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Andrew Clover

Storyman

Archives for August 2016

12 Steps of the Classic Story

August 25, 2016 by Andrew Clover Leave a Comment

The_Hero__s_Journey_by_Dunlavey

I remember being astonished when, in my early twenties, I came across a book called The Writer’s Journey, by Chris Vogler, which broke all stories down to twelve steps.  It told how George Lucas had followed them exactly, and produced Star Wars.  What?!  I thought,  if this stuff is known, what’s to stop me producing a bestseller too?  What’s to stop you?

Here are the first four of Vogler’s twelve steps, changed slightly…

1)Normal world

Sometimes writers miss this step out, since they’ve been told:  ‘You need to grab your reader from the start!’ but if you start with your hero , in the first sentence, being Flung Into Outer Space, or  Hearing A Strange Voice Calling Them From The Toilet, then we don’t care about them.   Also they will have nothing to change, as the story develops.  Tell us:  what does your hero do every day?  What are their habits, catchphrases, obsessions?  What’s unusual about how they look?  Tell of the annoying characters who block them.  Say, too, what your hero wants.  What they need.  Do they have a secret?  One friend who sometimes helps them?  What messed them up in the past?

 2)Call to adventure

But then one day, something happens, which pushes your hero into an adventure…  A mysterious letter arrives…  They find a strange picture in the attic… When peeking at Dad through a hinge, they discover he has a huge scar (and what appears to be a tail…   While out walking, yours hero sees a tiny fairy drowning in a puddle… The Call can come in a million ways, but the effect is the same – the hero thinks:  ‘Something is wrong, and I shall put it right.’

3)Refusal of the call

But then they don’t.  They refuse the road lying glittering before them.  When I read this, I was so surprised.  Why???!!  I wondered.  What’s the point of this step?  I wondered.  If the adventure sounds exciting, why shouldn’t it start?  Think!  Why do you think this step happens?  Have you got a reason?  OK, write to me.  Tell me.

4)Meeting with the mentor

But luckily – just when your hero was thinking of doing nothing – just thinking they were fine to wallow about like a hippo / to lie in bed playing Clash of the Clans and eating crisps – they meet a mentor – a teacher – who will usually give them advice / some sort of magic sword / or just a big Kick Up The Bum.  Now at last they are ready to go into Outer Space.  They can hear that mysterious voice calling them from the toilet.  They have the tools they need / the special Toilet-swimming Armbands and scuba gear.  They can dive in.  As can you of course.

And start a new story, using these steps.  Or perhaps re-write your Spooky Story, in the light of them.  And send them to MrCloverTheFamousSnail@gmail.com  I shall await your tales, inside my sparkling shell!  I shall put them on the walls!  I shall send out gifts to the best writers!   Have fun!

Mr Clover, your slimey friend

PS I nicked this image from Ryan Dunlavey, who does some brilliant cartoons.  Check  him out!

Can Your Dog Beat Usain Bolt

August 20, 2016 by Andrew Clover Leave a Comment

 

boltmessing

We love Usain Bolt in this house. 

We love his speed, his muscles, and his heroic ability to mess about, in situations of high stress.    We love his name.  (How perfect is it that he’s called Bolt?)  When Bolt wins, even if it’s recorded, we can’t help but cheer.  We buy into the whole drama – how Gatlin (trained, drugged, tashed) is The Bad Guy:  Bolt is The Good Guy.  The thought of him retiring makes us feel we’re leaving a Special Place, never to return.  We love him. 

At the river, we marked out one hundred yards, then took the dog to the start.  Cassady was charged with holding the athlete, Grace with timing, and I had the important job of exciting the athlete, by flinging a ball at the Finish Line.   

The first try was a False Start.  (The athlete saw the ball, and went early).   The second time the timer failed. 

On the third, the athlete timed the 100 metres at 7.9 seconds, and that didn’t allow for a slight diversion, when she had to go round the thistles.  We now put it to you.  Can anyone find an animal to beat us?  Would Mr Bolt like to come to our track to come and try a race?  We’re not sure we could pay him much, but, if it would help him run, we would be happy to fling a ball.

A snob, a sneerer, and a Selfie Queen

August 19, 2016 by Andrew Clover Leave a Comment

steviefourcardbyGS

 

Hello friends!

Thank you so much for the character       breakdowns, you’ve been sending in, and for the Real Life Creepy Stories.  (Do more!   Tell me how it feels when you get scared!)

And thank you, too, for the pictures you’ve been sending in, to illustrate the characters that I posted up last week.  My favourite is this one, that has come from the divine Gareth Southwell, in Wales.  OK, it’s a bit of a cheat, since Gareth is a professional illustrator, who says he could be up for a collaboration.

But anyway, here is his Amelia de la Court, who is the snobby Queen Bee of our tale.  (The sort of girl who’s always surrounded by sidekicks, who pick up on her sneers.  The sort of girl who tells you about her upcoming birthday, then says you’re not invited…)

Do you know girls like this?  Might you tell us about The Worst People In Your School?  You can change the names, before sending.  My tip is to write down everything they do, that you don’t like, then just to send me a few of their worst habits and actions.

Enjoy!   This is the centre of why I love writing:  if someone is horrid to us, in real life, it scalds our very insides.  But we can write it down, and everyone will relate.  In real life, we all feel we’re Cinderella, surrounded by evil sisters…  Write to me, my Cinderellas, and we will banish evil with the magic of our tales!

 

Mr Clover’s Summer Writing School: How To Write Characters

August 12, 2016 by Andrew Clover Leave a Comment

Hello friends!   I’m really enjoying the Character Breakdowns you’ve been sending.  I’ve got a lot of Superheroes.  I’ve had a variation on Batman, a variation on Spiderman, why don’t we try to think of a kind of animal that’s never been a superhero?  What could that be?

Duckman?  (He can fly.  Also he can land on water with a big splash).

Fishman?  (When there are baddies, he swims through the air, and stands in front of them blowing bubbles?)

I’ve been doing Character Breakdowns for this TV script I mentioned last week, about the ten year old boy, who thinks he’s the world’s greatest detective.  (He’s not.  He’s just seen loads on TV…)  This is what I’ve come up with so far.  As you can see, my main focus has been to think of characters who Rory has strong feelings about.  I also like a character who has a contradiction (eg they’re tough, but small).  So this is what I’ve got…

Cassady

She is a very exciting person.  Rory only knows her because she lives over the fence, otherwise he’d never get to see her.   She is one of those naughty, ginger-haired girls who are brilliant at being the centre of attention.  Whenever you see her, she’s always surrounded by six people laughing, or she’s letting off a fire extinguisher at the dinner ladies.   (This is a picture of someone who’s a bit like how I see her.  I think it’s Emily Watson from Perks of Being A Wallflower – such a brilliant film, and book.)hello_world_i__m_your_wild_girl_by_d_n_a_35

Isolde

On Rory’s street, there is a girl called Isolde, who’s always hanging around, hoping for someone to play with.  She’s in the year below, and she often knocks on the door, saying “Is Rory able to come outside and play Mrs Flanagan?”   Rory hides under the sofa, furiously shaking his head,  and sometimes, just to stitch him up, his brother says:  “Yes, Isolde,  Rory is right here.”

Steven McEver

is Rory’s friend, when he wants to be a bit hard.   He’s the kind of guy who you’ll see out and about, throwing a supermarket trolley, onto the motorway.  Whenever anyone comes into the playground, he’ll kick a football at their head.  He is full of spikey energy, and rebelliousness, and is always spoiling for a fight.  It’s partly because he’s so small.  He sometimes avoids Rory these days, because he hangs out with Jason Plumb, whose brother is a proper, actual criminal.

Amelia de la Court

is a snob and a bully and an eye-roller.  Her dad is the richest person in the area, and she always gives people that look that seems to say I-am-so-much-more-gorgeous-than-you-I-can’t-be-bothered-to-say-I-hate-you.   She is Cassady’s main nemesis.  (I had a picture of Kyle Jenner to illustrate this, but then got scared I’d be sued.)

Mr Meeton

is a legend.   He’s Rory’s favourite teacher by about a mile.   He teaches him table-tennis, and says things like:  “You need to try out for the District Tournement”.  He wears jeans and trainers, and teaches Music.  Apparently Mr Meeton was once in the Arctic Monkeys.  He even played in their first gig, which was in a school.  The only reason Mr Meeton wasn’t in their second gig, was because when the Arctic Monkeys went home after the first gig, Mr Meeton wasn’t in the van.  Mr Meeton could have been in the Arctic Monkeys, if it wasn’t for that.

 

Do you like any of these characters?  Paul (the producer of the TV show) has decided that the show will be partly animated – as if Rory is showing off his world, by drawing it.  Would someone like to draw pictures of these characters?  They don’t have to look great.  They have to look like they’ve been drawn by Rory, who’s ten.  Do you fancy having a go?

Alien Invasion In Mr Clover’s Writing School

August 11, 2016 by Andrew Clover Leave a Comment

Hello!  Hello!  Mr Clover here, welcome to the Writing Shed.  Come in, please leave your bows and arrows by the door.   Now…  I have been contacted by several people saying you are busy writing Character Portraits, but you need to go to the beach / need to have a very long wee / want another day.  So I am giving you another day.  We will gather back here tomorrow, same time (3 pm).

In the meantime, I would like to read out a story from Xanthe (8) in Ashford,  which I particularly enjoyed.  Her story came out of the first exercise I set, which is where you have to list several boring things that you see around you, and then you must write the words “BUT THEN…”  I told you that just writing those words will have a magic effect on your imagination, as if it were being jolted with an electric spark, and then things will happen.

This proved the case with Xanthe’s story.  Listen to this…

 

I am sitting in antmana messy living room on the floor. The black, murky TV is off. The grey vacuum cleaner is laden with dust. The cold armchair is shadowed by the grey sky.  

But then out of nowhere an alien spaceship comes zooming down from the grey sky. There are two green aliens driving.  They cut a hole in the ceiling and grab me from the floor. The aliens are called Mog and Bob, they are smelly but kind. 

They take me to Space World. There are comets passing in the pink sky.  All sorts of planets are on springs out of the Space World.  They are on springs because they don’t have gravity so they would float off otherwise.  On the planet there are ten houses for each alien.   I count how many aliens are on the main planet of space world, there are only 242 aliens that I can see. 

Mog and Bob tell me that most of the aliens have flown off on flying ants to invade planets.  Mog and Bob used to be human but they got taken to alien world many years ago and everything they ate turned them into aliens but they remembered their human side.  They said they were goodies but the other aliens were baddies.   

I am worried about an alien invasion so I ask Mog and Bob to bring me back to earth.

When I get home I ask Mummy to boil the kettle of water and bring it outside to stop an invasion. After the water has been poured over the teaming mass of flying ants, I know I have not killed wildlife but I have stopped an alien invasion of earth.

I go back indoors and turn on the black TV and go back to my ordinary day. 

 

These are the things that I particularly like about Xanthe’s story…

  • I feel that she has opened up her imagination, and let things happen.  I can see that hole in the ceiling happening, with the aliens reaching down and grabbing.
  • I liked the short, but hilarious Character Portrait telling us about the aliens: they “are called Mog and Bob, they are smelly but kind”.  [You could tell us more though, Xanthe!  Which alien is in charge – Mog or Bob?  Which is taller?  Do they have any particular habits?  Is there something they want?  (Does Mog stare out at the black night, scanning the sky for ants?)]
  • I particularly enjoyed how Xanthe has a rather scientific sort of imagination. She imagines weird things happening, and then explains how they might work.  So I love the planets on springs, and that the bad aliens are riding on flying ants.  [Weirdly I had a similar idea in fantasy book I wrote, called Dirty Angels, which said that there are aliens on this planet, just they’re all mosquitoes.  (How would we know that flying ants aren’t from other planets? Has anyone asked them?)]

Before posting it, I adjusted two things about Xanthe’s story:

  • She had jumped from the present tense to the past, and back again.  This is very very common.  I like to write in the present tense, where everything is happening, right now, and it’s more active, but it’s much harder.  You can’t stop a story to explain things.  You can get away with that more in the past tense, which is more traditional.
  • I took a little bit out of the story. It contained more ideas that were wonderful, but which stopped the story a little.  This brings me to the oldest writing tip in the human world:  you must show, don’t tell.  In this case, it means that Xanthe’s heroine should discover all sorts of things that happen on her planet, and can’t just tell the readers.  It would be fun to imagine her sneaking about the planet, then seeing an evil alien fly off, on an ant.  I would love to hear about that!  (Do the aliens get shrunk to fit on its back?  Do they have to hold on with some kind of reins?)

Perhaps Xanthe didn’t quite know what to do, on the strange world where she’d ended up.  There’s a common feature about stories in strange worlds:  usually the heroes of them must find a strange leader, and must help defeat them.  Perhaps this is why Mog and Bob have hi-jacked Xanthe:  they had noticed she had special powers that would help their struggle.

Anyway, I thank Xanthe, and, since her story has been the main event  of this week’s session, I shall send her some Cool Stuff.  In this case, I would like to send her one of my favourite books – Fortunately the Milk, a collaboration between two of the great geniuses working in this field:  the StoryMaster Neil Gaiman, and reining Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell,  the finest illustrator in the world!  This book, like Xanthe’s, involves lots of aliens, crazy ideas, and it goes at a galloping speed.  (You can read it in half an hour, which I love).

You’re all sending me Character Portraits for tomorrow.  But Xanthe’s story makes me want to set a challenge for next week…

Write a story – starting with a ‘BUT THEN’ – that goes to a strange world.  In that world you will find some things that are good, some things that are bad, and you will find a leader, who you must defeat, using your special powers.  Got that!  OK!  So get writing my friends!  And please give a round of applause for Xanthe?

Oh, before you got I’ve got to tell you a joke… Did you know that Bob Dylan has actually written a song, based on Xanthe’s story?  Oh yes.  It’s on The FreeWheelin Bob Dylan… He wrote a song about ants, flying in the wind, but he says that the ants are actually friendly.  Get your mum to find the song.  Its chorus says:

The ants are my friends,

They’re blowing in the wind,

The ants, sir, are blowing in the wind.

 

Big News In Mr Clover’s School

August 4, 2016 by Andrew Clover Leave a Comment

Sherlock

Hello my cheeky friends!

Thank you so much for the Premises you’ve been sending in for your stories.  What is with all the unicorns?  A veritable herd of unicorns have been sent my way.  They’ve been prodding me with their horns, and whinnying through my subconscious.  (Clearly unicorns are in the air, my friends, which tells me this:  someone is going to make a fortune with a unicorn story.  Perhaps it could be you).

Meanwhile we’re all dreaming of fortunes in the Clover house, after the Big News…

We were visited by Paul McKenzie this week, who produces comedies and kids’ shows on TV (he’s done Hetty Feather, and Sadie J, and Boys Meets Girl, and, just, everything).  I was laughing about my favourite premise of the week, which came from my gorgeous daughter Cassady (13) who sent me…

“My premise is about a boy called Rory, who really really really wants to be a detective,   because he’s seen a lot of Sherlock.  Only problem is:  he’s actually not clever or brilliant at all.  He has a Sherlock coat, but it’s just a cagoule.  And you know when Sherlock goes into his Thought Palace, and words go across the screen, saying things like “radioactive”, and “weapon activation”?  Rory does that, but the words say things like “I need a wee”  and “jam”.  And everyone tries to stop him being a detective.  But then a dinner lady at the school gets murdered, and Rory is determined to figure out who did it.  And he keeps sneaking back into the school, until finally he finds a real actual murderer, and then he defeats him, by making a big bomb using a Bunsen Burner and a locust tank, and then he escapes out of the window, onto a trampoline...”

I just loved this premise, which gives you several of the important things in a Premise: ( 1)  what the hero wants,  (2) what problems they have, and (3)  what methods they use.

And Paul liked the premise too.   And he said:  “Why don’t you try writing a script and I’ll take it to CBBC?”  So now an actual commission has come from this writing school.  Only problem, I had to offer Cassady (1) 50% of the first script fee (when it comes)  (2)  had to promise a character in the show called Cassady and (3) a trip to see Rocky Horror Picture Show (playing tonight at the Marlowe Theatre).   This sort of thing could happen to you.  Get writing!

In the meantime, Paul has now set the next task for the school.  He has challenged me – as I challenge you – to write up Character Breakdowns for the characters.   Character Breakdowns are the most fun things to write.  You just describe characters who might turn up into your story, saying things like (1)  how they help / stop your hero,  (2)  what they want,  (3) what is unusual about them, (4) what habits do they have?

I’m going to start off with the character of Cassady, who will be obsessed with dancing.  And maybe Rory likes to spy on her.  Oh yes… I’m going to enjoy this challenge.  Hope you do too.

What do you want to read?

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