The Muddle in the Middle

Here's the second guest posting I've done in conjunction with US based Mystery Writer Gerard Bianco.

http://www.gerardbianco.com/

The aim is of course to get you all writing short crime stories to enter the international Bloody Scotland short story competition. 

Check out the fabulous prizes at http://www.bloodyscotland.com/ 

Last time I talked about effective beginnings and promised to follow it with 'the muddle in the middle'.

Well, here it is...

The Structure of Story
The Muddle in the Middle
As I said in my opening piece, human beings intuitively understand when a story works. That’s probably most obvious when sitting in a packed cinema. The collective intelligence of the audience knows when things are going slack in the story. This happens usually in the middle section when the audience starts to fidget and eat their popcorn. They’ve dropped out of the story. They’re back in the real world. Something that should never happen. In the case of novels, it’s where you skip bits you don’t feel engaged with and hope to be recaptured later on. Or even worse you lose interest and stop reading the story altogether!
So what went wrong with the storytelling?

One of the most obvious reasons for giving up on a story is because we don’t care what happens to the people who inhabit the story, particularly the main character, our protagonist.
Because a story is a character in action.A story should present us with a character we empathise with, who is presented with a situation that propels them into action. Through a variety of escalating challenges they're tested to their limits and emerge usually having learned something about themselves in the process. We have lived vicariously through them.
A story is deepened when we also follow secondary characters and become involved with their lives, but these characters’ actions should always impact on our protagonist’s story. Switching viewpoints and using dramatic irony makes the storytelling dynamic. However, if you tell a story from too many viewpoints you can lose your reader, because we have to buy into a character enough to really care.
As a writer you should ask yourself:
Who is my protagonist?
What do they want?
Why do they want it?
What’s stopping them?
What’s the result?

These questions will eventually present you with the theme of your story i.e what it’s really about. Crime stories usually have a main theme of justice or the restoration of order, but there can be many subthemes operating within the crime story e.g Love, revenge, coming of age etc
The conflict your character faces can be external or internal and is usually both, but it must be big enough to sustain the reader’s interest and for them to want the protagonist to succeed.
We have already considered the beginning and the inciting incident (sometimes called the first crisis.) This is what propels your protagonist into action. Most people would rather have an easy life, so your protagonist may prevaricate, but eventually they must move. Once they do, nothing will ever be the same again.
Once into the ‘muddle in the middle’ the antagonistic forces rise even more against our main character. This is the part of the story where things often go wrong. The story slackens. We lose the reader’s attention. One common error it to make the antagonistic force too strong, too soon, leaving nowhere to go. To prevent the story from going slack, you need to build momentum towards the middle of this section of the story. It’s that old saying that things will get worse before they get better. When our protagonist deals with what some call their deepest darkest cave, you can provide a little respite. Stories differ a lot in this middle section. Some peak around the midpoint, some go on slow burn and peak towards the end of this section. In a short story, because of its length, the 'peak' or 'deepest darkest cave' moment is usually placed towards the end of the middle section.
To keep your story tight and your reader engrossed, it's sometimes useful to timeline it. Mark where each obstacle is met and matched and where exactly the big crisis happens. Also check that the conflict is always on the increase. The pattern of three is often seen here. Try, try, try again is something we all recognise, from nursery stories onwards.
Any secondary stories will also have a three part structure and a character arc. It's good to know that the really big moments in a story occur when a key moment in a subplot clashes with a key moment for the protagonist. Those are the scenes we remember the most.
Next time… the resolution (and the twist in the tail). After which I'll use a short crime story to illustrate what we've learned about structure.

Story Structure - In the Beginning

Following on from Gerard's piece, below is my contribution to his US blog. I've decided to talk about the structure of story in the hope that it will help those who want to discover what might be wrong with a story, or those who often start a story but then get stuck and don't know why. There will be three parts, starting with an overview and looking at beginnings, with occasional references to crime in particular in case you're planning an entry to the Bloody Scotland short story competition at http://www.bloodyscotland.com/

When I wrote my first short story and my first novel I had no idea how stories 'worked'. I knew instinctively when one didn't work, but had no idea why. When I wrote my first crime piece for television, I studied how it was done by watching Prime Suspect, a classic, and noting the structure, arrangement and purpose of each scene. The resultant screenplay generated a great deal of interest from a USA based television producer. I didn't have it completely right, but I had told the story in a way that kept him reading. That screenplay became Driftnet, the first of eight novels featuring forensic expert Dr Rhona MacLeod.After Driftnet was published and became a bestseller, I became interested in why the story appeared to work well and began to look at stories in the way I look at screenplays. Any story in any form is 'a character in action'. Crime novels are not about the crime per se. They're about the character(s) that solve the crime. Great characters create a series. The readers come back for more of them and their world. That's understood, but what about structure?
I would argue that writing a crime story is harder than writing general fiction. Why? Because you have to do everything that a dramatic piece does - create a protagnist your reader can empathise with and use their personal story to explore the human condition. Added to this you have to create a complex mystery that interweaves with their own story. Secrets must be revealed at the right moment (always keep a secret as long as possible). Placing each piece in a complex jigsaw so that the reader cannot/must not know the full picture until the last piece is in place. Not for the fainthearted.
So how does understanding structure help you?
We all intuitively know when a story 'works'. Watch a movie audience. When they start twitching and losing interest, they've dropped out of the story. The question is why? The general form of a story is The Beginning/The Muddle in the Middle/The Resolution. Roughly speaking the first and last form a quarter of the story each. The Muddle in the Middle is a half. The middle section is the really tricky part. Here's where things can flatline and you lose your way and your readers. Beginnings aren't easy either, but creating something new is heaps of fun and carries you along, provided you understand what a beginning must achieve.
Stories are characters in action. Actions driven by conflict. The conflicts may not be big in world terms, but they are big to your main character. As one conflict is solved, another rears its bigger uglier head. The opening is the first time we see your main character in action and is instrumental in selling your book to your readers.
Effective beginnings need to do three things

The chief of these is to get the story going and show what kind of story it’s going to be and the tone you'll use to tell it.
The second is to introduce and categorise the protagonist
The third is to engage the reader’s interest in reading on. (They have to want to turn the page)

A beginning can do more than this i.e. establish a mood, a setting, a norm. But it should always do the first three. The most economical way of handling these three jobs is to find a way of doing all three at once using a scene. Why? Because a story is a character in action. You reveal the character by what they do in a situation. Stories are also circular. The end will in some way reflect the beginning, but we can worry about that at the end. Whatever inciting incident you create will set your character on a journey to satifsy a need they might not even know they have. By the end of the first Act they will have stepped over the threshold into the unknown. In a crime story, the inciting incident will normally involve a crime. In Driftnet, the murder of a teenage boy who looks like Rhona makes her think he might be the son she gave up for adoption 17 years before. That inciting incident impacts on both her personal and professional life. A double whammy. Is he or isn't he her son? Who killed him?

Next time.
Part 2 The Muddle in the Middle.
　

Planting a Seed

One of the aims of Bloody Scotland crime festival was to reach out to readers and authors round the world and share our interest in and love for the wonderful variety of writing in the crime genre. Here is, as promised, the post from Gerard Bianco, award winning US mystery writer. Enjoy...

Include More Than One Mystery in Your Novel
by Gerard Bianco
Reading a great mystery novel is a lot like horseback riding. Sometimes, you’re cautiously slow-walking on unfamiliar turf. Other times, you’re head-bobbling-wobbling trotting. Then there are those times when you’re whooshing along on a take-your-breath-away gallop. This variety of pace is one of the key elements contributing to the thrill and excitement of the ride. Another is fear. (What if I fall off the damn horse?)
In keeping with this metaphor, mystery writing then becomes somewhat like laying out a course for the rider. The author must include a assortment of terrains to make the ride interesting and somewhat challenging. There has to be grassy hills to climb and soft, sloping landscapes to descend. There must be twists and turns, tree-laden paths, and long, smooth straight-aways for those blazing gallops.
To accomplish this, writers use an assortment of subtle and not-so-subtle techniques to enhance their storytelling and add the necessary oomph required for a successful mystery/suspense yarn. From the many techniques available, consider the following.

Planting a Seed
How do you write a page-turning mystery—one in which people say, "I couldn’t put the book down?" How did authors like Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and Agatha Christie create stories that keep us glued to the page? One technique they used is called, "Planting a Seed." These authors sprinkled their mystery stories with several small, subtle mysteries that forecast evil, ruthless, merciless, cruel and unscrupulous events that will take place later on in the novel. These little mysteries, many times placed at the end of a chapter, add breadth to the story, carrying the interest of the reader from the beginning of the novel to its successful conclusion. Tied together with the larger who-done-it, they keep the reader turning pages faster than you can say, "221B Baker Street."
In my lecture series, Subtle Writing Techniques Used to Create a Successful Mystery Novel, I stress the importance of taking the extra steps necessary to bypass the competition you’ll come up against in today’s highly aggressive market place. Incorporating the technique of "Planting a Seed," will place you well ahead of your fellow authors. Both the TV and film industries understand the importance of "Planting a Seed" to capture the viewer’s attention. Commercials, film clips and trailers are filled with nerve-tingling uncertainties that leave the viewer panting for more.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of mystery seed planting from some of the authors I mentioned earlier.
Raymond Chandler in his last sentence of Chapter 4 in Farewell, My Lovely wrote: "I went out of the Hotel Sans Souci and crossed the street to my car. It looked too easy. It looked much too easy." It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that later on in the story ‘it ain’t gonna be so easy.’ By planting those two little sentences, Chandler keeps us wondering what will happen next.
In The Case of the Musical Cow, Erle Stanley Gardner wrote at the end of Chapter 13: "The co-ordinates had located the position of car seven within two hundred feet. The trap was ready to be set." Can’t you just hear the eerie music being played after those lines?
Agatha Christie proved she is the "Queen of Crime" when, in her short story, The Double Clue, she introduced the diabolical character, Countess Rossakoffand, Poirot’s suggested love-interest, and then prophesized, through Poirot, that the Countess and the detective will, one day, reconvene. In his final words of this story, Poirot sighs to Hastings: "A remarkable woman. I have a feeling, my friend—a very decided feeling—I shall meet her again. Where, I wonder?" The seed Christie planted kept her readers on the edge of their seats, waiting for her next novel.
Once you begin to recognize how authors use these subtle mysteries to keep the reader racing through the story, you’ll begin to understand their importance and use them in your own mysteries. It’s essential to remember, as with most techniques of writing, not to overplay your hand with too many of these keenly-placed accents, otherwise your story will become burdensome and taxing. Keep your dialogue crisp and your descriptions sparse. Say no more than is required to get your point across. Your terseness will create a sense of urgency that will have your reader yearning for more of what you’re dishing out.
Here’s an example of the seed I planted, along with the brevity that I used in my book THE DEAL MASTER. At the end of Chapter 11, I wrote: "With his shoulders up around his ears, he quickly walked away from the action without once looking back. When he reached the corner, he turned left. Then, when he was certain no one was looking, he sprinted as fast as his legs would take him towards what he thought was freedom, but on the contrary, was nothing of the kind."

　
Gerard Bianco is the award-winning author of the mystery/thriller THE DEAL MASTER. His newest book, DISCIPLINE: A PLAY (2012) has recently won the Editor’s Choice Award. He is a contributing author in the NOW WRITE MYSTERIES BOOK and his short stories have appeared in print. Mr. Bianco’s lectures on the "Art of Mystery Writing" are popular amongst writers and readers alike. He lives in Maine, USA. His website is: http://writerenroute.com/

Guest blogger

Bloody Scotland is connecting with writers and readers globally and through BS I've teamed up with US mystery writer Gerard Bianco to share some writing tips which could prove useful if you're planning writing that short crime story of even a longer one.
Gerard Bianco is the award-winning author of the mystery/thriller THE DEAL MASTER. His newest book, DISCIPLINE: A PLAY (2012) has recently won the Editor’s Choice Award. He is a contributing author in the NOW WRITE MYSTERIES BOOK and his short stories have appeared in print. Mr. Bianco’s lectures on the "Art of Mystery Writing" are popular amongst writers and readers alike. He lives in Maine, USA. His website is: http://writerenroute.com/
Watch out for Gerard's guest blog topic 'Planting a Seed'.

 

Bloody Scotland

I haven't blogged for a while due to deadlines and my involvement with Bloody Scotland, Scotland's first crime writing festival which will take place in Stirling 14th-16th September 2012. The idea came about when Alex Gray, myself and Alanna Knight were at a CWA conference in Lincoln. We realised all crime festivals were in England despite Scotland's huge array of crime writing talent. Scotland has 40 book festivals of all shapes and sizes including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, yet not one to promote this most popular and biggest selling genre and our other cultural export - great crime writing. So Bloody Scotland was born. I love the name coined by Alex. Typically Scottish humour and of course the festival takes place in Stirling, close to the castle where many a bloody Scottish battle was fought. Check out the Bloody Scotland website http://www.bloodyscotland.com/ and follow us on twitter @bloodyscotland
We are running two competitions in our inaugural year, both with great prizes. The digital short story competition sponsored by Glengoyne (whisky being our other cultural export) and Scottish Crime Book of the Year supported by Waterstones. Check out the website for details.
I also intend blogging a series of writing tips I wish people had told me. So if you're planning to enter the short story competition or are just struggling with that story, tune in.