Week 4: Building your story
Introduction
Download this video clip.Video player: ou_futurelearn_fiction_vid_1018.mp4
Transcript
DEREK NEALE
Welcome to week 4. So far you’ve discovered how an important part of ‘setting out’ is starting to keep a journal. You can try out your ideas– map them, interrogate them, collect them.
A journal can also form a kind of personal ‘running commentary’. It’s private you can write there without fear of censorship, intrusion or critical comment.
We’ve seen how ideas for stories can come from anywhere and this week we’ll look further at where ideas for stories may come from and how to make them matter, personally, to you.
You’ll see an extract from a Fred D’Aguiar novel with a personal resonance and we’ll also be looking at research. You’ll hear from novelists Tim Pears, Patricia Duncker and Alex Garland talking about the value of research to their writing.
You’ll discover how your journal can become a tool to help you undertake research and record observation. You’ll consider ways of turning events into a plot; and how plot can develop from character.
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What have you written in your writer’s notebook so far? Find out how other writers use theirs and how you can develop a ‘notebook habit’.
Your writer’s notebook is a secret space where you can try out your ideas – map them, interrogate them, collect them. A journal can also form a kind of personal ‘running commentary’ to yourself, on your thoughts about your own work.
In the stories you’ve written so far, you’ll have seen how ideas can come from anywhere. We will now look further at where ideas for stories may come from, and how to make them matter personally to you.