Page 114 - Student: dazed And Confused

My characters are quite stereotypical in how they are presented. I was sort of frightened of
making them too different because I didn't know if I could get away with it.

The final outcome isn't definite in my own mind yet but I am wary about making it cliche
and new-man. There are too many of them already. This has to stay classic-man.

I set it in Birmingham as almost all novels in this genre are set in London and, you know,
people in the rest of the country have novel-worthy lives. I also know how the Birmingham
road system for disabled people works which is going to play a role too.

The story is littered with swearing and bad English and people dropping the ends of words. I
know I can get away with it to an extent but this is meant to be a guy telling this story and
he doesn't strike as being too highly educated.

Goodnight Steve McQueen is a good book and shows that women can write decent bloke-lit
though I usually favour male writers across the board. Nick Hornby is a good starting point
for the genre but the best-observed novels seem to be by less prolific writers and I tried to
shy away from reading more than the odd few pages here and there.

TUTOR NOTES -
Chapters - Great voice for your protagonist. Misogynist or what? I think your decision to go
along with the unregenerate bloke (I don't know any other kinds) is interesting, though
there is a danger it will all stay on the same note. You have strong shades of Clarkson and
Top Gear built in her and i think you've done it very well. But now you need to find
somewhere to go with it.
We need to see him develop as a character (why? Men generally don't). He must either

move away from his girlfriend's stereotypical behaviour and find some-one more individual
and interesting, or deepen and change the relationship he already has. Your idea of a
terrible accident sounds very promising - it could change them both in fascinating (possibly
bloody) ways. But you need to either move the relationship forward right now or bring the
accident forward to Chapter 3.
Writer's notes - Some good insights into your process, but i would haave welcomed more
analysis of the models you used (the blokey part of my personality) so as to show how the
original stories and styles worked.

OVERALL MARK - 66