::mslexia author method::

The Barbara Trapido Method
From Interview no. 1

• set your alarm clock for 4.00 am

• put two or more people in a room in your head and let them start talking to one another (speak their words aloud while pacing or looking in the mirror)

• when they start to interest and entertain you, begin writing what they do and say, in longhand, on every third line of a school exercise book, making separate notes about their motivation on the back cover

• use intervening lines and margins to scribble amendments, reading each sentence aloud over and over until you are satisfied with it

• when you’ve amended and re-amended so much you can’t read what you’ve written, begin a fresh page and rewrite the newest version neatly onto it (do this immediately or you will forget which bits of scribble are the correct bits)

• after each scene is finished, begin the process again with other people, or with the same people at another time or place (do not at this stage worry about creating a linear narrative: you are developing character and voice)

• now, rewrite it all again, in longhand, in a new set of exercise books, paying attention to the layers of meaning as well as the language

• meanwhile, make sure you note down anything relevant that occurs to you (on bus tickets, receipts, cheque stubs etc. which you then lose or stuff into carrier bags which you never look into)

• at some point your characters will begin talking in your sleep: don’t be alarmed, just keep a notebook by the bed and write down what they’re telling you (sometimes they know more than you do about what’s going on in the book)

• when you’ve completed around 15 chapters, experiment with a major rewrite, starting at a different point in the story (because you are not writing a linear narrative, you may do this many times before deciding on a satisfying order for the book)

• rewrite it again, with the help of diagrams, to iron out any continuity inconsistencies

• finally, read it into a tape recorder (by now you know it so well you can recite it from start to finish) and play it back with your finger poised on the pause button, making final alterations to the rhythm

• now write it out once more, in your best hand-writing, and deliver it (and the tape-recording) to the friend who will type up the final manuscript

At some point your characters will begin talking in your sleep: don’t be alarmed, just keep a notebook by the bed and write down what they’re telling you.