ALAN VEALE
  • Home
  • The Murder Tree
  • The Titanic Document
  • The Red Rose Tattoo
  • A Kangaroo In My Sideboard
  • Rabbit-Chasing for Beginners
  • An Occasional Thought... (Blog)
  • My Epic Aussie Adventure!
  • About
  • Contact
  • LINKS

An Occasional Thought...

Action!

30/7/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
“Action, not Words!” That’s a political quote, and at this unsettling time in the UK, perhaps just as relevant a mantra as it was in 1966 – when Ted Heath used it as the theme for his election manifesto. Those of us waiting to see what Boris Johnson might bring to the feast, may indeed hope that he can honour his spoken intentions with a practical result.

But here’s another version: “Life is words in action, literature is action in words.” That one came from a contemporary of mine, Turkish actor and playwright Tarik Gunersel. I like that one because it encourages me (as a writer) to ensure that the words I put on the page serve a purpose. By that, I mean that they drive the story forward, taking the reader on a path that leads to a satisfactory destination. I hate it when (as a reader) I find the plot of a novel to be wallowing in literary treacle as if the path I’ve taken is consumed by inches of sticky mud. Sometimes it happens simply because the writer wants to apply a richer description than the reader needs: “his craggy features, heavy brows, piercing eyes and Roman nose gave an impression of impatient senility in a way I found impossible to ignore in a teacher of classical studies”; “all about me were scattered the detritus of nature at its angriest – snapped twigs of elm and sycamore trees, copper and russet leaves both old and new carelessly swept into untidy hillocks several inches high”. This is self-indulgence from a writer that adds very little to help the narrative, and potentially smothers the interest that may previously have been piqued. (Those two “quotes” are my own invention, by the way!)

A writer has a similar job to do as a painter: to produce a work of art that allows us to focus on the subject inside the frame, rather than the frame itself.

So, when faced with writing Novel Number 2, what had I learned from Novel Number 1? (The Murder Tree)

In a nutshell, I’ve moved away from the restrictions of following the elements of a True Story. Both my previous projects have been largely governed by historical record. This time, like my play Rabbit-Chasing For Beginners, I have been free to use my imagination. While the events of The Murder Tree were centred around the City of Glasgow, this time I have featured places nearer to my present home in the Ribble Valley of Lancashire. Manchester (my place of birth) features strongly, as do London and Liverpool, Belfast and Northern Ireland. The plot is exponential, meaning I let it develop in its own way. Characters often influence a plot because of their personal motives and interests, and that has become the deciding factor for me in writing The Titanic Document. The chapters are short, and the pace is quick. I want my readers to stay on a path that has many twists and turns – but it is all the more fun if there’s an ever-present risk of them taking a corner too fast…
​
Action? Yes – plenty. Words? Yes – but only the ones deemed necessary to complement the action!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Need to know:

    I don’t just write fiction.

    Sometimes I write to people too: those that annoy me or please me.

    I post on Tripadvisor and Facebook – but I appreciate some people think that’s all made up stuff anyway.

    ​So I’ll also post the odd thought on here.

    I’m human, just like you – so feel free to post back!

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019

    Categories

    All
    1969
    Amazon
    Apollo 11
    Australia
    Boris Johnson
    Cheating
    Colin Skipp
    Cyril Smith
    Death
    Delamere
    Eric Veale
    Flickr
    Humour
    Images
    Inspiration
    Jeremy Thorpe
    Jimmy Savile
    Language
    L J Ross
    Mollie Veale
    Paedophile
    Party
    Peter Gris
    Photos
    Politicians
    Politics
    Reviews
    Sex Scandal
    Space
    Speech
    Susan Veale
    Tarik Gunersel
    Team
    Ted Heath
    The Archers
    The End
    The Murder Tree
    The Titanic Document
    Titanic
    Troubador
    Twists
    Wilbur Smith
    Words

    RSS Feed

Copyright Alan Veale 2018. All Rights Reserved. 
  • Home
  • The Murder Tree
  • The Titanic Document
  • The Red Rose Tattoo
  • A Kangaroo In My Sideboard
  • Rabbit-Chasing for Beginners
  • An Occasional Thought... (Blog)
  • My Epic Aussie Adventure!
  • About
  • Contact
  • LINKS