Welcome to Toil and Trouble!
I have a working title for my 2013 EsNovel: Toil and Trouble. And a working concept: school for magic. Possibly for adults.
I haven't been cheating by planning my novel, but when I thought we were going to start in August, I thought about it quite a bit. And then I got a really cool book out of the library called Writing Irresistible Kidlit, by Mary Kole. It's a guide for writers of middle grades and young adult fiction, but I think it has a lot of really interesting advice for authors of all kinds.
Since I can't plan my novel for another month, I thought I might spend some time on a few posts about things I learned from Kole's book. Since I have to return it to the library, this will serve as a nice reminder for me. But before I start, I want to mention that obviously, a lot of this advice is irrelevant for a 50,000 word month-long noveling adventure. It's ok that my book will be terrible, as all my books are. I won't spend a lot of time planning and crafting and perfecting my next novel. I intend the advice I take from Kole to be more of an inspiration to me, for when I am having a hard time deciding what should happen. Because I find that sometimes the terrible-ness of my novel does depress me. I can't help it. And I'm reluctant to just write pages and pages of filler. So, having some pointers for when I'm feeling uninspired can only help.
I'll start with advice from chapter 5, on characters. Kole basically argues that character is the most important thing about the novel, because if we don't care about the main character(s), then we won't care about the action/plot of the novel.
Six things that Kole says we need to know about the protagonist, within the first chapter:
- protagonist's worldview
- at least one detail/context about how protagonist relates to the world
- at least one objective or goal (could be big picture, or could be small scale)
- at least one characterizing detail that highlights personality
- at least one piece of 'voice' so that we get a sense of the protagonist's language
- one concrete choice or action, hopefully one that will make us care about the protagonist
If the protagonist is a bit prickly or unlikeable, then you have to show them vulnerable and making a relatable and likable decision early on.
Another way to flesh out your protagonist is to include a scene from another character's perspective (whether that other character is the narrator or not) where something is revealed about the protagonist that we never would have known.
Next, Kole talks about the importance of objective, motivation, and action. Objective is the overarching goal of the protagonist, motivation is the underlying reason why, and action is what they actually do to achieve the goal. All three are necessary and have to be believable. In every scene, we should always know what the protagonist wants. Even better if we know the multiple objectives of all the characters in a scene, and these conflict so that not everyone can get what they want.
We have to include conflict, both internal and external. Kole recommends continuing to add to the tension and conflict throughout the novel, so that the tension continues to heighten up to the climax. But, there always has to be a reason for the conflict so it has to be connected to the characters' motivations.
Here's an exercise from p. 92 of Kole's book, called Revealing Objective.
I haven't been cheating by planning my novel, but when I thought we were going to start in August, I thought about it quite a bit. And then I got a really cool book out of the library called Writing Irresistible Kidlit, by Mary Kole. It's a guide for writers of middle grades and young adult fiction, but I think it has a lot of really interesting advice for authors of all kinds.
Since I can't plan my novel for another month, I thought I might spend some time on a few posts about things I learned from Kole's book. Since I have to return it to the library, this will serve as a nice reminder for me. But before I start, I want to mention that obviously, a lot of this advice is irrelevant for a 50,000 word month-long noveling adventure. It's ok that my book will be terrible, as all my books are. I won't spend a lot of time planning and crafting and perfecting my next novel. I intend the advice I take from Kole to be more of an inspiration to me, for when I am having a hard time deciding what should happen. Because I find that sometimes the terrible-ness of my novel does depress me. I can't help it. And I'm reluctant to just write pages and pages of filler. So, having some pointers for when I'm feeling uninspired can only help.
I'll start with advice from chapter 5, on characters. Kole basically argues that character is the most important thing about the novel, because if we don't care about the main character(s), then we won't care about the action/plot of the novel.
Six things that Kole says we need to know about the protagonist, within the first chapter:
- protagonist's worldview
- at least one detail/context about how protagonist relates to the world
- at least one objective or goal (could be big picture, or could be small scale)
- at least one characterizing detail that highlights personality
- at least one piece of 'voice' so that we get a sense of the protagonist's language
- one concrete choice or action, hopefully one that will make us care about the protagonist
If the protagonist is a bit prickly or unlikeable, then you have to show them vulnerable and making a relatable and likable decision early on.
Another way to flesh out your protagonist is to include a scene from another character's perspective (whether that other character is the narrator or not) where something is revealed about the protagonist that we never would have known.
Next, Kole talks about the importance of objective, motivation, and action. Objective is the overarching goal of the protagonist, motivation is the underlying reason why, and action is what they actually do to achieve the goal. All three are necessary and have to be believable. In every scene, we should always know what the protagonist wants. Even better if we know the multiple objectives of all the characters in a scene, and these conflict so that not everyone can get what they want.
We have to include conflict, both internal and external. Kole recommends continuing to add to the tension and conflict throughout the novel, so that the tension continues to heighten up to the climax. But, there always has to be a reason for the conflict so it has to be connected to the characters' motivations.
Here's an exercise from p. 92 of Kole's book, called Revealing Objective.
What does your character want and why? What would they give up for what they want? What would they die for? What impossible thing do they crave? What is their most secret longing? What is their version of a perfect world? On the flip side, what is something they want that they probably shouldn't? Articulate these. Next to each one, write one example of how this Objective manifests itself in action.Then, after figuring out the objectives, write as many details about motivation as you can, for each objective. Then consider what the character's reaction would be to achieving each of the objectives, or failing at them.
Comments
Post a Comment