Novel Workshop

Main Characters: Hayley Foster, DI Patrick Levington

Opening:

Hayley gets off the bus and goes to work as normal, as a babysitter/nanny for the Parkinsons. When she turns the corner into their street, she sees their house is surrounded by police cars. "They know!" Two police officers come out holding the kids. The eldest spots her and calls out. She panics and runs.

Ending:

DI Levington will put the pieces together and discover who murdered the Parkinsons and the Miltons and why.

Have not yet decided if Hayley will live or die. If she lives, she will be reconciled with her family and have to go to court for theft.

· Does your protagonist succeed or fail in gaining the objective you gave him in your opener?

DI Levington succeeds in finding the murderer. He may or may not succeed in saving Hayley's life. Hayley does not succeed in escaping justice, and may fail to survive.

· Does your story come to an emotionally satisfying conclusion?

I would say yes. Murder mysteries are pretty standard in that, if the detective or whoever doesn't find the murderer, it falls a little flat. Hayley living or dying will not affect the tying up of ends.

· Can you see yourself going through anywhere from ten pages to seven hundred and being happy to see the story end this way?

Yes, again, the DI needs to find the murderer. I think Hayley may die. I'm still not sure.

Essential scenes (not in order)

1. Hayley being chased by the Sachs along the pontoon walk at Kangaroo Point.
2. Hayley meeting Avril Sachs again.
3. DI Levington discovers that Hayley has stolen the money and approaches a judge to put a freeze on her account.
4. DC Amberley traces the Sachs to the vicinity of 2 unsolved murders.
5. The Sachs kidnap Hayley and demand the money from her.
6. Hayley manages to escape and flees onto the river bank.

Other scenes (not in order)

7. Interview with Mrs Foster after she reports Hayley missing
8. DS Michaels travels to Gympie to investigate auto shop
9. Hayley moves into inner-city apartment and goes on a spending spree
10. The detectives discover the missing insurance money
11. DS Michaels investigates Robert Foster
12. Hayley calls her mother after escaping from the Sachs
13. Detectives piece together how the money was taken
14. Discover how the signature was forged on the change of bank details form (traced, exact match)
15. Interview with the Sachs, they tell the detectives that Hayley gave her last name as French (not Foster).
16. Find out that the Milton's money was transferred 4 weeks after they died
17. Report on Milton's death says brake failure - no fluid. Could not slow down for corner and spun out of control.
18. Discover that the Sachs were minor shareholders and knew that the Miltons were major shareholders
19. Hayley's gradual loss of society due to her personality
20. Hayley's spending spree

Character	Number of Scenes (2 spare)
DI Patrick Levington	32
Hayley Foster	16

/Red out.

Writing in my head, what about the paper?

Why is it that I can write stories in my head and think about them all day and never get the damn thing on paper? It annoys me intensely. I'm hoping it's just inexperience and will go away.

I have to find a way of outlining that suits me. No luck so far. Maybe that's just practice too. I hope so. It would help if I wasn't brain dead at night.

Nevermind, I'll settle into a routine soon. I hope so, anyway.

/Red out.

The Artist's Way

For anyone who is interested, here are the tasks for week one, in short hand.

1. Every morning, set your clock a half-hour early; get up and write 3 pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing. Do not reread these pages or allow anyone else to read them. (This won't make much sense unless you read the background to the morning pages, which is long and I'm not going to write it here. Suffice to say, just write. Not stories or anything detailed, just go straight from brain to hand.)
2. Take yourself on an artist's date.
3: Time-travel: list three old enemies of your creative self-worth. Be as specific as possible. This is your monster hall of fame.
4. Time travel: Select and write about one horror story from your monster hall of fame.
5. Write a letter to the censor in your defense. It is great fun to write this letter in the voice of your wounded artist child. "To whom it may concern, Sister Ann Rita is a jerk and has pig eyes and I can too spell!"
6. Time travel: List three old champions of your creative self worth.
7. Time travel: Select and write out one happy piece of encouragement. Write a thank-you letter. Mail it to yourself or to the long-lost mentor.
8. Imaginary lives: If you had five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them? Whatever occurs to you, jot it down. Do not overthink this exercise. The point of these lives is to have fun in them., more fun than you might be having in this one. Look over your list and select one. Then do it this week. For instance, if you put down country singer, can you pick a guitar? If you dream of being a cowhand, how about some horseback riding?
9. In working with affirmations and blurts (note: blurts are what your censor says to make you feel bad) very often injuries and monsters swim back to us. Add these to your list. Work with each blurt individually. Turn each negative blurt into a positive affirmation.
10. Take your srtist for a walk, just the two of you. A brisk 20-minute walk can dramatically alter consciousness.

Hmm, busy week ahead.

/Red out.

Anatomy of anger

"You bitch." Hands shaking, gut clenching and churning, jaw tight and the pressure of teeth. Tongue pressed to the roof of the mouth. Vision becomes narrow, focused, sickness, bile in the back of throat, toes curled, shoulders up and pulled in, hunched, lips pressed together, headache starting, breath shallow, jaw champing, still the sickness, can't think of anything but the anger. Perspective goes, everything is enormous, out of proportion. Driving need to get rid of the cause of the anger, fight or flight, head feels too small, too tight. Heart beating, feel the pulse in your throat, feel the muscles in your body jump and twitch.

/Red out.

Character workshop

Choose a gender.
Male

Choose a place of birth.
Mossman, far north Queensland

Choose a hobby.
Fly fishing

Choose a past job.
Working in his parent's shop in high school, then with a company as a despatch officer while working through uni.

Choose a present job.
Homicide Investigation Squad, Queensland Police

Choose a past love interest.
Alison Marks

Choose an enemy.
None specifically at this stage

Choose a pet.
None

Why is your character not working at the old job?
Went to uni then became a police officer

Why is your character not with the old love interest?
Left Mossman to go to uni in Brisbane. Love interest married in the meantime. Still good friends.

Why does your character not make the hobby a profession?
Because fishing doesn't pay

How did your character make the enemy?
N/A

How did the pet once save the character's life?
N/A

What is the one thing in the world your character would do anything to avoid? Why?
Shopping. He hates it. Has never become used to the city crowds and avoids going into the city when it is busy. He has no trouble driving in the city, just hates walking there.

What has he already done to avoid this?
He will think of any excuse to avoid it, and will often go into work after dropping off the family.

What do you see him doing in the future to avoid it?
Working weekends on the case.

What is the one thing in the world your character would do anything in the world to have? Why?
He would really like to have a holiday to Canada or Slovenia to fly fish on the big lakes and rivers.

What has he already done to try to obtain it?
Saves money for it, but with three kids and work, it's hard going. Last setback was when the sewerage pipe under the house burst. They are currently living in rental accommodation as the house is untenantable while repairs go on. Thousands of dollars to repair and a mortgage to pay.

What does he hope to try in the future?
Keep saving. He's a patient man.

What is your character's name?
Patrick Leverton

What is your character's age, and physical description.
42, getting a bit heavy, retreating hairline, nice smile, chipped tooth.

Write everything else you know about your character, right now.
Patrick is married to Angela AnJin Lien, an Australian daughter of chinese immigrants. They have 3 children, Luke, Benjamin and Jessica. Patrick is liked by his contemporaries though is considered to have little ambition. His boss respects him and because of this, sometimes expects a little too much of him. The other officers in his division call him Pat. When he is upset or angry or just needs to think, he slips down into the back yard to the shed and ties flies. The only shop he will spend a lot of time in is a fishing shop and he has two close fishing buddies. One is an accountant, the other owns his own boat but is a bit of a loss otherwise, can never stick to a job. The 'loss' is an old friend of Pat's from uni. They did their business degree together, but the loss dropped out. He lives on his parents' money.

/Red out.

Crossroads: An Author Self-Interrogation Chapter 2...again

Well, since SOW is finished, there's no point continuing with these questions for it. I'm at a momentary loss. I might use them again when I restart Song of Silk.

/Red out.

Crossroads: An Author Self-Interrogation Chapter 2

Okay. Finally starting on Chapter 2. I think I'm still going with Staff of Oaken Wood.

1). What does your protagonist want in this story?
Tomi, the protagonist, wants more than anything to go home. Home, to him, is memories of love and comfort that he yearns for. The reason he wants it so badly is because he cannot have it; he cannot go home.

Is this desire significant enough to make a reader also want it for your character? It's significant for Tomi; it drives his actions throught the entire story. That, and fear. I can only hope it is significant enough for a reader.

Is this desire significant enough to make a reader want it for your character through the length of an entire book, as long as the character wants it for herself?
Well, it's only a short story, so perhaps that will help.

Or--does this desire, sooner or later, pale into "Who cares?" territory for the reader?
Who knows? Time and readers will tell.