When I began the long and winding road of my latest story, I knew I was going to hit problems simply because I was changing styles. Being totally immersed in the sword fantasy style I'd cultivated (perhaps some may say 'copied'), little did I know how hard the transition to modern stylist would be.
However, I did know how I wanted to write, and that, at various stages, my style would have to change or jump ship for a while to suit the period or world I would find myself writing about. There are different perspectives, and cultures, present in this story. They have to be catered for, and research needs to be as thorough as humanly possible in order to reflect the attitudes and mindsets of the people who populate the tale.
Funny how I've written so many notes, yet forgotten most of them as I write first one chapter, then another piece, then another. Looking at them now, the number of times I've said "Don't forget" or "Remember" is probably a good indication of how complicated this story can be.
So I've opted for simplicity. I'm trying to keep the story tight when explanations are necessary. In periods of activity, especially intense activity, descriptions are kept to the minimum. Revisions or refinememnts must be made in context, and any literary tendencies - and I have them by the truck-load - are under strict orders not to reveal themselves until the plotting has been done and the story 'run' at that point has been completed.
In short, I have requested the ghosts of Dickens and Tolkien to please retire to the rest room until I have written the plot and conducted the narrative. Koontz and Banks are standing guard at the door, waving at me from a respectable distance so I can't consult them during this period of examination, though the presence of all four are constant reminders of how far I need to go. Respect!
And thus far, it's worked well, as I seem to be changing little of what has happened, even after critiques have unearthed problems I hadn't seen, and afterwards I'm able to polish what I've done while adding more literary or lyrical movements as I do so.
Having read Rich's latest blogpost ( http://www.wondering-mind.blogspot.com/ ) I could be forgiven for worrying that I was underselling my work. I know how well Rich can write, and so does a top agent, too. But Solvey's comment on the post actually soothed my mind a bit: my plotting was good but the wordsmithery was average. Solvey wasn't insulting my work - we are rather similar in approach, leaving little to chance via research, and appreciate the lyrical as much as anyone. He was actually polarising a moot point. (Solvey famously has the TM on the word 'moot', I must tell you!)
Fabulous! Have I finally managed to grasp the true art of storytelling? To stick to the story first, and leave the lyrical embellishments until afterwards. In this type of tale, at least. In the modern world, the modern writing world, you need a good plot. The story, the story, the story. Like the others that Solvey, Noel and Becca have seen, these were first drafts - almost wholly plot and dialogue. The narrative generally getting you from A to B to C to D. The rest to come afterwards. But it HAS to come, and will, otherwise I won't be classed as a writer.
Personalities, emotions, character traits, dialogue, history, exposition in whatever form, all have their vital roles.
But without the story, the plot, you are lost.
5 comments:
I can't imagine that many authors would disagree with that: get the plot right and everything comes so much easier (McKee's point about character and plot being the same thing is very pertinent); conversely, try working over a poor plot, and you'll get nowhere. (I think we've all experienced that: it's the 'refusal to let go of your first manuscript' syndrome.)
In your third chapter, you present interesting and dramatic scene questions: Will the boy burn in the chimney? Will his master catch him? What will he do next?
This was enough to keep me reading.
However, it would make me personally very happy to see my chums turning their scenes. Reversals are regarded as requisites to good plotting, and have been ever since the Greeks spread their dramatic wings.
Plot pretends to go one way, and then decides to go the other. The bigger the polar shift, the bigger the impact.
I kinda skipped around this in an ancient post: http://themaggotfarm.blogspot.com/2007/07/control-switching.html
Imagine Indiana Jones, thrown through the windscreen of a moving truck by a Nazi. How could this situation be reversed?
Indy doesn't just pass safely beneath the truck to dust himself off and requisition another mode of transport and go off on his chase again. He could have, and the scene question would have remained intact: Will Indy recover the ark?
I think the trick is to continually ask oneself 'What is the best solution?'
If you are skilled enough to keep a reader glued to the end of a scene or chapter, you then have an obligation to give them a pay off.
Totally agree, solvey. If I can find a reversal, I will use it. In this case, there was a slight reversal in that normally the boy would have escaped and maybe gone on to a more civilised lifestyle, and paid his old master back in kind to boot! But he simply lay there upon the roof and died, committed suicide, in fact, in his exhaustion through life. I was representing life as it happened in those days - and it assisted the plot, because the boy is instrumental in the hero's journey later in the tale, and it is where he meets the young girl. I've plotted for that outcome, but not yet written more, as that was a flashback, and part of a larger chapter. The reason why the flashback occurred is not yet apparent to me, so I can't say more than that.
I refused to let go of my first manuscript for far too long. So you're right again there, too! I didn't work enough on the plot there, and it cost me dear.
I'd like to think I can disguise reversals long enough to make them count big style, and limit them for dramatic effect. The outcome will remeain the same, of course, but the plotting up of the story as it goes along will determine the frequency of the reversals.
Wise words my friend.
I think the distinction is between ending a scene/chapter with a neat resolution versus ending the scene/chapter by turning the expected answer on its head.
I plot around the reversals now (which is to say that I kinda begin with the reversals, but they are tempered by the emotional topography I'm after). It's hard to go wrong when you have four acts, each with a reversal more powerful than the last, building to a momentous final act climax.
In terms of frequency, McKee makes an excellent case which, if you've yet to read, will help you clarify your thoughts no end.
He also writes much about withholding information. (Suspense is generated not by giving answers but by withholding them.)
I think that if you're going to present a flashback, it will need to be very carefully inserted into your narrative. If a piece of info is revealed about a character in the flashback, it might be prudent to withhold that until it will have its most potent effect.
Imagine the nun walking to church. She arrives and approaches the mother superior. At that moment, the reader is gifted with the knowledge that the nun has been routinely beaten and humiliated by the mother superior, and we see her pull a knife from her habit.
Imagine how less dramatic that scene would be if, nine chapters earlier, we discovered that the nun had been beaten. That's potentially eight chapters worth of dilution.
I might even consider a very slow walk up the stone steps leading to the church, revealing the backstory there, and then showing the glint of the knife as the nun passes through the stone portal.
P.S. To create the reversal here, you'd simply need to instil in the reader the sense that the nun is visiting the mother superior for lovely purposes. Perhaps she's bringing her flowers, or a birthday cake; and perhaps she's singing a cheery hymn. The entire scene can become the set-up for the reversal, provided it is accompanied by a scene question.
Yep matey, my intention is to use flashbacks sparingly, and to place them directly before an event or action which is explained or underlined by the flashback.
Funny you should use a nun as an example of reversal, as my mother was convent-educated and she often informed me that nuns were some of the cruellest people ever to have walked the earth! My experiences as a choirboy and reader in church as a kid also reveal the drunken and violent tendencies of some priests, too. We named one priest Killer O'Kane, which seemed a fair reflection at the time. Religion is a happy hunting ground, and a target I hope to hit as I go along. A reversal in info for you lol
Maybe I should read McKee, as he seems to say what should be said. I'm busy typing up all I've done as written pieces. Hoping to create a recognisable set of milestones during the course of the tale.
Getting there, with all your help :-)
Post a Comment