Novels are necklaces. We talk a lot about the structure of a plot, and stress about it, and we\u2019re right to talk and stress because plot matters so intensely and is so hard to get right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a book is just a chain of scenes, right? And yes, it\u2019s a carefully sequenced chain, but each scene has its own story and its own structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Write with Jericho<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, as you probably know, as part of our MAGA policy (Make Authors Great Again), we\u2019re launching a new-and-improved version of our Write with Jericho<\/a> <\/strong>course. Lesson One \u2013 Making Each Scene Purposeful<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 drops this week, led by my colleague (and psych thriller author), Becca Day. Next week, I\u2019ll be teaching about building atmosphere in the scene. My colleagues (and authors) Sophie Flynn and Laura Starkey will also lead lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The course is free to all Premium Members and the above link tells you more about how to participate. It also tells you what to do if you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So: take the course, listen to Becca, and think about scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How one scene works<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I\u2019m not going to repeat all the things that Becca speaks about, but what I do want to do is to take one short scene and see what it\u2019s doing in terms of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scene \u2013 which I\u2019ve chosen literally at random from Talking to the Dead<\/em> \u2013 is one where Fiona arrives at the home of a man called Huw Fletcher. She suspects him of real wrong-doing, but knows he\u2019s missing. She doesn\u2019t have a way to get into the house \u2026 but she does have a strange kind of friend\/enemy relationship with a bent copper, named Brian Penry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bold text is the scene itself. The italics are my comments. I\u2019ve made some minor edits for the purposes of brevity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Modern brick houses, double-glazed and comfortable. Speed bumps in the road and cars neat in their driveways.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The scene opens with several questions. One, what\u2019s happened to Fletcher? Two, how does Fiona expect to get into a house when she has no means of entry and no search warrant? And three, what\u2019s in the house?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing remarkable about any of it, the house or the street, except that there\u2019s an unloved dark blue Toyota Yaris parked up in front of Fletcher\u2019s address, window wound down, and Brian Penry\u2019s darkly haired arm beating time to some inaudible music.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not surprised to see him. I don\u2019t altogether know what the dark lines are that connect Rattigan, Fletcher and Penry \u2013 though I\u2019ve got my ideas \u2013 but [I had ways to send signals to him and did what I could.]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I wasn\u2019t sure that any of that would bring Penry, or what I\u2019d do if it <\/strong>didn\u2019t. But I don\u2019t have to worry about that. Here he is.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Penry gets out of the Yaris and leans up against it, waiting for me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, so a new question now jumps out at us: what is Brian Penry\u2019s connection with any of this? As far as the reader\u2019s been concerned, he\u2019s under investigation for an entirely different crime. But notice also that one of the questions we started with \u2013 how does Fiona get into this house? \u2013 already feels different with Penry\u2019s presence here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Well, well, Detective Constable.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Good morning, Mr Penry.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The home of the mysterious Mr Fletcher.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The mysterious and missing Mr Fletcher.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Penry checks the road. No other cars. No other coppers. \u2018No search warrant.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Correct. We\u2019re making preliminary enquiries about a reported missing person. If you have any information that might be related to the matter, I\u2019d ask that you disclose it in full.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is fencing, and it feels like it. Neither party is saying what they actually think or feel. But notice that Penry is now making that question about access to the house explicit. He\u2019s basically saying, \u201cYou can\u2019t legally enter that house because you don\u2019t have a search warrant.\u201d And he\u2019s right. That question is now centre stage.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018No. No information, Detective Constable.\u2019 But he gets a key out of his pocket. A brass Yale key, which he holds up twinkling in the half<\/strong>-sunlight. \u2018I want you to know that I have nothing to do with any of this. I made some money that I should not have made. I did not report some of the things that I should have reported. I fucked <\/strong>up. But I didn\u2019t fuck up the way that idiot fucked up.\u2019 He<\/em> equals a jab of the index finger equals Huw Fletcher.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I reach for the key.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He holds it away from me, polishes it in a handkerchief to remove prints and sweat, then holds it out. I take it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now both our starting questions get attention. Penry for the first time acknowledges that he is in some (still mysterious) way linked to Fletcher. That\u2019s the first time two major story strands have been formally connected in the book. And the question about access \u2013 well, he has a key. Him wiping prints off the key emphasise the not-very-official nature of what\u2019s happening.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Time to find out what kind of idiot you aren\u2019t,\u2019 I say.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Penry nods. I\u2019m expecting him to move, but he doesn\u2019t, just keeps leaning up against the Yaris and half smiling down at me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018You\u2019re going in there alone?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018To begin with, yes. Since I am alone.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018You know, when I was a young officer, a wet-behind-the-ears DC, that\u2019s what I\u2019d have done too.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Junior officers are required to use their initiative in confronting unforeseen situations,\u2019 I agree. I don\u2019t know why I start speaking like a textbook to Penry, of all people\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The access question is solved by the key, but that question is instantly replaced by this one: are you going in there alone? That\u2019s partly a safety question (is it safe in there?), but it\u2019s also a legality one. Fiona doesn\u2019t have a warrant. Does she intend to break the law?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Penry says, \u2018You\u2019re like me. You know that? You\u2019re like me and you\u2019ll end up like me.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Maybe.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Not maybe. Definitely.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Can you even play the piano?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018No. Not a single bloody note. Always thought I\u2019d like to, but I get a brand-new piano in the house and I never touch it.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018That is like me,\u2019 I nod. \u2018That would be just like me.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Penry is now saying, \u201cYes, you will go in there illegally and you\u2019ll end up like me \u2013 a bent copper who\u2019s about to be sent to prison.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When Penry stole money, one of the things he bought with it was an upright piano, which Fiona saw earlier at his home. The non-playing of the piano shows how pointless the thefts were. Penry destroyed himself for no gain, and is telling Fiona that she\u2019ll do the same. It\u2019s not quite clear if Fiona even disagrees.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So now we have a new question \u2013 and one much bigger than those we started with \u2013 which is: can Fiona manage her future in a way that doesn\u2019t destroy her? And, in fact, because we know she\u2019s about to enter the house illegally, the question has edge. It looks like she is<\/u> on the path to self-destruction.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n His half-smile extends into a three-quarters one, \u2026 then vanishes. He gives me a half-salute, slides back into the Yaris and drives off, slowly because of the speed bumps.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So the Penry-related questions are closed off (for now). The questions about this house-entry loom large.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The street is empty and silent. The sunlight occupies the empty space like an invading army. There\u2019s just me, a house and a key. My gun is in the car, but it can stay right where it is. Whatever\u2019s in the house isn\u2019t about to start a fight, or at least I hope it isn\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I approach the door, insert the key, turn the lock.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel a kind of amazement when the lock turns. It\u2019s like turning the page in a fairy story and finding that the story continues exactly as before. At some point, this particular tale has to come to an end<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a pause, but it\u2019s weaponised. The invading army, the gun, the fight \u2013 all those words add menace to this moment. In a somewhat metaphorical way, the story is telling us that things are starting to turn serious. The stakes are rising.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The house is . . . just a house. There are probably twenty other houses on the same street that are exactly like it, near as dammit. No corpses. No emaciated figures of runaway shipping managers chained to radiators. No weapons. No stashes of drugs. No heroin-injecting prostitutes or little girls with only half a head.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n OK. So far, so nothing. But there\u2019s no release of tension. Slightly the opposite. The reader knows that something\u2019s about to happen \u2013 there\u2019s been too much made of this house entry for there to be nothing inside.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I tiptoe round the house, shrinking from its accumulated silence. I\u2019ve taken my jacket off, and wrap it round my hand whenever I touch handles or shift objects.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t like being here. I think Brian Penry is right. I\u2019ve got more of him in me than of, say, David Brydon [a very upright police officer, and Fiona\u2019s first proper boyfriend]. I wish that weren\u2019t true, but it is.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another reminder that Fiona is acting illegally, and that her future is in doubt. That question feels even sharper now. Fiona\u2019s two possible futures are personified: the upright Mr Brydon, and the self-destructive Mr Penry.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the bedroom, there is a big double bed, neatly made with white sheets and a mauve duvet cover.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the bathroom, just one toothbrush. All the toiletries are male.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the living room, three fat black flies are buzzing against the windowpane. A dozen of their comrades lie dead beneath them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n More stillness. More waiting for whatever The Thing is that\u2019s about to show its face. But also \u2013 those dead flies. A little drip of reminder about the darkness that lies here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the kitchen, I open cupboards and drawers, and in the place where tea towels and placemats are kept, there is also <\/strong>cash. Fifty-pound notes. Thick wodges of them. Held together with rubber bands. The drawer below holds bin liners and kitchen foil, and even more bundles of notes. These ones are stacked up against the back of the drawer, making multiple rows. A little paper wall of cash. With one finger, and still through my jacket, I riffle one of the bundles. Fifties all the way down.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah! Here\u2019s the thing. That third question \u2013 what\u2019s in the house? \u2013 is now fully answered. But that also means it\u2019s instantly replaced by a \u201cand what are the consequences?\u201d type question.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t like being here at all now. I don\u2019t like being Brian Penry. I want to go back to plan A, which was to practise getting ready to be Dave Brydon\u2019s new girlfriend. To experiment with my putative new citizenship of Planet Normal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I close the drawer and leave the house. The lock clicks shut behind me. I find an old terracotta flowerpot in the garden and stow Penry\u2019s key underneath it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, so we\u2019re done with questions about the house. The questions about Fletcher remain, but now he\u2019s not just missing. He\u2019s a missing person with tons of surely illicit cash in his home. But what about Fiona? She shouldn\u2019t have gone in there. She did. She found something which her less rule-breaking colleagues surely need to know about.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in my car, I find that I\u2019m sweating and cold at the same time. I try to go back to that feeling I had on the print-room stair<\/strong>s. That feeling of being somewhere close to love and happiness. Living next door to the sunshine twins. I can\u2019t find them anywhere now. When I stamp my legs, I can hardly feel my feet when they hit the floor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I call the Newport police station. It\u2019s all I can do, and I feel relieved when the silence is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, the scene \u2013 which has been low-key emotionally \u2013 ends with some big emotions. Fiona is a long way now from \u2018the sunshine twins\u2019. The darkness of these crimes is enclosing her.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But she does at least call her police colleagues. She\u2019s doing something to restore legal \/ official order to affairs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But notice what\u2019s happened to our opening questions. They were:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first of those questions is still a big Don\u2019t Know \u2013 but the question has become deeper and darker as a result of what\u2019s just happened.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Question 2 has been answered, but it\u2019s been replaced a much bigger and more interesting one: \u201cWill Fiona destroy herself the same way as Penry did?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Question 3 has been answered, but it\u2019s been replaced by a \u201cWhat the hell<\/u> is going on with Fletcher?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And notice two more things before we finish:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The story after this scene ends is more complicated, darker and deeper than it was before And this was a short scene. And nothing much actually happened: a man gave a woman a key. And she found some cash in a drawer. That\u2019s not much by way of actual action.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflections<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of writing advice is generated because people have to generate something. They have a blogpost to write, or an email to send, or a course module to fill,<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the only advice worth anything is advice that helps you solve problems in your writing. So when I read or listen to advice, I always ask: does this actually describe what I personally do when I\u2019m writing well? Does this advice actually generate insights that will help me when I get stuck?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, without talking about everything that Becca discusses, I have to say that, yes, her insights described exactly<\/em> what was happening in this scene. Not just that, but it was surprising to me to see how mobile the scene-questions were. How they changed, not even from page to page, but every few paragraphs. That\u2019s presumably why good writing feels alive, mobile and unpredictable, and bad writing feels stagey, dull and dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyhow: I hope you enjoy the Write with Jericho course. More info below if you need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n FEEDBACK FRIDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No feedback from me this week. Becca takes over. Her Lesson One video<\/a><\/strong> (available to Premium Members only) contains an assignment to do and upload<\/strong><\/a> to Townhouse. In addition to feedback from your peers, there might even be a chance of getting feedback from Becca. If you aren’t a Premium Member, then you can sign up<\/strong><\/a>, and join the course, immediately and for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s it from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Til soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novels are necklaces. We talk a lot about the structure of a plot, and stress about it, and we\u2019re right to talk and stress because plot matters so intensely and is so hard to get right. But a book is just a chain of scenes, right? And yes, it\u2019s a carefully sequenced chain, but each<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":98318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29292],"tags":[29213],"class_list":["post-151567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harrys-friday-email","tag-harry-friday-email"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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