Questions, Questions, Questions…. a novelist has to have a lot of answers before putting pen to paper, says guest writer Helen Carey
I’m delighted that I’m handing over my blog today to novelist Helen Carey. She is best known for her bestselling World War Two novels Lavender Road, Some Sunny Day and On a Wing and a Prayer, all published by Orion and now available as eBooks. On a Wing and a Prayer has recently been voted the winner of the e-Festival of Words Historical Fiction Award. Helen also teaches creative writing at Trinity Saint David and Aberystwyth Universities.
WRITERS AS DECISION MAKERS …
There are so many choices involved in writing a novel. Too many perhaps. Is the story contemporary or historical? What is the best setting for it? What genre will be most effective? What is the time frame? Who are the characters? Where do they live? What is their past life? What motivates them? What are the key events? How true should it be to real history? What is it all really about?
All, or most, of these need to be answered before even starting out. No wonder wannabe writers are often put off at the first hurdle.
And as soon as you’ve made those decisions, (assuming you haven’t given up in despair or put a hammer through your keyboard,) another wave of questions immediately comes hurtling towards you.
How are you going to tell the story? Whose point of view? First or third person? What tone? What voice? Where should it start? What is going to kick the whole thing off? Where is it going to end? How are you going to layer in the clues to make that ending satisfactory? And, horror of horrors, what are you going to put in the middle?
Plotting
Obviously there are even more choices to be made further down the line, choices about style, dialogue, punctuation, action versus exposition, amount of description and what words to use, but for now I am going to focus briefly on the question of what to put in the middle. Or, as it is more commonly called, the plot.
Plots are tricky things to get right. But when they work, they really work, engrossing your readers in your make-believe world so effectively that they keep turning the pages, even at chapter endings, and finish up by feeling that their lives have been enhanced in some way, their spirit lifted, and, best of all, eager to start reading your next book.
There are lots of things that can go wrong with a plot. The basic premise of the story might be too weak. The concept may lack believability. The story might be too predictable, too yawn-makingly obvious. The inherent conflict set up by the opening may not be sufficiently escalated. Readers also lose interest when crucial bits of information are missing, key scenes avoided, or if there is too much repetition.
Red Herrings
On the other hand there may be too many red herrings, inconsistencies or loose ends. As Chekhov said: ‘One must not put a loaded rifle on stage if no-one is thinking of firing it.’ The ending should not appear random or insubstantial, or, as so often seems to happen nowadays, to have been plonked in by the author just to get the whole damn thing over with.
There is no magic formula for a great plot. And no quick fixes for a bad one. It is the individual decisions that writers make that are the key to success. So take time to ask yourself if your story is genuinely interesting. Are your characters’ quests worth pursuing? Are you making the most of your story structure? Is there plenty of variety in your twists and turns? Is the writing crisp and focussed? Is the whole thing leading somewhere (preferably towards a great ending)?
If the answer is yes, then you are well on the way to a bestseller.
If the answer is no, then I give you permission to go and get that hammer from your tool box!
Helen has a website at http://www.helencareybooks.co.uk and you can also visit her blog at http://helencareybooks.wordpress.com (which is where we met). You can also follow her on twitter: @helencareybooks
To get a full understanding about how Helen writes and what is important to her take a look at this insightful video.
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2 comments on “Questions, Questions, Questions…. a novelist has to have a lot of answers before putting pen to paper, says guest writer Helen Carey”
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One of the most engaging of author/book videos! And an excellent cautionary post.
Like you, I think Helen gives would-be novelists a lot to think about and I do agree about the video. She didn’t even mention it when she submitted her post, just gave it as one of the links I might want to include. I was so impressed when I watched it and thought others would enjoy it too – even more to think about!