Okay I was going to call this missive ‘Three Act Play’, but the urge to offer a nod to Rocky Erickson was just too great – so there we go, look him up, he will entertain you!

Anyhow.

Three Act Play.

Yeah, that…

Went on a wee course , an afternoon tutorial which aimed to help/direct me in my submission style and content – and in that aim it was a great success. 

Kudos to the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast!

Oh, yeah, the ‘Three Act Play’.

Part of the feedback was, once completed, you should step away from your work, let it sit for a while, then come back and review it.

Happy with that, although I drip feed my scribbles to trusted critics and adjust accordingly, then once completed I repeat the process. 

But each to their own, and empty auditorium I cannot thank those critics enough!

For me, my direction to those who read my work in progress, is that they focus on the tale, is it any good, does it grip/move/engage?  The spelling errors, the syntax failings, all these things can be corrected after the event, but if we have a poor tale, what is the point in telling it better??

At this little gathering, and I’m sure it was a throw away remark (for all but me nodded), it was stated that you should critique your tale as a three act play and edit accordingly. 

I should look at my tale as a three-act structure; the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution.

I am, I know, not the brightest spark, or indeed the most academically qualified scribbler, but seriously WTF?!?!

The rhythm of a story dictates itself, it cannot live and breathe by following some arbitrary construct that mandates the flow – it simply cannot. 

Maybe I need to do a creative writing course, have all those rough edges and ignorance’s corrected, but if I do, won’t I be just another formulaic boy meets girl, does girl like boy, moment of peril and eventual resolution daytime Christmas movie writer?

I’m not knocking daytime movies – bubble-gum for the soul is welcome and enjoyable, but surely it’s not the only way we can tell our tale?    

I am probably over analysing the whole thing, maybe I should indeed take the advice of that North American warbler (of some success) and just ‘shake it off’? 

Perchance I will, but only after I’ve worried about it that little bit longer….