Kick-Starting the Novel – Session 4

Pace & Narrative Style

The pace and narrative style of a novel is all about holding the reader’s attention and making them want to turn the page. In Writing A Novel, Nigel Watts tells us that the reader’s attention will be held mostly by the author raising intriguing questions and delaying the answer. “Although a single important question may be enough moti­vation for a novel, significant questions should be raised in every chapter.” These ‘questions’ should be automatically raised as part of the natural flow of the story and the viewpoint of the narrative/narrator.

It doesn’t matter how good your idea for a plot, or how charis­matic your main characters, if the pace and narrative style doesn’t hold the interest and sympathy of the publisher’s reader, then the submission will fail.

Pace

All novels have a time-frame. From ‘A Day in the Life of … ‘ to a grand epic like War & Peace, that charts a family saga over a number of years. In Building Your  Story: A Guide to Structure and Plot, Kelly Michelle Lawrence suggests that this should be one of the first things you think about when plot­ting a novel because this can be one of the easiest ways for a begin­ner to start. Once you do this, you have parameters to work within. Your characters must achieve their goals and aspirations within cer­tain time-limits. And you can plan and pace your plot accordingly.

Many first-time novelists will begin their story much too far in advance of the actual ‘plot’, which means that the opening impact is delayed because we are wasting time scene-setting and working up to the real beginning of the novel. If we are writing an epic, then we can begin at the beginning but if our story is set within a natural time-frame, we need to cut to the chase to maintain reader interest.

Whether you set your story over fifty years, five years, five months or five days the pace is of paramount importance. If the pace is too fast or too slow, then you will not hook the publisher’s reader. In truth, the passage of time within the story is often a major problem for new writers because they find it difficult to balance the time-frame for the beginning, the middle and the end. Some parts become barren wastelands because there is no purposeful action; in other parts the passage of years are crammed into a single chapter because nothing of interest has happened to enhance the plot.

This is where we need to learn the subtle techniques of moving the plot along. Of course, our characters need to have back­grounds, histories and pasts to make them credible but we don’t need to clutter up the proceedings in order to reveal these in chapter and verse.

Firstly, look with a critical eye and decide if your current plot is really adequate for the length of time in which the story is set in terms of action. Novels, like life, are made up of peaks and troughs but it would not be advisable to include every trivial detail just to fill the pages. By using a ‘plotting graph’, try to contain the story within a realistic time-frame with very little slack-water in between. Your graph should show the high points of action (with brief notes), with the lows giving the opportunity for character devel­opment and ‘padding’. Even in romantic women’s fiction there should still be peaks and troughs of action and inaction. The graph enables you to plan when certain dramatic interludes can be intro­duced into which chapters, and where the reader needs a respite from the action. Plot each chap­ter with as much attention to de­tail as the whole novel.  Using the technique of intro­ducing peaks and troughs enables you to decide exactly when you are going to suspend the action in order to keep the reader in sus­pense and encourage them to read on.

The action is the easy part, simply because this is what drives the story along and it is probably already well-thought out in your head. What we need to concentrate on now is how to introduce the more intimate and! or personal details that will flesh out our characters, without hold­ing up the action. The following are simple devices but they are extremely effective for adding depth to the character without resorting to lengthy description and/or narrative.

Flashbacks

A device for giving readers information about a person, place or event that happened before the novel began. Here a character can have a past mem­ory triggered by a happening in here and now, which helps the reader to understand his or her actions or responses to a current situation. Flashbacks enable us to filter information in a subtle way that does not hold up the action and gives the reader information on a need to know basis, which can only add to the suspense — but don’t overdo the sauce and use them sparingly.

Dialogue

Dialogue should always move the story along and if it doesn’t, then it is superfluous. Again, if you need to inform the reader of something that happened before the start of the story, then it can be introduced in the form of a conversation between people. Think in terms of ‘real’ dialogue and how much information you would give away to a stranger. “Tell me about yourself” isn’t an invita­tion to start a pre-school and work your way through to re­tirement.

Reverie

The use of a character’s thought processes allows us to convey the type of intimate or personal details that the charac­ter may not want to reveal. Of­ten presented in italics, reverie can be used to express the char­acter’s real thoughts, while the dialogue is saying something completely different. Reverie can also be utilised if the character is alone and running over events in their mind prior to action. It is a method of recalling events that may have been subtly introduced earlier in the story.

Written Word

A clever way of dispensing with pages of unnecessary scene-setting is the employment of a letter, newspaper clipping or diary that can speak volumes about why events have come to pass.

Narrative style

Narrative style or viewpoint is the method we choose to tell the story. Many beginner novelists start off by writing in the first person but often find they run out of steam, simply because every­thing that happens must be seen, heard and experienced by the character telling the story. Working with ‘I’ very quickly becomes tedious, since ‘I’ cannot be everywhere at once and com­menting on everyone and every­thing.

Having said that, author Nigel Watts had this to say: “Because the readers can know only what the protagonist knows, it is easy for the author to spring surprises on them. Suspense and tension, therefore, often work well with a first person viewpoint.”

Third person narrative is much easier to attempt and, depending on the length and/or structure of the story, we can chose either the third person single viewpoint or the third per­son multiple viewpoint.

The third person single view­point can be equally as restrictive as first person narrative. This is less personal but your principal character needs to be strong enough to carry the whole novel on his or her shoulders. As Nigel Watts also observes: “In order to make the character credible and au­thoritative, you will need to be privy to his or her thoughts, see­ing the world through your char­acter’s eyes. Although it is im­portant to know all your main characters well, you should know your viewpoint character inside out.”

If using the multi-viewpoint, it is advisable to stick to one at a time, because the reader will quickly become bored if they are constantly trying to work out who is doing or saying what, and to whom. Decide which of your characters will play out a particu­lar scene — and stick to it: the easiest way to deal with multi-viewpoint is to utilise it chapter by chapter but do limit the num­ber of character-viewpoints to the main players.

Tense

Novels are normally set in the past or present tense, and alternat­ing tenses can often be confusing unless some clear demarcation line is drawn.  In a recent submission the author used the present tense to convey the elderly characters’ thoughts and reflection, and the past tense to tell the story.

The tense you choose is all part of the narrative style and if you find that the story isn’t work­ing in, say, the present tense, change it over to past tense and see if it flows more easily.

Exercises – Session 4

1. Describe your reasons for setting the novel within the chosen time-frame and make a plotting graph showing the peaks and troughs of dramatic action throughout the chapters.

2. Work out a rough estimate of how many chapters you think your novel will take, and then be honest about whether your plot is adequate for its length.

3. Are there any areas where you feel your novel shows signs of weakness?

4. How many viewpoints do you intend to use throughout the story? How many ‘main’ characters will be involved? How well do you know your principal character?

5. Is your story to be set in the past or present tense? Would any purpose be served for using both for added emphasis?

6. Do you intend to include any form of humour in the narrative? Are you using it for the sake of being funny, or is it intended to be a natural part of the narrative?

Kick-Starting the Novel: Session 3 – Characterisation

Whether your novel is plot-led, or character-led it will not generate any interest unless the reader can empa­thise with the main character. They can love or hate your ‘lead’ but they do need to feel something.  As a starting point, let’s consider the following:

• If you don’t care about your characters, neither will the reader
• Characters must be credible, but they don’t have to be likeable!
• Avoid stereotypical characters and cardboard cut-outs
• A strong supporting cast is essential

In most cases, the novel starts with a germ of an idea relating to how a certain character is going to think about, react, or experiment with, a situation that life throws at him/her. In a nutshell, this central character is the pivot around whom the rest of the story is constructed – and you the author will have to maintain the reader’s sympathy/empathy/hatred for him/her for the next 80,000+ words.

You’ll know when you’ve got it right because the character will be­come real for you. You will be equally aware of his/her likes and dis­likes in the same way that you know your closest friend would, or would not, do something that went against her principles. Your character must be real to you or he/she will not be real for the reader. The reader must want your character to win through, whatever the odds.

Which brings us to the credibility of your characters within the story. Unless we’re talking about   fan­tasy, supermen or women really don’t work, simply because there is no provision for failure or the human elements that provide con­flict and misunderstanding. The main characters must fit comforta­bly within the period/setting of the story.  When the author was first marketing The Wild Horseman, one literary agent took a dislike to the main male character and suggested that the plot be re-written around the other character, a sixteen-year old girl. Now in war-torn France, it would have been highly unlikely for a teenager to take centre stage, simply because the story was about survival and the male was a survivor. To do as the agent suggested would have given the whole thing a ‘Famous Five’ slant and ruined the story!

When we are talking about credibility, we are also talking about character flaws that can make the man or woman more appealing. Let’s face it, the fact that the sight of blood always turned Inspector Morse’s stomach, never made him less of a man in our, the viewer/reader’s eyes, did it?

Another of our authors created a character who, in her youth, was too intense and self-obsessed and had we worked through the novel from A to B there would have been very little about the girl to make us care whether she lived or died. In this case, the author told the story in flashbacks from the vantage point of an eighty-year old woman, who could see all too clearly with the benefit of hind­sight, just how her intense and self­ish behaviour had cost her dear. We like and respect the older woman for her honesty, and there­fore are more sympathetic towards her younger self as the story un­folds.

Think back to the sadistic camp guard in Merry Christmas Mr Law­rence, whose geniality belied his callous treatment of the POWs. Then there was the film director who told a scriptwriter that he could totally destroy his image of a hard­ened contract killer, by having the man stop and stroke the head of a cat, while on his way to a kill. These subtle nuances can add depth to what could be perceived as a one-dimensional character.  It’s also very easy for the subcon­scious to take over the ‘drawing’ of characters. As one author found to her horror, when she discovered that in her draft typescript, all her ‘goodies’ were blonde, and all her ‘baddies’ were dark haired! Is this a subconscious throw-back to the days of black and white films, when the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black?

This is what we mean by stereo­typing – when characters are so predictable that their appearance and behaviour are almost a cliché.  Another typescript that came our way featured the heroine (a gentle and rather colourless creature) and her rival, a glamorous ball-breaker. The problem with the story was that the author had made the glamour-puss so consistently awful that it was impossible to see why the chap they were fighting over, was attracted to her in the first place. To break the impasse it was sug­gested that there should be a few added dimensions to the glamour-girl’s personality to at least make her credible and give a reason why she was moving in such a social circle. The author’s reaction was that she wasn’t supposed to be liked and that there wasn’t any good to be found in her anyway. The real reason, one suspects, is that the ‘heroine’ was so wet, that any quarter given the protagonist would have merely made her appear wetter!

Characters that move woodenly through the story will bog down the action and bore the reader to death. Allowing char­acters to grow as the plot develops may work for experienced authors but that it can be a disastrous as­sumption for a beginner to make; creating a character profile for the central char­acters is as necessary as any other form of plotting. So spend some time producing a full c.v for each of the important people involved in the story and indicate where their lives interact with the others. Just remem­ber that no character should be 100% perfect.

Although they are not often an integral part of the plot, minor char­acters are equally as important and can provide:

• light relief
• help move the story along
• chance encounters
• red herrings
• throw a spanner in the works
• wisdom

Minor characters should be there to serve a purpose and for that we should turn to the greatest ‘bit player’ of them all, Shake­speare. He created bit parts throughout his plays that are often the ones the audience remembers – like the gatekeeper in Macbeth, for instance. The only ‘bit’ of light relief in the whole play.  Minor characters can be the woman who keeps the local post office and the focus of all village gossip – just think how many red herrings that one could provide – and she only need appear as a ‘bit’ player throughout.

Beware, however, of creating a supporting player who appears quite fre­quently at the beginning and then sinks without trace, for no appar­ent reason – this is more common than you would believe. Minor characters are there to move the plot and dialogue along when the author feels it is necessary to inject a piece of information, but doesn’t want it imparted by the main char­acters.  Here are two simple tricks for creating the perfect blend of ‘people’ for your novel:

The casting couch. How many times have you been disappointed by the casting when a favourite book has been turned into a film or television series? Use this process in reverse and think of an actor who has played a similar part to the one required in your novel. Mentally take the image and superimpose it on the character you wish to create. In other words, if you were casting your own novel as a film, who would you get to play the parts both main and supporting roles.

Astrology. There are plenty of books around on the subject (try the charity shops) that give the positive and negative traits of all the ‘sun signs’ and I know several authors who use this method to create multi-dimensional charac­ters by using a fictitious birth sign as a starting point. It will even help you sort out who is compati­ble, and who is a potential pro­tagonist.  [See recommended reading]

Choosing the right name for characters is also important because a name can say an awful lot about a person, without the need to go into a long and involved description about colour of hair, eyes, etc.   Avoid having two people whose names begin with the same letter (unless it’s a comedy), i.e. Jason and Jayne, Robert and Rebecca, or James and Jamie. And watch those names, first and surnames, ending with ‘s’. Or you’ll be forever writing James’s  …Mrs Prentiss’s

Get the point?  Names should reflect the fashion, society and history of the period and avoid using something that no one can comfortably pronounce. One book that should be on every fiction writer’s shelf is The Oxford Names Companion, which will provide end­less sources for both first and surnames, as well as place-names.

A character’s occupation should also be an integral part of the story. There’s no point in slinging in the fact that Cyril is a retired antiques dealer and not exploiting this to the full in the narrative. Your story will revolve around the main character’s occupation, so more than a little detail needs to appear, if only to convince the reader that they are about to enter this particular world. Unless your plot centres around the double-dealing of high finance, then an art expert, fighter pilot, or race­horse trainer is going to appear much more glamorous than a com­modities broker.

The vast majority of Dick Francis’s novels were in some way related to the world of horse racing, but he wasn’t frightened to go out­side these parameters and explore other worlds. And it shows in his writing.  There is an obvious enthusiasm for the subject and the reader learns something in the process. One of his best novels involves an injured jockey becoming involved in his deceased brother’s gem business. Here Francis resisted the urge to go over the top and, instead of pre­cious stones, the business special­ised in the importing of semi-­precious stones. The confusion of the jump-jockey in this unfamiliar world was actually shared by the reader as they were drawn in to almost actively participate as the story unfolded.   In today’s society, we are what we do, so it makes sense in terms of publisher interest, to spend some time researching this important area. Who knows, it might spark further ideas to give the plot more depth, since it will require the interaction of other characters in order to make the ‘work-place’ credible.

One of the best examples of creating a character in the reader’s mind, is the style of interview found every weekend in the colour supplements. Bearing in mind that lengthy de­scription is ‘out’, obtain a few back issues and study the way that the interview is constructed.  The angle is usually related to the celeb’s current work but throughout the 3,000 word piece, there will be single sentences that skillfully de­scribe what the subject is wearing, appearance, mannerisms, attitude, etc.  This is the approach you should aim for when developing your char­acter’s personality throughout the narrative. Sharp, incisive thumb-nail sketches rather than lengthy descrip­tion, allow the reader to recreate the ‘person’ in their mind’s eye and participate in the story, rather than just being a casual observer.

Exercise: Session 3

1. Write 150 words giving the opposite characteristics of your main characters, i.e. what are the ‘flaws’ in your ‘lead’, and what are the good points about the protagonist?

2. What is it about your main character that you like (a) best, and (b) least? What else could you add to make them more believable?

3. Have you paid enough attention to the occupation of your characters, or is it merely a throw-away piece of information? How can you exploit this in the plot?

4. Conduct an imaginary interview with your main character, using the style of the colour supplements. In 200 words, create a thumb-nail sketch of how they look, what they are wearing, manner, etc.,

5. Create a character profile for a secondary character, who will play an important, but minor role in your story.

Recommended reading:

Astro-characters, by Judy Hall (Compass Books)

Creating Convincing Characters, Nicholas Corder (Compass Books)

www.compass-books.net