The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 4 Jan 2010

Writer's Digest, March 2004, page 42 to 49, has a bonus section with the title, "Novel Writing Boot Camp," by Bob Mayer. I'm probably not going to summarize all of the bits and pieces, but let's pick out some of the odds and ends.

Pages 44 and 45 describe narrative structure. Bob focuses on five elements: inciting incident, complications, crisis, climax, and resolution. That's the basic blueprint for the story.

The inciting incident is the hook. It's dynamic, something happens that upsets the balance and kicks your protagonist into action. The rest of the novel is the protagonist responding to the inciting incident. Inciting incidents don't have to be bad -- positive events can certainly make protagonists react, too. What happens when Joe wins the lottery?

Complications pile on complications. The growth of complications -- suspense and conflict -- is what fills in the middle. Make sure that it keeps the readers interested.

The crisis forces the protagonist to make a choice. It should not be obvious to the reader which way they're going to go. The crisis is usually the darkest time for the protagonist.

The climax? With the choice made, the balance is restored or a new balance achieved. The protagonist needs to be involved -- an active part of finishing the job.

The resolution is where you wrap up plots and subplots. Make sure that the reader knows what happened, and has a sense of closure.

Plot. This is the sequence of events -- what happens in the novel. Usually, looking at the climax and making the events drive towards that goal helps keep the story focused. But beware of coincidence, and of plots where the author's fingerprints are too obvious. The plot should have internal logic -- it should make sense.

Where to begin. "There are actually two beginnings to a novel: the first words the writer puts down to start the manuscript, and the first words the reader sees as she opens the completed book." Bob points out that since you're probably going to rewrite the beginning extensively, it's not worth worrying too much about where to start. Just get started and plan to redo the beginning. When you do get around to picking the starting line, think about the purpose of the beginning. You need to get people started reading. The beginning needs to hook the readers, introduce the story theme or problem, and introduce the main characters. Don't overwhelm the readers by putting too much into the first chapter. Leave some for later.

The meat of the story. Characters are the most important. Know their motivations -- just like actors, you can't write a part unless you know their motivation. Setting it is also important. Make sure you know where and when things are happening. Point of view -- there are lots of possibilities, but the key is to make sure that the reader knows what is going on and doesn't get confused.

Ending. Characters, locales, points of view, the plot lines -- it all comes together at the end. This is the resolution of the problem that you introduced at the very beginning.

Inciting incident, complications, crisis, climax, resolution. A sequence of events that takes us through all of that. A beginning that grabs the readers. Characters with their motivations, setting, and a firm hand with the point of view. Finally, an ending that ties it all up and makes the reader sigh with the emotional release.

Write!