102 Ways to Write a Novel

Indispensable Tips for the Writer of Fiction

Alex Quick

• Publisher: Old Street Publishing
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781906964948
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Kreatives Schreiben

'For God's sake, keep your eyes open. Notice what's going on around you.' William S. Burroughs This step-by-step guide to the art and the craft of writing fiction is a refreshing blend of the practical (how to find an agent), with the more cerebral (how to handle point of view; the importance of rhythm). Throughout, Quick uses the hard-won experiences of his fellow novelists to give colour and depth to his own advice. Did you know, for instance, that Road Dahl wrote in a shed? That Nabokov composed his masterpieces on index cards? Or that most writers get their best work done in the mornings? Full of wit and lightly-worn erudition, 102 Ways to Write a Novel is an elegant, useful and even inspiring vade mecum. It will become a classic of its kind -- the book no writer of fiction should be without.

BUILDING CHARACTER

21.

START WITH CHARACTERS OR START WITH PLOT?

In simple terms, there are two kinds of writing: the character-driven variety and the plot-driven variety. Character-driven writing is usually associated with literary fiction, and plot-driven writing with genre fiction (see section 3).

A good example of character-driven writing would be something like a Chekhov short story. A girl in a dacha wonders whether or not to get married. Nothing happens to her and then it ends (‘Life’s a birch and then you die’).

An example of plot-driven writing would be something like Goldfinger by Ian Fleming. A madman wishes to control the world’s gold reserves and likes covering women with gold paint. Conflict, action, climax, post-coital cigarette.

However, even in a Chekhov story there is usually a plot of some sort. The characters may undergo some sort of internal, psychic change, which may have important consequences for what happens. Chekhov’s story ‘The Black Monk’ follows the descent into madness of a young Russian professor, and charts the destruction he wreaks among those who love him. And in thrillers there are usually strong characters. In Goldfinger the characters are extremely memorable, even if they are caricatures.

So the distinction is largely a false one. Stephen King, a genre writer, said: ‘Plot is the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice.’ An over-reliance on plot can produce something stilted which ultimately fails to grip even the most action-hungry reader.

The truth is that characters and plot are aspects of one another – like matter and energy. Henry James said: ‘What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illumination of character?’ In other words, the kind of people your characters are determines what they do (which becomes the plot); and how they react to the events of the plot reveals the kind of people they are (thus showing their character). It’s a circle. The plot is impossible without the characters and the characters without the plot.

Feel free to consider your characters first or your plot first – just don’t forget to consider both. Your readers will be expecting you to.

22.

DRAFT A ‘CHARACTER CV’

Before you start writing, it’s useful to know as much as possible about each of your main characters. You can tabulate this information in the form of a ‘character CV’ for each one.

You probably won’t use all the information you gather – in fact, you probably won’t use most of it – but it will help you nevertheless. For example, once you’ve made it your business to find out everything you can, you’ll find that your characters will only act in certain ways. They will resist being asked to act ‘out of character’. This is the fabled moment when the characters take over – but it’s a product of hard work and not of magic.

You’ll also find that new paths open up. For example, let’s say you give your character a more successful older sibling. What does this now mean, psychologically, for your character? He/she might now feel something of a family black sheep. This might influence their behaviour, and then conceivably influence the plot.

Consider the following areas:

• Your character’s name (see section 35);

• Their appearance (eye colour, shape of nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair and hairstyle, facial hair, body shape, height, any remarkable physical characteristics, gestures, own private feelings about their body, manner of speech);

• Their dress (general style of dress, lower body dress, upper body dress, shoes, jewellery, other);

• Their personal and social statistics (date of birth, age, nationality, place of birth, social class);

• Their family (their parents, living or dead, their parents’ marital status, parents’ occupation, step-parents if any, siblings if any, children if any, names and ages of children);

• Their education and work history (school, further education, job history, current job);

• Their relationships (sexuality, relationship history, relationship status, marital status, partner’s name and other details, social life/friends);

• Their other personality characteristics (religion, politics, hobbies and interests, taste in art, taste in literature, taste in music, private fears, weaknesses, strengths, particular dislikes/phobias, particular likes/passions, health problems, general demeanour).

This will seem like hard work while you’re doing it. It may also feel slightly tangential, as if you’re not actually getting on with the real business of writing. But it is likely to be one of the best investments you will ever make in producing a novel.

23.

REDUCE YOUR CHARACTERS TO TIERS

It would be time-consuming and counter-productive to make up a CV for every character. Some characters are frankly unimportant. They exist only to move the plot on or act as a foil to the main character.

It’s useful to think of characters in tiers, like a wedding cake. At the top tier is your main character or characters. There’s usually only room for one or two (see the next section). The reader spends a lot of time with the main characters and cares what happens to them. Events are often seen from their point of view. They develop and change. They are ‘round’ rather than ‘flat’ (see section 25).

On the next level are the fully-fleshed out supporting cast. They also appear frequently in the story and have a close connection with the main character(s). We know a lot about them and empathize with them, and may see things from their point of view. But the novel is not quite their story.

On the third level are the minor characters. These are drawn in a few strokes and we don’t feel particularly close to them. They could appear a few times but their story is not important: they can be left hanging there, their dilemmas and problems unresolved, when the novel finishes. We probably won’t see things from their point of view.

On the fourth level are characters mentioned only in passing: street musicians, bar-staff, librarians, those who may contribute something tangential to the plot but are never mentioned again. (There is nothing intrinsically minor about a librarian, naturally – but unless they scan your barcode with a particularly significant flourish they are likely to remain firmly in the background.)

24.

UNDERSTAND THE JOB OF THE MAIN CHARACTER

In a novel, it’s fair to say that the main character is everything. If the main character is boring or unconvincing, the novel will fail. If he is vivid and unique, the novel may succeed.

The main character will also tend to determine the degree of emotional investment the reader has in the novel. Readers want novels to move them (see section 84). This means that the main character should be sympathetic to some extent. He can have plenty of flaws – like Pechorin in Lermontov’s ironically-titled A Hero of Our Time, for example – but unless he is also in some way likable or admirable we are unlikely to make that emotional investment.

There will probably be only one main character in an average-sized novel – or two at the most. Any more and the sense of focus will dissipate. It’s hard to move a plot forward when each of several characters must be given equal weight as a co-hero or co-heroine. There can be subsidiary characters too, of course – fully-fleshed-out ones, with many ‘main-character’ attributes – but the story is not theirs.

What are the attributes of a main character? PG Wodehouse said that their primary attribute was that they act. He wrote:

What a vital thing it is to have plenty of things for a major character to do. If they aren’t in interesting situations, characters can’t be major characters, not even if you have the rest of the troupe talk their heads off about them.

Wodehouse often thought of his characters as actors (he wrote dozens of musicals) and he had noticed that important actors would often walk out of a production if they thought their character wasn’t given good enough lines. So he treated his fictional characters the same, as if they were prima donna actors: he pampered them, gave them good lines and made sure they were in the thick of the action.

Acting by itself isn’t quite good enough however. It should be significant action. It should drive the plot forward. The main character should make choices that determine the way things develop. In this sense, main characters are in control, even if they don’t realize it themselves.

A final attribute of the main character is to do with point of view (see section 69 onwards). The novel is their story, and the point of view will reflect that fact. We may even inhabit the main character’s head for the whole novel.

25.

DEPLOY MINOR CHARACTERS

On the second tier of the cake we find the supporting cast, who have many of the same attributes of the main character(s) but do not primarily drive the action. And then on the third tier of the cake, we find the minor characters.

EM Forster in his Aspects of the Novel called these minor characters ‘flat’ characters, as distinct from ‘round’ ones. ‘Flat’ characters are ones with just one or two traits. Think of the characters that swarm in Dickens. Would it have...