five secrets of novel writing

1.   A novel deals with that which is heartfelt by the characters. E.M. Forster’s Maurice is excellent in this respect. At the beginning- Maurice is given a chance to see through his school teacher, it is a heartfelt moment, he feels it and minds being lied to on the subject of sex. But take The Card- it starts with an excellent idea- a boy cheats- this is very Flaubertian- an idea well done- but it feels thin and containing too much information because it is not heartfelt- the character doesn’t care that much. You can’t dodge it- the novel deals with what is a heartfelt concern of the main character.

2.   A novel is a story told in chapters. This might seem obvious but it isn’t. The bits you miss out are as important as those left in. The chapter construction allows you to write about anything since the bits you can’t write are those that are left out  BUT INDICATED in the way the gaps are referred to.

3.   The narrative voice determines the correct level of detail. This is the most mysterious part. Depending on what is at stake for the narrator or the character through whose eyes we view things, we see and take note differently. Just as we notice all kinds of trivial details as we wait expectantly in a room for the results of a medical examination, so the level of detail is intimately connected to the ‘level of threat’ under which the central character/narrator is put.

4.   Think of how a good reader of stories aloud doesn’t have an irritating voice. No one wants to be irritated. Stephen Fry versus Martin Jarvis: to my ear (and my kids') Fry has an irritating ‘theatrical’ way of reading whereas the trained voice of Jarvis is marvelously subtle and expressive, yet somehow transparent, unimposing. Now think of how you might avoid being irritating as a writer.

5.   Plot exists in the first sentence. What we think of as ‘plot’ is not story or event sequence or causal sequence or character motive; it is something altogether deeper and far more slippery. It’s about the least understood part of writing- but you can easily develop a nose for it. The best way is to think of a character with a conflict in their personality- say a body builder who works in a library restoring old manuscripts. From the get go there is something to write about here. Plot is simply that: something to write about. That’s how you can feel it’s presence in the first sentence- are you being pulled by this ‘something’ or are you pushing an idea in your head out onto the page? You need to get used to being pulled along. A good title can sometimes encapsulate this kind of plot- ‘snakes on a plane’ is a great example. Though I don’t exactly mean what Hollywood calls High Concept. Rather, the situation you put the characters in- the world if you like- exerts sufficient PRESSURE on them to give you something to write about.