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Narrative strategies seminar

Narrative strategies; writing workshop

Write anything based on one of the following subjects: hidden killer

During the night there was a strange sound coming from the empty corridor. The house was unoccupied and I wasn’t exactly sure why I was here either. The surroundings were almost new to me in complete darkness. I walked slowly trying to find my way through the dark hollow corridor, sounds were coming from all around me and my thoughts were driving me insane as I began to assume the worst. I had no flash light, not even a phone to light up the way so I stopped in my tracks and began to think carefully about what to do next.

Why is a door a good story device?

Because of the mystery and what could be behind it- a ringing telephone, a letter or a locked door are good narrative devices because they provoke curiosity.

In this book doors are symbolic, the doors in chapter 1 connect the rooms of dr. Jekyll and mr. Hyde- the door has to be broken down for the mystery to be solved.

Stronger to use metaphors rather than similes.

Visualisation technique: write a story of a door

Upon approaching the sounds of gravel smother under the feet, crunching and rolling away as each footstep is taken. A small slope starting to become icy and more dangerous as the night gets colder followed my a shallow step up and the faint smell of clean laundry and white flowers. The door itself glistens in from the lamppost across the road and almost but not quite frozen snail trails are visible on the door as they sparkle from the frost consuming them. Dark and black with a dirty gold knocker in the upper centre just below two small square windows, not the most welcoming of scenes from the outside but in a strange way gives off a warm feeling. The roads are quiet.

Victorian slang:

Gas pipes

Mafficking

Mutton shunter

Enthuzimuzzy

Bags o mystery

Smiggins

Smother a parrot

Cop a mouse

Skilamalink

Afternoonified

Balloon juice

A beat in a story is something that moves the narrative forward, any action or event. Beat sheet.

Write this up on your blog:

Using the title ‘dr. Sawbones’ write an outline for a short animated film in which dr sawbones has to treat an unusual patient. Can be based on Stevenson’s or an entirely new character (contemporary or even futuristic) but the narrative should be original

Make notes on soundtrack and animated style or colour palette.

An outline is like a short story, full sentences and paragraphs but always in third person, present tense.

Write for clarity, no fancy language- try to think like a camera.

Not the same as a treatment. The outline is just for the writer, to help you visualise your story.

Doesn’t usually include dialogue.

This week: read or listen to chapters 2,3 and 4. Upload today’s writing session to the blog.

Introduction

Conflict/ trigger

Complications/ rising action

Climax/ turning point

Resolution/ falling action

Darkness was folding over the evening sky, the small surgery located down a dingy alley soon closing. Dr. Sawbones, the clean cut pale old man was sitting in his chair behind a broken desk with one leg shorter than the others, causing it to wobble every time he lent on it. Cigar smoke filled the room as the night fell.

A relatively lonely man dr. Sawbones, once upon a time one of the best surgeons in the country. Not many people trust him now, after his ego got the better of him and he unsuccessfully treated 10 patients and if they didn’t die, they wished they were dead.

He got up, walked over to the door and flipped over his ‘open’ sign when a strange figure appeared running from the distance. A dark cloak covered their face and body. He stood and watched as they approach the surgery. The hood covering their face, he stood in confusion and opened the door.

He opened his mouth about to speak but was stopped by the stranger pulling down their hood, his eyes widened and mouth opened so far it could have detached. A woman, but not an ordinary woman stood in front of him, begging him to help her. It wasn’t just one woman though and he had never witnessed anything like it. A woman with two heads, crying for help to detach them from each other.

Immediately selfish thoughts ran through his head, believing that this would be the redemption he needed. He welcomed them into the surgery and immediately sat down and told them he would be able to fix their deformity, and promises they will both survive. He brought the conjoined twins from the reception into a room containing a trolley of tools, unsanitary and speckled with hints of rust.

He laid them down on the table, muttering to himself and laughing which sounded almost sinister. He arranged the tools out on the trolley, removed the women’s clothes and injected them with an anaesthetic between their necks, he counted slowly down from 100 until the patients eyes were closed.

He slid on gloves and a white coat to protect his clothing, looked at the tools and picked out a saw. He examined the body and scored where he would begin to cut and without hesitation he began hacking in between the girl’s bodies, through the collar bones, and right down the middle of their ribs as he was laughing frantically. Pools of blood began to form and drip onto the floor.

Hours passed, the smell of iron and burnt flesh consumed the room as the doctor sat in the corner, a face with no expression and eyes that seemed to be in another world. He sat staring at the corpse now laying in the middle of the room, wondering what to do with himself. He realised there was no going back, he could no longer perform surgeries without purposefully tampering with the procedure.

He got up, went into the storage cupboard and grabbed a bottle of gasoline. He poured a trail throughout the surgery and lit a cigar, put his hat and jacket on and proceeded out the door but not before throwing a match to the ground. He limped into the darkness, not looking back once as the surgery became engulfed in flames.