My experience on the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme: Month 6

Hello again! Welcome back to my series of insights into what it’s like to undertake the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme.  

Month six means I’m now halfway through the course. Time really does speed up when you’re having your mind stuffed full of wonderful writing skills. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the halfway-through-the-course milestone is marked with the topic of ‘Pacing and Tension’…  

A critical story requirement, ‘Pace and Tension’ is the stuff that compels a reader to begin reading, keeps them turning pages to the end and, ideally, still hooked on the story beyond the final page. It’s what inspires us to implore our friends that they simply must read this book, too. It is the stuff of publishing lore. It’s what marks out the okay story from the brilliant story.  

Gaining expertise in this month’s topic of writing-wizardry is relevant for all writers and all stories. I’m writing within the literary genre and so might be tempted to think that this month’s topic sounds a bit too genre-trope-driven. But I’d be wrong. Whilst my stories may not feature a murder, a city-centre car chase or a cat-stroking international criminal, they still need to intrigue and compel, evoke movement and transformation. What author doesn’t dream of the fabled ‘a real page turner, kept me hooked to the end’ type of five-star review?

There are many methods by which it’s possible to engender that compulsion to find out what’s going to happen, and it’s clear we’re to be schooled in all of them this month: how to reveal and withhold information; how to ratchet pace up and slow it down (which you might think decreases tension, but can, if deployed effectively, increase it); how to raise the stakes for the character and ensure that each scene plays a role in keeping the reader locked in.  

We’re also being reminded of how every single month’s topic leading up to this point has prepared us. For instance, the choice of how to structure the timeline of a story plays a significant role in building pace and intrigue – something we learned about in Month 1, ‘Planning’. Month 2’s ‘Point of View’ choices – third person / first person / unreliable narrator – are another core technique. Come Month 3, we were learning about how choices regarding setting were vital to lift and deepen our stories: another useful mechanism for controlling pace and curiosity. Months 4 and 5 dealt with ‘Character’ and ‘Emotions & Senses’ – the starting point for any story tension. An unrelatable, boring character always stalls tension and damages pace, no matter how many craft tricks an author throws into the mix. 

So, yes, we are at the midpoint of the course – classically the pivotal moment in a novel, or as James Scott Bell (author of Write Your Novel From the Middle) put it, “…the moment that tells what the novel or movie is really about.”  

It’s a point of no return; arguably the biggest turning point of the story. It’s where characters discover what they truly need versus what they thought they wanted. At the very least, it is the point at which the reader understands this. With the midpoint, we get deeper stakes, sharper goals and consequences closing in, with characters having no choice but to move from reaction to intentional action.  

And, in a moment of beautiful synchronicity this midpoint has applied to me, as a student of the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme, too. Recently, my tutor, Andrew Miller – himself no stranger to writing deeply compelling page turners, as evidenced by his latest longlisting for the Booker Prize – asked me a simple question. One that is, in fact, a core question my story needs to answer if I am to be successful in the tension and pace stakes: “But, what is [the main character] going to do with her [ESP type] skills?”  

I gave him an answer, of sorts. But Andrew’s question stayed with me. It niggled at me, and nagged, and niggled some more – and I realised my first answer was not good enough. It had dealt with important aspects of characterisation and themes but didn’t answer how I was raising the stakes or fundamentally changing how my character turned up in the world. What to do…?  

Ah-hah! In due course, the perfect plot device popped into my mind – a set of scenes showing specific actions which demonstrate a tonal shift, the character’s emotional crystallisation from relative despondency to determination, the provocation to utilise her set of special skills and the consequences which round out the story arc and her emotional journey. I duly emailed Andrew with my corrected answer and received an encouraging ‘go-for-it’ reply. 

I think this is why the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme often ends up being the turning point in many author’s careers. At the same time as I’m learning about turning points in the craft (and writing about them in this here blog) I’m given a turning point all of my very own. Real life proof that points of no return do happen; movement forward, beyond perceived boundaries, boosts to my writerly heart, girding my conviction to keep on keeping on writing, seeking to be the best writer I can be.  

The tweak to my character’s plot is wholly my idea, but I got there because of a wise and timely question posed by an author and tutor who is steeped in experience about how stories, and lives, may turn upon such tiny moments.  

This month’s Ultimate Novel Writing Programme topic has already paid me its dividends: improving the potential of my manuscript. All I’ve got to do is go write it. Simples!  

Until next time… 

Rachel Davidson is a long-term Premium Member of Jericho Writers prior to joining our Writer Support Team, Rachel loves helping hopeful writers, such as herself, to solve their problems and take a step or two closer to achieving their writing dreams. Rachel has previously self-published a trilogy, the first of which achieved bestseller status in fourteen Amazon categories in the UK, US, Australia and Canada and is now seeking her traditional publishing debut with her latest manuscript. You can find out more about Rachel via her Instagram @RachelDavidsonAuthor.