The Struggle for a Rising Plot Line
By Guest | April 3, 2011 |
Therese here. Please welcome today’s guest, author Stephanie Cowell, whose fifth book, Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet, will be out in paperback in just two days–on 4/5. Said the Boston Globe:
Stephanie Cowell is nothing short of masterful in writing about Claude Monet’s life and love… Claude & Camille is both a historical novel and a romance, but Cowell’s graceful, moving treatment of Claude and Camille’s turbulent love defies categorization. It’s an enthralling story, beautifully told…
We’re happy she’s with us today to talk about something she struggled with as a writer: the importance of a “rising plot line.” Enjoy!
The Struggle for a Rising Plot Line
I am not a writer who plots first: I develop characters who tend to wander around the chapters as if they were out for an interesting stroll and might or might not be home for supper. So I am writing about a subject that is a struggle for me: the rising plot line.
I think of a rising plot line as leading the reader up a path on a gently ascending hill, stopping to look around from time to time and finally, a little breathless, coming to the top to look back at the way we have come. The problem is, lives aren’t like that. Lives meander. And so I use many tricks in my story which seem artificial but when I print out and read I can feel the rising momentum, the gathering of strength and interest.
A novel is a subtle manipulation of real life within planned structure; we climb the path, diverted for pages sometimes by what is lovely or perhaps daunting around us, and then continue upwards.
Where is your novel going? What are the small crooked signposts under the trees? Life meanders; a novel is composed of living but carefully chosen scenes.
One signpost I use in writing is to end every scene with a question in the reader’s mind of where the next chapter will take the character. I try to remember the old writers’ adage, “What does the main character want?” And how does he or she get it or not get it?
The easiest novel I ever wrote was Marrying Mozart, which had the simplest question: Which one of the four sisters will marry Mozart? They all had problems that sent them in many different ways, and Mozart had family problems and work problems and might have ended up not marrying any of them. The title was proposed by my filmmaker son and when I had it, I knew where I was going.
Though I write on the computer, I can’t really see how my work-in-progress is moving on the screen. I have to print it out and sit on the sofa, coffee cup close, pen in hand. What are the themes that move the characters forward? I know them when I feel a sense of anticipation in my chest. I scribble, “Develop this!” Sometimes I have to find a café or park bench to reread, to focus my mind on what is really there and how it mounts.
My most recent novel, Claude and Camille, has two major goals for the young Monet. Throughout the book they rise and when we reach the conclusion we find one has been fulfilled and the other lost. This seemingly simple thing took five years. (“What do you mean draft sixteen?” asked my husband. “I thought draft seven was great!”) Occasionally a writer will manage it quickly; most of the time it is a long process of throwing scenes out, focusing more on others, and giving up in despair, deciding that everyone else knows just what they are doing and we have no idea.
When we manage to calm down, we realize that to keep all those scenes is lifelike but a novel is not life. A novel is an artfully arranged picture of life which, if done well, will make it seem realer than life. I am always amazed at the skill of Pride and Prejudice. The story is such a wonderful clutter of sisters and society and loves and vanity and joy that you hardly see the major plot line coming until Elizabeth and Darcy take hands and confess their love.
But how do we do this? How do we shape and hone to make the plot compelling, deep and yet clear? Revise, revise, revise. I learn a lot from movies and even more from the wonderful DVDs where we can view the outtakes. They are fine scenes in themselves but would pull the plot a little out of focus from where we want to go. I am always in despair of all the stuff I have to cut. It stays in my heart.
So we construct the plot, and tell the reader where to glance and where to look deeply. Stopping by the signposts on the hill, we are enriched by moments of great beauty or sadness. “So that is what life can be like!” we say.
As authors we put our deepest hopes and fears in our novel, our most personal memories and choose the scenes and the sentences carefully, leading the reader through a world that she may cherish for several hours or perhaps all her life. What a difficult job and yet what a privilege!
Thanks so much, Stephanie! Readers, you can learn more about Stephanie and her novel Claude and Camille on her website and blog, and by following her on Facebook and Twitter. Write on!
Photo courtesy Flickr’s fat dad
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
I love the description of your characters strolling about. I write this way too… and then I cut and cut and cut feeling a little blind and despairing. But as you said so eloquently, a novel is not real life but “an artfully arranged picture of life.”
Thanks for the post!
I so relate, Stephanie. For all that I’ve learned to plot a novel’s story beforehand, when it comes to each scene I write them long, let them meander if they want to just in case there’s something in those twists and turns that I didn’t think of it all my plotting. Then I have to cut them back. And back.
And back some more (I once cut a 325k novel down to… actually I’m still cutting that one. It’s at 127k now).
I identify with that feeling of despair in seeing some scenes hit the cutting room floor. There’s one, out of all the scenes and parts of scenes I’ve cut from several novels, that haunts me still and I’m determined to slip back in between the pages one day, if given a chance.
Thanks so much for this post, Stephanie. It’s well-timed for me as I am about to dig back through my rough draft for the storyline, and I can use the reminder to plant a question in each chapter.
BTW, I looked at your blog and have to comment that one of my favorite writing books is Madeline L’Engle’s Walking On Water. My copy is ragged and stained and so beloved…it must have been wonderful to have her as your mentor.
I look forward to reading your work!
Thank you so much for posting this vivid and accurate description of the process of forming a plot line. I am currently writing my first novel. Being that it is my first, I was unsure of how the whole process would play out. The looming question of “am I doing this right?” was always in my mind.
After reading your post, and almost finished with the first draft of the novel, relief has washed over me that all of the steps I have gone through thus far are on the right track. I realize everyones process differs. However, it is reassuring to identify with your experience.
I particularly appreciated your process of printing out what you have written from the computer and sitting down on the sofa, with coffee in hand, to really feel the movement of the storyline; where it is wanting to go, like a living thing moving itself. So many times I too have found myself circling and writing in the margins “Develop This”. Thank you for your candid description.
I look forward to following your future posts!
Venessa Kimball
Thanks for sharing ideas on the rising plot line. I’m a plotter by nature, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about your process from your thoughts here.
Cheers! Congrats on your book – off to add you on FB and Twitter. :)
I’m a plotter and I find it works well to built the rising plot line when you can see it clearly. Having only the short sentence describing the action is a great way to focus on the building tension.
Great post.
Thanks for sharing the challenges of plot development!
It has given me a better perspective on the complexity of plot. Back to my story!
Mozart and Monet! Two of my faves.
Thanks for the insight to your process (or lack thereof, hehe).
While I found this to be a rich and wonderful post, this particularly stands out,
“A novel is a subtle manipulation of real life within planned structure; we climb the path, diverted for pages sometimes by what is lovely or perhaps daunting around us, and then continue upwards.”
So very beautifully said. Thank you, Stephanie ;-)
Stephanie: I so enjoyed this post, because all the elements hit home. It’s problematical when writing about real people living real lives, because you’re constrained by what really happened. I think you have to dig deeper and live with the character longer to know their persona and stay true to who they were. You’re correct in that in Marrying Mozart one keeps turning pages to find out how the family (and sisters) deal with the ending. Claude & Camille was altogether different, and more like the one I’m working on now (sigh). Wish I could ask my characters to dinner and chat about what they really want most.
Stephanie,
The similarities in our writing processes are now officially frightening.
Beautiful post!
Kim
“A novel is an artfully arranged picture of life which, if done well, will make it seem realer than life.”
Beautifully stated and so true.
This post was so helpful in helping me pick scenes for my new WIP. With historical writing, I find a tendency to think of the story as a series of dots on a timeline, but it’s much more than that. Your question, “What does the main character want?” will help me find the places that need highlighted for my readers.
Thank you!!
This post is brilliant. You express so well the difference between life and fiction; of course everyone knows there IS a difference, but what does that difference mean, in practical terms, for a writer?
I am going to bookmark this post and return to it often as I work on the sequel to CEL & ANNA.
Lindsay
Terrific post, Stephanie. I also study movies to see how plots do and don’t work and find it extremely helpful. I love what you said about cutting and knowing those scenes remain in your heart.
Wonderful, simple explanation of a very complex, subtle issue in writing. Thank you for this!
Fascinating post.
“A novel is an artfully arranged picture of life which, if done well, will make it seem realer than life.”–this one line seems to capture the essence of Monet as an artist-can’t wait to read the book. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you everyone for your comments! I guess I am not alone in this plot line struggle!
I just found out that an article about writing my latest novel CLAUDE & CAMILLE is featured on the Huffington Post book page today.
Link:
https://tinyurl.com/3sp5wne
Hi Stephanie! Another Stephanie here…I loved this post, particularly how your comments on how a novel is not real life. It is a carefully constructed set of events, and I think that’s why I’m a plotter by nature. Even though I tend to drift off course and arrive at things in ways I hadn’t planned, I need something to aim for in the end.
I’m a huge proponent of the story map. Mapping helps me see the big picture. I always include a column for “Purpose.” As in, what’s the purpose of this scene? How does it move things forward? I find maps help me see where I can cut/combine. (I tend to blab on and then need to cut. I sort of envy writers who write short and then get to expand!)
I have a copy of Claude and Camille coming via the Writers for Red Auction. Yeah! It sounds so up my street. Can’t wait to read it!
I identify with that feeling of despair in seeing some scenes hit the cutting room floor.I always include a column for “Purpose.” As in, what’s the purpose of this scene? How does it move things forward?
Stephanie, this is so beautifully said. It’s hard for a writer to let go of our original vision for our stories but I think it’s like raising children–as soon as we let go of what we wish they were, they become who they will be…often times, even better than we ever imagined.
I really enjoyed reading your article, Stephanie, and your book looks lovely.
I can appreciate your lack of plotting because I’m not a plotter either (it seems from reading the comments that there are quite a lot of us). In fact, I think if I had to plot, I probably wouldn’t write. When I’ve tried to plot a novel in the past, I get to a point and find that a completely new idea pops into my head, or a character decides to ‘go off on one’ and doesn’t want to conform. Hence all plotting becomes irrelevant.
I think this is because I write mainly for myself. I am telling myself a story. And I like surprises. I like not knowing the ending. And the strange thing is, everything always comes together and all loose ends are tied up, almost as if the story knew exactly where it was going all along. It’s magic and I love it!
What a wonderful post! I was especially struck by this sentence:
>>A novel is an artfully arranged picture of life which, if done well, will make it seem realer than life.<<
Thanks so much for sharing a bit of your process with us!
Carmela
A timely post for me. I’m trying to whip my plot into shape right now and have already cut out three distractions.
Thank you.
[…] The Struggle for a Rising Plotline – from Stephanie Cowell at Writer Unboxed…really great blog who those pantsers that tend to write first and shake out the plot later. […]