It's always
amazing to me how different author events at primary schools can be. Yesterday,
at Poplar Primary School and later at St Mark's, the children, teachers and
BookFest team were treated to the tricks of the writing trade by author,
Caroline Lawrence.
Soon to have Night Raid, her 30th book published on May 15th, the San Francisco
native lead us on a crash course in forming the perfect story, not to mention a
lesson in how the writer's brain works. Author of two series now, exploring
Roman and Western history, and nominated for the prestigious Edgar award in New
York on 1st May, she was the perfect person to give the children writing tips.
As a student of Classics at
university and a lifelong follower of stories in all forms, Lawrence quickly
knuckled down with the nitty-gritty of writing practices. For me, at the ripe
old age of 23, it is a worrying moment as I utter these words, but in my day
Creative Writing, my favourite subject, was simple. Write a story, a page
or longer with a beginning, a middle and an end. Of course this is still
important. Nowadays though, with the high demand for original, well-constructed
stories from budding writers, the subject is undergoing a huge expansion.
Lawrence approached the children
with 7 tips which I will now share with you. Tips that prospective entrants to
the Wimbledon BookFest Young Writer's Competition would do well to pay
attention to when thinking about The Message, this year's theme:
1. Do a Mash Up:
Lawrence's first tip was to do as
the title says. Find two or more ideas, and stick them together. The influence
responsible for the Roman Mystery series lies with The Last of the
Wine by Mary Renault, a story of a young man living through momentous
events in ancient times. Lawrence soon found herself hooked on all things
mythical and ancient and followed the book's pointing finger to the UK, where
she's been ever since.
Similarly inspired by a love of
stories and characters such as Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes, all it took was
a nudge from her sister to mash the two ideas together. 30 books later here we
are, with Caroline Lawrence giving the children of South West London the nudge
to do the same and find ideas that stick together to create their own original
stories.
2. Give Your Hero a Weakness:
The second tip took more influence
from myth and legend, this time in the shape of Achilles and his problems with
podiatry. Famously weak in the heel, Lawrence described how a character needs a
fatal flaw. Using examples every child in the hall appreciated such as Superman
with his infamous disagreement with kryptonite, it became clear that the
characters of any story need to be fallible; there has to be a possibility of
failure or there's no suspense. Without suspense I think we'd all agree that
books would be pretty dull to read.
Caroline underlined the point by
describing her own characters: Flavia – who seizes the
day but needs to look before she leaps, Jonathan - a perpetual pessimist with
Asthma but thinks things through, keeping overzealous Flavia on the ground,
Nubia - an Egyptian slave in Roman times, tormented by a dark history, yet
intensely intuitive, and Lupus - a beggar boy who had his tongue cut out at
aged six, but highly skilled and stealthy. Clearly the perfect, diverse band
for solving crimes of an archaeological nature.
3. Choose a Cool Setting:
For Lawrence, this became obvious.
Her clear interest in Classics and Ancient History led her to pick Pompeii and
the eruption of Vesuvius as her first location for the adventures of her characters.
Having travelled across the world herself to locations as interesting as Libya
and Egypt, the research of surviving in such a setting helped her ground her
characters in realism. She encouraged the children to do the same with settings
they found interesting and that they knew well.
4. Plot the Plot:
The crux of the event, plotting was
one of Lawrence's self-confessed weaknesses. However, after partaking in a
screenwriting course, she was able to formulate her own 7 point plot plan to
guide her characters from beginning to end. Named the '7 Plot Beats' they go as
follows. As an example highlighted by the author herself, I've set them alongside
the plot of Star Wars, favourite of children and parents alike, to
demonstrate their potency.
1. Problem – The evil Empire rules the galaxy.
2. Desire - Luke Skywalker wants to
get away from Tatooine to fight the Empire.
3. Opponent - Darth Vader and the
Empire form the perfect example of villainy.
4. Plan (character's journey) - Luke
travels with Obi-Wan Kenobi to learn the ways of the force and rescue Princess
Leia with the help of Han and Chewbacca.
5. Battle - With the Rebellion in
tow, Luke leads the attack against the Death Star.
6. Knowledge - Destroying the Death
Star, Luke and his friends find out their position in the galaxy is stronger
than they think.
7. New Level - Spurred on by his
control of The Force, Luke and co. receive their medals of bravery and cement
themselves as heroes of the Rebellion.
The 7 Plot Beats can be applied to
any story, and Lawrence stated that exercising plotting is one of the best ways
to form excellent stories.
5. Characters:
Once your plot is in place, you can
think a lot more about your characters. Using examples from film as diverse as Star
Wars, The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings and Up, Lawrence
described how characters in all stories fall into a set of clear archetypes.
Again, using one of Lawrence's examples, this time Pixar's Up, the
character archetypes are as follows:
Hero - Carl Fredericksen, closely
following the 7 Plot Beats with a distinct desire and journey to find Paradise
Falls, the old man forms an unlikely hero.
Sidekick - Russell, loyal to the end
and possessing his own desire to complete his sash of badges and impress his
absent father, Russell forms the perfect sidekick for the hero.
The funny one - Dug, the talking dog
provides light relief in times of suspense, again following his own subplot to
be accepted by his canine peers.
The wild one - Kevin, the wild bird
the group find in Paradise Falls, joins the adventure forms the desire of the
antagonist, Charles Muntz, and only wants to protect her children.
The mentor - Charles Muntz - Unlike
classic mentors like Yoda, Dumbledore and Gandalf, Charles Muntz unknowingly
influences Mr Fredericksen on his adventure, and ultimately becomes the villain
of the piece with an innovative twist on character that Pixar are so talented
with. Carl’s wife, Ellie also takes the place
of mentor.
Lawrence encouraged the children to
do the same with their own characters, to play with the archetypes and create
their own individual story.
6. Detail and Thought Process:
Across the day, Lawrence described
how detail and description were vitally important to storytelling. At Poplar
Primary School, we all learned the ins and outs of Roman toiletry, the
influence for The Sewer Demon, one of Lawrence's short story
collections. In writing historical fiction, the level of detail is important
and brings the text to life.
Later in the day, Caroline
approached the subject from a different direction. Playing a piece of music, she
asked the children to close their eyes and think about the images that sprung
to mind based on it. Every child was different, enforcing the author's point.
You can take influence from all areas of life, from artefacts you see every
day, to influences like music, which the creative right side of your brain
absorbs.
7. And finally...
Taking influence from the bard
himself, Mr Shakespeare, Caroline Lawrence highlighted the most important point
to take note of when writing stories, one which every child (and adult if they
fancy following in Lawrence's footsteps) should take into account:
Have fun.
What a great write up! Even I found it inspiring! ;-)
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