This is the continuation of my series on how you – yes, you - might write the Great American Novel. Those of you who have already made up your stories should ignore this posting and keep on typing. This note is for those stuck staring at a blank document.
I guess we might begin by attempting to figure out what kind of story might make a novel for you. I think the novel must have a plot rather than simply relate a story. Think about it; stories are simply recitations of the facts in sequence while plots are stories that have causes.
A pretty straight forward story might be: `Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.' There is no plot here; rather it is a recitation of what happened in time order.
For there to be a plot causation must be added. Even in this little fairy tale the possibilities for cause are almost infinite. Jack might have fallen because he tried to get fresh with Jill and when she reacted badly he stumbled and fell on his head. Conversely, she might have surprised him with attention and he fell down in trying escape. And on and on go the possibilities.
There have been successful novels written without conflict and barely a hint of causation but they’re few and far between, so you might want to add a little conflict. A violation of one or more of the Ten Commandments is always a good starting point when you’re seeking trouble. Murder, adultery, and coveting one’s neighbor’s wife or goods have been the sources of lots of ideas. War is a solid starting point for many great stories, and the battle of the sexes is the fodder of many tales. Coming of age is big so is court room drama. But you get the point; the more rage the better.
As I’ve said, novels may be characterized as belonging to an almost endless number of genres from private eye, Gothic, anti-war, fantasy, to whatever, but, in addition to plot which I discussed above all genres spend time on character development.
I hate to say it, but the process of creating novels gets a little dicey at this point because there’s no clear line of distinction between character and plot. One of my favorite books on writing novels, Oakley Hall’s The Art & Craft of Novel Writing, cites one of the great novelists of the past who was also one of the first and best analysts of the craft, Henry James, whose opinion was that character determined incident and incident was the illustration of character.
Let this very humble novelist try to clarify the difference. Writers who emphasize plot leave character development to a secondary role. Action books such as those written by Tom Clancy stress the intricacies of plot and their heroes demonstrate character by tending to punch, shoot, sweat and bleed a lot. Ian Flemming easily fits into this mode as well, and his James Bond, while memorable, is not a person with whom we can empathize, except in fantasy.
Character driven novels on the other hand stress the impact of events and conflict on the ethical, moral, or psychological aspects of their protagonists. Anna Karenina, David Copperfield, Huckleberry Finn, and Atticus Finch are memorable for their moral courage, ethical dilemmas, or epiphanies rather than for scaling tall buildings in a single bound.
I might pause here to opine that if in this day and age your goal is to become rich from your writing – truly a long shot but there’s no harm in trying – you might stress plot. On the other hand, if you want to try your hand at literary excellence then character driven tales might just be for you. I’ve chosen the latter without great material reward to date. Although the annual pizza parties for the grandkids is a very happy affair even if I have to dip into capital to spring for the tip.
Those of you already well along with your story might wish to take time to make judgments on whether to stress plot or character. Those still working on your opening sentence, how about: “Call me Ishmael.” Or, “It was love at first sight.” Just kidding, these have been taken by people who sat before the blank page too.
I’ll be back.
Blog on!
Wild Bill
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