Successful Fiction Writing = Creating + Organizing + Marketing
I blog weekly on one of the above three topics, alternating between them. This week, I’m blogging on Creating. Our topic today is what to do when the Storyline for one of your characters is broken.
Every Novel Has a Storyline
Let’s define what we mean by Storyline first. Every novel can be summarized in a single sentence that tells the Big Picture. It can also be summarized in a single paragraph with five sentences that show the Four-Act Structure of the story—four blocks of about equal length, separated by three major disasters. This paragraph can be expanded out to a multi-page synopsis. And ultimately, the synopsis can be expanded further into a list of scenes.
When I talk about a Storyline, I mean all of these plot elements—the one-sentence summary, one-paragraph summary, synopsis, and scene list. Please note that a novel is more than just plot. A novel also has characters, setting, theme, and style. The Storyline is just a piece of your novel, but it’s an essential piece.
If this is new to you, it should all become clearer if you read my long article on the Snowflake Method. There I talk about your one-sentence summary, one-paragraph summary, short synopsis, long synopsis, and scene list. Plus a whole lot more having to do with your characters.
Every Character Has Their Own Storyline
Now here’s the important point. Each of your characters also has their own Storyline. Usually, the Storyline for your novel is dominated by the Storyline for your lead character. But all your other characters have a Storyline too—because they all think they’re the lead character in the story.
So a novel is actually a collection of several interwoven Storylines—the main Storyline of the novel as a whole, plus the Storylines of all the major characters and maybe also some of the minor characters.
Sometimes you write your whole novel and then realize that one of the Storylines is broken. It might be the main Storyline. It might be one of the character Storylines. So what do you do? You’ve invested a lot of time writing the first draft. Your story is still a good idea. You don’t want to throw the novel away. You just want to fix what’s broke.
I’ve been working through this issue in the current novel I’m writing. The story as a whole works fine. But I decided that the Storyline for one character just didn’t fit with everything else. Her name is Rivka, and she’s not the lead character for the novel, but she’s the second most important. If her Storyline is broken, the whole novel is broken. What to do?
Fixing a Broken Storyline With a Character Interview
I decided to interview Rivka and see if that might help. I’ve blogged in the past about How to Interview Your Characters before you even begin writing your novel. It’s a good way to get to know each character.
But this time is different. I’ve been friends with Rivka for a very long time. She’s been the lead character in several novels, so I thought I knew her pretty well. But apparently not well enough.
So I sat down with her and did a long interview. In about two and a half hours, I typed almost 3400 words. Some of it was pretty raw. Rivka was very unhappy with the lead character, but it really wasn’t about him at all. The real problem happened a long ago, before she met him, and even before she met me. She’s never dealt with it, and now it’s time.
So I let her talk. Every so often, I asked questions. Sometimes I had to push back, because she got a little defensive. I kept asking questions, especially about the scenes where I thought she’d gone off the rails a bit. I asked what was really driving her in those scenes, and she did her best to explain. I’m no psychologist, so I couldn’t really fix her problem.
But Rivka talked. And I listened, typing everything she said. Eventually, she figured out how to fix her own problem. She had the solution inside her all the time. She just needed a sounding board to talk it through.
In the end, she got where she needed to go. I wanted to be sure I understood her completely, so I played a few things back to her. She agreed that I had got it right. So I think she’s going to get better.
And when Rivka fixed her problem, she also fixed mine. Because now I know how to write her Storyline better. I figure I’ll need to revise maybe a dozen scenes. Those are the ones that weren’t working, because I didn’t understand Rivka’s issues well enough. Now I do. Probably. You never know until you try. I’ve spun off a new version of the novel, cleverly labeled “Draft 6,” because this is now my sixth draft of the novel.
Your Character is Not You
It’s important to remember that the characters in your novel are not you. They’re created in your image, but they’re not you. They have their own lives with their own issues. You may think you’re in control of them, but they have a mind of their own.
So you’ve got to set your characters free to be their own persons. And a great way to do that is to interview them. Be prepared for fireworks. They’ll yell at you sometimes. They’ll complain that you’re mean, because you could fix all their problems if you wanted. Be patient. Give them space, and let them fly. They’ll be thankful in the end.
Homework:
- Is the main Storyline of your novel working? If not, you may need to interview the lead character. This may make a huge change in your novel, but do what you have to do to get your novel on track.
- Are the Storylines for all of your other characters working? If not, try interviewing the character whose Storyline is broken. This will probably cause a small-to-medium change in your novel.
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