Tech: Make Your Story a Battle!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Originally posted 13 Feb 2013

Technique of the month! (it was labeled that in Writer's Digest!) Writer's Digest, June 1995, pages 8 to 12, have an article by Nancy Kress with the title, "How You Can Make Your Story into a Battlefield." The little headline under that reads, "Transitions, foreshadowing and imagery can take you only so far. Here's how to make your fiction even more interesting."

Nancy starts out by pointing out that all the talk about transitions in foreshadowing and imagery sometimes feels like focusing on the trees and missing the forest. Especially when a student has a story that just doesn't work. "The language is fine, the characters are interesting, the scenery has the right scenes in the right order -- but it's inert. Flatlined. DOA. And the fool instructor is babbling over the corpse with advice on transitions."

But when we start talking macrolevel about what makes fiction work, we are all too likely to end up with some sort of mechanical plot diagram. However, despite all the possible problems with discussing what makes a story work, Nancy offers us one way to think about it. It's not the only way, and if it doesn't seem to make sense to you, that's okay. Stick with what works for you. In the meantime, for those who are interested in "a coherent way to think about what makes fiction interesting and what does not" here is one metaphorical thought system -- a lens to help us peer at what's going on.

The framing metaphor is very simple. "Every story is a war." Simple, right. You're not a carpenter building a house, you're a general organizing a battle. Recognizing this metaphor may help you decide what the right emphasis is for different elements. You're still going to have to write words, but now you know what's important. Who are the combatants and which side are they on? What's at stake? What are the battles -- "murderous actions in which both sides are struggling as hard as they can prevail?" What is the outcome of the war -- victory, surrender, exhaustion, default? How do you decide who won? Admittedly, just like with war, sometimes it's easier to see these after the dust is settled, and during the heat of battle, you know plans are going to change. Still, at least you know what you're trying to do.

Start with the combatants. Oh, yes, the unknown soldier is a great symbol, but you're in the business of making us believe your characters are real. So specifics are great. "Individual, specific characters are struggling hard because something they value is at stake." So you know you're going to have to answer these questions:
-- what are the two sides in this particular war?
-- What is at stake in this war?
-- How quickly do both sides understand, intellectually and emotionally, that this is a war? How do they realize this?

Maneuvers are probably next. What are the battles in your war? What about the resources, plans, support, and all the other stuff building up to your battles and afterwards? Now you've got questions like this to answer:
-- are the clashes between opposing forces bloody enough? Are people trying their hardest to attain their goals?
-- Does the opposition make logical counterattacks?
-- Does everybody care enough that the losers are bleeding?
-- Does every major incident or battle have all of the pressure, changes in tactics, and flying shrapnel that characterizes war? Do you have the confusion and mistakes that are going to happen? How can you make us feel that fog of war?

And the end of the war! There's some kind of outcome. Treaty, retreat, peace. One way or another, the hostilities are over. In fiction, if we don't have a complete resolution, we at least like to show who's likely to win. One way or another, you need a body count and some kind of official sign off. The body count is just what it sounds like -- how did the major characters succeed or fail? Who gained what, who lost what, who died, who's missing? Show us how each person changed. The sign off may be explicit, at least in the older style, or more of a subtle implication. So now you want to answer these questions:
-- the most basic question of all: who won?
-- What do the characters feel about this outcome?
-- What's the body count? Try to make it accurate and complete. Readers get annoyed with characters that they liked who just vanish silently into the mist.
-- What's the sign off? Is it implied or explicit?

"Viewing your story as a war may or may not appeal to you. But if you choose this approach, one thing at least is guaranteed: the story becomes significant."

So there you have it. Looking at our story as a war helps to focus on the major parts. Who is fighting, what are they fighting for, what are the battles along the way, and what's the end of the war? It's simple, but it's a metaphor that can help you decide what's really important in the swamp of words, transitions, foreshadowing, and imagery.

Write?