McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
How do you think/plot on a novel's scale?
superpsycho:
Subplots, obstacles and set-backs are often the difference between a short story and a novel.
In a crime short story, the hero talks to the suspects and figures out who's lying and solves the case.
In a novel, the hero has a personality, a life and a history he has to deal with. If he has a partner, they also have a personality, a life and a history plus they have to deal with each other. Each of the suspects has an alibi and motive that needs to be investigated. And just as they think they have the culprit, he or she is murdered and they have to start over again.
If you just take a short story and drag it out than that's what a reader will get. But you take a short story and give it life (something a reader can relate to), then you might have a story a reader can lose himself in.
meg_evonne:
Try Tim Powers suggestion of research until you find 20 things too cool not to use. Then you need to love the onion layers of characters and plot threads. You need to peel away slowly and live the tears.
Ditto Oz's great comments on characterization, plot threads, setting (world building), homework assignment of short stories to novel. Want a short cut? Read the Leonard Elmore short story and watch the Justified series or any of his other shorts that led to longer works. ( For a list check here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_Leonard ) Ditto Trboturtle w/his Game of Thrones suggestion. These are hows, but I'm intrigued by the whys behind it not working for you so far. You ask, "How do I think on a novel's scale?" You need to rewire your brain. It isn't easy. I especially like Superpsycho's, "...you need to let it live." I believe this to mean time to breathe.
Learn to love the deep layers. Learn to appreciate them and absorb them. Learn to slow down while digging deeper into your plots and characters than you ever have before.
Start by plotting longer shorts. Find the niftiest thing you wrote in your last short--and explore it. Write it. That done? Go back to your setting and find the coolest thing you wrote--and explore it. Write it. Find a relationship that's cool--and explore it. Write it.
Try to go for depth not length and then watch your word count. Aim for a 5000 word short, then a novella at maybe 20,000. As you learn to dig deeper, you'll find yourself naturally gravitating toward longer and longer works. If you're good at shorts, you already write well. Now you need to train yourself to enjoy the onion. Ah, "Become the Onion Lord!" Ha! Love GRR Martin.
--- Quote from: Rechan on May 17, 2014, 03:17:08 AM ---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.
--- End quote ---
Caution: Writing long still requires every word, sentence, and paragraph add to the story and be necessary just like in shorts, but you give yourself the latitude to explore in order to satisfy your reader.
--- Quote from: Rechan on May 17, 2014, 03:17:08 AM ---And often I don't care about the B plots of many novels/shows because I feel like they're getting in the way.
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Keep in mind that B plots aren't unnecessary. They are ways to explore the main plot from another angle. Sometimes, they are ways to build secondary characters for future work, but the plot will still intertwine like a natural skin and won't be unnecessary. In longer works, you need to include character beats for richness.
To be honest, Rechan, if you can't care about those other onion layers then you probably will find the challenge impossible to achieve.
--- Quote from: Rechan on May 17, 2014, 03:17:08 AM ---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.
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I heartily disagree. If you assume Morgan was unnecessary, you probably feel the same about Murphy. What about Michael's kids? His wife? These are essential and necessary onion layers as he peeled away at his characters--always with an eye to the overall story. JB added tension to the story with those scenes with Morgan. What did you think about JB using the lightning storms as a secondary character? Unnecessary? Wrong. It added texture. It added tension. It added mood. It would have been shorter to just skip it, but he choses to include these to enrich the storytelling and make it satisfying to readers.
You can't get texture into shorts like that. Good luck and keep us posted.
Anyone can report A to Z and that is a talent, but storytelling is an art form. There are subtleties, beats, interior thought (would you think Harry's interior thoughts are unnecessary?)... There is a deftness to drawing out the tale to satisfy a deep genetic need within human nature and that is storytelling. Anyway you get the idea.
OZ:
I don't know that I can add anything to the great responses you have gotten from superpsycho and meg_evonne but let me try to emphasize some of the points that they have made.
--- Quote ---Caution: Writing long still requires every word, sentence, and paragraph add to the story and be necessary just like in shorts, but you give yourself the latitude to explore in order to satisfy your reader.
--- End quote ---
ME is, as usual, right on. I think this may be the heart of your trouble. If you are reading novels that have a lot of unecessary words then either they are poorly written or you are missing some of what's going on in the story. If you are reading stories where the secondary plots are not related or needed then again either you are missing something or the stories are poorly written.
Another way to think of novels is that they are a little closer to real life. In real life a police detective (for example) is going to have more obstacles than just catching the killer. He (or she) may have a family. He may be alone and wish he had a family. He may have conflict with coworkers. He may face budget problems either at home or at work. He will have other cases that have to be worked in addition to the main one. He might have health issues. These things are not separate from the main plot. Any one of these could keep him from solving the case. They are not artificial additions. They are real life issues.
Just look at what you face in trying to be a novel writer. It's not just a single plot line of "do I have the talent?" or "can I get this novel published?". It's do I have the time? Can I find an agent? Can I find a publisher? Can I figure out how to successfully make my short stories into novels? Do I have a full time job that I'm trying to juggle with my writing? How about friends and family? Are they supporting my efforts? Are they hindering them? What if my car breaks down or my kids get sick or I get sick (I don't know anything about your personal life so I'm obviously just creating random what-ifs.) What if my dead beat sibling shows up at my door and wants to move in?
All of these things and a thousand more can and will (if applicable) have an affect on your success as a novel writer. They are obstacles that have to be overcome. They are all sub plots to the main plot of you trying to write and publish a novel. That does not mean that they are not directly connected to the main plot. Some of them, like family, friends and health, may actually be bigger than the main plot. Some of them like car problems or bad plumbing may be subplots that only occupy a chapter or two but all of them play a part.
A short story might tell how you discovered the difference between novels and short stories. A novel might tell how you went from writing short stories to become a published novelist. Each story is important. Each is different.
Sorry for being so long winded. I guess I need more work on my short story skills.
meg_evonne:
Well said Oz. Now we wait to see what the tossed seed will yield. Good luck Rechan.
The Deposed King:
I would like to point out with Storm Front into the rest of the series, there is a sub-plot that runs throughout it all. Its Harry's skill and understanding of magic. It continually progresses and the foundation (extremely flawed as they are presented in book 1) is laid in Storm Front.
Also seemingly unnecessary words are the little hidden barbs that you use to hook the fish later on in your novel or even in successive books. A throw away comment about 'making a deal with droids' that has almost no bearing on your story, except as possibly a future colloquialism, in book one turns into a major sub-plot in book 6.
How far ahead are you planning your story. How much do you want tie in between novels. Does every story exist in isolation or are you even now planning that after you deal with the Pirates and then Bugs and then intransigent Sector Assembly that when the Droid Invasion forces come up do they come out of left field or have you already laid down some hints of information and groundwork along the way. Today's chopped comment is the line that have readers squeeing as they turn all the way back to book1 and/or 2 to catch all the seemingly un-imporant references.
The Deposed King
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