Anatomy of a Novel #2
It's time to take stock of where I am in this draft
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If you join me here, you’ll be taking a weekly deep dive in the psychology of drafting long form fiction. Who knows, the process may surprise you. What comes easily and what is hard? What kinds of choices am I making and why?
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In the Light of the Ghost Moon
Brief synopsis
One early October morning in 1951, a thief slips into a derelict Japanese palace deep in the woods of upstate New York. Once magnificent, SHO FU DEN is frozen in time: tarps cover antiques and rooms reek of bat droppings.
As a column of heavy machinery approaches in the light of the waning moon, a trespasser trips over the body of a man lying face-down on the dirty parquet floor. Thus begins a 24-hour ticking-clock narrative, told by locals with competing interests in saving or demolishing the mysterious estate. Interwoven is the story of Sho Fu Den’s glorious heyday three decades earlier—before the war, before everything went to hell—when Beatrice Pfennig, a young German maid, becomes tragically entangled with the bi-racial twin boys who live at Sho Fu Den Jo and Eben Takamine.
Who is the dead man? Why did Beatrice disappear all those years ago? And will Sho Fu Den and all its complicated history be erased, or will it be saved?
A mystery and a love story, In the Light of the Ghost Moon is inspired by real life scientist Jokichi Takamine and the gilded Japanese palace gifted to him after the 1904 St. Louis World Fair. It is about the clash between our need to belong and our personal ambition, and explores the struggle to defy limiting gender roles and class.
Synopses and One-liners
I never used to think through my plots before starting to write. I believed the magic came as I was writing, not as I was thinking about writing. Because of this, I often had to discard HUGE chunks of my story if/ when I realized I was heading in the wrong direction.
When I was about 1/3 of the way through Madame B. (currently on submission), I started thinking out the plot in far greater detail and discovered that I actually enjoy writing toward a goal. It feels more efficient and purposeful, and I don’t have to edit quite as drastically to make the story arc work.
Now I’m discovering that about 1/3 of the way through this first new draft, even though I know where I’m headed in a general sense, ideas about how to actually get there are not actually coming.
Interestingly, right after I pressed send on my last newsletter about word count and character development it struck me that what I need is a break.
I’m currently reading a bestselling novel that I won’t name because I’m not enjoying it that much (and I hate dissing other writers). It’s edgy and funny, and I like that the protagonist is unpredictable and strange. I’m kind of enjoying it… but to be honest I’m also a little bored.
The plot is not moving fast enough for me (and I love meandering, literary novels). I’m only about 1/2 way through but I’m only sticking with it because everyone in the universe but me loves this book.
So this is making me wonder: in my own work, should I relax about plot and just go with the flow and see where things take me, or should I do the very opposite? Now that I’m taking some time off from actually writing, I can think to my heart’s content. I can finish reading this book and read the next one, and open my mind to different possibilities.
I’m also thinking about sex
This is a tanuki on the grounds of Sho Fu Den where my novel takes place. This little rascal is a magical raccoon dog who can become invisible by using his enormous scrotum as a cape to cover himself.
Yes, you read that correctly. According to Yokai.com: Aside from their powerful ability to change their shape, perhaps the most famous attribute that tanuki possess is their massive, malleable, magical testicles which they can adapt to any need. Their testicles can be used as weapons, drums, fans to keep cool, fishing nets—even umbrellas.
In this book I’m currently reading, there’s a lot of sex and drawn out moments of sexual yearning. Sex lies at the core of my first book, The Forgotten Hours, which is about the reverberations of a rape accusation. There’s some good sex in This Terrible Beauty, too (the book is a love story set in a past ‘dystopia’ ie. communist East Germany!).
Writing sex is hard but when you do a good job it is really powerful. Will there be sex in this new novel? That is the question now preoccupying me.
I think this is popping up right now because I don’t know my characters well enough to put them into sex scenes. But what I want for this story is for it to be intense and emotionally compelling, and for that, sex probably has to play some kind of role.
Also, now that I know the real Dr. Takamine was a bit of a player (see Anatomy of a Novel #1), my thoughts about who is having sex and with whom is changing. I didn’t think of him as a sexual being before and now he’s evolving in my mind. But how much of this needs to be in my story? The way I see it is:
Does his philandering serve the story in some way? Is it important to the core themes I’m reaching for, or is it distracting?
This is where PLOT comes in, and thinking through the synopsis or one-liner early on in the process. If I don’t have a good sense of what my core themes are I might go totally off track at this point.
New questions are cropping up and that’s as it should be — that’s why I need some time to think rather than write.
What’s next?
During my writing break I’m going to be reading and thinking a lot about sex — and imaging in what circumstances which of my characters will be having it!
I’ll finish the trendy book I’m reading now to see what everyone is raving about and then I plan to read a few books that are unrelated to my topics and era. Right now it feels like the best thing I can do is be a bit more playful and open, and see what happens.
What would you do with your writing - where would you go with story or character - if you felt completely free from any and all expectations around plot and sales?
Fascinating, Katrin! And so useful to talk about breaks from novel writing, why a writer might need a break, and what comes after that.
Such an interesting question at the end of this newsletter when you ask what if we feel free from any and all expectations around plot and sales. I do feel that, in fact, as I just write for fun and for myself and not for publication other than for a free magazine. It's quite liberating and has taken me on something of a self discovery journey in terms of what I personally enjoy reading.