William Anstee

All the thinking is done. We have practiced rhetoric, we have written to Campbell's twelve stages, we have looked at ancient story structures, we have tried dialogue, setting, time and character; now is the moment of truth. It is a strange experience, what was once an outpouring, a stream of consciousness, the tapping of the unconscious river, becomes far more reflective. Do the words do the job that Aristotle observed the words of the greats of the ancient world did? It is the ordinary world; 30 pages, about 12,000 words no more than the first of the twelve. What is there to say about the ordinary world? How can the reader become engaged? It is fascinating as well as challenging.

Let us suppose a man married with a small child has lost his job with the fallout from credit crunch. He was a highflyer in the city. He is being tempted. The first temptation is from a mater at The Financial Services Authority; so poacher turned gamekeeper. His wife encourages him, back to something with a moral streak, but also steady income wise. The other temptation is from Eve. She left the bank before the fallout, to go it alone. She could sell snow to Eskimos . What she needs is a creative mind to come up with the post crunch ideas. She might be offering our man more than just work.