McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

How do you think/plot on a novel's scale?

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Rechan:
To those who plot/outline: How do you find and outline/plot ideas that are Big enough for a novel?

I write very, very short stories - 2,000-4,000 is where I operate best - but this is frustrating me. I'd rather write books.

The problem is that a story is only as long as it needs to be, and anything I come up with doesn't need to be a novel. My thinking is on too small a scale; anything I come up with can be told in a tight space. How do I think on a novel's scale? How do you work out ideas that have a lot of moving parts, that require a lot of steps that necessitate at least 90K words?

What I really want is to make a series, but I can't even try to tackle a series until I figure out how to think on a single book's terms.

OZ:
I'm sure volumes could be written about this subject but I'll attempt to at least get the ball rolling. There can be many different things that will lead to the difference in length between a novel and a short story. These are not necessarily absolutes but hopefully they will give you some ideas.

A novel allows for more characterization. One of the biggest faults of many novel writers (IMHO) is creating caracitures with no depth, villains that are completely evil with no redeeming features and no reason for their evil, heroes that are noble and good just because. In a short story where one doesn't have the time or space to develop characters completely, it can be acceptable to focus on one or two characteristics that are important to the story. In a novel one can take the time to let readers get to know characters. There is more time to show rather than tell what makes a character tick. It is also possible to develop secondary characters to a far greater degree than can usually be done in a short story.

Probably the biggest difference is found in the plots. One of my professors used to say that a long story with a single plot was just a short story that needed to be edited. A true novel will have several intertwining plots. To give some examples that are cliched but still affective in the right hands, the main plot of a murder mystery might be finding who the killer is. In addition to this however there may be a plot line about the main character's struggle with addicition. There may be a romance, there could be struggles with bills or dealing with the death of a loved one. In fantasy stories it is common for the characters to find it necessary to adjust to a gift in their life or a curse. They may have been transported to a new world or have just become aware of the magical world that secretly exists in the shadows. These secondary plots can be as long as the main plot or "short stories" imbedded in the novel that play out over a few chapters. In the case of series, some of the plots may actually be longer than the individual novel.

Novels also give you more space to engage in "world building". If you are setting your story in a fantasy world and are following the adage to show rather than tell, then the longer length of the novel gives you more time and space to show the reader the world you have created and the rules that govern it by actually putting your characters into situations that demonstrate whatever you think is important for them to know.

The difference is not so much that the idea is "big" enough for a  novel. Although they overlap, they are very different art forms. Some would say the short story is more difficult because you have to condense everything down. Probably the best way for you to see the difference would be to search out some authors that have taken their short stories and rewritten them into novels. It is fairly common in genre fiction. Normally I could think of a dozen but right now I am blank as to examples. I am sure someone here will be able to come up with examples for you to examine.

trboturtle:
First, a novel isn't one plot: they are usually one main plot (A plot) and one or moe B plots.

For eample, my modren fanasy novel's main plot is the hero stopping a demon cult. But there are other, smaller plots:

1) the Hero has to come to terms with his relative's death, and the magical legacy the relative left.

2) discover who killed his relative.

3) start a relationship with a beautiful girl who may or may not be involved with the relative's death.

4) deal with a powerful legandary wizard who has her own reasons for being involved in the current problems.

Now, all these B plots are connected to the A plot, but they have their own beats and take up some of the screen time, so the A plot can fade in the background for a scene or two, or even for an entire chapter before coming back to the forefront.

A Game of Thrones is another example - smaller plots woven together for a comple story.

So, create the main plot and look for subplots that can be spun off the main plot. That how a novel can be written.

YMMV, of course..... ;D

Craig

Rechan:

--- Quote from: OZ on May 17, 2014, 02:52:11 AM ---Probably the biggest difference is found in the plots. One of my professors used to say that a long story with a single plot was just a short story that needed to be edited.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, this is one of the problems I have, because I think in terms of what is absolutely necessary to tell this story. If a word is unnecessary, I cut it out. Adding in things not needed to serve the story's purpose feels utterly unnatural and wasteful and wrong.

And often I don't care about the B plots of many novels/shows because I feel like they're getting in the way.

But I don't think they're as, well, clear as you're making it out. Take Storm Front for example. Aside from Morgan hassling Dresden (which accounted for what, 3 scenes?) the entire thing is focused on Finding out/Tracking Down/Taking Out the bad guy. There's no B plot.

deindeverse:
I don't outline too much.  I know where I'm beginning, and where I'm ending.  I let the story unfold naturally, thinking about what events need to transpire to make the climax occur.  Its more of a cascade effect.  All of the subplots serve the greater plot, even if it's unrelated.  It's the way the events impact the character that matter, rather than events impacting each other.

Since my first book isn't published, I can't tell you how successful that will be.  But I'm doing the same for the second book.  I started the first chapter intending my character to end up one place by the end of the first act.  But halfway through the first act, he's going to be somewhere else entirely, and the first destination will now be the second.  Either way, his final destination is fixed, and I just need to see how the world he's living in will get him there.

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