Building a Better Novel, Part 1: The Foundation

One of the most interesting things to come out of the discussions that I've had about writing techniques (See Plot vs. Pants: Which Road Did You Choose?) is the realization that most writers I'm connected to online do not plot their stories. I'm in the middle of plotting my 2014 novel, so I decided to share my own creative process in a series of essays, partially so you can see how the other half writes and partially to reinforce this aspect of the craft in my own head.

Note: I modeled my process on Robert McKee's screenwriting bible Story, tweaking it for my particular disposition.

Building Blocks
In the beginning, there is no plot. There is only a jumbled series of thoughts and inspiration swirling around in my head like a room full of discarded toys. Once I decide it is time to write, I lay out the broad concepts that I plan to work with:

Genre: The broad creative conventions (or combination of conventions) that will shape the story (See the Secret Struggle for the Magic It). Genre in this sense is less about market positioning and more about the elements of story design. Your choice of genre(s) will influence many other story elements. Even if you decide to break convention to take the genre in a new direction, you need to understand what conventions you are breaking.

Premise: This is Stanislavski’s "magic if" that poses the underlying question of a story. For example, the premise of Blade Runner could be described as 'What if a burned out cop was forced to hunt down a group of rouge androids?'

Conceiving the Protagonist(s): deciding who is going to be the central character of the story including characterizations, true nature and empathetic qualities that will connect them to the reader (See Creating Complex Characters)

Conscious Desire of the Protagonist: defining the Protagonist's stated goal

Unconscious Desire of the Protagonist: defining the more powerful unstated, goal that is in direct opposition to the stated goal.

The tension between conscious and unconscious goals is a powerful story driver. For instance, in Aliens the conscious goal of Ripley is to help the colonists escape the aliens and avoid them at all costs, but it is her unconscious goal is to face the aliens and her own fears. It is the unconscious goal that drives her to fight and kill the queen.

Object of Desire: the person, item or situation that will satisfy the Protagonist's conscious (or unconscious) desire. For example in almost all spy stories, obtaining the "magic it" is the main object of desire. (See the Secret Struggle for the Magic It)

Levels of Conflict: Deciding on what level the Protagonist will face resistance in attaining the Object of Desire. Conflict can come from one of three levels; internal (physical, mental or emotional), interpersonal (other people) and extra personal. The more complex the story, the more varied the levels of conflict. For example, if an Israeli boy wanted to marry a Palestinian girl, he might have to overcome his own shyness, her other suitors and the society around them that rejects such a union.

Forces of Antagonism: The quality of forces opposing the Protagonist. The stronger the forces against the Protagonist, the more she has to struggle and the stronger the story becomes. The Protagonist represents the positive value of the story. The forces against her could be contrary, negative, and in the most powerful stories doubly negative. For example, in Star Wars, Luke represents Good and is the positive quality. Han and the other mercenaries are selfish, but not evil. They are contrary to Luke, but could be with him or against him. Vader represents Evil. He is literally the dark side to Luke. But the double negative is not Luke vs. Vader. It is the internal conflict of Luke vs. Luke turning to the Dark Side himself. It is the lure of embracing evil rather than fighting it that elevates Star Wars above almost all other science fiction franchises.

Risk: what the protagonist might lose if they do not attain the object of desire. This could be very personal (loss of identity) to a loss affecting an entire planet (worldwide destruction), anything in between or a combination of several risks. A smaller risk doesn't mean a more trivial or uninteresting risk. It simply changes the focus of magnification of the story being told.

The Arguments Against Plot
There are many writers who reject plotting for philosophical reasons.

• They claim that it is mechanical as opposed to being organic.
• They say that it is antithetical to creativity and sucks the joy out of the creative process.
• They protest that it is a waste of time that could better be spent diving into the story.

All of this may be true for writers who simply plug the same elements into every story, changing only the names and the locations to complete as many books as possible.

But planning and creativity are not mutually exclusive. I don't want to go to a movie where the director just put everyone in front of the camera and said 'do something cool'. I don't want to see a play where no one knows their lines or even what the story is about and I don't want to write a story if I don't know what the story is about, who is driving it, what they want, why they want it and what they are up against. The beauty of plot is that it creates enough order and structure to allow the freedom of artistic creativity to flow without running around without direction.

But these building blocks are not a plot. This is only the beginning. My next post will discuss the framework of the story, using the elements I wrote about here as a creative blueprint.

Please let me know your thoughts and impressions of this concept, especially if you don't plot in your own work.

Have fun.
Gamal

People We Want to Know: Creating Complex Characters

Question: What do Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs), Ellen Ripley (Aliens) and Rick Blaine (Casablanca) have in common?

Answer: Each of these heroes gained enduring popularity based on the complexity of their character.

All great fictional characters from Hamlet to Harry Potter hold our interest because their characterizations contradict their true natures. As a writer and student of the craft, I want to look at this contradiction in depth.

Characterization vs. True Nature

In his screenwriting guide Story, Robert McKee defines characterization as “the sum total of all knowable qualities about a character.” This means the physical, intellectual, social, financial and spiritual traits that a writer can describe about the individuals they create. True character (or as I like to call it, true nature) is a product of the character’s interaction with your plot, because the choices they make under pressure reveal their fundamental personality. As McKee states, “what they choose is who they are”.

In the most complex and interesting characters, the true nature is in direct contradiction to the characterizations. For example:

• Hannibal Lecter is a calm, polite, and intelligent gentleman until the FBI lies to him and sends him to suffer at the hands of a sadistic warden. He escapes by revealing a cunning, ruthless and cannibalistic nature that has shocked audiences for years after the film was first released.
• Ellen Ripley is a terrified, burned out engineer until she loses her surrogate child to xenomorphs. She saves the child by revealing a courageous survivor with an intense maternal instinct.
• Rick Blaine is an aloof and mercenary bar owner until the love of his life returns with the Nazis on her tail. This is when he reveals his true character as a patriotic and sentimental hero.

Fallen Heroes

Many weak characters fail to capture our imaginations because they have little depth; their characterizations and their true character are essentially the same. This is especially true in adventure and spy novels. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist projects the image of a bad ass. The plot progresses and the protagonist goes through the motions of proving he’s a bad ass. The story ends. There is no revelation. There is no depth of character for us to enjoy. The hero is a clichéd caricature of every Tom Cruise or Steven Segal action hero; flat and interchangeable.

Lessons Learned

Both novels I plan to release this year strive to have revelations of true nature vs. characterizations for both the protagonist and the antagonist. As the events of the story place the characters desires into conflict, the development of the plot will not only resolve the story but provide insight into who these people really are. In some ways, I hope that reading about my characters will illuminate something about the reader as well as the writer. That is the goal of any artist.

So who are your favorite characters?

How does their complexity play into your desire to read about them?

For the writers out there, how do you create complex characters in your own writing?

Have fun.

G