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Writers Retreat > Student Talk > PLOT, DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT > Novels are like bunnies, they hop!
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Author Topic: Novels are like bunnies, they hop!  (Read 4433 times)
jfields
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« on: May 31, 2011, 09:48:06 AM »
I wanted to talk a little bit about chapter arc in novels. First, one thing to remember about any novel is that it is a journey. For some, the journey has a very clear methodical road map -- a mystery, for instance, usually follows a specific plot structure. An adventure usually follows another. But some are a bit meandering and you're not quite certain where the journey may end -- unlike a mystery (where you know it will probably end with the solution) or an adventure (where you know it will probably end with overcoming the breath-taking challenge) -- a literary novel tends not to have a clear road map. The reader isn't sure where it will end. It will end with main character change...but beyond that, the map is unclear for the reader.

For the writer, however, the beginning and the end need to be fairly set when you begin writing. Now, you might change the ending as you write -- that happens -- but start off with a destination in mind unless you really really really want to do a load of rewriting at some point.
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« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2011, 09:51:23 AM »
Now, after you've set beginning and end, you start your journey. It won't be smooth and unbroken like real life. When we go through a day in real life, we an seemingly endless number of small tasks to fill all those seconds. Some of the tasks we have learned to do virtually without thinking. We have hundreds of momentary gaps to fill with virtually unimportant actions -- scratching your nose, picking a piece of thread off the carpet, choosing Cocoa Puffs over Bran Flakes.

In a novel, we cannot do that. We have a lot of room, but we don't have that much room. Novels are NOT dictation of life. So every single moment we showcase in a novel must be a moment of import. Every scene must hop us a bit further along in the plot. Every scene covers some of the journey -- NOT JUST BY FILLING TIME but by filling PLOT.
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« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2011, 09:55:22 AM »
For example, in my novel about girls who go on an adventure in a different world. I knew I needed to go from a group of girls recently moved into a neighborhood to the same girls now Princesses in a magical world who had restored good magic to the inhabitants. So what hops did I need?

I needed to give the girls the tool to begin the journey. So in my first scene, I introduce two girls who are still in the process of unpacking in the huge house their parents just bought. They run out to get the mail and find mysterious packages for each of them. This scene serves two purposes -- introduced two sisters and lets us know some things about their personalities that will be important to the plot, sets the narrator in place, and hands over the "keys" to get them into the magical world.

It hopped the book forward. The hop of the plot was "receiving the mysterious packages" but that's not enough hop, I need a cliffhanger to pull the reader on to the next chapter so I launch a second hop while STILL IN the first chapter.
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« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2011, 09:59:24 AM »
As I launch my second hop, the sisters (with their mysterious keys in hand) run to meet the other neighbor girls at their "clubhouse" they've taken over in the small park at the center of the neighborhood. There they learn all the girls got one of these keys. And the keys do weird things when brought together -- so the girls put all the keys together and a window opens!

Now, that's the cliffhanger. The reader wants to know what the window opens to...what is on the other side? This pulls the reader along into the next chapter when the "hop" is completed and the girls enter the mysterious world. Plot-wise, I've now introduced all the girls and shown something about each of them. And I've gotten them into the world.

I launch the next hop when the girls hear something coming -- it turns out to be a huge bear that breaks through the brush. What will happen? Should they run? The reader is pulled into the third chapter and I have introduced another key character...so I'm hopping forward in each chapter. I'm focused on those things that pull the reader deeper and deeper into the total book plot.
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« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2011, 10:10:18 AM »
LANGUAGE WE UNDERSTAND! Thanks so much, Jan. I especially love your 2nd and 4th posts. Epiphanies, all.

(I'm going to have to get your novel.)
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« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2011, 10:13:17 AM »
With every single solitary scene in your book, you need to be able to say how it hops us forward on the plot journey. During the revision stage, peer at every scene. Would we get to the end just as smoothly if this were a two paragraph transition instead of the full scene? Would we get to the end just as smoothly if there were removed totally? If either of those is true, then the scene is dragging your pace and cluttering your novel. The scene should do something IMPORTANT for the plot as well as showing characterization.
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« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2011, 10:42:31 PM »
Wow! Wow! Wow!

Can you stop hopping for a minute? I'm trying to catch up. Cheesy
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« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2011, 11:23:05 AM »
Oh, I love these posts about plot!  Thank you so much, Jan!  This is just what I needed!
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« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2011, 12:19:54 PM »
Thank you Jan  Smiley
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« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2011, 09:30:31 PM »
Wow my head is spinning with excitment. Not only has this helped me I now know what to do with a novel I have been pondering.

It is somewhat like the one you wrote. Only my MC finds the doorway elsewhere and finds it because he/she is trying to hide.

Wow Wow Wow

Thank you Thank you Thank you Jan
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« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2011, 10:43:42 AM »
Portal novels (books where there is a portal to another world) are kinda tough to sell. The one I did was basically a portal novel because the company WANTED a portal novel. But they are very common in the slush pile. I still believe kids LOVE them, but do make sure you have something very special because it's a little tough to convince an editor that a portal novel truly rocks.
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« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2011, 03:23:18 PM »
I will do that thanks for the information. Course even if it doesn't get published I would like to do it just for fun. Also my grandkids might enjoy it.
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« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2011, 06:58:25 PM »
*Hop, hop, hop!* Wow this is great. Thanks, Jan. Cheesy
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« Reply #13 on: November 03, 2011, 09:43:47 PM »
This is a great post Jan, thank you so much.  This is especially helpful with Nanomonth here Smiley
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« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2012, 03:15:51 PM »
I laughed when I read the title. But then I read the contents of this thread....and loved it!
Thanks Jan!
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