Planning and researching your novel, with Gillian Cross

Because we love our fellow Slushpilers so very much, today we bring you Gillian Cross, and her top five tips for planning and research. Gillian Cross has written over 40 books for children (yes, you read that right!) and has won a couple of prizes along the way, including the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award and the Smarties Prize. She influenced a generation of school kids by making them even more terrified of their headmasters than normal with The Demon Headmaster series, and then terrified them all over again with urban thrillers including Tightrope. Her most recent novel is Where I Belong.

1. Discover your own way of planning - and how much you need to do in advance - and don't be intimidated by what other writers tell you. I know lots of fantastic planning tools, ranging from drawing a map of where the story happens to working out the whole plot backwards, on little white file cards. They're awesome to think about, but they've never worked for me. I always have to do my planning after I've written the first draft and the sooner I accept that the better I get on. It's always a struggle though, because planning seems easier than actually writing.

2. The key thing is to get the stuff down. Once you've got it, you can revise it, cut it, expand it or alter it out of all recognition.

But you must have something solid to work with. And that doesn't come from the same part of the brain as planning and editing.

3. Remember that people are one of the best research resources, so don't be shy of asking. I'm always embarrassed to ask people for information, but when I manage to pluck up courage I've hardly ever been rejected. Most people are very generous with their time and love being a source of useful information. It's important to work out what you really need to know though, because no one else can guess that. And the difficulty is, of course, that you don't always know what you want to know, until it turns up, because the things that are most helpful are often small, inconsequential details.

This ENORMOUS PILE of books formed just part of Gillian's research for Where I Belong.

4. Don't let research become an end in itself if you want to finish the book. In my experience, the more you learn about something the more fascinating it becomes. Research can go on for ever and sometimes there's a danger of forgetting how little your readers will actually understand unless you do lots of explaining. (Don't!) I once wrote a book about two boys who restore a 1930s motorbike and the story got lost in the details of sandblasting cylinders etc.

5. Don't panic about remembering everything you've found out.

If you try and hold it all in your head, you won't be able to concentrate properly on the story. A moment will come when you need to put the research on one side and write.

You can always check the details later. And a story isn't a research paper. Anything you write will be fine as long as you can get away with it. And that has more to do with storytelling than with correctness.

Slushpile note: If you found that helpful (or even just enjoyable!), check out Linda Newbery's Research and Planning blog here.

Bloodied and Bandaged: My Arvon Experience

by Jo Wyton

Last week I attended an Arvon Foundation course in the rainy depths of Shropshire, and I will just say up front that it was fantastic!

My course ran at the John Osborne centre at the Hurst

For those unfamiliar with Arvon, it’s a charitable foundation set up in 1968 by John Fairfax and John Moat, both close friends of Ted Hughes. They have a number of houses dotted around the UK, all in the middle of nowhere in the beautiful and mercifully remote countryside. Their courses cover everything from Writing for Beginners to Writing for Games and Writing Poetry. Each course is led by two or three (if you’re very lucky) published authors, with the occasional visiting author popping up during the week.

See - middle of nowhere!

In this case, Linda Newbery and Celia Rees were our Writers in Residence, and Gillian Cross was the visiting author. (Excuse me whilst I steady myself.) Each morning consisted of workshops, with one-to-one tutorials in the afternoon and various discussions (and sing-a-longs, for that matter) in the evening. Our group ranged from 17 to, well, that would just be rude, wouldn’t it?

The lovely Celia Rees (left) and Gillian Cross (right)

Now it’s a strange kind of place, an Arvon centre, where everyone takes it in turns to cook and wash-up, you find yourself sitting next to Linda Newbery at dinner, and the toilets are sponsored by Dame Maggie Smith. (No, really.)

Arvon Centre folk get imaginative as often as possible!

On the inside of the downstairs toilet...

(thanks to Becca Beddow for the above photos!)

Most people arrive at an Arvon course a little bit bloodied in some sense of the word – it might be that they’ve had writers block for a year, or that their lives have drastically changed and they’ve decided to pick up a pen (or a laptop) for the first time. It might simply be that their plot or first chapter isn’t working.

Whatever ailment people arrived with on day one, I am certain that by the time we all left, they were a bit closer to fixing it. My own particular ailment is confidence in my writing, but to be honest I mostly just wanted to learn some new tricks and meet some new people.

The bloomin' brilliant Sheena Wilkinson (whose debut novel Taking Flight is scooping up the awards!) and Philippa Francis (writing as KM Lockwood)

Becca Beddow trying to concentrate despite me taking photos of her!

It’s safe to say that new tricks a plenty were offered up and gratefully received, and I did indeed meet plenty of new people, many of whom I will definitely stay in touch with. But mainly I just came back feeling ready to tackle anything!

Arvon provides the chance to surround yourself with writers, every one at a different stage in their quest to transform into the Lesser Spotted Author, and maybe to rediscover what it is that makes them love what they do. It also, coincidentally, gives you a peaceful week away from your emails, telephone and the general rigmarole of daily life.

No e-mails here, thank you very much!

I picked up some great tips and advice during my Arvon week – from everybody, I think. Gillian Cross spoke of the serendipity of writing a novel on Wednesday night, and then the following evening another guest provided me with my own serendipitous moment. Linda Newbery listened with patience whilst, with great ineptitude, I tried to explain my plot, and somehow she even managed to follow what I was saying enough to help. Celia Rees welcomed me to my tutorial with the words, “Well this is all good, but THIS is a prologue. You don’t need it.” So at least one darling was murdered this week.

Celia said something else that I’m certain is going to stick with me. She said, “Don’t just write a novel. Write your break-through novel.” (Or something to that effect. I was generally thinking ‘Oh my god, I’m sitting next to Celia Rees’ and trying not to hyperventilate at the time.)

Celia Rees (left) and Linda Newbery (right) planning our next punishment. I mean, workshop.

The tutors were all more than generous with their time and experience, as were the other people on the course. Everyone was so supportive, which isn’t unusual for children’s writers, but it is unusual to experience it for almost a week!

By the end, the atmosphere in the house had descended into friendship, and our last night was full of people reading their work and singing folk songs over a glass of wine. For me personally, it was also full of a trip up the stairs, a couple of bags of frozen peas (one of which ruptured on the stairs – apologies lovely Arvon people), and the wonderful Gita, who bandaged me up.

Just in case you needed to see evidence...

Arvon courses mean different things to different people. But everyone went away with something new, something to work on, and I reckon everyone’s writing will be all the better for it.

Sign me up for next year.

Slushpilers go to Arvon:

Maureen's Arvon experience with Malachy Doyle and Julia Goulding

Candy's Arvon with Melvin Burgess and Malorie Blackman