FAST OR SLOW?

Speed is one of those things that we all deal with in our different ways. Driving, eating, and any number of other things that we do all of the time are governed by the speed we do them. When we drive on a motorway we have to keep to the right speed as dictated by the laws and the conditions otherwise there can be real issues. The same when it comes to eating. Eat too fast and indigestion awaits, but eat too slowly and a piping hot meal isn’t quite so appealing. So speed itself is nothing to be concerned by, rather that speed in the wrong place is the issue. But speed falls into characteristics of people as well. I’ve played rugby with people who always seemed to just have more time than everyone else. It was akin to the watching the six million dollar man run when opposition players went after them because they had the speed of thought and action to read what was ahead of them. But fast doesn’t mean best. When people move slowly, it could mean that they’re just slow in everything they do but I watched a talk last year with an actor who pointed out when considering how he went about creating a certain type of performance that it was a lack of speed that was an easy way to create menace and show power. People with the most power can afford to be slow and precise because they know that everyone else will jump to do their bidding. Those without power have to rush to make sure that they do all that is requested of them so they can avoid any potential wrath. Speed makes up a subtle yet important factor in how writers go about weaving a character because it echoes from reality. We know the person who’s always rushing about but never seems to get anywhere. The one who’s so laid back they’re horizontal yet still get everything done and everything in between so making sure that every possible tool at hand goes into making the characters as fully rounded as possible is a must. My only problem is writing fast enough now to get the books finished. Such is life. Stay safe.

BENDY

Have you ever encountered the storytelling classic, so often a part of tales woven by young children but not by them exclusively, of “and then we all went home and went to bed”? If you were a deep sea diver and came up that fast, you could guarantee a case of the bends.

It’s an awesome wand to wave about as a kid when you’ve written the exciting stuff and you’ve got a little bored with tying up the loose ends. All you do is throw those words on the page and you’re done, knots be damned.

Now I mention this as an author who, despite no longer being a child, has to make sure not to undercook the end of the process when I’m working on a story. Not that I’m having to keep weapons raised against characters heading off for a snooze, it’s ensuring that there’s the correct, and appropriate conclusion for everyone and everything involved.

You’ve all read a story or watched a film or TV show where there’s an unintended cliff hanger because the arc of a character hasn’t been completed and it’s bloody annoying. It’s not that we don’t appreciate an open end, rather it’s the fact that it isn’t addressed as such. At the end of a book, being told that there’s more to come because the character in question is in the middle of something means that the author has been considering the onward story and that it wasn’t just forgotten about.

Going home and going to bed after an adventure of some kind is pretty much the life experience of a child though, so seeing that manifest in a story shouldn’t be overlooked as a sign of the person telling the tale. If you’re out playing with your friends as a kid then go home, landing back to reality, it can be seen as just mundanely dull so it’s understandable that in terms of story telling, a child would translate that to mean that as soon as the ‘action’ finishes, there’s nothing left to talk about. Maybe we cut them a tiny bit of slack in the early years?

All in all, a good beginning is vital to a story because it pulls the reader in, but a strong ending is just as important. You plan and plan and plan and as the story develops, you make amendments and adjustments to keep the ship sailing in the right direction but if you finish abruptly, without paying the attention required, either through laziness or oversight, the results can ultimately negate everything which has gone before.

A bit like rushing to reopen schools, businesses etc. before the full and correct controls are implemented, wouldn’t you say?