M.D. Lachlan's Blog

A good review in The Daily Mail. Not my first choice of newspaper politically, in fact about my last, but the only tabloid with a decent books section any more.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books...

'...a brilliantly rendered tale of supernatural skulduggery with swords and codpieces, plots and plagues. It is delivered with humour, gut-churning detail and the narrative drive of a charging knight.'

Son of the Night is published on Kindle today under my Mark Alder name!
Very pleased and excited to have the second in the series out in the world, at long last!

Final version of Son of the Night sent to copy editor. One close read now before publication.
Here's a quick dramatis personae for point of view characters.
Count of Gatinais
A nobleman called to war

Count of Eu
Constable of France. Right arm of God.

Osbert the Pardoner
Erstwhile sorcerer at the French court. At book's start, incredibly drunk champion of good.

Dowzabel
Antichrist. Hero.

Queen Isabella
Sorcerous daughter of France. Summoner of the English devils.

Queen Philippa of England
Holy Queen of England.

Charles the Bad of Navarre
The don't hand out titles like 'the bad' for nothing in the 14th century. Trouble. For everyone.

Book IV is edited, nearly and ready to go to the publisher, who has already read a draft and is very pleased with it.
Title as yet up for grabs but it is set in WWII - quite a leap from 1068 and the world of Valkyrie's Song.
The history of the book is complex. Originally this was not planned as a series, it was a standalone book set in WWII and flashing back to the Viking Period.
The book is, without doubt, the darkest of the series, due to the subject matter which takes on the Nazi appropriation of Norse Myth directly.
It's also, I hope, the best.
I'll write more as it nears publication.

Reviews coming in for Son of the Morning. Latest one is from We Love This Book! 'Addictive' and 'must read' are the ones that stood out for me!
http://www.welovethisbook.com/reviews...

Just a note that my new book Son of the Morning is out on Thursday, under the pen name Mark Alder.
It's been getting some excellent reviews - including a 5 star from SFX.
I'm really excited about this book as it's the best thing I've written so far, as well as the book that's taken longest to write.
Incredibly nervous about publication but fingers crossed!

Just finished proofing Son of the Morning - my new book under the pen name Mark Alder.
The signs are good on this one as it's virtually the first of my books my wife has liked!
Adventure, mystery, a detective story and the forces of Heaven and Hell unleashed against each other against the backdrop of the 100 Years War!
Look here for giveaways when I get any books to giveaway!

Hello folks.
Just a note that things are hotting up for the fourth in the Wolfsangel trilogy (?). The weird thing was, it was never planned as a trilogy but, somewhere along the line, the web decided it was. Also, it decided it was called 'The Craw trilogy'. No idea why but this persisted.
Anyway, I'm finishing off book IV at the moment - Valkyrie's Song - and it should be out some time next year.
Beyond this, I have another novel out next year under a different pen name - Mark Alder. This is called Son of the Morning. You can read about it on the Gollancz blog here! http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2013/02/fri...
Hope everyone well and I wanted some advice. I'd like to let my friends on Goodreads know about the launches by recommending the books myself. Is this acceptable practice?

This is based on my 'Write a novel in an hour' workshop that's run at various cons.


This isn’t the only way to plot out a novel but it may provide some keys into the process of writing and some ways of moving past blocks. It’s only one aspect of writing – the story, but it’s an important one. It was prepared for a fantasy audience but there are plenty of examples of how this works in other genres.

First of all, we must say to ourselves something very liberating:

‘It’s going to be rubbish!’

Yes, that’s right. Complete rubbish. This is a first draft, it's reaching into the lucky dip of the mind and seeing what comes out. It doesn't matter if your plot is awful - no one has to see it.

I always set out with this in mind:

Don’t get it right, get it written.

Editing is where your fine sensibilities come in. The first draft is about getting it down and you need to remove your internal critic. There are times I’ve written something and thought it was awful, gone back a month later and resumed my normal egotistical appraisal of my own work.


How should we begin to write? What’s the first thing we do when starting a book?

I would say write. Worldbuilding, character development, plotting, all fine but it’s not writing. I'm not saying don't do these things. It's just that it's not necessary to have reams of notes before you begin. The kind of drink they consume on Planet Tharg will emerge as you're writing.

Where shall we begin?

At the beginning. Yes. I do a lot of flashback in my novels but, if you're having difficulty writing something, it's a good idea to proceed chronologically and keep flashback to a minimum. It can really jar the momentum of a story if you're not exactly sure what you're doing with it.

So what’s our first scene? What must it contain?

What are novels about? People doing things.

Who is our main character. A man, a woman, what. Easier if it’s not a chair. Novels are about characters, even the most complex hard sci fi. Or they should be. No one is going to read a five page intro about a transport system, no matter how brilliant it is.

So say now who your character is.

OK, what are they doing? This is the important one and I think the key to your character. Where are they? Don't worry about what they look like. You can fill all that in later. Keep description short and pithy if you can – a metaphor is the best.


Already at this stage we have a clue to who they are. People are defined by their actions. In 1984 we know little about Winston Smith but we see him walking home through his strange, run down world and resisting the totalitarian regime by taking out his diary. In A Clockwork Orange Alex is in a milk bar planning mayhem. The incongruity of the setting - and of course, the language, sets the tone for the novel. In my novel Wolfsangel, the Viking king Authun is preparing for a raid on a Saxon village. We need be told nothing about him - his decisiveness, the loyalty he inspires in his men, the fear he strikes into the enemy are instant clues to his character. You don't need to be told he's a merciless killer, you see him mercilessly killing!

I use the word 'clues' advisedly. It's perfectly possible to come to a novel with a fully formed idea of a character, someone you want to capture in print. I find it more fun, however, to come to the story as the 'first reader'. I'm finding out about the person I'm describing. I know nothing about most of my characters when I first come to write them and only see them as they emerge on the page.

The next question is. What does your main character want the most in life?
In 1984 that could be summed up as 'freedom'. In A Clockwork Orange, I'd say it's not just violence. It's intensity of experience. In Wolfsangel, it's more direct. Authun is looking for a child who, it has been prophesied by witches, will lead his people to greatness.

How are they going to get it?
Winston is writing his diary and wants to contact the underground, Alex is going about killing, raping and listening to Beethoven and Authun is going to attack the Saxon village where the witches have told him he'll find the child.

Now, what’s going to help them get that. How are they going to go about it.
For Winston this is Julia, Alex it's - as I recall - the gang that helps him and the ineffective probation system. In Wolfsangel it's Authun's men on the ship.

Or what’s going to stop them?

In many novels these will divide into:

1 External forces

2 Internal forces

Clearly in 1984 it's Big Brother, the state, a whacking great external force. In A Clockwork Orange it's again the state but there is an internal force at work - Alex's need to maintain dominance among his peers by pulling off a really big crime. He has set free violence in his life and now can't stop it. In Wolfsangel the external forces are many - the Saxons who will fight Authun but also the witches who, it emerges, have tricked him. His character - a pitiless pragmatist - is faced with a large challenge in the form of Saitada, a slave girl who, for the first time in his life, sparks empathy inside him.

The protagonist is challenged in the way that is most meaningful to them. Alex's real challenge comes as he undergoes conditioning to curb his sensation seeking, curbing his violence but removing all pleasure from his life.

Winston is offered the freedom of love and individuality and has it suppressed in the cruellest way. In fact, he is forced to collude with the thing he hates.

Authun the Pitiless learns pity and it utterly alters the course of his life.

We give our characters a hard time, set them problems they must stretch themselves to their very limits to overcome.

The point at which the character receives his or her first meaningful challenge is known as the inciting incident. Everything before that is set up. There are names for every turning point of the plot but they don't really matter. The structure of every scene, every act and every whole novel follows the formula:

1 Hero is presented with a problem.

2 Hero cannot solve problem

3 Hero solves problem.

4 The solution leads to a greater problem.



There are in fact two approaches to beginning a novel. One is set up followed by inciting incident. The other is just inciting incident. The best I know is from a Mickey Spillane novel ‘The guy was as dead as hell’. This is the inciting incident, the first thing that happens . It doesn’t have to be antagonistic, it can seem to help. Harry Potter for instance gets an owl.
You might argue that Harry Potter putting his cousin into the snake house is the inciting incident but it isn't, it's part of the set up - establishing his magic powers. The Owl, and his eventual receipt of the letter, are true story drivers because they are consequential action.

This is the key to each plot point. It has consequences, people are forced to react. If you get them right you can almost find them writing themselves.

The incident demands a response from the characters, they can't just do nothing.

The inciting incidents rank among the most memorable scenes in fiction. The forces of chaos have kidnapped your wife. The king wants you to be his new Hand. We’re going to make you very much more intelligent. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope. There’s an eligible new gentleman in the neighbourhood and he’s coming to the ball.
Winston receives a note from Julia saying ‘I love you’.


I'll run through the rest of the plot with reference to Lord of the Rings and anything else that pops into my head. I'm choosing LOTR because it's well known and I know it very well. I'm reducing a huge story to 6 beats, so inevitably something will be lost. These six beats can be seen in each book of LOTR and across the whole plot.

Lord of the Rings begins in the Shire, as Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from Bilbo, his uncle and guardian. Both are unaware of its origin, but Gandalf the Grey, a wizard and old friend of Bilbo, learns of the Ring's history and advises Frodo to take it away from the Shire. The request for Frodo to take the ring is the inciting incident.

The basic four beats of any plot are here.

The Hero is presented with a problem (or the hero takes action) – Frodo is given the quest and sets out to go to Rivendell.


Point 2 The hero cannot solve the problem (or the Hero is opposed). Black riders pursue him.


Point 3 The hero overcomes the problem. He makes it to the ford.


Point 4 Overcoming leads to a further complication
He is stabbed by the Morgul sword and the ring starts to exert its influence on him. Arriving at Rivendell he volunteers to carry the ring on.

Frodo's external enemy is Sauron. His internal enemy are threats to his friendships - the power of the ring to shatter those by acting externally - through Boromir - or on himself, as it asks him to come to the wraith world. I think that a drive to friendship is Frodo's main motivation in LOTR.

The key to story writing is question 4. Consequential action. No good the hero getting robbed and going to a town if he immediately gets his purse back.
Unless that in itself causes bigger problems than not having the purse. He gets it back but he’s killed a member of the Theives’ Guild to get it. He gets it back but there’s an alert out for someone who has stolen a green purse. He’s arrested for stealing his own purse. Or a curse on his purse affects him.

Each problem must be bigger than the last. ‘You think the Black Riders were trouble? Wait until you meet the Balrog.’
The nature of the challenge must be that it affects directly the antagonist’s desires.
So it could be something big. A large fire spirit literally smashing the bridges to Mordor
Or small, a character who wants love but finds they can’t talk to the object of their affections.

Action costs.


Point 3 The hook (It's the third point if we take the set up and inciting incident as separate. It doesn't really matter. It's the same 4 beats as above repeated at a greater level of intensity.

1 The hero takes action (is presented with a problem)

Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, and a "Fellowship of the Ring" is chosen to accompany and protect him: Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, and the man Boromir, son of the Ruling Steward Denethor of the realm of Gondor.
Friendship is a major support to him.

2 The hero is opposed. (Cannot solve the problem) The Balrog and Boromir. You could argue these are external and internal threats – a sign of the ring’s ability to corrupt.

3 The hero overcomes the opposition, solves the problem. Gandalf gives his life. Boromir gives his.
Frodo puts on the ring and escapes from Boromir – he does something. And it costs, we know that he is giving up all protection and potentially entering the wraith world. In the film Sauron can see him – a very good device that shows what we’re talking about very well – out of the frying pan into the fire.

4 The solution provides future problems. Frodo splits from the fellowship, has to go it alone - until a true friend comes to help him.

Point 4 The false ending.
At this point, the protagonist's story seems to end. But the false ending only leads to a greater complication.

So how might our hero get what he wants

1 The hero takes action (presented with problem)
On their way to Mordor, Frodo and Sam capture Gollum, who has been following them from Moria, and force him to guide them to Mordor.
Finding Mordor's main gate impassable, they travel instead toward a secret pass known to Gollum.

2 The hero is opposed (Cannot solve problem). Gollum betrays Frodo by leading him to the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol. Frodo is left seemingly dead by Shelob's bite, but Sam fights her off. Sam takes the Ring, and forces himself to leave Frodo, believing him dead.

3 The hero overcomes the problem. Sometimes, but not often, a hero can be helped out of a dire spot by someone else. It can't happen too often or he becomes a passenger in the story and the person doing the rescuing becomes the hero - which arguably Sam Gamgee..oh, let's not go there.
Orcs find Frodo's body and Sam overhears them say that Frodo is in fact not dead, but unconscious. Frodo is taken by the orcs to the tower of Cirith Ungol, and Sam determines to rescue him. Friendship, positive internal values, help Frodo out.
4 Overcoming the problem leads to a greater problem. Frodo is terribly weak and must stagger on aided by his friend.

Point 5The dark moment. This is the point at which all seems lost. Luke has missed the Death Star's duct with his first torpedo! In the stories that affect us most all really does seem lost, we can't imagine the way out for the hero. Our clever story writer provides it and it all seems obvious!

1 The hero takes on a problem.
He goes to the crack of doom.

2 He cannot solve the problem. Now, all external enemies defeated or at least distracted, his internal opponents come to the fore. Is Frodo a team player or is he a selfish individual, his selfishness magically magnified by the ring? He is selfish and declares the ring to be his.

3 He overcomes the problem. But in fact it’s another aspect of Frodo’s internal drives that rescues him – his kindness to Gollum and his willingness to treat him as a friend. Gollum would have been dead if Sam had had his way. Instead, Frodo is rescued by his own generosity of spirit in the unlikely form of Gollum biting off his finger. Sauron is defeated, his empire in ruins.

It leads to further complication.
How are they to get out?

Point 6 The resolution that costs.

The hero finally solves the problem. This doesn't necessarily conform to the four beat structure as it comes in on beat 3. However, beat 4 still remains


To be truly satisfying there must be some cost to the victory.

Frodo remains wounded in body and spirit after his difficult journey bearing the weight of the One Ring, and some years later, accompanied by Bilbo and Gandalf, sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace. After Rosie's death, Sam gives his daughter the Red Book of Westmarch, containing the story and adventures of Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry. Sam is then said to have crossed west over the Sea, the last of the Ring-bearers, though his ultimate fate remains unknown.

As you can see, this basic four beat structure, repeated and intensified throughout until point 6 provides us with all we need to do to plan a story.

Now a confession. I don't do this. I just write. However, I do bear this structure in mind when I write and it's a very useful way of thinking past blocks. When I've run the 'Write a novel in an hour' seminar at cons we've always come up with interesting and original stuff - it's a collaborative exercise. Yes, the plots are rough and sometimes - though surprisingly rarely - clichéd but there's often a killer twist which emerges, surprising us all.

The key is to stick to the path of least resistance. Don't jam stuff in from the outside or ignore the obvious. If someone commits a crime then the police or lynch mob or city guards will come looking for them and he'll have to do something about it. If someone loses a horse or a spaceship, don't just make one magically appear. Make your characters suffer but keep it logical. I hope this helps. It's a work in progress and I welcome any feedback!