Comments on: On Placing That Pesky Story Question

By: Timothy R. Greene

Timothy R. Greene — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:12:10 +0000

I think it is more then okay for the story question to be pushed off until the 1/3 mark. In the novel I am working on now which is a reworking of my very first novel, the story question does not show up until half way through the first half of the second act. And it isn’t really clear until the second disaster.

My second book I wrote after my first novel, the story question is not clear until the very end of novel. There are many hints through out the book pointing towards the question, but the question is not clear until the third to second end chapter.

Personally the longer you can hold off on the question, the better, because it makes a mystery that you want to know. Especially when the hints a dropped at the right moment then you takes us away from what you just revealed so we don’t have time to really think about it. I would go ahead with the change only to see how it works. Then go with the one that you think works best. If it is going to be too much work and you like how the story is already then go with that. if you can’t convince yourself that it is worth the work to make all those changes then your characters are telling you something.

Hope that helps.

Tim.

By: Tessa

Tessa — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:27:49 +0000

Randy, thank you so much for answering this. It must have taken ages to put all this together. I really appreciate it.

My story has a very deep plot - many plots really that come together in the end (with some continuing into the next two books), so I would say that it’s plot-driven. But. I’m also introducing a whole new world of towns, magic, and things like that, and that weighs so much in the story.

I deleted the entire first chapter and made chapter two into chapter one. That way my story started off much quicker. But the story question about which way to follow (good or evil) is on page 112, and the final page number is 254. *sigh*

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:12:58 +0000

As for Style novels, two writers come to mind, anything by PG Wodehouse or Douglas Adams.

Douglas Adams has his tongue placed so firmly in cheek that he says the meaning to life, the universe, and everything is “42″, an ironical riff on a book (or life!) having any meaningful story question. Brilliant.

Humbly, I’m trying to write in a similar vein. As I daily turn my soul inside out and staple it on the page, it’s hard for me to take finding meaning seriously.

By: Daniel Smith

Daniel Smith — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:40:07 +0000

Interesting. On another blog someone made the following proposition. I wonder if you think it had merit, Randy.

It’s this: With respect to the plot-driven versus character-driven debate, all stories are either about an abnormal person in a normal situation or a normal person in an abnormal situation. Thus they are either character-driven or plot-driven, respectively.

What do you think? Can stories be defined this way? And this begs the question: which is better/stronger/more fulfilling for the reader? Are there exceptions (like Harry Potter - abnormal boy who acts like a normal boy in a fantasy world)?

By: Daniel Smith

Daniel Smith — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:45:01 +0000

You might put Raymond Chandler in as a Style writer too. And maybe the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming for the same reason. (Although the style I’m referring to in both cases is really dialogue from the main characters…so it could be called character-driven as well…it’s hard to wrap your head around this pillar…)