Anatomy of a novel #5
I need some good tense moments in the middle of this book
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CONTINUED: Charles Baxter’s awkward little tricks…
In my last newsletter, I was thinking about questions 2 - 4 (out of 7). I’m ready to move on from thinking deeply about character and motivation and shift to considering ACTION.
5. Is there a ticking clock?
It may seem a narrative cliché, but Baxter made the point that time running out is never a cliché - in fact, it's the oldest human truth. We do not ever have all the time in the world, do we?
“When time is passing or slipping away, the feelings that characters have are compounded. Crowding the characters also has a similar effect; staging a story so there's not enough space can lead to plot taking care of itself.”
In Ghost Moon, there’s a ticking clock in both timelines.
In the present day story, Sho Fu Den is about to be torn down - in the very early morning, in the light of the ghost moon - and we want to know: who is the dead man amongst the ruins? Will someone jump in to save the palace, or will it be gone forever?
In the 1920s timeline, when Bea works at Sho Fu Den, the Takamine twins are emerging from their protective cocoon - the clock is ticking as they prepare to leave for college, and their independent lives. They will leave Bea behind and each day as their departure draws closer, her decision about her own future becomes more and more complicated.
The twins can have what Bea has been denied: she is stuck and they are “free.” I find this interesting because in reality, the boys are not free at all: they must find equilibrium and love in a world in which they will always be treated as second class citizens despite being male, wealthy and educated.
This irony is fascinating to me, and of course because of their outsider status they have something in common with Bea, a poor, first generation, European-descended (= white) maid.
For me, the ticking clock question means making decisions about what action takes place and when. How long or short should scenes be? How do they begin and end so there’s constant tension? And what is the climax in the middle of the book?
* Thoughts on writing about another culture
I should mention here that I’ve given a LOT of thought to the #ownvoices controversy around Janine Cummins’s novel American Dirt (here’s an NPR summary of the problem that changed modern publishing). “Own Voices authors… create not with an observer's gaze, but with the cultural nuance from being an active member of that culture,” according to the site Little Feminist. This has led to the belief that writers should not be permitted to write from a point of view of a culture other than their own, because it is disrespectful and, by default, inauthentic.
While this makes sense, frankly it’s hugely problematic because the worlds writers create are not inhabited ONLY by people JUST LIKE US who’ve had experiences JUST LIKE OURS. We must be able to create worlds in which we give voice to others who have had different experiences than our own.
While I feel this strongly, I also need to consider that I don’t just want to write, I want to be published - if I create a POV character who is from a different culture than mine, editors might be put off by the risk of reader or critic backlash. I’m pretty pragmatic, so I’ve chosen to stick with a POV of a German immigrant (I myself came to the US from Germany when I was two) - while still trying to convey the complexity and richness of a diverse world.
6. Where's the time bomb?
This relates to plot, tension, momentum.
“What happens when you get to the top of the escalator? This has to be important enough that it changes the way the character sees the world. Note the difference between surprise and suspense: suspense is when the audience in the theatre knows there's a bomb under the seats but the actors don't. Suspense depends on telling the readers something the characters don't know.”
I have a scene in mind when Bea visits the twins at Yale (where the real Takamine sons went to school). This is a huge, daring move for her - the first time she stashes away her own money in order to travel outside Sullivan County to see the boy she’s fallen in love with. When she gets there, she’s humiliated as her lover (desperate to fit in) cavorts with floosies and drinks illegal liquor and betrays Bea by treating her with disrespect.
This is the culmination of an epic four years at Sho Fu Den during which Bea increasingly believes love and culture might give her a way out of being stuck in servitude - unable to learn and work and grow as a human being - only to learn that humans are fallible and the only person she can rely on and trust is herself.
This is a theme I’ve explored in both my published novels, as well as in Madame B. (out on sub now). I guess it is my core obsession… As a young mother I had a realization that we are the masters of our own destiny (no one can save you but YOU) and that new understanding of how the world works not only changed my life but influences all my work.
An interview about my writing life
A few months back, Kristin Swensen and Meredith Cole interviewed me about my process, first drafts, and writing in general. You can tune in here if you’re on a computer. At around the 7:17 mark I start talking about my writing - one novel on submission and another in the works (oh, those awful first drafts, ha ha!).