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Or is it?
All good things must end – including novels. At some point, every writer has wrap up the story and clarify mysteries. Some authors use a character to explain everything. Hercule Poirot gathers all living suspects in the drawing room and describes his deductive reasoning. Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort duke it out with wands and words several times, and Lord Voldemort gets to do most of the talking.
Those final soliloquies are so tempting to write. I had one in my WIP, until I realized it wasn’t necessary. The story still made sense when that dialog was cut. Changes could be made earlier in the novel to release clues. Now the ending focuses on the protagonist’s victory, not the antagonist’s defeat.
"That makes something not completely unlike sense."
Tonight is Midsummer Night, and my dream of serene sunny days filled with productive writing has not yet materialized. Revisions are limping along, this blog is neglected. Other people are blogging though, and I’ll send you off to visit them.
On Wednesdays, Alice Pope’s SCBWI Children’s Market Blog, compiles helpful industry posts, and two caught my eye. Mary Kole at kidlit posted a letter from a reader about using a good telling sentence to introduce showing. This is similar to starting a paragraph in an essay with a topic sentence then backing it up with specific examples. Jennifer Crusie wrote a terrific, content-filled post on plot in Argh Ink.
"He was off in the Sam-osphere."
So what is a plot problem? When I introduced my exercise at Tuesday’s Write Night, I was asked to give an example. A plot problem is anything that isn’t working, doesn’t make sense, or bogs down the story. Plot problems are easy to revise around and delightful to put off, but eventually they have to be faced.
Here are examples from the group that don’t give away anyone’s story.
- Getting a character to do something he didn’t want to do
- Explaining an essential technicality of a magical world with humor
- Rescuing characters from a high-tension, hopeless situation
- Bringing two disparate characters together
- Adding excitement to a lack-luster sequence of events
In case you haven’t guessed, the last one was mine. Yesterday I replaced a chapter of sludge with action and tension.
Last night's Write Night exercise seems to have worked out well - if I do say so myself. Here's the exercise.
Briefly summarize a plot problem in your novel.
Make a list of 5 or 6 solutions. (They don’t all have to be practical. They don’t all have to work. Brainstorm wildly.)
Pick one solution and write a scene that begins to implement it.
"In my next life, I’ll have poise."
Liar
by Justine Larbalestier
Bloomsbury, 2009
Picture shows the new US and Australian covers.
For reviews, see The YA YA YAs, Librarilly Blond, Bib Laura Graphy, A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cosy, and The LibrariYAn.
This book is not for the squeamish. It has a raw brutality that even the multiplicity of lies can’t mask. That aside, Liar is a masterful example of the unreliable narrator. The tale drips out slowly as if Micah is reluctant to tell us the truth. Then the story shifts and Micah admits she’s lied, and promises to be honest next time. Then the story shifts again. And again.
If you’re writing a novel with an unreliable narrator, there’s much to learn from this book.
Wildwood Dancing
by Juliet Marillier
Alfred A. Knopf, 2007
For reviews, see teen reads, Emily’s reading room and the book book blog.
Fascination with vampires has made Transylvania an increasingly popular vacation destination. In Wildwood Dancing, the reader can observe Night People from a safe distance and still enjoy moonlight revels with inhabitants of the Other Kingdom. Dancing lessons and haute couture ball gowns are included in the price.
“Children love forbidden places, especially when they lie deep in a mysterious dark forest, where all kinds of wonderful games can be played, games that last from dawn to dusk and spring to life again the next morning.”
"If you turn into an alien, can I have a ride in your
UFO?"
The Vintage Caper
by Peter Mayle
Alfred A. Knopf, 2009
For reviews see New York Times Sunday Book Review, goodreads, and Wine Peeps.
If you needed an excuse to frolic through France, sampling culinary delights and indulging in fine wines, you could join Sam Levitt as he investigates the theft of three million dollars worth of aged Bordeaux.
“Returning to Paris after a long absence, there is always a temptation to plunge in and taste everything. Call it greed, or the result of deprivation, but food in Paris is so varied, so seductive, and so artfully presented that it seems a shame not to have a dozen of Brittany’s best oysters, some herb-flavored lamb from Sisteron, and two or three cheeses before attacking the desserts.”
“The restaurants of Marseille were the reason God made fish.”
On Cassis: “A village on the sea is a magical sight on a sunny day; a village on the sea with twelve excellent vineyards in its back garden is enough to make a man want to throw away his passport and stay forever.”
