On Writing: Planning & Possibilities

Possibility & Catching Ideas

I am warned, in The Craft of Novel-Writing, that if I 'linger at the planning stage' that I 'may never start the book at all' (Doubtfire, 1982, p.12). Any planning needs to leave room for the kind of organic development that can't be planned. A book should be 'fluid' and 'a voyage of discovery' that is 'full of surprises' and that it is more likely that the reader will be surprised if I (the author) am 'continually surprised' (Ibid).

This, Stephen King describes as 'an immense feeling of possibility' with which he wrote his very first story as a child (2000, p.28). According to King, 'good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere' and the writers job 'isn't to find them but to recognise them when they show up' (2000, p.38).

Doubtfire (1982) advises keeping note books handy in the planning stages, to catch the ideas as they come (p. 9-12). In 1982 when the book was written, mobile phones weren't as prolific so wouldn't be available, as they are now, at that moment you want to jot something down.

Words, Numbers & Discipline & Freedom

When planning to write a novel its good to keep in mind the average length being anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000 words (Doubtfire, 1982, p.10) and according to Writers & Artists a 'typical paperback' will be 80,000 to 100,000. 

Doubtfire (1982) looks at a book of about 70-80000 words and suggests breaking it into 30 chapters of around 2500 words (p.11). The 1-30 method, as advised by Winston Clewes, involves writing 1-30 down a margin of a page and by the 1 put a 'possible opening' and by the 30 an 'idea for an ending' and by the other various numbers 'brief notes on some highspots of the story' (Ibid). It doesn't all need to be planned, but as you write, more notes by the chapter numbers and changes and more notes again will help to sort any 'muddle' out, and help to 'plan a strong back bone for your book and build towards a powerful climax', which can also change as appropriate (p. 12).

Irving Wallace (1969) in The Writing of One Novel considers that 'Every author prepares for a book in the way that best suits his psyche' (p.56). Wallace liked to plan using an outline, which he considered to have the 'virtue of being creatively thought out, worked out, disciplined, in the authors mind and on paper...' (1969, p.60). However he recognises that a novelist 'who plans too carefully in advance' could create such a 'rigid mold that he leaves no room for hisimagination to soar freely or for new ideas to root and grow...' (Ibid).   

Marathons, Toolboxes, Training & Work 

When Guy de Maupassant (1888) showed Flaubert some of his early writing, Flaubert saw 'a certain iintelligence' but wasn't sure if he would go on to develop any talent. Flaubert (Ibid) advised him: 

'Talent...is nothing other than a long patience. Work.'

Francesca Bell in Being a Writer, uses Haruki Murikami's analogy for writing a novel as running a marathon and considers the 'writer has to be fit for purpose and stamina is part of that fitness' (2015, p.268).

How do you train to be a writer? William Boyd in Notes on Becoming a Novelist considers that he found the 'right thing' to do to be a writer was 'writing as hard as [he] could, fulfilling [his] apprenticeship, making mistakes and learning from them' (2015, p. 291).

This apprenticeship carries with it a toolbox. Stephen King (2000) talks about the writer's toolbox of skills in vocabulary, grammar, style and form and says if you want to write to the best of your ability that 'it behoves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so that you can carry it with you', then he says when you are faced with something hard 'instead of getting discouraged, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work' (p. 111). 

Do Two Things

Stephen King's  (2000, p.145) advice is:

'[I]f you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot' 

King reads 70-80 books a year. I looked at my list since starting this blog in September and wondered if I was in the right ball park. By the 19th of February in Reflections on Reading I had read 19 books and since then I have read Timbuktu, The Drowned World, The Guest Cat and The Rosie Project. That's 23 books in 6 months, so in a year, at the same rate, I will have read 46 books. It looks like I have some catching up to do.

When it comes to writing, in the last six months I have attended a writing class, been editing my novel, have written a short story, some poetry, essays for an MA and written over 80 blog posts like this. King (2000) likes to get in 10 pages or 2000 words a day (p.154). However, if that is his only job I would imagine it being easier than when he wrote Carrie in between wash cycles at work. I feel like that's what I am doing and its hard work. I want to be writing all the time but when your eyes are closing and your head is dropping over the keyboard its hard. But there you go - no one ever said it was going to be easy. And all the cliches I drag out to young people I work with about hard work and achievement come to mind and I am chastened.

And I plan to read a lot and write a lot...more.

 
References: 

Boyd, W. (2015) Notes on Becoming a Novelist, Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2015, Bloomsbury, London
Brill, F. (2015) Being a Writer, Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2015, Bloomsbury, London
Doubtfire, D. (1978, 1982) The Craft of Novel-Writing, Shocken Books Inc, New York

King, S. (2000) On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Scribner, New York
Maupassant, G, (1888) 'Le Roman', Preface to Pierre et Jean, cited in Allott, M. (1959) Novelists on the Novel, Routelege, London
Wallace, I. (1969) Writing One Novel,  The New English, Library, London

On Writing: Point of View

 

In The Craft of Novel Writing Diane Doubtfire considers the point of view to be next on the agenda for the writer after theme. She describes the different points of view that the book can be written from including the first person, third person or omniscient.

Kate Pulinger, writing a piece on Point of View for the Guardian, considers the first and third person perspectives (limited and omniscient) to currently dominate fiction writing.

Points of view/narration types:

a) First person or the 'I' point of view.

'I had a dog once when I was a child' 

 The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, p.8, 2014

 
b)Third person limited's use of 'he' and 'she' for a limited number of characters

 'Although he was only forty, Kerans' beard had been turned white by the radio-flourine in the water, but his bleached crew-cut hair and deep amber tan made him appear at least ten years younger.'

The Drowned World by JG Ballard, p.11, 1962

c) Third person omniscient where the story is told from an 'all-knowing' perspective and/or the various points of view of the various characters in it.

'As young readers like to know `how people look', we will take this moment to give them a little sketch of the four sisters, who sat knitting away in the twilight [...] 
Margaret, the eldest of the four, was [...] 
Fifteen-year-old Jo was [...] 
Elizabeth, or Beth, as everyone called her, was [...] 
 Amy, though the youngest, was [...]  
What the characters of the four sisters were we will leave to be found out.'

Little Women, by Lousa May Alcott, p.2-3, 1869  

Why choose one over the other? Is it just a style or is it important who tells the story?

I think its important who's point of view we hear the story from. We then know the biases that might ensue and what part of the story we are actually hearing. In Wonder by RJ Palacio, we hear the story of a disfigured boy called August from August himself. The story written in the first person, gives us an intimate view of what August is going through. However it is not until we see the same story from multiple other 'first person' perspectives, like that of his sister or friend that we see the full picture or know the whole story. 

I am writing my novel with a first person point of view. I want the reader to have an intimate relationship with Jez, and get to know the story from his perspective. The problem with this will be that we will only know the other characters and their actions through Jez and with that comes all of Jez's prejudices and assumptions. Also we will only be in the room with the other characters when Jez is. We will know nothing of the other characters or plot points unless Jez tells us. And on that basis we will have to trust Jez to tell us what we need to know and to give the other characters a voice. 

But then, isn't that like real life? We only have one perspective - our own. We have to gain and elicit trust. We don't know what other people are thinking, we listen and watch and get to know people and their stories. We are interested and want to know more. We want to develop, grow in knowledge, skills and understanding. If we knew it all already why would we bother or need to learn? 

We live our lives in suspense, with a first person narrative, our own stories unfolding before our eyes. Eyes blinded by sun, darkness or rose tinted glasses, because no matter what level of skill, knowledge or understanding I acquire in life I still have only only one point of view - mine.


Related Posts:

•  10 First Lines of Novels with First Person Narration 
•  10 First Lines of Novels with Third Person Narration

On Writing: Themes

Diane Doubtfire in 'The Craft of Novel Writing' starts with the theme - what the story is about, not the plot but what it is that concerns the writer, the subject of the the novel, like 'lonliness, revenge, betrayal, self discovery', and whatever the writer wants to say about it (p.1).

Doubtfire warn us that we might not start with a theme but that it will 'clarify as the book evolves'  (p.3). I didn't start writing my book with a theme. I always knew what my book was going to be about and certain issues I wanted to address but were they related to my theme?  I thought about this, having already written 60,000 words. My book, so far, was about life, death, coming of age, self-exploration. Is my theme, mortality?

And if this is my theme what does this mean as I go into the second half of editing this draft of the book? I know that I still have some action which I haven't pinned down in the third act and wonder if thinking of it in terms of what connects most to the theme will spark any ideas. With this in mind I thought about plot gaps and what action could be theme-led and realised that if I wanted to say more on the theme that that meant someone had to die. I already had someone die 'off-screen' but realised that either they had to come to the fore or I would have to look elsewhere. My main characters started to mill about in my imagination, looking concerned, wondering if they were going to be next to be killed off. I wasn't sure, I decided I would have to start writing to see.

I remember doing Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, with my daughter when she was homeschooled.  We talked of themes then, as you do with GCSE English Coursework. The themes were related to the dreams and hopes that come from the fear of loneliness.

George tells Lennie, that usually guys like them are 'the loneliest guys in the world' but they are different because they have each other and they have a 'future' (the 'American dream'). As they get to know the other isolated characters and as the other characters get to know them, they become part of their friendship and part of their future, linked in their fate.

As we get to know each character we enter into a relationship with them and the more we understand their stories, the more we feel for them, hoping their dreams come true.

Base Theme: Try To Understand Each Other

 

'In every bit of honest writing in the world… there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other.'

John Steinbeck (1938, Journal, cited by Susan Shillinglaw in Of Mice and Men introduction)