellent tool for keeping the story present for myself. Jennifer Crusie is also a writer

who uses collage, claiming , ‘It’s just amazing how much story this process brings out as

you work’(Crusie, 2003.)

Plotting or Not Plotting Part of me was chafing to get started on the writing, but if I was using this degree to

design a creative practice that would see me completing novels within deadlines every

time, I needed to make sure I had prepared the ground well. All I had for ‘Chaffey’s

Island’ at this stage was a vague idea of hero and heroine, two Magna Cartas and a

collage. I still struggled to garner a firm sense of my characters and the world they lived

in. At this time, one of the members of the online group for Romance Writers of

-13-

Australia (RWA) recommended a book called First Draft in 30 Days: A Novel Writer’s

System for Building a Complete and Cohesive Manuscript by K.S. Wiesner.

When discussing writing methods with members of the RWA, the question is often

asked: ‘Are you a plotter or a ‘pantser’?’ These terms refer to methods of approach to

novel writing. Plotters plan out their novels, step by step or scene by scene, before

commencing writing. They write character profiles for their main characters, if not all

their characters, much as Wiesner was proposing. ‘Pantsers’ is a term coined to

describe people who write by the seat of their pants. They write by simply starting and

seeing where the stories take them. The difference is described quite well by Anna

Sugden using the analogy of travelling.

Plotters, for example, research their journey meticulously – studying each and

every aspect of their destination to create a detailed plan of what they will do

and when they will do it. Pansters, on the other hand, choose their destination

on a whim and turn up ready to take it as they find it. Free from any

preconceived plans, they can explore to their heart’s delight and hopefully

uncover some wonder far from tourist traffic that they might otherwise have

missed. (Sugden, 2006).

However, I had learned three very useful lessons in the three stories I had written by

the ‘pantser method’. Firstly, a novel written with no plan in mind can meander on for

thousands of words without measurably moving the plot along. My first novel ran to

one hundred and thirty-five thousand words before it finally resolved itself. That is not

to say that long novels are a bad thing or that I do not intend to ever write one.

Secondly, as I have mentioned before, an unplanned novel can get lost or peter out

without the reader experiencing the satisfaction of a resolution to the plot. The third

novel, written during Nanowrimo, 2006, ran out of storyline and I could see no way

forward once Nanowrimo ended.

None of the problems listed above are unfixable or, if caught in time, particularly

daunting. In fact, the difficult part for a writer, working alone, is identifying problems

before they become too major. In the case of my first novel, the easiest way to fix it now

is to rewrite it.

I was determined that my fourth novel, ‘Chaffey’s Island’, would not bloat out on an

insubstantial storyline with no subplots, nor would it grind to a halt because of

problems with characters, plot or subplots. The answer, it seemed to me, was to try

Wiesner’s method.

The introduction was promising. ‘Despite their abhorrence of the word outline, many

authors are seeking a method to give them direction, a method that embraces an

individual’s way of working, a method that takes away none of the joy of

creating’(Wiesner, 2005). However, as I read further my unease with the book, and

therefore Wiesner’s method, grew. The method requires an inordinate number of lists.

Characters, character attributes, research topics, scenes and story threads all require

their own lists. Karen Wiesner had created a thirty-day method and each day in the

-14-

thirty had a list of tasks. There were also worksheets one through to 19 and goal sheets

one to five, most of them involving lists or charts (Wiesner, 2005). I was comfortable

with my Magna Carta lists (Baty, 2004, p. 85) but, given I had to remind myself to refer

to that single page from time to time, would I remember to refer to twenty-four further

pages of lists and charts if I took the thirty days to prepare them? In all, the section

devoted to worksheets, lists and charts to fill out accounts for fifty-four pages of the

book which felt like anathema to my creative process and I might have slammed the

book shut and never mentioned it again had I not undertaken investigating writing

techniques.

Every creative instinct in me was in revolt at Wiesner’s method. I saw the possibility

that if I was faced with working my way through fifty-four pages of lists and charts

before writing a novel, then I might never start another. Stephen King writes: ‘I believe

plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible’ (King, 2000, p. 128) and

I was in complete agreement after spending two months labouring over the method.

However, that is getting ahead of the story. At this stage I need to confess that before I

embarked on Wiesner’s method, I also felt a tingle of excitement because if her plethora

of lists did indeed work, I could produce at least one novel every year. October could be

spent planning and November for writing with Nanowrimo. The rest of the year could

be for finishing and polishing the manuscript.

Added to that, it would be hypercritical to condemn the process of plotting out of hand

given my collage and Magna Carta lists were, if not actually plotting, at least a step in

the planning direction. However, I had never filled out a ‘Character Sketch’ before and

when it came to entries for ‘Skin Tone’ and ‘Style of Dress’ I was completely stumped. In

the past, the characters had formed for me as I wrote each successive scene. I had

written the first scene as it came, fully formed, into my mind as I worked on the early

stages of the collage. However, with only one scene on the page, I was not concerned

with skin tone and style of dress as how these two people were going to be on friendly

terms long enough to fall in love.

An Open Mind I happened to mention my problems with character profiles to two writers I know and

the response of one was to block her ears and say ‘la la la’ to drown out my voice. Both

are strong advocates of ‘pantsing’. Though I respected their passion for their methods

and beliefs, I found the lack of openness to new ideas extraordinary.

Although it is not a writing technique in itself, I became convinced that one of a writer’s

greatest assets is an open mind. I went back to Wiesner. Chapter one of Wiesner’s book

is called ‘Brainstorming Before You Outline’ (Wiesner, 2005) and on my first read-

through I had been somewhat dismissive because of suggestions like ‘Go outside and lie

on your back on the ground. Admire the clouds, birds, and nature with all its sounds

and smells. Imagine your character doing the same thing in his or her setting’. On a

closer look, however, I noticed some sound suggestions and, by the end of the project,

had tried eleven of the twenty-six suggestions, including cutting out pictures of people

and settings which I had done with my collage. Wiesner’s final suggestion in The

Creative Coffeepot brainstorming section was to start writing. ‘Write what ideas you do

-15-

have; you can supplement and polish later.’ Using this suggestion, I had 12,000 words

in no time.

The Soundtrack The soundtrack is another of Wiesner’s suggestions which I found immensely useful.

The idea of a soundtrack for ‘Chaffey’s Island’ came from several directions at once. I

have used music to evoke the story in the two novels I wrote previously but in both

cases the music pertained directly to one of the principal characters.

That was not the case with ‘Chaffey’s Island’. Neither Ally nor Edward plays a musical

instrument or has an avid interest in any particular kind of music. Wiesner suggests,

‘Choose songs that fit specific parts of your book or the theme of the whole book. Each

time you hear a song from your soundtrack, it will inspire you to brainstorm on that

project.’ (Wiesner, 2005, p. 12). While I did not doubt Wiesner’s claim, I was at a loss as

to what music would evoke an outback pub. My first thought was country music, but

anything of that genre had me picturing Edward with a ten gallon hat and a bow-legged

gait, not at all how I pictured a sophisticated, city lawyer.

At the same time as I was working through Wiesner’s brainstorming suggestions I

happened to come across a second-hand shop that stocked a large selection of old

jukeboxes. One jukebox in particular caught my eye. It was lavishly carved on the

outside and, from that view at least, appeared to be an ordinary cabinet, exactly the

kind of jukebox an eccentric man like Albert Chaffey would have owned, I decided.

Furthermore, he would have been unlikely to have updated the music either so I opted

for sixties music. I invested in a selection of CDs of sixties music which I listened to until

I had narrowed the choices down to a selection that became ‘the soundtrack’ for the

novel. I prefer not to write to music, but Wiesner was accurate in asserting that the

music would evoke aspects of the story. Ironically, the one song that evoked the pub

and its isolation was ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ by The Tokens which is about danger in

the jungle, not the desert. However, the sense of potential danger in the night was

perfect for a young city woman from the city alone at night in the outback. ‘And When I

Die’ sung by Blood Sweat and Tears was valuable, along with a picture in the collage, to

give me a fully formed idea of one of the support characters, Roly Burke. Inspired by

the song, I researched the idea of a chronic illness with a dry rasping cough and decided

on silicosis as it is a disease that affects miners and Roly had owned an opal mine. Thus,

from one song, this initially minor character became more important and also firmly

embedded in several sub-plot threads in the story.

Wiesner asserts that ‘Each time you hear a song from your soundtrack, it will inspire

you to brainstorm on that project’ and I found this to be true. According to Paula Roe,

‘The aim of a soundtrack is to capture a unique feeling and mood...so you can use it as a

tool to instantly immerse you in your story’(Roe, 2008). My own experience has been

that no matter how tortuous the writing process, the music invokes the good memories

of the narrative or the character so writers can forget the struggles of yesterday’s

writing session and get straight into the story. For this project, I also found it useful to

re-immerse myself after university assignments and work commitments took me away

from the writing for days at a time.

-16-

All in all I persevered with Wiesner’s method of plotting the story outline for two

months with little result beyond the 12,000 words I had achieved simply by sitting

down and writing. I had spent countless hours writing up the scenes one by one for the

‘Summary Outline’ ‘A free-form chronological summary of all introductory scenes for

the book’. For example:

‘2. Deirdre Moss is suspicious when her semi-ex, Trev, tells her Albert Chaffey is

dead and that he wants to buy Albert’s pub. She starts to worry about the letters

she wrote to Albert. Are they still there?’

However, no matter how much brainstorming I tried, I could not complete the narrative

arc. At the end of the two months I felt drained of all creativity and could still not see

past the halfway point in the story. Ally was in the outback, Edward was in Brisbane

and, using Wiesner’s methods, I was unable to bring them together.

Writequickly.com While researching for writing methods and articles on the internet, I came across writer

Nick Daws and Writequickly.com – write any book in 28 days or less. Daws claims:

‘You Can Write Your Next Book or Script

In UNDER 28 DAYS, Working 1 Hour a Day Max.

And That's 100% GUARANTEED!”

After struggling with Wiesner’s methods and worksheets, my initial reaction to Daws’s

site was to reject it out of hand. Even Wiesner had not made such extravagant claims

and promises. However, I had promised myself to keep an open mind and, added to

that, I was curious. I couldn’t imagine what would be in the book that was not already

in Wiesner’s book so I bought it to find out.

The novel was by no means finished in 28 days and I am not, as yet, a ‘famous author

everybody wants to know’ but two of the techniques I learnt from Nick Daws proved

valuable once I adapted them to suit my own writing style. The first is the character

questionnaire and the second is free writing which I will discuss later.

Extraordinary as it may seem, this sixteen module e-book attempts to teach writing for

both non-fiction and fiction books. One entire module is devoted to ‘Coming Up With a

Killer Title’ so my lack of confidence was not entirely unfounded. However, my interest

was with fiction, so that was where I focussed. Encapsulated, Daws’s writing method

for fiction hinged around what he called, the Four C’s: character, conflict, crisis, and

change. He recommends managing plot using Vogler’s Hero’s Journey and duly credits

both Vogler and Joseph Campbell. He includes a check list of questions so the writer can

be confident the plot is following this narrative arc, such as ‘How does the call to action

take place?’(Daws, 2003).

Daws says that ‘Plot springs from character’ (Daws, 2003) and sets a somewhat

different character building exercise than Wiesner. I found it more useful. In his face-to-

face workshops he hands out pictures and asks participants to answer twenty

-17-

questions. In his book, he suggests using a random picture of an unfamiliar person. In

my case, I used images from my collage.

It is a most revealing exercise, one I would highly recommend to other writers. I now

call this method interrogating the character. Some of Daws’s twenty questions

resemble Wiesner’s ‘Character Sketch’ such as:

‘1. What is their name?’ and

‘2. How old are they?’

but some of the other questions produced interesting insights into the characters,

particularly my antagonist, Trevor Burke, or Trev as he is known in the novel.

14. How does Trev move? He swaggers

15. What is his greatest fear? To be ignored. To be nobody.

9. What is his best quality? He’s not afraid of taking risks.

These questions tell the writer so much more about the character than perhaps ‘skin

tone’ and ‘style of dress’ and I believe this to be a much more effective way of building

character. I found it challenging to look for Trev’s ‘best quality’, but it was a valuable

insight into some of his actions. Later in the writing I found it useful to interrogate the

characters directly with questions that pertained to the place where the narrative had

stalled. For example: ‘What are you up to Trev?’ or ‘Ally, I know you’ve been through a

lot but would you really faint?’

In module Two, Daws outlines the process for allocating chapters and, in the case of

non-fiction, chapter headings. In step three of the same module, Daws recommends

listing fifteen things to be included in the chapter and then prioritizing the list. These

lists then become the outline for the book. Earlier in the book, Daws demonstrates, with

a simple exercise, how much more easily the writing flows in response to a question,

rather than a word-prompt. He returns to this idea in step four, recommending the

newly prioritized list be converted to questions. The final step is to freewrite the book.

Freewriting is the process of setting a kitchen timer for five minutes and then writing

without stopping to edit or change anything until the timer beeps. Daws’s system

involves freewriting for every question in every chapter, which amounts to about an

hour per day, until the novel is complete. His estimate is that each five minute burst will

produce about two-thirds of a page of writing.

On the first attempt, I had little success with Daws’s technique. First in my list of

difficulties was that I write in scenes rather than chapters and found it hard to tell, from

Daws’s scant text, whether he intended chapters to contain more than one scene. Daws

recommended ‘18-24’ chapters for what he called ‘Pulp Romance’.

Apart from the insult imbedded in the tag, the term is somewhat nebulous given there

are so many sub-genres within romance. The second difficulty was that I had trouble

coming up with a list of fifteen elements, let alone questions for each scene. Thirdly,

-18-

was the fact that with all this research on top of work and university assignments, I

found little time to think creatively and so the story remained stalled and I found it

difficult to see how to proceed.

On my next attempt at questioning the scene, some months later, I adapted the

technique to suit my own practice and then answered the question by jotting onto

scrap paper I kept on the desk, phrases or words that came to mind. The following

example comes from one of the few scraps I have kept from all the months of writing:

‘Roly coming in later; Deirdre not leaving yet because Warren asked; Ally’s joy at seeing

Mel; Ally hurt and confused about Edward; the laptop is missing’.

They are more reminders of what I wanted to include in the scene rather than

questions. On reflection, I see that I could have turned the phrases into questions and

thereby given myself access to the emotion and conflict implied in those phrases. For

example: ‘Why does it matter that the laptop is missing? Why is Ally hurt and confused

about Edward? Is that why she is overjoyed to see Mel?’ Secondly, in that scene it would

have been helpful to have prioritized what I thought needed weighting in the scene. I

will experiment with this in the future.

Barbara Samuels refers to her creative impetus as ‘the girls in the basement’ (Samuel,

2007). I found the process of working through first Wiesner’s and then Daws’s plotting

methods stifled my ‘girls in the basement’ to the point where I found it difficult to write

at all. The experience has given me a much deeper understanding, and respect for my

creative flow and I will be careful using plotting techniques in the future.

Goal, Motivation & Conflict Both Wiesner and Daws had mentioned the need for conflict in narrative and, since the

story seemed mired down at the point where I guessed most of the conflict would

bubble to the surface, I turned in that direction for my next area of research.

According to Fiona Lowe, Debra Dixon, and Jennifer Crusie, what I needed was a

conflict grid. All three writers extol the virtues of conflict grids and each of the three

versions is different. I have pages and pages of grids I have filled out but when it came

to writing, I either forgot to refer to them, or if I remembered, the writing stalled the

moment I did.

My employment, when I am not writing, is in my own business as a studio potter. I

learnt early in my career that to be truly creative you have to find your own way. I had

a teacher in those early days who said ‘and you must’ on a regular basis even though I

had seen other, equally talented and successful potters not doing what he said was

essential. I concluded that the important thing in any creative pursuit was to find the

way that works best for you. Therefore, keeping an open mind about conflict grids, I

asked myself ‘What will work here?’

Debra Dixon (1996)states the following:

-19-

‘Goals must be important and urgent. Failure will create consequences

for the character’.

‘Motivation drives your characters’.

‘Conflict is the obstacle or impediment your character must face in

obtaining...his goal’.

‘Character may have multiple conflicts just as they have multiple goals

and motivations’.

‘Internal conflict is emotional conflict.’.

I found Dixon’s points extremely helpful but only after I returned to interrogation and

couched questions around them for my characters.

I first came across Crusie’s grid in the workshop she gave at the RWA Conference in

August 2007. Her conflict grid is not only useful for checking whether the protagonist’s

goals conflict with the antagonist’s goals but, as she explained in the workshop and on

her Cherry Forums, for making sure the protagonist’s goal is a positive one, not a goal

in reaction to the nefarious deeds of the antagonist (Crusie, 2007a).

I also suspect that the small scale and simplicity of the grid (a square divided into four

smaller squares) helps to make it easy to use. In the RWA workshop, Crusie was quick

to point out that she did not use her conflict box until after she had written the first

draft. Although it could help in the editing process, I found Fiona Lowe’s grid too

complex to be useful with my first draft.

Feedback The novel was still in trouble. I was feeling more confident about characterisation but I

wrote scene after scene and then deleted them. No matter how fine the writing, they

did nothing to move the plot forward. Worse, I could not see why.

Although interrogating the characters had revealed some of what motivated them, it

had not made the goal, motivation and conflict tangle obvious enough to kick-start my

narrative again. At about this time we had a master class with author Anne Gracie in

which we workshopped our opening scenes. Until that time I had thought that my

opening scene was one part of the novel that was working. Crusie says to start the story

where the trouble starts and for both Ally French and Edward McGrogan, who see each

other through the café window, that is where the trouble starts (Crusie, 2007b).

However, when I read the scene out to the class, Anne asked one pertinent question

and I realised the problem at once. My basic premise for the conflict between Ally and

Edward was flawed. It was upsetting to realise that the premise of my story was flawed

but nevertheless valuable to discover it halfway through the first draft, rather than

receive the news in a rejection letter from an editor. Feedback, I came to see, was also a

valuable tool. I had, however, become careful about seeking it out.

-20-

My critique group were new to critiquing and tended to be pedantic about minor

issues. By minor issues, I mean things like comma placement, word repetition and

sentence structure. These are all important factors but more so for later drafts. With

the first draft I needed to know:

whether the characters were likeable and engaging;

whether the premise worked and the plot flowed.

After I had grappled with the story for seven gruelling months my confidence was

fragile and I found it hard not to be discouraged.

THE BLACK MOMENT I had 50,000 words and most needed to be rewritten, a deadline getting inexorably

closer, and a middle of the book that was so boring it had become tedious to work with.

Never mind whether the narrative had reached its crisis point, I had.

I had not plotted the two and a half novels I had written prior to ‘Chaffey’s Island’, but,

with both of them, I had had a clear idea of the direction the story would take before I

ever wrote a word. In sane moments I told myself the problems I was having with

‘Chaffey’s Island’ were because I had deliberately started the novel with nothing and

was stopping every now and then to try new writing methods. However, there were

many days when it felt like I’d lost the ability to write, an experience that froze the

writing further. One thing I was sure of: the question of whether or not I could still

write would only be answered by finishing the novel. I rewrote the 50,000 words and

took a break over Christmas, telling myself it would be better next year. With the

perspective of hindsight, the break was a good idea and I would recommend one to any

writer caught in a mire of self-doubt and negative thinking. Chris Baty writes about

imprisoning the ‘Inner Editor’ another aspect of negative thinking that can hinder the

creative process.

He writes, ‘So here’s the deal I’m proposing: I’ll take that heavy, anxious Inner Editor off

your hands for four weeks. No charge. And in exchange, you promise to write your

novel in a high-velocity, take-no-prisoners, anything-goes style that would absolutely

horrify it’(Baty, 2004).

I have a healthy, robust Inner Editor, always ready with a critical review. During my

participation in Nanowrimo I had used Baty’s technique of imprisoning my Inner

Editor. However, I was not able to keep it leashed month after month while I completed

the Masters by Research, especially under the constant (and not always helpful)

suggestions from my critique group. It was clear that, for this project, I would need

something different.

Overcoming the Inner Editor While away, I had the idea to put all those negative thoughts to work as a plot device.

They became ‘The Strict Voice’ for Ally and ‘The Inner Nark’ for Edward. After months

of listening to my own inner critic, the words, for that much of the novel at least, flowed

-21-

easily. In addition, I devised several practices that broke the hold of the Inner Editor.

These are not new ideas but combining them as a way to move forward may be new. I

found them an effective tool when my Inner Editor started to interfere with the writing

flow.

Firstly, I kept ‘Chaffey’s Island’, all 50,000 words of it, separate and

intact. To write I worked in a ‘Notes’ file. For example, ‘Notes on Deirdre

bringing in the order’. With a ‘Word’ icon on my taskbar a new file was

always one click away. I kept all the Notes files separately in a ‘NOTES’

folder. Only when I was satisfied it was ready, would I insert a passage

into the main document.

Secondly, when I felt an overwhelming urge to edit countered by a

morbid fear of my word count moving backwards, a situation that had

strangled my output to a dribble before the break, I used a ‘SPARE

TEXT’ file so that the text was not irrevocably lost.

Thirdly, I took on the discipline of daily journal writing, something I

started calling ‘private brainstorming’, at the same time as I worked on

the collage and played the soundtrack. Months later, it makes for

revealing reading. For example:

‘Saturday, 26th January, 2008

When I was out walking this morning I got an insight into what the

block has been all these long months. Writing linearly. I stumbled

onto the idea by trying to conjure some inspiration for today’s

writing and only being able to come up with a totally different scene

than the one I was working on yesterday. Moreover, it is a scene that

occurs before that point in the story. Quite frankly, I’m all over the

shop and it seems to be the only way I can keep myself writing. So, all

these months I’ve been trying to make myself keep plodding on with

the narrative in an orderly fashion and my

muse/imagination/inspiration just wants to go with whatever it

thinks. No wonder the poor darling shut the whole project down..’

(Ousby, 2008).

With these three strategies, the Internal Editor lost some of its power over

my writing and, as I began to relax, the writing pace improved.

-22-

Journaling The process of journaling merits further mention. I took my portable word processor

on holiday and used quiet moments to journal and brainstorm ideas for the plot. I can

touch type and find my thoughts flow more quickly with a keyboard than pen and

paper. Away from my desk and the constraints of a daily word count, I experienced a

new freedom around experimenting with plot ideas. I am the one most familiar with

the story and the problems I am having, and articulating those problems with myself

via journaling, opened a whole new world of creative ideas and thus, I started calling

the process private brainstorming. At the beginning of this project I was journaling as a

record of my research. That practice fell away towards the end of the year under the

time constraints of study, writing and managing my own business. Now I was

journaling as an active tool in the writing. It is a tool I find invaluable and intend to use

it in future projects.

Freewriting Using Nick Daws’ freewriting (sic) technique, I could go directly from journaling about

the story to writing the story itself. It was extremely empowering after the months of

no inspiration. Freewriting is central to Daws’ claim of ‘write any book in 28 days’

(Daws , 2003). Further, he asserts it is possible to write two-thirds of a page in five

minutes using his method. He recommends interrogating a chapter or scene with

fifteen questions to stimulate the freewriting. Thus, in little more than an hour of

writing, there should be enough for a chapter. Twenty-eight chapters would make a

book.

However, Daws’s précis of the ease of book writing is too simplistic. I did not have

anywhere near fifteen questions for any chapter and did not manage more than one

third to half a page in any five minute period. This is not to dismiss the method. I found

it valuable as a tool amongst other tools, but not particularly useful in isolation. What

was valuable about this technique, though, was interrogating the scene. If the writing

stalled I would jot down several questions on a slip of paper and then free write. I

would head the page with: ‘What do I want to show in this scene?’ Most notes of this

nature have since been discarded, but one I have kept lists of answers such as:

‘Roly coming in later’

‘Deirdre not leaving yet because Warren asked.’

‘Ally’s joy at seeing Mel’

‘tension with Lola’

‘Ally hurt and confused about Edward.’

‘The laptop missing’

After using this strategy for a few weeks I was eventually able to use it without the

timer.

Scene Tracking

-23-

When all but the final two chapters were complete, I came across a writing tool called

‘Scene Tracker’ by Martha Alderson but it was not until I had its sister product, a book

called Blockbuster Plots (Alderson, 2004a)by the same author, that I was able to use it.

In the book, Alderson describes in detail how to use the Scene Tracker. She suggests

ruling up large sheets of paper into columns under headings such as:

Scene #

character emotional development,

goal

dramatic action,

conflict

emotional change.

The chart tracks the elements of the story Alderson feels are important. Elements

within the scene and significant details are charted and then easily tracked through the

progress of the novel. This is valuable information, particularly when there is a complex

plot or a large cast of characters as there was in my novel.

Scene tracking was not the laborious drawn out process of the Wiesner and

Writequickly.com charts. The scene tracking charts were completed in three days.

Alderson says she has come across writers who use the technique to plot the novel

before it is written, but she uses it to discover why an incomplete novel is not working

or before embarking on the editing process after a first draft.

Having gone through the process of scene tracking I was able to pinpoint where the

story needed work. I had been aware that parts of the narrative were flat and

uninteresting, but during the scene tracking process it became clear that the problem

was caused by the sub-plot becoming too dominant, edging the heroine and hero from

the spotlight. As I tracked each scene I jotted notes on the side margin. I referred to

these notes in the editing process and corrected the problem by moving some scenes

and deleting others.

CONCLUSIONS None of the literature I had read on practice-led research mentioned the excruciating

way the research slows the creative process. Without the burden of research into

creative method, I feel confident I could complete a novel-length project in one year,

particularly since I have done the research and gathered the skills and tools I need for

the novel writing process.

Just as a carpenter does not use every one of his/her tools in each job, so I may not use

every tool every time, but following is a list of tools I would be happy to use in my

writing practice from now on.

-24-

1. The ‘what if’ question

2. The Magna Cartas

3. Collage

4. Soundtrack

5. Interrogating characters in conjunction with the collage and soundtrack

6. Journaling and private brainstorming

7. Writing outside the main document

8. Interrogating the scene

9. Freewriting

10. Scene Tracking after the first draft

11. Conflict grid after the first draft

Finally, one of the most important tools: an open mind. No creative project can stay

fresh and alive unless the practitioner comes to the process with an open mind. I have

found this to be true in both ceramics and novel writing.

As for whether I am a plotter or a ‘pantser’ in my writing practice, I am neither, but

somewhere in between. I used some plotting techniques but did not keep strictly to

that mode of practice. Furthermore, I believe it is unhelpful to apply these kinds of

labels to creative practice because it creates a context for the work that closes the mind

to the other possibilities available. The goal at the end of a project like this is to have a

novel you are proud to sign your name to, so a far more empowering context would be:

whatever works.

-25-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alderson, M. (2004a). BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS Pure & Simple (1st ed.). Los Gatos CA: Illusion Press.

Alderson, M. (2004b). SCENE TRACKER Template Track the 7 Essential Elements in Every Scene of your Novel, Memoir, or Short Story. In M. SCENE TRACKER Template Track the 7 Essential Elements in Every Scene of your Novel, or Short Story (Ed.). Los Gatos, CA: Illusion Press.

Baty, C. (2000). National Novel Writing Month. Retrieved November, 2005, 2006, 2007, from http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Baty, C. (2004). No Plot? No Problem (1st ed.). San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC.

Baty, C. (2006). National Novel Writing Month. Retrieved November, 2006, from http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Brien, D. L. (2006). CREATIVE PRACTICE AS RESEARCH: A CREATIVE WRITING CASE STUDY. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy(118), 53-59.

Crusie, J. (2007a). An Open Forum for the Cherries Topic Workshop #4 : The Central Question & the Conflict Box. Retrieved 15th September, 2007, 2007, from http://www.cherryforums.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=injevgmeieusohgarcffvugf33&topic=1226.0

Crusie, J. (2007b). SHE WROTE BACK: Narrative Structure. Retrieved 12th June, 2007, from http://www.crusiemayer.com/workshop/she-wrote-back-narrative-structure/jenny/

Crusie, J. (This essay was originally published in Romance Writer's Report. Feb 2003.). “Picture This: Collage as Prewriting and Inspiration”. Retrieved 17th May, 2007, 2007, from http://www.jennycrusie.com/essays/picturethis.php

Daws, N. (2003). How to Write a Book - Writing Course Learn how to write a book, become an author. from http://www.writequickly.com/author/menu.aspx.

Dixon, D. (1996). GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict The Building Blocks of Good Fiction (1st ed.). Memphis, Tennessee: Gryphon Books for Writers.

Hannay, B. (2006). Collages: latest gimmick or useful creative tool? Hearts Talk: The official journal of Romance Writers of Australia Inc.(March 2006/ Issue 157), p.16-17.

Haseman, B. (2006). A MANIFESTO FOR PERFORMATIVE RESEARCH. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy(118), 98-106.

King, S. (2000). On Writing: A Memoir (1st ed.). London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Krauth, N. (2002). "The Preface as Exegesis." Text 6(1): 1 - 15.

Ousby, L. (2007). Magna Carta - Chaffey's Island.

-26-

Ousby, L. (2008). MASTERS JOURNAL 2008. Unpublished Writing Journal.

Roe, P. (2008). Story Soundtracks. Retrieved 16th March 2008. 12.59pm, from http://www.romanceaustralia.com/articles/soundtracks.htm

Samuel, B. (2007). Playing With the Girls in the Basement. A Writer Afoot Retrieved 4th September, 2007, 2007, from http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/2007/09/04/playing-with-the-girls-in-the-basement/

Sugden, A. (2006). All You Need is a Six-pack: or yes, you can write if you're neither a plotter or a panster. Hearts Talk: The official journal of Romance Writers of Australia Inc.(December 2006/ Issue #166).

Vogler, C. (1998). The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters (2nd edition ed.). London: Pan Books.

Wiesner, K. S. (2005). First Draft in 30 Days: A Novel Writer's System for Building a Complete and Cohesive Manuscript. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books.

-27-

APPENDICES

Appendix A - Collage

-28-

Appendix B - Magna Carta as recommended by Baty (2006)

MAGNA CARTA - What I want in my novel

Lead characters who are at turning points in their lives

Likeable Hero and Heroine

Quirky secondary characters

Heroine with spunk

Hero with strong principles

Believable plot

Humour

Vivid description

Snappy dialogue

Smart but unpretentious writing

Clear character goals

Motivation

Strong emotional conflict that gets resolved

Humorous and intriguing subplot

Satisfying and believable romance between hero and heroine

Sexual tension and some sex

MAGNA CARTA – What I don’t want in my novel

Irredeemably bad villains

Unhappy ending

Pretentious writing

Obscure description

Cardboard cut-out support characters

Too much pathos, angst or sadness

-29-

Appendix C - Character Profile as recommended by Wiesner (2005) Character Name: Edward McGrogan

Age:

Race:

Eye Color: Dark

Hair Color/Style: short, dark

Build (Height/Weight): tall, lean, broad shoulders

Skin Tone:

Style of Dress: .expensive suits, expensive polos and well cut jeans

Characteristics or Mannerisms:. Drums his fingers when he’s thinking

Personality Traits/Background :

His mother was his father’s secretary. Pregnant when they married. Young. Packed up

Edward and left when Eddy (father) had affair with a client – Trudy who became his wife.

Eddy was serial womanizer, drank. Edward is determined not to be like him, nor to make

the same mistakes. Has been told all his life how like his father he careful in how much he

drinks and careful with women. Keeps his passions under control. Gets engaged to Jacqui

because she is attractive and yet he is able to control how he feels around her. He feels this

is healthier than his father’s lusty carryings on.

Works in family law to try and make a difference for kids like him whose parents split.

His mother has remarried and he likes and admires his stepfather but knows he is too

driven to be like him. Feels slightly outside the family.

Has an uncertain relationship with his brother Ben.

Internal Conflicts :

Finds himself incredibly attracted to Ally.

When she becomes his client he knows he must resist this attraction at all costs or he will

be no better than his father.

External Conflict:

Doesn’t have a job, so can’t prove himself that way. (is driven to prove himself

Wants to help Trudy but wants to rebuild his career. Wants Ally but she has gone to the

outback, knows he can’t build a career out there.

Wants to protect Ally but she calls him the Demon Lawyer.

Occupation/Education: Lawyer. Eight years experience in family law.

-30-

Appendix D - Plot Sketching as recommended by Wiesner (2005)

CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What is their name?

2. How old are they?

3. Where do they live?

"31

, . Are they married? NzjQl_ -\IJ Id! g

Do they have children? ;.la s .

{ r����j cC it?; "' t' (s 0

. \.,O'£)..;41"'"' "L .. 6. __

Do they have a job? If so/, what? Cdd )0(.;;, v\.1,.tt-V\.. a.l?I'C-<-vT � N,';;.:""", I"'(Q. - <.0e-G( 4-<> ""� � ALbed· Ck�i'I'�

Q,/J �\'" 7. What are their interests and hobbies? '301(./�J F'-j�� s

'\Dj' �J.. What is their ambition? -r� �"-6i. �I <.k

� � ,� 8. h.<. w-«i �(r �f "l

����� 9. What is their best quality? � uJ�J

�i/J'\' 10. What is their worst qUality;�"� "(\; l� 6" I"""." r? -r .... c,&(ue CL t-idd(.e. <§::!..r tt"Ci se 11. What do they most like? (v /

12. What do they most dislike? (?uA(; e.,

13. How do they speak? (quickly? slowly? accent?) "S{<!J.>c..U, cc9-vLS,�d 14. How do they move? (awkwardly? purposefully? lazily?) �,'O:Lj

7��� t...L I�s 15. What is their greatest fear?

16.

17.

What do they most regret? ., '""" " ·t,e

What do t ey like to eat and drink?

18. Where do they like to go on holiday? 5� ,,-,� £''f�1-19. What would they do if they won a big lottery prize? S � �

<P-rp�a. 'Y-20. What one word sums up their personality?

5fa(wa-<+-

-31-

Appendix E - Character Questionnaire as recommended by Daws

(2003)

-32-

Appendix F - Interrogating the Scene as recommended by Daws

(2003)

-33-

Appendix G - Scene Tracking as recommended by Martha Alderson

(2004b)

-34-

Appendix H - Notes made while Scene Tracking