Anatomy of a Novel #4
A few awkward little tricks that help shift a narrative into high gear
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First, an update on my sexy reading list
After finishing All Fours, I turned to Liars by Sarah Mangusco. This rage-filled, episodic, rant-filled, heartbreaking book is so good. This is not a sexy read, though there is sex in it. (It fits generally into the category I seem to be exploring right now of “what do women want and need, and what happens when they don’t get it!)
Liars is essentially the (one-sided) story of the death of a marriage, exploring how a female writer struggles to define herself - while holding down the fort at home - when her narcissistic husband is constantly gaslighting her.
Frankly, that makes it sound awful. But there’s an intensity to the writing that’s compelling, and the questions that loom throughout the book helped me think about dependence, expectations, and creativity - and what all that means for ambitious women.
How does this depressing book manage to be a page turner? I’m going to be thinking about that for a while.
I also blew through Trespasses by Louise Kennedy (one of those novels I noticed right away yet resisted buying, for some reason). It’s set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and is about a 24-year old Catholic who has an affair with an older, married, Protestant barrister. Aside from the annoying question as to WHY Cushla is so attracted to this serial cheater in the first place, it’s an excellent exploration of sexual passion, empathy, emotional dependence and, of course, religious hatred.
Now I’m reading The Guest by Emma Cline. The New York Times said “more novels should probe the stakes of female performance” - an interesting way to look at a book that is relentlessly cynical and joyless. It’s relevant to me because I’m still thinking about likability and emotional availability (which I get into here): while the 22-year old protagonist in this book is in many ways a terrible person, I’m dying to know what happens to her.
Again, I’m trying to crack the nut of what makes readers care enough to keep turning pages.
Next up is Big Swiss. According to the Guardian, it’s a “fluffy sex comedy with a dark underbelly.” I’m in!
Gotta love these covers, right?
Charles Baxter’s awkward little writing tricks
"Situations inhabited by unhappy characters and studded with pretty sentences just gets so boring," said Charles Baxter during a writer’s conference in 2015. To avoid that, he suggested asking yourself seven questions, four of which I’m currently considering. I love that they’re all posed in a slightly off beat way:
1. Do you have a Request Moment?
I had a revelation about this, which I detailed last week.
“A character cannot be passive if s/he has been given a request and asked to do it within a certain amount of time. This puts a dramatic moment out into the world. It creates an intriguing understanding of what certain people owe each other.”
2. Where is Captain Happen?
“Otherwise known as the narrative enabler, Captain Happen is the one person within the family, group, or community who will say or do what no one else dares to say or do. S/he blurts things out and acts impulsively, and this can't be taken back. S/he destablizes a situation and is the story's sparkplug. Throw good old Captain Happen into the scene if your characters get too well mannered.”
The obvious choice here would be to make one of the older maids into an irrepressible kook. There’s a woman I’m calling Gertie (after the lady who worked for decades at the lunch counter at Brasenose, my college in the UK) who could play this role. BUT.
That’s the obvious choice. Moments like this, I think to myself: Who would be a more surprising choice?
Is it one of the Japanese workers? They’re usually thought of as reserved, stoic, maybe I could break that mold. But that, too, seems obvious.
Could it be a child? Someone local who is uninhibited and exuberant? Woah, I just had a huge idea: I could give Bea a much younger sister. This would significantly complicate Bea’s story and add tension because she’d be responsible for this girl. Bea’s relationship with her abusive Lutheran father would then also be about more than Bea trying to save and protect herself. And when Bea disappears, as will happen halfway through the book, readers will be anxious about what happens to the child…
The sister would then have to crop up again and play a meaningful role in the denouement. This is definitely food for thought. Potentially over-complicating matters but also potentially deepening the themes in a way that could be powerful.
Read this for an account of how a “character” in a painting inspired my novel Madame B. but then ended up being cut out of story entirely!
3. Where is Iago?
“Every good story needs an antagonist. Without some negative energy things can go stale. Othello isn't really a play until Iago enters.”
In Part I, right before Bea’s forced to leave school, we have two antagonists. A minor one is a racist tutor beating the Japanese/ American twins (they’re a few years younger than Bea). In standing up to this woman, quiet, studious Bea gets the first inkling that she might have untapped strengths and desires. The second antagonist is Bea’s father. Completely under his thumb, she has no agency at all. Part of what she learns in the next section of the book is how she, as a woman with no money, education or power can rise above the limitations imposed on her.
So, who’s the bad guy in Part II?
It might be interesting to have readers think it’s Caroline - with her desperate, sneaky spying - only to realize midway through the book that it’s actually one of the twins. Neither of these antagonists would be purely “bad,” as I’m always interested in how the good and the bad manifests in each of us.
4. Can you insert a one way gate?
“This is an action that a character can't go back on or be forgiven for. The action changes things so dramatically that it creates a point of no return. For example, a character who commits a murder is forevermore a murderer. A "one way gate" can even be a sentence, an accusation, a statement of recognition ("you are a thief") or a word that changes things. For instance, lying has consequences: it can be a one way gate. Imagine a character on an escalator, unable to get off. At some point, that person realizes s/he can't get off, even if s/he's heading toward something sinister at the top of the stairs.”
This is really interesting in terms of brainstorming. What move does Bea make from which there is no return? It will surely have something to do with the twins. It might even be an inadvertent action, in that she crushes one of the boys without intending to, and his bruised ego seeks some kind of revenge.
Two BIG ideas to consider
A younger sister and an action Bea takes from which there is no return. I hope I can report on further conclusions about these two ideas next week!
I have really enjoyed reading these and look forward to following along the journey to your next book, Katrin! Thanks for bringing us along!