FILL IN THE MIDDLE

Write each of the opening and closing sentences you have been studying, on separate strips of paper. Choose one of each unseen, and write for 15 minutes, creating a narrative which will join that beginning to that ending.

For example, using quotations from this chapter, you might choose as the first sentence: ‘“Yes, of course, if it’s fine tomorrow,” said Mrs Ramsay’ and as the last ‘Then . . . some idiot turned on the lights.’ The task would be to write a story in between that made sense.

• Work your way through several pairings.
• Use the beginnings as endings and vice versa.

When you have finished, go through your narratives and highlight any ideas or phrases you could use in future. This is a good way to create the outline of a new story. Use some of the techniques from previous chapters to develop those narratives which show particular promise.

• Choose one of your narratives and develop it into a satisfying story.
• Pay particular attention to dialogue. How can this be used to move the story forward?

NB Unless you find dialogue particularly easy to write, it is a good idea to use ‘dummy dialogue’ in your first drafts, i.e. dialogue which conveys the required information, but is not yet crafted or personalised. This enables you to move ahead without interrupting the flow of ideas. You can polish your dummy dialogue as part of the editing process.