The Enid Blyton Society

That's quite fascinating, Anita — I knew about "Enid and her typewriter" but hadn't heard the details of exactly how she wrote or whether or not she ever did sketch an outline of the plot beforehand. I guess I've tended to assume that it all sprang complete from her "private cinema" in her head straight to the page with little or no forethought or afterthought, so it's very interesting (and almost a relief for us mere human beings! ) to know there was at least a little more to it than that.

What I do find remarkable is that Enid, despite being such a prolific user of the typewriter, apparently never learned to type "properly" — am I right in saying that all those hundreds of books and thousands of stories, over all those years, were tapped out with only two fingers?!

Farwa wrote:Hi everyone!
When I bought the first Famous Five book, I expected it to be ordinary; however, when I read it, I was brought to fits of laughter, and at other times, got 'fair frizzles' down my spine! I became a fan of Enid, and found out more about her.
I was surprised when I found out she had written 600 or more books. What a prolific writer! This led me to wonder how did Enid write so much? What do you all think?

Anyone heard from Farwa,or know if he/she is ok?

Courtenay wrote:What I do find remarkable is that Enid, despite being such a prolific user of the typewriter, apparently never learned to type "properly" — am I right in saying that all those hundreds of books and thousands of stories, over all those years, were tapped out with only two fingers?!

Yes - and a thumb for the space bar!

That's exactly the way I type too.

I'd never heard about Enid writing brief outlines of plots etc before she began typing, but I was never, ever convinced by the whole 'cinema screen' thing. I can imagine her writing 'what she saw' on the screen, and I can imagine how the story would flow out and she would just write it (that's how I write stories, and I should think many others do to) but I could never imagine that she would sit down and just type out a story from beginning to end with no idea where it was headed.

Its particularly noticeable in some of her more tightly-plotted stories that she MUST have worked to a plan, even if it was only rough - stories like The Put Em Rights, Rubadub Mystery and The Six Bad Boys MUST have been written to a rough plan.

When I write stories, I write a a plan of just a few rough sentences but I never write a plot resume. I'm guessing this is pretty much as Enid wrote. Sometimes I've attempted to write a real synopsis, but this always kills the creative process, so I tend to not do that now. For example, with my 'Five Go Off On A Narrowboat' I wrote notes such as 'five go on holiday in narrowboat - pulled by horse. Narrow boat towed off in the night - gypsies hiding stuff inside tunnel' - and that was about as detailed as my plot synopsis went!

As for typing - I pretty much use one finger, and the index finger of my left hand comes into play only when I type the letters 'q,w,e,r,t,a,s,d,f,g,z,x,c,v' - and even then sometimes I type these with my right hand! I pretty much use my right hand index finger most of the time and very occasionally I use the thumb for the space bar but not very often...so really I'm pretty much a one finger typist but can type more words per minute than many people!

Courtenay wrote:I knew about "Enid and her typewriter" but hadn't heard the details of exactly how she wrote or whether or not she ever did sketch an outline of the plot beforehand.

It's quite a while ago now, but we discussed the notes for Last Term at Malory Towers in the following thread (and perhaps elsewhere too):

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... ge#p170139" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rob Houghton wrote:Its particularly noticeable in some of her more tightly-plotted stories that she MUST have worked to a plan, even if it was only rough - stories like The Put Em Rights, Rubadub Mystery and The Six Bad Boys MUST have been written to a rough plan.

I agree, Rob. It's the same with many of the Find-Outers and Secret Seven mysteries - Enid Blyton must have known where they were heading in order to insert clues such as the criss-cross pattern in The Mystery of the Invisible Thief or the tyre tracks and squealing sound in The Secret Seven. Even Gussy's long, curly hair and thick eyelashes, which are mentioned early on in The Circus of Adventure, come into play later in the story.

Very much agreed with Rob and Anita. She must have planned beforehand especially her tightly plotted stories like FFO series, Adventure series, Barney series even Secret Seven series and other mystery/adventure series.

I am someone with a vivid imagination. I also have directed plays, and studied theatre directing at college. Stage directors like me talk about a "mental movie", this I think is basically the same as Enid's "cinema screen". I certainly do therefore believe Enid's description of how she wrote, because I have such a mental movie myself. It has taken me some time to understand that not everyone has the same thing.

I agree - I write in exactly the same way - but I don't believe Enid used this technique without first having a rough plan on paper - as has often been claimed in the past!

I have always written in this way, and thought it was normal, and was surprised to discover it was supposedly a 'gift' lol!

Years ago, Tony wrote an article for Green Hedges Magazine which included extracts from the Malory Towers notes. Some readers of the magazine were upset as they felt that the existence of notes contradicted Enid Blyton's claim that she didn't plan her stories before putting fingers to typewriter. However, I don't see any contradiction. The notes are extremely rough and consist of little more than a list of possible plotlines. Some of the proposed plot strands weren't used at all, while other elements were modified. And of course, completely new ideas would have come to Enid as she typed. She may have had a basic framework in mind when she came to write at least some of her books, but she wasn't limited by that framework and it didn't prevent her going with the flow. I doubt she even stopped to consult her notes but just let the ideas float around in her mind - where some took root and others were discarded or altered.

I was just going to say, I don't think making rough notes beforehand contradicts or conflicts with the "cinema screen in one's head" style of writing a story. As Rob mentioned, when you stop to think about it, for many of Enid's plots — especially the mystery ones — she must have had at least a basic outline of the story in her mind to start with, whether or not she wrote it down beforehand; that wouldn't stop her from then letting the "mental movie" roll and typing out everything as she saw it in her imagination, following the general outline but perhaps going into unexpected new ideas that came to her as she went along. I guess the fact that she was able to picture the story unfolding quite quickly and vividly, and to type it out at the same time, helped her to turn out works so prolifically — but that doesn't mean she never pre-planned anything at all. As I said, I'm rather relieved to have it confirmed that she did sometimes make rough notes beforehand and at least minor revisions afterwards... she was human after all!

I much prefer the idea that Enid made very rough notes - written down or just stored in her mind. As you say, Courtenay - it makes her much more human! Obviously, her plots would evolve as she wrote the story...a little like mine do. When I wrote Narrowboat, none of the baddie shooting tunnel scenes at the end were originally going to be in there - they just happened!

Now there's one of those deep philosophical questions: do you really write the story, or does the story write itself through you...?

Well in my case...and I know this sounds weird/presumptuous/maniacal/etc etc but all the while I was writing 'Narrowboat' I had the feeling that I wasn't writing it but some other mind was controlling what I wrote - lol - maybe it was Enid. I was...'channelling Enid'.