Interactivity

There are difficulties with developing an Interactive Narrative.  Decisions should be made about the correct balance of interaction and narrative, to keep viewers entertained and engaged in the story.  It is important to remember that the telling of the story is the most important aspect in this type of program.

From Winky Dink and You The Chocolate Cookie Caper.

Cousin Dorabell has made cookies for Winky and Woofer, but Harem Scarem has stolen them.  During the program interactions from the viewers will create a spaceship and a vacuum cleaner to help foil his plot.  The story ends with Harem Scarem promising not to steal any more cookies, and Woofer eating the fresh batch that Dorabell has just made.

Although the story has a relatively simple plot, it uses strong characterisation and a strong storyline as a basis to add interactions to.

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/interactivenarrative.htm

An interactive narrative must allow room for the story to develop.  Care should be taken to avoid constant interactions, as this will distract the viewer from plot, and may give the impression that the program is too similar to a computer game.

From Winky Dink and You, The Vacation Draw-In

Two pirates sail in from the left.

Big pirate:  Okay matey- according to the map the treasure is buried right here.

Big pirate points, and little pirate starts digging. 

Big Pirate:  Well shiver me timbers- here it is, easy now matey.

Small pirate lifts up treasure chest and hands over.

Big Pirate:  eeeh.

Small Pirate: Hey- whatll we do with him.

Small pirate points at Woofer.

Big Pirate: He comes along, there aint no-one gonna be left to tell no tales.

Small Pirate lifts Woofer into the boat.

They all sail off to the left.

This scene is used to introduce new characters to the story.  It would be distracting to include an interaction here, as the viewer is taking in the information about the plot.

From Colin & Trouble in Space (NODAL NARRATIVE)

Dr. Despicable sunbathing in front of the castle, with the sun looking through the bars.

Sun:  Why are you being so mean, I can't work properly when I'm locked up like this.  The people on earth will be in the dark!

Dr. Despicable:  But I'm a villain, if I don't do bad things my reputation will be ruined.

Sun:  Please let me go, you can still see me if I'm in the sky where I should be.

Dr. Despicable:  No! I'm having fun.

Therefore: don't feel as though every scene must contain an interaction.  Some scenes can be used simply to build characters or to move the plot forward.

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/storybuildingscene.htm

Balance passive sections of the program with interactive sections giving the viewer a chance to enjoy both the story and the participation.  Use characterisation and story to build a relationship with the viewer that will make the interactions seem more relevant and crucial to the plot.  Allow on screen characters to talk directly to the viewer at home.  This can reinforce the feeling that the viewer is truly involved in the program.

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/narration.htm

When watching an interactive television broadcast it is important to receive advance warning of an imminent interaction.  The viewer knows there will be an opportunity to interact at some point but does not know when.  This advance warning must be given in a way that does not interrupt the flow of the broadcast.

In the Winky Dink and You episode "U-boat in the Moat" the following dialogue alerts users to an imminent interaction.

Winky: Don't worry King Kooky; the boys and girls in the audience will help us to get into the castle.

Winky Dink takes control of the situation.

The next part of the story is established, this helps make the viewer aware of the problem they will have to help Winky Dink solve. He warns the audience that he will need their help, allowing them to be ready with their crayons.

From Colin & Trouble in Space

Colin: We'll have to get the kids to help us build a space ship.

Trouble: Come on then I think I know where we can get some things to make it.

Colin: Ah, the garage, good idea Trouble.

In EverGrace (2001), The Bouncer (2000) and Enter The Matrix (2003) the viewer is prepared for an imminent interaction by the changes in the interface which are specific to the type of interaction to come:

For example in EverGrace (2001) an image such as a red dagger appears over an enemy to prepare the viewer for an attack. This warns the viewer of when and how they are expected to interact.

Therefore: use the natural flow of the narrative to signal when a viewer will be expected to react. 

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/preparation.htm

There is potential for many different kinds of interaction even within one broadcast.  Interactive tasks undertaken to enjoy the full effect of a program may not necessarily be familiar, and may require instructions.  The giving of the instructions should not detract from the story.  Television programs are designed to entertain, so instructions must be given in a way that will make the purpose of the task clear without appearing too formal.

The computer games The Bouncer (2000), Enter The Matrix (2003) and EverGrace (2001) all use a combination of formal and informal instructions to inform the viewer of what is required. Informal instructions are contained in the dialogue of the storybuilding scenes:

For example, in Enter The Matrix (2003) informal instructions as to the purpose of the character's task are delivered by another character Sparks whose duty it is to relay information while formal instructions as to how to complete the task are contained in the interface:

Therefore:

Use the relationship between the user and the characters, by allowing characters to explain what is required.  Reinforce spoken instructions with visual instructions.  In this way instructions can seem to become part of the narrative and disruption to the flow of the program is minimised.

An informal explanation of the task can also be explained from one character to another. Accompanying formal instructions can be displayed discretely but clearly at the bottom of the screen. By not having to directly address the viewer and break their immersion in the story there will be minimal disruption to the flow of the narrative.

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/instructions.htm

Therefore: always praise a viewer when a task has been completed successfully.  The praise can come in the form of a character thanking the viewer for their help, or can be shown in more subtle ways.  If an action of the viewer has allowed the story to move on, this can be considered a form of praise- the viewer gets to see the results of their actions. 

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/praise.htm

Therefore: allow the story to move on even when a viewer has been unsuccessful in completing a task.  Take the opportunity to be positive about the situation.  This may involve a light-hearted joke or a comment from a character, or an alternative visual sequence where the task that has been failed is shown to be solved allowing the narrative to move forward.

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/positiveresponse.htm

Therefore: create main storybuilding scenes that drive the plot and contain all the events and information crucial to a basic understanding of the story. Create additional storybuilding scenes which are specific to the parallel stream chosen and which provide parallel information and perspectives on events that enhance the viewer's understanding of the main story.

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/awarenessofcrucialevents.htm

Character based interactive parallel narrative

Character based interactive parallel narrative allows the viewer to switch between characters at certain junctures in the narrative. The aim of character based interactive parallel narrative is to give the viewer a unique and more in-depth comprehension of the story by allowing the viewer to follow events from not one but many different character perspectives.

Character based parallel narratives currently exist in both interactive and non-interactive media:

In literature such as Dickens's Little Dorrit (1857) - the book is split into two parallel narrative strands, one showing events from a rich person's, Clenman's, perspective and one showing the same events from a poor person's, Little Dorrit's, perspective. The juxtaposition of these contrasting character perspectives of the same events is used by Dickens' to highlight the inequalities in the society of the time between the rich and the poor.

Authors use character based parallel narratives to juxtapose different character perspectives and show:

• the underlying themes of the story.
• the discrepancies between different characters' perspectives of an event by showing it in parallel with a contrasting perspective of the same event from a different character.

In character based interactive parallel narratives, however, the author has less control over the juxtaposition of these perspectives because the viewer can choose which character they will follow and therefore which perspectives they will juxtapose. Understanding the affect this 'free' juxtaposition of character perspectives will have on the viewer is key to creating a meaningful and enjoyable interactive experience.

Location based interactive parallel narrative

Location based parallel narrative allows the viewer to follow events that occur in a particular location. The aim of location based interactive parallel narrative is to give the viewer a unique perspective on the story, characters and events, according to the location they have chosen to watch events.

As with character based parallel narrative, location based parallel narratives exist in both interactive and non-interactive media: 

In theatre such as Norman Conquests (1973) by Alan Ayckbourn -the theatre production is staged on three consecutive nights. On each night the viewer watches the same events of a dinner party, but from a different location (either the living room, the kitchen or the garden) and as such their overall perception of events and characters changes each night according to the extra information gained from watching another of the three location based parallel narratives. 

In location based interactive parallel narratives the author has less control over which location the viewer follows and therefore what information is hidden from the viewer in order to affect their perspective of events.

Therefore: use parallel narrative when you wish to allow the viewer to select a path or perspective through the storyline without being able to change the course of events.

http://i-media.soc.napier.ac.uk/patterns/parallel.html Interactive Media @ Edinburgh Napier University

http://playwithlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/linear-traditional.png

http://playwithlearning.com/tag/narrative/ 

Parallel paths offer the user two distinct paths and ‘junctions’ where the tracks combine.  This allows the user to experience consequences of his chosen actions but returns him to predetermined points where the story can advance in a more managed way.  By hopping from node to node like this, the user has a high sense of control even if his experience shares much with that of other users.  For example, BioShock allows users to decide on one of two strategies: ‘Kill Little Sister’ or ‘Save Little Sister.’ Each option has a unique set of challenges and consequences but the paths come back together at key points in the game, allowing the user to continue with their chosen course or switch approach.

 

http://playwithlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/parallel-paths.png

Parallel paths overcome some of the production challenges of a strict branching narrative by reducing the total number of tracks down to just two.  This limits the options even further than the constrained branching narrative model but still allowing a level of user choice.

Branching Narratives

Instead of a single continuing storyline, branching narratives offer the user consequential choices.  Each decision offers a unique path in an ever-diversifying array of events.  Although the total outcomes will be finite, branching narratives give the user control over the course of the action.  Rather like changing the points on a railway line, branching narratives allow the user to determine the direction of the train, and therefore its destination, but not the path between points.  The game designer determines all the available options but the user decides the route through them.

In a truly branching narrative, every decision has a unique set of consequences.  This reflects real life where every choice provokes an avalanche of outcomes where future options are a direct result of an individual’s behaviour.  There are circumstances in reality when an individual’s choice is illusory and just as when this occurs in real life, the facade of control in games is quickly obvious and deeply unsatisfying.  The opportunity to genuinely choose the path of discovery offers the user real control but every true option generates at least two outcomes.  The combinatorics quickly become unmanageable from a production perspective.  Even offering the minimum of two choices per decision at each stage the number of outcomes multiples exponentially, according to the simple equation o = 2^s where S is the number of stages.  For example, it is clear that three stages result in eight possible outcomes.

http://playwithlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/branching.png

The constraints of the production mean that narrative cannot be entirely free.  Instead, producers regularly draw the narrative back to shared nodes.  These nodes appear as the consequence of possibly unrelated decisions and provide a means of limiting the range outcomes.

http://playwithlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/constrained-branching.png

http://playwithlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/dynamic-narrative.png

Like it or not, the authors of the experience have, more or less, decided when it ends.  Dynamic narratives offer users object-oriented storytelling which extends for as long as the user wants or the narrative elements allow.
These dynamic experiences may contain discrete storylines (in the form of implicitly linked events) but have multiple connections to other event nodes built into them.  This allows the user to construct a narrative at will and where the relationship between characters or the plot revelation unfolds unpredictably.

 Visual Novels

http://www.visualnovelty.com/images/screenshots/screenshot3.jpg


http://www.visualnovelty.com

Novelty is a free game maker tailored for making visual novels. Contrary to most other visual novel makers, Novelty is designed for people without any experience in scripting or programming.  

My Candy Love is a web-based visual novel. It conforms to the typical styles of visual novels however it has a weak script and the options for the events are very stiff - in the sense that they are all quite similar to each other so they do not allow a sense of freedom of choice. 

http://minescope.wordpress.com/category/games/lux-pain/

Lux Pain is a better example of a Visual Novel. Although it has a few elements of game play (minigames in order to progress with the story) Lux Pain is still largely narrative based. It works interactivity into the the narrative in a number of ways. The first is through character interaction, then through the minigames and finally with location based interactivity (not parallel because going to a one location or another may change the outcome, however most of the time it's possible to go them them all). Lux Pain is largely a dynamic visual novel.

Narrative Writing

I've been looking at a number of other sources such as The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker, Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell and The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and E.B White as well as some books on character traits and creation. However, Stephen King's book on writing has been my main study. Like the Elements of Style, Stephen King on Writing covers many aspects of writing and looks at what writers should do and what they should avoid. King also gives advise on how to get published and look for an agent - how to present oneself to them and the publishers.

Stephen King – Stephen King on Writing: Memoirs of the craft

2nd Foreword pg xiii: Stephen King recommends reading The Elements of Style by William StrunkJr and E. B. White. He specifically notes rule 17 (Omit Needless words)in the chapter: Principles of Composition. 

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.” (Strunk Jr & White, 1999, p. 32)

Pg 29: “… good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun.”

Pg 30: “You job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

Pgs 37&38: Printing process in the 1960s. Hectograph and printing press with stencils.

Pg 55 & 56: Editor on Stephens sports article. He supports the “omit needless words” rule.

                “‘When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,’ he said. ‘When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.’

Pg 75: formula for “confession mag” style. The three R’s: Rebellion, Ruin and Redemption)

Pg 80: Four problems he had initially with Carrie (before rewrite)

1.       It didn’t move him emotionally.

2.       Didn’t like the lead character. He had no care/sympathy for what happened.

3.       He didn’t feel at home with the surroundings or supporting cast. “writing has always been best when it’s intimate, as sexy as skin on skin.”

4.       It was long and would have to be longer for it to “pay off” / wouldn’t get entertainment out of it until later on?

Pg 82: What Carrie taught him.

1.       Writer’s original perception of characters may be as erroneous as the reader’s.

2.       Don’t stop a piece of work just because it’s hard. “Sometimes it’s hard to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”

Pg 112: “put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support-system for art. It’s the other way round.”

Pg 113-117: What writing is –Telepathy. The writer is the one sending a message to a future place (where the message is read) anda receiver (the reader). Writers are sending an image through time to the reader. If they do it correctly, the readers see what the writer does.

Pg 116: “prissy attention to detail that takes all the fun out of writing.” Too much detail spoils the read and the imagination of the reader and not all of the detail is important. Further supports rule 17: Omit needless words.

Pg 118: “you must not come lightly to the blank page.” If you can’t take writing seriously, don’t bother.

Pg 125: “’I didn’t know what else I might find to do once I got here, did I? It’s best to have your tools with you. If you don’t, you’re apt to find something you didn’t expect and get discouraged.”’ 

King suggests that if you have your toolbox with you and come across a hard task, you’ll perhaps be able to pick up the right tool and get on with doing it instead of discouraged and quit. It’s like why we research. Our research is our drill bits and screws. Be well prepared.

Pg 128: The first level of the tool box is vocabulary “... the bread of writing, is vocabulary.” Even words you won’t find in the dictionary are relevant.

Ph 129: Don’t dress up your vocabulary. “One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones.” On previous pages he offers examples of this.

Pg 131: Grammar should be on the top shelf too. 

Pg 133: “communication composed of these parts of speech must be organized by rules of grammar upon which we agree. When these rules break down, confusion and misunderstanding result. Bad grammar produces bad sentences.” They are what make a group of words a sentence.He continues to support the idea of writing being telepathy. 

Pg 134: It’s okay to break the previous rule though if it works to better the writing. Sometimes it is necessary to do so. He quotes WillamStrunk again: “‘that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of the rhetoric.’ Yet he goes on to add this thought, which I urge you to consider: ‘Unless he is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do the best to follow the rules.’”

King is suggesting that unless one has a grasp of the basics of Grammar, one will not be confident that they are doing well and so should follow the rules. 

Carrying from the previous page where he mentions that Nouns and verbs “indispensible” parts of writing, he explains that even a sentence that only exists of one noun and one verb is a perfectly good sentence.

“The simplicity of noun-verb construction is useful” “Strunk and White caution against too many simple sentences in a row but simple sentences provide a path you can follow”

It supports his and Strunk & Whites rule of “Omit needless words” to an extent and that writers can break the rules if it’ll help their writing.

Pg 135: recommendation for a grammar book: Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition. 

Pg 136: Explaining the difference between the two types of verbs; active and passive. An active verb is when “the subject of the sentence is doing something. With a passive verb, something is being done to the subject of the sentence”.

“avoid the passive tense” (referring to Elements of style again)

He suggests that writers may be attracted to the passive voice because it is safe. There’s no strength in the sound of a passive sentence but it’s factual, like an instruction manual so “timid writers” feel it gives their writing authority. (pg 137)

Pg 137: “The timid fellow writes The meeting will be held at seven o’clock because that somehow says to him, ‘Put it this way and people will believe you really know.’”

 King leads on to say that the writer should be strong, confident and to put the meeting in charge. “Write The meeting’s at seven.”

I’ve been told I write with a passive voice but I didn’t understand it, I couldn’t see it. I do now. The meeting is the subject of the sentence. In the first one, the meeting is letting itself be held at seven. In the second sentence the meeting is [doing it] at seven.

He backs up the idea that there are exceptions to every rule and that sometimes the passive voice is okay but continues to say that even in those cases, it’s unnecessary. 

“for instance, a fellow dies in the kitchen but ends up somewhere else. The body was carried from the kitchen and placed on the parlor sofa is a fair way to put this, although ‘was carried’ and ‘was placed’ still irk this shit out of me.”

He considers “someone carried the body” out of the kitchen better than “the body was carried”.

Pg 138: he provides more examples of passive voice being negative and what I notice with them and the previous examples is that the active voice is more effective and affirmative. It again supports the “omit needless words” rule and that “simple sentences work”.

 

He goes on to mention this – simple sentences work – when he explains that it’s easier for the reader and, “the reader must always be your main concern;” following with  “And it’s no easy walk in the park being the guy on the receiving end. ‘[Will Strunk] felt the reader was in serious trouble most of the time,’ E. B. White writes in his introduction to The Elements of Style, ‘a man floundering in a swamp, and that it was the duty of anyone trying to write English to drain this swamp quickly and get this man up on dry ground, or at least show him the rope.’”

Pg 139: Adverbs are not our friend. Similar to how the passive voice tells us the writer isn’t confident that they’ll be taken seriously, adverbs tell us “he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing him/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point across.”

Using “He closed the door firmly”, King explains that the adverb (firmly) is unnecessary because context and the prose before this sentence will tell the reader. – Omit needless words.

Pg 140: Dialogue attribution is when using adverbs is the exception to the rule, but even then it should be used sparingly. (Again it’s unnecessary and looks week – omit needless words.)

Pg 142: He discourages us to avoid using adverbs by using fancier verbs. Using just He said/she said works best is most cases.

Another recurring theme I’ve noticed now is that for writing to be good, we need to be confident – something I notice is evident in my own work. I’ve used the passive voice, adverbs and a range of other verbs for dialogue attribution in my own work because I wasn’t confident. As a result I wasn’t happy with my writing. 

“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. If one is writing for ones own pleasure that fear may be mild – timidity is the word I’ve used here. If, however, one is working under a deadline – [examples] – that fear may be intense.”

Pg 143: “Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affection. Affection itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as ‘good’ and other sorts as ‘bad,’ is fearful behaviour.”

Pg 144: Elements of style and form should be in the next layer of the toolbox.

“beginning with the rule on how to form possessives: you always add ‘s, even when the word you’re modifying ends in s” and “ending with ideas about where it’s best to place the most important parts of a sentence.”

The end of the sentence isn’t always the best place for the important parts.

 “Paragraphs are almost as important for how they look as for what they say; they are maps of intent.”

Paragraph structure tells us if the book is hard to read or not. According to King they can be as revealing of the reading experience as (I assume) the blurb. 

“Open the book in the middle and look at any two pages. Observe the pattern – lines of type, the margins, and most particularly the blocks of white space where paragraphs begin or leave off.”

“Easy books contain lots of short paragraphs – including dialogue paragraphs which may only be a word or two long – and lots of white space.”

“Hard books, ones full of ideas, narration, or description, have a stouter look. A packed look.”

Hard books, as King describes them, may not actually be best for narrative writing from what I gather in this chapter and throughout the book. Between pages 144 and 148 he explains why neat and utilitarian structure works for expository writing – it’s informing of a topic or like an instructional manual. What King reiterates throughout this book is that story tellers shouldn’t be too descriptive – that we should show and not tell. 

Pg 148: While expository prose should have a somewhat strict structure, its best for fictional writers not to think too much on the structure of their paragraphs. 

“The more fiction you read and write, the more you’ll find your paragraphs forming on their own.  And that’s what you want. When composing it’s best not to think too much about where the paragraphs begin and end; the trick is to let nature take its course.”

Pgs 150/152: Fragmented sentences/paragraphs work well in fiction narration. 

“but frags can also work beautifully to streamline narration, create clear images, and create tension as well as to vary the prose-line.”

“The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story ... to make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/she is reading a story at all.”

A good example of what is immersion. 

Pg 154: “Sometimes we fall in love with all that story, more than any film or TV Program could ever hope to provide. Even after a thousand pages we don’t want to leave the world the writer has made for us or the make-believe people who live there.”

Pg 165: “One learns most clearly what not to do by reading bad prose”

Pg 166: “Good writing, on the other hand, teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot, development, the creation of believable characters and truth telling.”

King suggests that reading both good and bad prose is beneficial to the learning reader and I agree with him. My past experiences of reading, and the fiction I’ve read for research in this project, have taught me what I don’t like and what I do. It’s inspired me to write - be it because I aspired to be able to achieve what these writers have or because I knew or felt I could do better then what I was reading.

 

“You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.

So we read to experience the mediocre and the outright rotten; such experience helps us to recognize those things when they begin to creep into our own work, and to steer clear of them. We also read to measure ourselves against the good and the great, to get a sense of all that can be done.”

Pg 167: Writers should read. Read a lot and read in variety. “if you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”

So this is the first task I’ve set myself in regards to research after this book. I do like to read but I don’t read enough. I’m going to re-read some favourites and some knew books to see how the books have impressed me, what elements did the author use to write an immersive story. 

Pg 168: King gives his opinion on TVs, saying that to watch TV is “about the last thing an aspiring writer needs” but I disagree with him. I do understand the ideas behind TV being considered a waste of time and a tool to dull the sense but TV can be enriching. Perhaps not as much over a decade ago as it is now, but still, television, films and games are as much a source of inspiration and information as a book. Even watching a soap opera can benefit the writer because we can learn what the script writers have done to make the characters and the plot grip its audience. The same outcome writers want for their own work.

In my opinion, everything should be given a chance which is why I’ll watch films with the worst reviews and read an assortment of books. 

King keeps saying that a good writer should be an honest writer. To that I say an honest writer is informed and experienced.

 

Pg 171: “The sort of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate – four to six hours a day, every day”

“The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with writing”

“The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.”

Pg 175/176: “Still, I believe the first draft of a book – even a long one – should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”

He talks about having a strict routine when it comes to writing and uses examples of other writers doing the same – having an absolute minimum daily word count they’ll work to. 

Pg 178: For beginnings, King suggests setting a goal of 1000 words a day. 

I’ve decided that I’m going to try to meet in the middle of his goal and the suggested one – 1500 words. This is because the writing I’ll be doing over the course of the project is interactive so I’ll have different scenarios for the same event. 

Pg 184: “Book-buyers aren’t attracted, by and large, by the literary merits of a novel; book-buyers want a good story to them with them on the airplane, something that will first fascinate them, then pull them in and keep them turning the pages. This happens, I think, when readers recognize the people in a book, their behaviours, their surroundings, and their talk. When a reader hears strong echoes of his or her own life and beliefs, he or she is apt to become more invested in the story.”

-          Another supportive comment on immersion (and characterisation playing an important role in immersion).

Pg 187: “In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech.”

Pg 188/189: Over these pages, King suggests that writers should not let plot dictate their story. That plot should be the last resort and that the characters and story should lead the way. The plot will develop on its own.

Pg 190: Instead of plot as a starting tool, writers should use a situation. This is what he does. King starts with the situation then let the characters (that are flat and unfeatured to begin with) drive the course of the story. This is what he narrates. He doesn’t let a predetermined plot control what a character does, instead the plot become what it is because of what the character has chosen to do when faced with situations.

 

Pg 201: King beings to cover Description, mentioning that it’s a learned skill and one of the reasons why “read a lot, write a lot” is important. According to King, description isn’t just about knowing how to describe but also how much to. He suggests reading will help us learn how much to but only writing will teach us how to. 

“Description begins with visualisation of what it is you want the reader to experience. It ends with your translating what you see in your mind into words on the page.”

Pg 202: Too much description can have a negative effect on the narrative – it buries the reader into too much detail and images (which I imagine means they lose focus of what’s important.)

King suggests that some of the details should be left up to the reader’s imagination, that we don’t need to give them all the details about a character for them to work out what kind of person they are. 

Pg 203: Here he goes on to talk about description of the physical features of characters,that it’s unnecessary and “bad technique”. Examples were: sharply intelligent blue eyes, outthrust determined chin and arrogant cheekbones.“physical description shouldn’t be a shortcut to character.”

Pg 209: Don’t use cliché similes, metaphors for imagery. 

“Good description begins with clear seeing and ends with clear writing, the kind of writing that employs fresh images and simple vocabulary.”

Pg 210: “your job is to say what you see, and then get on with your story.”

“It’s dialogue that gives your cast their voice, and is crucial in defining their characters – only what people do tells us more about what they’re like”

Pg 212: Good dialogue will indicate many aspects of a character – smart or dumb, honest or dishonest – but it may take time before the character comes through, is discovered.

Pg 218: King has mentioned that good writing needs to be honest. Earlier in the book he mentions that good writing needs to be honest. At first I didn’t understand what he meant by that but he expands on it a bit on this page. An example of being honest is using dialogue a person would actually use, not what is considered acceptable or pretty. If a character has grown up uneducated they aren’t going to have the most grammatically correct speech and would probably have their own slang.

Pg 224: “I think the best stories always up being about people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven”

The book suggests making all characters seem like the main character to an extent because in real life, everyone feels like they are the main character – which they are. 

“Annie Wilkes, the nurse who holds Paul Sheldon prisoner in Misery, may seem psychopathic to us, but it’s important to remember that she seems perfectly sane and reasonable to herself – heroic, in fact, a beleaguered woman trying to save a hostile world filled with cockadoodie brats.”

He goes on to say that being able to show a reader who a character is, is far more effective than coming right out and saying it. If the reader can draw the conclusion from the description and understand why or what the character is, they’re more effective because they are closer to real. In real life we make assumptions of a person by their action. Yes a person may tell us that another person is cruel or funny or mean, but it isn’t confirmed until we see it for ourselves.

 

Pg 230: “make sure these fictional folks behave in ways that will both help the story and seem reasonable to us, given what we know about them (and what we know about real life of course).”

Pg 236/237: King touches on Symbolism in narratives. When I was a kid and I wanted to start writing, I remember I was put off from it because I was told all stories needed a moral or symbolism. It was something I couldn’t envision. I had stories but no obvious symbolism. On these pages King suggests that symbolism does serve a useful purpose to the narrative but if it’s not there, don’t worry. The same can be said about theme. Not every book has to be about themes, symbolism or moral but every book should be about something.

 

Pg 238: The writer’s job when working on the first draft is to decide what that something is, when we work on the second draft, we need to make that something clearer. 

Pg 246: For the theme, ask yourself what it is you’re writing about. The answer may not come right away but the answer is there, because you’re writing.

 

Pgs 252/253: King suggests leaving sometime between finishing the first draft and working on the second. He suggests about a minimum of 6 weeks (obviously I wouldn’t be able to for my project) so that we’re looking at it with a fresh mind. He says it should almost feel like somebody else has written it, that way it’s easier to critique it – “It’s always easier to kill someone else’s darlings than it is to kill your own.”

Pg 254: Consistent character development/characterisation. Motivation – why does a character do something? And would they really do what they have done – is it in their character?

 

Pg 255: The big question of reading the first draft: Is the story coherent? (What are the recurring elements?)

“ What I want most of all is resonance, something that will linger for a little while in Constant Reader’s mind (and heart) after he or she has closed the book and put it up on the shelf. I’m looking for a way to do that without spoon-feeding the reader.”

This is what the second draft is for. Find it in the first draft then build on it in the second.

Pg 256: Identify who you’re writing for - The Ideal Reader.

 

Ask yourself questions in relation to the Ideal Reader and the Constant reader (those that continue/will continue to read your writing). Will they react how you want to what you’ve written?

Pg 265: Ideal Reader can help with pacing. When reading over the draft with the Ideal Reader in mind, we can determine if a scene will be boring for them or if we’ve forgotten to resolve an important plot issue.

Pg 266: Get rid of boring/unnecessary parts – helps with pacing.

 

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings”

Pg 268: “Back story is all the stuff that happened before your tale began but which has an impact on the front story. Back story helps define character and establish motivation. I think it’s important to get the back story in as quickly as possible, but it’s also important to do it with some grace.”

He gives a good example of what he means on this page. ‘Hello, ex-wife,’ Tom said to Doris as she entered the room. 

It’s one thing to make things simple and easy for the reader but when it’s too obvious and awkward, it’s messy and throws of the reading.

 

Pg 272: Not all of the back story needs to be written. 

“(a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”

Stick to the parts that are interesting, keep out the rest unless it’s really relevant. 

Pg 273: Research should be treated the same as back story – in the back. The story isn’t there to show off our knowledge. It’s there to tell a story that engrosses it’s reader.

 

Pg 288: When looking to publish our work, we need to research into the publications/publishers we’re submitting or work to.

Read through Writers’ journals and Writer’s Market for finding the right publisher and market for our work and then read the market. Actually read the work in the market. 

It will also help to find a literary agent if writing more than short stories. 

Pg 294: Presentation is important when sending work out to publishers/agents.

“‘Good presentation, absolutely. When you send your story out, there out to be a very brief cover-letter on the top of the script, telling the editor where you’ve published other stories and just a line or two on what this one’s about. And you should close by thanking him for the reading. That’s especially important.

You should submit on a good grade of white bond paper – none of that slippery erasable stuff. Your copy should be double-spaced, and on the first page you should put your address in the upper left hand corner – it doesn’t hurt to include your telephone number, too. In the righthand corner, put an approximate word-count.’”

Pg 299: Find out who prospective agents have sold books too. What’s their C.V.

Enter writing competitions and get as much work published as possible – build up C.V