My Novel - Writing Course

 "MY NOVEL"  ASSIGNMENT ONE

PART A: Finding Inspiration

Question 1.  Which author impresses you  most with his or her creativity and imagination?  Why?

Question 2.  What is your view on creativity - what and where is it?  Or do you believe it is nothing more than a higher level of writing skill?

Question 3.  Take ONE of the following opening passages from a novel and use it as a writing prompt to suggest some characters and a plot.  Not sure what to do?  To see a worked example of what is required, CLICK HERE.

• "Do it, if you will, Bryce," she said softly.  "But just remember the consequences will be very unpleasant." 
• Wilmot climbed  the tree, placing his feet with care. When he was, at last, standing on branches so slight they bowed under his weight, he stopped and surveyed the surrounding plains.  he could see the distant hills, the river and the woods.  And, as he suspected, there they were!
• "Donock, are you prepared to test your skills and courage against a water-wizard?" the Mentor asked. Skills?  Courage?  I will laugh about this one day, I thought ... if I survive.
• Danielle  looked at her watch again. She opened the bottle of champagne and poured herself a glass. Then, leaning forward over the table set for two, she placed her arm deliberately along the centre line and swept it across the damask cloth, sending the second setting clattering to the floor.

Question 4. Some writers respond better to visual prompts.  Choose one  of the photos below and see what inspiration for plot ideas emerge.  To see a worked example of what is required, CLICK HERE.

Question 5.  Remember this first paragraph example?

Take the story and run with it! What might happen when father and son meet?  What might be at the bottom of it all?  What role does the remote opal mining town of Lightning Ridge play?   See if you can decide on some broad plot lines.   Is it a murder story?  A romance?  A family saga?   Not sure what to do?  To see a worked example , CLICK HERE.

Why am I suffering twelve hours on a bus to meet a man I don't want to meet - a father I haven't seen in tweenty-five years?  Beats me. I feel nothing for him but revulsion, after what he did to Mum,; yet here I am.  I rest my forehead on the smoked glass of the  bus window and stare out at the flat dry plains, blink at the odd tree or listless kangaroo. Stinking hot out there.  I pretend to sleep - I don't want to answer questions from the bony man beside me with the stringy beard . I have enough of my own. I can't even guess what my father wil look like, how he will have changed.  I remember that middle finger missing from his left hand: twenty-five years in the can can't change that.  When I was five, I asked him how it happened.

"Caught a young cub in the fox trap," he said.  "Stuck my hand in to tease him and the little mongrel  latched on. He chewed that finger so bad, the doc had to amputate it."

I learned years later that he'd spread his hand on a tree stump, severed the finger with a chisel, and walked away from the mill with a sizeable Worker's Compensation cheque. He always did have a practical approach to problems. But why did he phone me just two days after his release, to say he wants to  meet me at Lightning Ridge. Why Lightning Ridge? Who knows? Neither of us have ever been here before. He is driving a hire car from Sydney and me, I'm on the Greyhound  from Brisbane.  He commanded, and I obeyed as if I were still a kid of ten. That's how old I was when it all happened. In half an hour, this Greyhound will sigh to a stop, drop on one knee and roll me out in front of him. He'll be waiting at the bus stop, he says. Maybe I'll work out why I am compelled to do this. It's not out of love, or fond memories. I only associate this man  with one thing - blood, and lots of it.

 PART B. First Paragraph

Question 1:  Take the opening  paragraph above(in Q5) and analyse it for baits and hooks.

• How does it meet the 'bait' criteria: ACTION  and SUSPENSE?
• How many of the hooks from the list can you find present? Which ones?

Question 2:  Choose ONE type of hook from the list and write just one opening line  that features that hook.  Don't write an entire paragraph.

Question 3:  Take the following dull opening paragraph and add at least TWO types of hooks, PLUS make sure there is at least ONE question the reader will be asking.  You may change details if ideas occur to you ...that's the fun part of creativity.

The plane had just levelled out after take-off from LA, the seatbelt sign was off, and the flight attendants were starting the first drinks round on the long-haul flight to London.  Sheila was excited about her first overseas holiday.  She heard someone say there were a couple of 'big wheels' on board, but she didn't see anyone she recognised.  They'd be travelling first class, anyway. She was wedged into a very full economy class section with a crying baby up the front near the bulkhead.  Suddenly, some nutter leaped up and grabbed the baby and held it above his head.  He was holding a saw-tooth plastic knife to its throat and screaming threats.  She was an off-duty LA police officer, and all her training and instincts were to tackle the guy, but she was at the back of the cabin and he was at the front. There wasn't a lot she could do but wait it out.

End of ASSIGNMENT ONE.  

That's it, folks!  It is possible to save portion of your work and continue later..  When your work is ready, fill out the assignment form below and hit SUBMIT.