Category / Advice

by Gerald Hornsby

Why the Three Act Structure isn’t good enough-Part III

In this, the final episode of a writing structure series, I will describe how I progress from having 15 story beats and around 40 planned chapters, to a completed, published book. I like to do things in an efficient way, which means planning and sticking to a process.

I know that I’m swimming against the ‘creative tide’ here. The conventional wisdom (or perceived or received wisdom, if you prefer) is that anything which improves the efficient process of creating a completed and published story is anathema to creative writing. I sometimes have enough trouble trying to convince other writers that having a basic plan as an underpinning structure for a story is a good idea. To have a well thought-out, tried and tested process which sees me move from story idea through to completed book in as speedy and simple as way as possible causes many writers to react in horror.

So… why? Why streamline the process? It all started at a crime writing weekend, put on by the National Centre for Writing in Norwich.

[ https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ ]

We had lots of interesting workshops and talks, all centred on crime stories. In one session, a large group of us listened to a successful crime author – for the life of me, I can’t remember who it was now. One member of the audience asked: “How many rewrites do you make from finishing the final manuscript?” At the time, I had struggled to finish even one novel. I was expecting an answer around three or four. “At least… ten to eleven times, I would say.”

WHAT????

There was a rewrite for this, a rewrite for that, a rewrite after a beta reader, a rewrite after the first reading from an editor, a rewrite on subsequent critiques, a rewrite once the publisher had seen it… and so on, and so on.

Blimey.

How can anyone spend so much time rewriting and rewriting and rewriting the same story? What was wrong with it in the first place? I turned this over and over in my head. What a waste of time! Why not get the story pretty near perfect as early as possible?

So, lots of thinking and reading and analysing later, I came up with my process:

1. Develop scene-by-scene plan for story.

I use three (four) acts, seven plot points, fifteen story beats, forty scenes (see previous posts), breaking down the story from a simple premise until I have a full story plan.

2. Write each scene in turn.

I do not edit-as-I-go (although I will fix typos, because they’re just annoying); any plot holes I discover get highlighted, and I move on – the same with questions that come to light regarding plot or characters, or I recognise the need for further research or an edit to a previous scene. The core idea is: keep crafting the manuscript until the first draft is complete.

3. First rough edit.

At the end of the first draft, immediately go back and fix the problems indicated by the highlighted text. This I call the Hammer and Chisel edit. It’s fixing the big problems so at least I have a coherent telling of the story I’ve created. I don’t do anything else – just fix the big, highlighted problems.

4. I let the manuscript settle for a while.

Just like you let pastry settle in the fridge before you shape it into a pie (or whatever), the manuscript needs to be put away for a while to give me, the author, some distance from the words I’ve just typed. This is important. As a writer, you can become word blind, unable to see the actual words in the manuscript and instead see the words you have in your head – those that you actually wrote compared to the words you think you wrote. My usual settling time is 2-4 weeks, which I spend designing the cover or writing non-fiction or something else.

5. First run-through edit.

Yes, I edit my own work. I don’t need to perform a structural or developmental edit. The structure of the story is sound, because it was designed that way from the start. I’m not saying that the overall story never needs work. Occasionally, it’s only when reading the story from start to finish that a major problem raises its head, but it is rare. So I read from start to finish, dealing with issues as they occur. 

6. First proof read.

Before sharing the work (see item 7, below), I need to make sure the manuscript is in good condition. The beta reading process is intended to tell me, the author, if the story works as a completed novel, and I don’t want any high-level analysis of the completed work to be peppered with irritating minor errors. I use Pro Writing Aid to help me. A couple of points here – there are a number of writing analysis tools on the market. I just happen to get on with PWA better, especially since it has some integration with Scrivener, my writing software. The second, and important, point is that it helps me. It’s good at finding things in the writing it doesn’t understand, but sometimes so-called flaws are deliberate elements of my writing style (e.g. short sentences or irregularly-formed sentences). And sometimes it trips up over something which is perfectly all right, but the error actually resides earlier in the sentence or paragraph. 

7. Beta read.

A beta reader is someone who will read my manuscript and tell me if it works as a story. Hopefully, they won’t find any typos, but they can give me clues about the pacing, the characters, the viability of the story. Will someone who buys this book enjoy reading it? And you must choose your beta readers carefully. They must be someone who reads a lot, preferably in your genre. They must understand what their job is – not to analyse sentence-by-sentence, but to go with the flow, read the story, and tell me if it works. It must be someone who you trust. It must be someone who can read the story relatively quickly, and has time to finish it. There’s no point if you have to wait for a year to get feedback.

8. Post-beta edits.

Hopefully, once the beta reader has finished, I will have a few pages of notes. Perhaps some questions, where elements of the plot aren’t clear, or the characters are quite plausible enough. I use my partner

[ http://www.anitabelli.com/ ]

as my beta reader, and I think I address about 80% of her issues with the story. It is my choice how much, or how little, to edit the story after the beta read.

9. Second proof read.

After making any edits to the manuscript, it’s important to check for any typos which may have crept in during the previous edit process. No matter how carefully you make the changes, there are always one or two small errors that can creep in, especially when you’re making a small change into an existing paragraph of text. It’s well worth performing a final proof read, before…

10. PUBLISH!

Publishing a book is a great moment. If you’re going to try to engage a publisher or agent, this is probably the point at which you send off emails and, hopefully, copies of manuscript files. The agent/publisher is your first customer. Yes, they may see ways in which the manuscript can be improved, or the story changed slightly based on their understanding of the market, but they will want a clean draft with zero errors, so they’re not being tripped up by typos and so on.

Of, if you are a self-publisher, like me, it’s the point at which you begin engaging with online publishers and real-life printers.

Well, that is my process for creating a manuscript and preparing it to be published. My time spent preparing the story before writing the manuscript pays off with fewer edits at this early stage, and a cleaner manuscript for the reader.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into my writing process. I’d better get off and finish off my latest book!

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by Gerald Hornsby

Why the Three Act Structure isn’t good enough-Part II

Descending to scene level

Last time we were all here, I talked about the three act structure, and why it’s a great way of creating an over-arching plan for stories, and in particular, my novels.

But for me, that’s not quite good enough. My crime novels are quite heavily plot-driven, and have elements of clues and red herrings, of guilty offenders and of innocent bystanders, of goodies, baddies, and baddies who aren’t actually the culprit. I have main, secondary and minor characters to care about. I have character arcs to worry about, together with character trait similarities and differences.

Writing a novel is HARD.

One other thing – I have found that my brain quickly turns to the leakiest of strainers if I try to hold the whole plot, or even a single act, in my head at once. I don’t know why. I know people who can do that, and that’s to be admired. But if I try to write without a detailed plan, what comes out is a meandering mush of nicely crafted but narratively stunted prose. It ain’t good.

So how far down do I need to go?

As you may have gleaned from the subtitle, it’s down to scene level. In crime novels, shorter chapters are de rigeur. Don’t blame me, it’s how it is. And I find that one chapter per scene, one scene per chapter, is fine for the pacing and drive of my novels. Occasionally, a chapter of mine will straddle a couple of scenes. Occasionally (but rarely), a scene will straddle two chapters. But basically, my scenes are one chapter, around 1,500 words. THAT IS NOT A RULE, before anyone complains about strictures on creative flow. I love writing as much as anyone, and I can assure you that word count is the last thing on my mind when I begin writing a scene. Scene / chapter length comes into play at the first or second edit stage. 

Okay. So last time, I left off this idea at the point where I split my story into Three Acts – actually, Four, since the long Act 2 is subdivided into two equally-sized chunks. And within these 3/4 acts, there are Seven significant plot points. Please see my last post:

[ https://gerald-hornsby.com/blog/2025/02/08/why-the-3-act-structure-isnt-good-enough/ ] 

for descriptions. Where do we go from there?

Those eagle-eyed of you will have noticed the shaded-out part of this diagram.

I can now reveal what’s behind the shading:

and I can introduce to you Save The Cat.

Pretty weird title, eh? Screenwriter Blake Snyder (RIP) examined the structure of dozens of hugely successful movies, and began creating his own structure, described in the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet. It shows how many film stories hit certain “beats” in their telling. These beats incorporate, and expand upon, the Seven Plot Points described in the previous post. He also discovered that many times, these beats appeared at distinctive points in each story, measured in terms of the pages of a script.

I transposed these script pages into novel chapters, with a guideline of 40 or 60 chapters.  Some beats only have one chapter / scene. Some have 8 or 9. But don’t forget – nothing is cast in stone here. My novels have between 39 and 56 chapters / scenes in them, despite them all having the Blake Snyder structure.

Oh, and why is it called “Save The Cat”? As part of his analysis, Snyder discovered that if your story hero had some tricky things to accomplish later in the story, including some maybe-not-so legal actions, it was always best to have them Save A Cat early on in the story. It promotes at an early stage (in the reader / viewer’s brain) that the hero is a Good Guy, and we’ll forgive him his indiscretions later on. Also note: they don’t literally need to save a cat – any good selfless and empathetic deed will do.

But let’s dig into the Beat Sheet itself.

Here’s a description of each of the 15 beats (see diagram above), and (typically) how many scenes I give to them:

1 Opening image- 1 scene

A visual that represents the struggle & tone of the story. A snapshot of the main character’s problem, before the adventure begins.

2 Setup – 1 scene

Expand on the “before” snapshot. Present the main character’s world as it is, and what is missing in their life.

3 Theme stated – 1 scene

(Sometimes happens during the Set-up) – What your story is about; the message, the truth. Usually, it is spoken to the main character or in their presence, but they don’t understand the truth…not until they have some personal experience and context to support it.

4 Catalyst – 1 scene

The moment where life as it is changes. It is the telegram, the act of catching your loved-one cheating, allowing a monster onboard the ship, meeting the true love of your life, etc. The “before” world is no more, change is underway.

5 Debate – 6 scenes

But change is scary and for a moment, or a brief number of moments, the main character doubts the journey they must take. Can I face this challenge? Do I have what it takes? Should I go at all? It is the last chance for the hero to chicken out.

6 Break into Two – 2 scenes

The main character makes a choice and the journey begins. We leave the “Thesis” world and enter the upside-down, opposite world of Act Two.

7 B story – 1 scene

This is when there’s a discussion about the Theme – the nugget of truth. Usually, this discussion is between the main character and the love interest. So, the B Story is usually called the “love story”.

8 Fun & Games – 6 scenes

This is when Indiana Jones tries to beat the Nazis to the Lost Ark, when the detective finds the most clues and dodges the most bullets. This is when the main character explores the new world and the audience is entertained by the premise they have been promised.

9 Midpoint – 1 scene

Dependent upon the story, this moment is when everything is “great” or everything is “awful”. The main character either gets everything they think they want (“great”) or doesn’t get what they think they want at all (“awful”). But not everything we think we want is what we actually need in the end.

10 Bad guys close in – 6 scenes

Doubt, jealousy, fear, foes both physical and emotional regroup to defeat the main character’s goal, and the main character’s “great”/“awful” situation disintegrates.

11 All is lost – 1 scene

The opposite moment from the Midpoint. The moment that the main character realizes they’ve lost everything they gained, or everything they now have has no meaning. The initial goal now looks even more impossible than before. And here, something or someone dies. It can be physical or emotional, but the death of something old makes way for something new to be born.

12 Dark night of the soul – 3 scenes

The main character hits bottom, and wallows in hopelessness. The Why hast thou forsaken me, Lord? moment. Mourning the loss of what has “died” – the dream, the goal, the mentor character, the love of your life, etc. But, you must fall completely before you can pick yourself back up and try again.

13 Break into three – 1 scene

Thanks to a fresh idea, new inspiration, or last-minute Thematic advice from the B Story (usually the love interest), the main character chooses to try again.

14 Finale – 8 scenes

This time around, the main character incorporates the Theme – the nugget of truth that now makes sense to them – into their fight for the goal because they have experience from the A Story and context from the B Story. Act Three is about Synthesis!

15 Final scene – 1 scene

Opposite of Opening Image, proving, visually, that a change has occurred within the character.

Note: the internet is full of interpretations of the beat sheet for many genres. If you want further reading, there are some great books on the subject, such as:

and many others.

So, for each beat, I write a description of that part of my story broadly conforming to those definitions above. BROADLY. Flexibility is key here. But then, as I’m writing the narrative for each beat, I make myself aware of the number of scenes which fit within that story beat, and then write the story for each scene.

Then, by pasting all of the scene descriptions into one document, I can create a short form version of the novel, which I can read through, amend, change scenes around, rewrite scenes, and so on, BEFORE I start writing the manuscript. Creating the STORY first cuts down on huge manuscript rewrites later on. 

It really does.

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by Gerald Hornsby

Why the 3-Act Structure isn’t good enough

And how I make it better

Anyone entering the world of storytelling, be it through film, TV, books or any other medium, will soon get to hear of the Three Act Structure. 

What’s the Three Act Structure? It’s a way of splitting a story into 3 parts (Acts, if you will) in order to create a satisfying reading or watching experience.

First described somewhere around 400 AD by Aelius Donatus (a Roman grammarian and rhetoric scholar, would you believe), it’s been around for a while. You can read more about Donatus HERE: [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aelius_Donatus ] if you really want.

In more recent times, screenwriter and screenwriting tutor Syd Field wrote a book about it in 1979 called Screenplay: the Foundations of Screenwriting which brought it to further prominence. And you can read a lot about it everywhere on the internet, good and bad. 

So what is the Three Act Structure?

As always, Wikipedia is a good place to start:

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-act_structure ] 

So, to make things simple, the 3AS defines a story as having a Beginning, a Middle, and an End (sometimes us story folks like to refer to the acts as the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution). These three sections are understandable by young children, and even dimwits like me.

Here’s a picture to look at:

and another, slightly more detailed picture:

And here’s a really good video to watch – it relates the 3AS to popular films to make it easier to understand:

NB. Don’t be put off by the fact that this, and many other resources, are based on screenwriting for films. They are using the medium of video to tell a story, exactly as we novelists (traditionally) use the medium of ink and paper to tell our stories.

So there’s a brief introduction for those new to it. So, what’s my problem with it?

I find that the Three Act Structure is just too damned vague.

To a certain extent, it’s a ‘me’ problem. I’m unable to hold a complete plot of a crime story (my choice of writing genre) in my head, all at once. I can’t even hold all the twists and turns of a single 20,000 word act in my head.

So for my purposes, I need to split it into some smaller chunks that I can hold in my head.

In my previous life as a software author (amongst other things), I learnt at an early stage  of my career to split large projects into smaller ‘lumps’. We used to call it Functional Decomposition (splitting projects into individual functions), and it really helped me deal with major software projects. And so it is with long-form fiction. Refining and iterating the plotting process brings me down to a single scene at a time, which plays out in my head as I’m sitting here, writing it.

So, how to dig out the scenes from the acts?

Here’s the first stage:

You will see that my workflow diagram (above) shows the 3 acts (I split the middle act into two equal halves, because it’s easier for me and suits my genre) but then, within those acts, several plot points (which are similar to the plot points shown on the earlier diagrams). Note these plot points fit within (and are contained by) the 3 act structure.

Plot point 1 – The Hook and Setup. The Hook is, literally, what hooks your reader into the story. It exists within the first couple of pages, and it’s the thing you imagine a prospective buyer would read when they pick up the book in a bookshop or library. You have a minute, at most, to grab your reader and make them want to buy / read the book. The Setup is when you introduce your reader to the characters, perhaps the location, maybe introduce the theme, but give them enough to answer the question: “What’s that book about?” They need to know that the story is going to be interesting enough to keep them engaged until the last page.

Plot point 2 – Plot Turn 1. This is a very specific feature of the story. Some might call it the ‘trapdoor moment’ – not that anyone’s going to fall down a hole in the floor. It’s the point at which your main character has a choice to make: are they going to return to their normal life (which would be very boring), or are they going to go forward within the story? This could be the point where the private investigator decides to go ‘all in’ on a case, or a hero will set out on their journey, knowing that they can’t go back. The trapdoor closes behind them.

Plot point 3 – First Pinch Point. A story isn’t a story without conflict. When the main character starts their journey, they might understand it isn’t always going to go smoothly for them. Whatever their aims, someone or something is going to get in their way, to try to stop them. The killer doesn’t automatically confess at the first interview. Journeys through an environment have dangers and risks. Caroline’s dream job isn’t going to be without its difficulties.

Plot point 4 – Midpoint. Sometimes called the mirror moment. It’s not that it just happens to be the middle of the book. It’s called a mirror moment because it can be used to reflect the character’s journey back at them, making them realise how far they’ve come. It can also be used to mirror the opening scene, but with the changes already in place. Half of your employees have left because they think you’re an awful boss, so your character might look at the desks in the office, as they did on the first day, and now note the number of empty chairs.

Plot point 5 – Second Pinch Point. Conflict! Always more conflict! The more the merrier! In this second pinch point, the main character comes up against another obstruction, a roadblock. They’ve already dealt with one major problem, but now they’ve got another, and this one’s even worse than last time! This is the point at which they ask themselves if they’ve got what it takes to go on, to solve the case, to reach the destination, to get the girl / boy / thing of their dreams. They may even cry “O Lord, why hast though forsaken me?” Is this the end of their journey?

Plot point 6 – Plot Turn 2. Of course that wasn’t the end of their journey. They find a solution to their problems. Sometimes, a mentor might step in to help them, or they discover a magic amulet, or they finally translate the secret scroll. Or a witness comes forward with new information, or someone finds a gun hidden in their garden. Now, our main character can move forward with a spring in their step and a renewed vigour for the task ahead. 

Plot point 7 – Climax, Resolution and Finale. Having fought through all the trials and tribulations, the hungry beasts, the devious criminals, they’re ready to finish this thing off. There may be one or two little twists still to come, but nothing’s going to stop them now. We end up with the final battle, the final confrontation, the Agatha Christie-like reveal of the murderer. In the resolution, we finally release all the captives, or explain to the hapless detective how the murderer was uncovered, or we fall into the arms of our lover at last. The finale is simply the final scene, often mirroring (again) the opening scene. In my book Last Orders, in the opening scene my main character is sits on a low wall, unaware of the direction their life is about to go.  In the finale scene, she’s again sitting on the low wall, but she now understands so much more, she has changed and grown, and all of her problems have been solved… for now!

If you find this all too complicated, my method is fairly simple and straightforward. There are more complicated ideas around!

In the final part of this series, I’ll talk about the further levels I create, stage by stage, down to scene level, and the use of the Save The Cat Beat Sheet.

Please check in again soon!

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by Gerald Hornsby

Do you plan your writing?

Recently, I watched an excellent programme, from the BBC, on the Renaissance period, entitled “Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty”, featuring the artists Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. And what struck me was how many initial sketches artist’s make before putting brush to canvas. And then what struck me was how similar this was to my method of creating a large piece of work.

Da Vinci was renowned for his study of anatomy (including dissection) and repeated visual studies of parts of the body. Raphael’s sketches indicate more detail (and, arguably, greater artistic talent) than his paintings. [ https://news.artnet.com/art-world/raphael-drawings-ashmolean-991430 ] Michelangelo produced numerous preparatory sketches for his Last Judgement, covering the wall behind the altar in the Sistene chapel. [ https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/27/michelangelo-s-last-decades-british-museum ]

One of Michelangelo’s preparatory sketches
And here’s the character in the finished work!

Interesting discussion here: [ https://www.florenceinferno.com/the-last-judgement-michelangelo ]

When Michelangelo received the commission from Pope Julius, he didn’t immediately put up his scaffolding and mixed his paints and plaster (the work on the Sistene was in the form of frescos). He thought about what he wanted to depict. The main work is divided into 3 sections (3 acts, maybe?) – the Creation, the Creation and Downfall of Adam and Eve, and three stories of Noah. All around the main work are smaller pieces, identified in the following diagram:

[ https://smarthistory.org/michelangelo-ceiling-of-the-sistine-chapel-3  ]

Coming back to the point – from way back in the 15th and 16th centuries, and almost certainly before that, creatives have been preparing small ‘sketches’ for their work before applying paint to a canvas. Composers will ‘noodle’ on instruments before sitting down to compose. Very few people can approach a large blank canvas (real or metaphorical) and begin creating immediately without any planning. 

One of the biggest causes of writers’ block is fear of the blank page. 

My process involves levels of design, beginning with simple, overall statements, and then breaking the story of the story into smaller and small pieces. I’ll talk about this more next time.

One thing I want to say about my novel writing process up front:

I AM A PLOTTER

Us writers love to see how other writers do things – the writing. What is the secret to their success? What hours do they work? What’s their writing room look like?

And in this world of the right way and the wrong way to do things, writers are (apparently) either plotters (otherwise known as planners) or pantsers (otherwise known as a discovery writer). A pantser, by the way, writes the book by the seat of their pants – they sit down in front of a blank page, and begin writing. I know, weird, huh?

I have been accused of ‘over planning’ – creating a shorthand version of the story, scene by scene. To me, that makes sense. On the other side of things, writers talk loftily of “just seeing where the characters and the creativity takes me.” I don’t mean to criticise, but if that works for them, then great. But I don’t like to spend month after month rewriting and rewriting, trying to knock the thing into some shape. I know, I’ve been there.

So, on occasion, my friends and colleagues like to have a laugh at my expense, to which I shrug and smile. For me, my process is perfect.

And the fact that, over 500 years ago, creatives were using a similar process – to break down a major project into small, manageable pieces, – might indicate that I’m in good company.

More next time.

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by Gerald Hornsby

Swanwick Writers’ Summer School – 2024

SWANWICK WRITERS’ SUMMER SCHOOL – a Chair’s View

I have just recently returned from Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. 

https://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk

It’s a summer school, residential, full board, where writers can participate in many aspects of a learning programme, be entertained with evening after-dinner speakers and quizzes, open mics and musical evenings. 

We have around 200 delegates per year, and it’s a great place to meet writers and discuss the many, many aspects of writing. This was my 7th year, and I have just stepped down from 2 years as Chair.

It all happens at the Hayes Conference Centre, in Derbyshire.

https://www.cct.org.uk/the-hayes/the-hayes-conference-centre

It’s a cracking location.

So, how did this year’s School go? Pretty well, I think. We had a great committee leading up to the School, and our hard-working Secretary Sharon Payne and Treasurer Sally Warr were central to the smooth running of the organisation for the delegates.

I took the opportunity to visit a couple of courses – “The Road to Self-Publishing Success” by force of nature for self-publishing Lizzie Chantree, and “AI and Writers – Should we Worry?” from Martin Lake. Both are items of interest to me. Much of the rest of the time was making sure last-minute glitches were avoided / fixed, supporting the other members of the committee, and gleaning feedback from delegates.

It was a great time – hard work, but worth it. There is a certain magic about the place, a feeling of community, in that we are all writers. Many of us are following different paths, many of us have different destinations, but we are all writers.

The committee arrive on Friday, a full day before the delegates. There’s a lot of work to do to preparing the School. Signs to make, many items to liaise with The Hayes about, certain things which need clarifying. It’s different every year, but it needs to be done.

On the Friday, we pick up boxes of room keys which have been programmed by The Hayes (over 200 of them!) and we need to print name badges and match them up, which is an incredibly fiddly and time-consuming operation. We always feel there must be a more efficient way, but as yet, we haven’t found it!

Early Saturday afternoon, we get the reception volunteers – those lovely people who sit in one of four locations around the site, and welcome delegates with their information packs at the ready. Nearly all the time, this works fine. There are always those delegates who haven’t received or haven’t read their email which tells them which reception is for them. So there’s a bit of human signposting required, always with good humour and WITHOUT  asking “WHY DIDN’T YOU READ YOUR EMAIL???”

And then there are those who haven’t been allocated the room they requested. We always try hard to ensure they are happy with their allocation, but sometimes we need to work with The Hayes, who are BRILLIANT, in reallocating some rooms.

Photo: Susanna Lewis

It was our 75th Anniversary! Our secretary, Sharon, had reproduced the very first programme from 1949, and a booklet with a great timeline of significant events over the years – from the use of the Hayes as a prisoner of war camp, up to date. The Hayes had donated an amazing celebration cake (including a gluten-free one), the King had sent us a wonderful message of congratulation, we had the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mrs. Elizabeth Fothergill CBE to cut our cake, and share our special anniversary dinner in the dining hall. We had pinned some reflections from tutors past on the walls of the Main Conference Hall, and we had bought and donated a celebration bench, which was assembled and installed in the labyrinth, near to the chapel. Our programme had a lovely diamond emblem on the cover, which was matched by the icing on the cake! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the special celebration events! 

Photo: Helen Ellwood
Photo: Viv Brown

One of the Chair’s roles is to stand on the stage and make little speeches. A Welcome Speech on the first day, a short speech at the first timer’s reception, introductions to all of the guest after-dinner speakers, running the AGM (essential, because all delegates are members of the charitable organisation, and therefore must be included in a number of votes). I also MC’d the prizegiving ceremony on the last evening, which was great fun.

Photo: Keith Hinchey

I’m not a natural on the stage, as last year’s School showed. I get flustered easily. Delivering courses and workshops to people has never been an issue, but speeches at Swanwick always seemed like an artistic performance to me. So in preparation for this year, I wrote out my speeches in advance. There were a few items which wouldn’t be known until the School was underway, but at least I knew my scripts were in place, including the introductions to the evening speakers.

Another of the Chair’s roles is to book evening speakers. Despite our own preferences, it’s important to get a speakers from a broad spread of the writing sphere. We had 4 slots available, and I know we needed a scriptwriter, a poet, a novelist plus one other (sounds like the opening to a bad joke).

My role on the committee of the Frinton Literary Festival <<  https://www.frintonliteraryfestival.co.uk/  >> allowed me access to a number of speakers, which usually results in one or two bookings for Swanwick. This year, I invited Adele Parks to speak, as she went down really well in Frinton. Lesley Kara is a personal friend from Frinton when we both lived in the area. The scriptwriter Julian Unthank contacted me directly, interested in returning. I watched an evening speaker session from him a couple of years ago, and he was engaging and funny, and provided an interesting insight into scriptwriting. This year, he had a particular insight which I thought would go well. And finally, Luke Wright was a personal recommendation through a friend of a Swanwicker. 

On Saturday evening, we hosted Adele Parks <<https://www.adeleparks.com/ >> and her husband Jim, who conducted an interview. I think it worked really well, and a tiny frisson of marital relationship came through. Adele was awarded an MBE for her services to literacy in the New Year’s Honours list in 2022.

Photo: Keith Hinchey

On Sunday evening, we entertained Lesley Kara <<  https://www.lesleykara.com/ >>. Lesley and I used to be in the same local writing group, from 2015 – around 2019, so I wanted to try to show that the road to writing success (if becoming a multi-million Sunday Times bestseller is your measure of success) can come to all of us. I thought it might be interesting for the audience to hear what it was like at the pinnacle of the book industry. Lesley is a great speaker, and answered my occasionally slightly intrusive questions with honesty.

Unfortunately, Julian Unthank  <<  https://vhassociates.co.uk/writer/julian-unthank/ >>, who we’d booked for Tuesday evening, needed to cancel at the last minute as he was suffering Covid-like symptoms. We like to try to cover all aspects of writing from our after dinner speakers, and Julian is a superb screenwriter, with a host of credits such as Queens of Mystery, Doc Martin, New Tricks and The Bill, and has spoken to us before with a very entertaining and dynamic event. I hope you recover soon, Julian.

Our final speaker of the week was Luke Wright <<  https://www.lukewright.co.uk/ >> His approach to poetry is fresh and exciting. His performance skills have been honed over many years of professional gigs and support acts. He is the regular warm-up guy for John Cooper Clarke. He’s a theatre maker and broadcaster, and visited us after another successful set of sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe <<  https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/luke-wright-joy >> Suffice it to say that he held us, the audience, in the palm of his hand for an hour. Spellbinding!

Away from official events, I was able to chat to a number of delegates – some old friends for several years, some I’d met once or twice, and some I met for the first time. I always enjoy speaking to delegates quietly, and away from the events, as I feel I’m like to get a honest opinion about the week, how it is going, what they’re enjoying and what they’re not. This is really valuable. 

During one of the discussions, someone asked about marketing information. I referred to a couple of websites I’ve used in the past when researching marketing advice.

The first was Kindle Boards << https://www.kboards.com/  >> 

Alas, like a number of websites, Amazon didn’t like the use of “Kindle” in the name, so they needed to change it. This is a great discussion board, especially in the Writers’ Café section <<  https://www.kboards.com/forums/writers-cafe.60/  >>. This was where the ‘big hitters’ used to hang out during the ‘goldrush’ of self-publishing, in 2010 – 2014. Suddenly, there were devices where reading ebooks became a genuine possibility (and a pleasurable experience), and when Amazon first began using Print On Demand. For those who don’t know, PoD is based on a machine which takes in paper at one end, feeds your manuscript and cover data in the side, and out pops a book at the other end. There are no print runs. If someone wants one copy of your book, they will print one copy. Magic!

Anyway, one recent discussion concerned the use of Google Ads for books, which is fascinating. Real world data from real authors.

<<  https://www.kboards.com/threads/has-anyone-tried-google-ads-for-books.339604/ >>

And another resource I have used is K-Lytics <<  https://k-lytics.com/   >>, which uses software to interrogate the Amazon store software, and despite Amazon’s continued desire to hide *actual* sales figures manages to create data and charts to indicate both the sales volume and competition for a number of categories and sub-categories. They also do a monthly general report, showing trends for ebooks and print books generally, and in specific categories.

Some people were kind enough to ask about my own books. My fiction is listed at:

<<  https://gerald-hornsby.com/fiction-books/  >>

and in particular, my latest novel, the first in a new series

<<  https://gerald-hornsby.com/last-orders/  >>

My non-fiction books for authors can be found at:

<<  https://gerald-hornsby.com/non-fiction-books/  >>

and I had a discussion with someone about writing novels efficiently, and how I can write up to 4 novels per year. And I have a book!

<<  https://gerald-hornsby.com/the-efficient-novelist/  >>

So, to sum up: another great Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, I think just about everyone went home happy, and were looking forward to Swanwick 2025.

As am I!

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 22 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

SHOW NOT TELL

You may have heard of this term. But what does it mean?
As fiction writers, we create an imaginary world, with imaginary characters and imaginary plots. And the key word here is: IMAGINE.
Legendary BBC Broadcaster Alistair Cooke once said “I prefer radio because the pictures are better.”
Clearly, Alistair was of the opinion that, using words to fire up listener’s imaginations can tell a better story.

There’s perhaps no better example than the featured image on this post: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” – Anton Chekhov.
Isn’t that a beautiful phrase? And doesn’t that create a better image in your head, which also, possibly, raises a questions: why is the glass broken? What are we doing her during the night?

Here’s another example: “Emma was sad.” Okay. It’s short, to the point. She’s sad. But sadness is an emotion, so why not instil some emotion, some sharing of Emma’s emotion, with the reader? Enjoyment of stories is much better if the reader can imagine themselves as one of the characters. “Emma was quiet. I looked across at her, seeing her face blank, tears forming in her eyes.”

You can show so much about a character’s internal status and demeanour by body language and facial expression. They don’t need to tell us how they’re feeling at this particular time – we can see!

You can also show a character’s mood through their dialogue, and how they say things. Compare these two lines: 

Her eyes lifted to look at his face, showing pain, anguish, even fear. “It’s not right,” he whispered.

Her eyes lifted to look at his face, showing pain, anguish, even fear. “It’s not right!” he bellowed.

Okay. Let’s try one of these ourselves. Take the view you have, or a view through a window. “I can see a tree in the sunshine. There’s a breeze.” That’s a bit boring, isn’t it?
“The silver birch outside my window bent, lazily, its branches flicking in every direction. Harsh midday sunlight reflected off its bark, forcing me to look away.” It’s a bit more ‘wordy’, and it’s a much better picture I’m creating.

You can show seasons: “Deep snow lay like a puff-white blanket in the garden” (winter); “The smell of fresh-cut grass wafted in through the open window for the first time this year” (spring); “In the distance, I can hear children’s excited voices as they cool off in the city-centre fountains” (summer); “Dried leaves crackle and branches snap underfoot” (autumn). I’m sure you could do better – these are ones I just made up now.

Have a look at something you’ve written recently. Is there a way to enhance the storytelling by showing, not telling?

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 21 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

BACKUP!!

Don’t click away! I’m not going to nag you (well, not much, anyway) to do your backups. I’ve already done that. This (like the previous case) will give you some practical solutions to make sure that you DO YOUR BACKUP!

Oops. Sorry to shout.

In the first episode of BACKUP ( https://gerald-hornsby.com/blog/2024/06/09/day-7-monthofblogging-june2024-monthofwriting/  ), I talked about the reasons we need to backup our data. In the second episode ( https://gerald-hornsby.com/blog/2024/06/15/day-14-monthofblogging-june2024-monthofwriting/  ), I described my file naming convention, which means I have a series of fresh files throughout the project, ensuring that if something disastrous happens to my work file, I have a file that’s (at most) 1 day old.

In this episode, I’m going to talk about where you back up your data to. Where do you put the copies of the files for safekeeping?

1) The first, and easiest, and one I mentioned before, is to email a copy of your file to yourself. It really is quick (I’ve just done it, and it takes 10 seconds, maybe less). It’s easy. It’s free. Just think that there will be a nice, safe file somewhere in the cloud which you can access from anywhere in the world. Neat, huh? You should be doing this at least once per day.

2) Use USB ‘thumb’ sticks. These are huge nowadays for very little money. £10 will buy you 32GB of safe storage. You can buy them from supermarkets. for goodness’ sake! Buy one with your weekly shopping. Tell you what – buy two. Alternate between them. I back up the files I’m working on (sometimes the whole of a project folder) at least once per week. And make sure you don’t leave them with the laptop. I have two memory sticks which attach to my set of keys. When I’m out of the house, so are my keys, and so are my important files.

That is such a brilliant idea, I should be selling these tips.

3) Use external USB hard disks. These are relatively cheap now. I can buy a 2TB (terabyte) external drive for less than £50. Yes! Two thousand gigabytes! And it’s a good one, at that. You can afford to back up your whole writing folder whilst you’re having lunch or something. And, while you’re investing in security, buy a second USB hard disk, too. Alternate big backups, but give one to a neighbour. Theft or fire could destroy your precious backups. Thousands of pounds- worth of work is at risk if you don’t look after your computer files.

So, just a short post today. It’s not like I’m going to labour the point, is it?

DO YOUR BACKUPS, NOW!

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 20 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

GETTING AROUND A BLOCKAGE

Writer’s block. You’ve all heard of it. It’s that time when you want to write, but the words just won’t come. Your muse has departed, and left you… wordless.

POPPYCOCK

Excuse my language. I do not believe in writer’s block. Neither do these people.

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
– Louis L’Amour

or

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
– Jack London

Let me explain. Sometimes, writing flows. Sometimes, writing doesn’t flow. The reasons? I have no idea – it could be a combination of mental state, tiredness level, enthusiasm, other things happening in our lives… many, many things. And it would be very easy to kowtow to our feelings. And it is made easier by giving those feelings a name.

Writer’s Block

Writers talk about it a lot. It seems to be a common problem.

But waaay back, when I was thinking I’d quite like to do this thing for a living, I wondered about those days when the writing didn’t flow. What could I do about it?

One comment I heard was: “A brain surgeon doesn’t get surgical block.” And the obvious parallel is that when someone does a ‘normal’ job, they need to do that job, no matter what. And I’m sure on some days, surgeons don’t feel as well as they do on others. Our capability to do a job to the best of our ability varies day to day, but apart from being ill, a surgeon can’t phone in and say he doesn’t feel like doing his / her job.

So – what’s the solution?

Firstly – STOP USING THE TERM WRITER’S BLOCK

Next thing – tell yourself you’re going to do some writing at the time you normally do your writing.

Then find some way in which you can put characters, words, and sentences onto paper / in a file.

Here are some suggestions: write a blog post. Sometimes, writing non-fiction will break the deadlock where writing fiction won’t. If you’re not a blogger, and you don’t think you want to be, you can write about something else – maybe write about getting through writer’s block (like I’m doing now!)

OR (and I know this worked with a friend I helped) pick a tiny portion of your viewpoint. It doesn’t matter where you are, or what you can see from where you write, but focus on one small portion of your view. Here’s a thing I’ve found useful – extend both arms in front of you, and form a rectangle with the first finger and thumb of each hand. It’s like zooming in on a camera. Don’t choose your view point. That may sound strange, because you’re naturally going to want to choose something interesting to write about. Don’t do that. Bear with me. Extend the arms, form the viewpoint, and look. Really, really look.

Okay, let’s do a test, right now. I have a viewpoint. It’s a small portion of the wall in front of me. So now, let’s write 50 words on what I see. Only 50 words. Be as eloquent or lyrical or poetic as you like.

A shadow falls across the wallpaper, from black to grey to lighter grey to… the off-white wall. But the wall is not one flat colour. There are patters, swirls and whirls and lines and curves, surface texture embossed with semi-random shapes. They make no sense. And yet, suddenly…

There you go. Exactly fifty words on the wallpaper on my wall. It ain’t gonna win no Pulitzer, nor am I going to publish it.

There is a stage 2, where we enlarge our viewpoint slightly. Bend your arms, form that viewpoint again, and look. Really look. Look throughout the restricted viewpoint, noting what you see, all the details. Now, write 100 words on what you’ve seen through that viewpoint. You can do this. You wrote fifty words a moment or two ago. You just need to write a few more, and now I’ve given you a MUCH bigger thing to write about!

Okay. Done that? Guess what, you don’t have writer’s block!

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 19 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

FINDING A SPACE

Earlier in the month, we talked about finding somewhere to write.

There’s something I wrote in my “NaNoWriMo – Meeting the challenge” book

https://gerald-hornsby.com/nanowrimo-2020

Here’s another complaint I hear – “I don’t have anywhere to write. I only have a small house / apartment / igloo”. We’ve all seen Stephen King’s writing room, and Ian Rankin’s upstairs office space. How much easier would it be to write if I had a centrally heated, air-conditioned, coffee-machine-equipped office with a view of Mont Blanc or the River Rhine or the South African Veldt or the soaring peaks of Glencoe?

Well, maybe a little, but you’re just finding excuses. Again. You don’t need a special space to write. Yes, you would do well to be on your own without interruptions from pets or family. But you can write with your laptop on your … lap. You can write in the middle of an office with headphones on. You can write on a train.

The most prolific period of my career was when I sat at a tiny flatpack desk facing a blank white wall. You can write in the kitchen whilst you’re waiting for your pasta water to boil, or your coffee machine to bubble, or even whilst you’re waiting for the kettle to boil. You don’t need an office. You don’t need a ‘special space’. What you need to do is write words. Get to it!

I remember an episode of “Grand Designs”, where a man wanted to build a house in France with an office “with a great view” so “I can wrote that novel I’ve always wanted to write.”

He built that house, and he really did have a study which had a wonderful view across a valley, including green fields and a village in the distance. So, he must have polished off that novel in no time?

He didn’t.

What he did do was write a book about how to build a house in France. The novel didn’t get written. So it wasn’t the lack of a special room that was stopping him – it was himself!.

You could say: “But Gerald, you’ve got a nice study with a view into countryside – it’s all right for you to preach!”

True.

But in my defence, it is a spare bedroom, converted into a study. AND writing is my business. AND my partner writes on the dining table. She’s a full-time author, too.

In conclusion: you can write wherever you want.

Just write.

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 18 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

SAGGY MIDDLES

This is a blog post for novel and novella writers.

It’s quite easy to keep a reader engaged in your flash fiction or short story, with their limited range of characters and plots.

But what about when you want to extend your range a little, and write longer stories? It’s easy, right? Just add a few more characters, another plotline or two, maybe another location, and Bob’s your uncle.

Take it from me – it’s really not that simple. Don’t ask me how I know.

And there is a danger that in the middle of the wordcount (say, 30,000 words for a novel), you end up waffling. What’s waffling? 

Waffle – to speak or write at length in a vague or trivial manner.

How this manifests is that your story is roaming around, not really getting anywhere. Characters appear, say something, do something, and then disappear again without having had any significant effect on the story. That, on a number of occasions, has been my story.

If you, too, find yourself in this awful situation, what can you do?

CHANGE SOMETHING.

Have your main character break a limb, take up a new hobby, lose the love of his life. Just when you think it’s all done, and all the ends are tied up nice and neat, CHANGE SOMETHING. PIVOT. What’s the worst thing that can happen? The hero has vanquished his arch-enemy. He has grabbed the girl. She has kissed him (because he’s not an over-aggressive jerk, he’s your hero). Then have him (or her) contract a rare a virulent disease. Have a sink-hole open up and take her away. Have a random plane land on them, miraculously killing him but saving her, thus making her the NEW hero of the story. Ha haaa! Got you there, readers! But that’s, at least, more interesting.

You can also ‘design out’ the saggy middle, from the start of writing. Shout out to my favourite ‘thing’, Save The Cat https://savethecat.com/ Since I began using this, I NEVER have a saggy middle (in my story!). The StC structure ‘designs out’ sags by setting out a beat-by-beat plan for the story, ensuring that you write in the highs and lows, the changes of pace, the tension and the conflict as you begin to plan your story.

SAVE THE CAT FOR THE WIN!

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