Newton’s Law for Novelists
By Donald Maass | November 6, 2013 |
Do you remember executive balls? No, I mean Newton’s Cradle, the desktop toy that consists of five steel balls suspended in a cradle. The steels balls are hung like playground swings but with all five touching each other when at rest.
Click-clack. When you lift one of the outside balls and let it fall, it transfers its energy through the intermediate three balls, which do not move. The outside ball on the other end, however, swings upward almost exactly as high as you lifted the steel ball on the other end.
In physics terms, the kinetic energy of the first outside ball is transferred through compression of the intermediate balls. It’s a shock wave. Energy is lost through the generation of heat, a loss minimized because the balls are made of cold steel. Newton’s law of motion (F = ma) is thus neatly demonstrated.
Newton has something to teach novelists. His law of motion says that when one object is in motion it will continue in motion unless acted upon by another force (first law). The acceleration of the object is proportional to the force acting on it, and inversely proportional to its mass (second law). When the object in motion strikes another object, the other object exerts a force equal to and opposite from the first object’s force (third law).
You can immediately spot the implications for fiction craft, right? Set your protagonist in motion and he’ll keep going until he hits an obstacle. What happens at that point depends on how urgently your protagonist is motivated (how forcefully he is moving) and the size of the obstacle (its mass). What interests me the most, though, is how Newton’s third law applies.
When your protagonist slams into someone else, that other person will either be unmoved, will sway, will topple over or—possibly—will be flattened as your protagonist plows over him. It depends on the size, trajectory and speed of the other character. The point is, your moving protagonist will always exert a force on others, and vice versa. Characters, in a way, carom off each other like snooker balls on the velvet surface of your story.
Think about it. Other characters will always affect your protagonist, slowing him not at all, or a little, or quite a bit or even stop him dead. Put differently, other characters will change your protagonist’s trajectory but—and here’s the main point—your protagonist will also force a change upon those he encounters.
Here then is our application of Newton’s law: Protagonists and other characters will always change each other. They must. Newton says so, and who’s going to argue with him? Now, how do we apply this to our manuscripts? Here are some suggestions.
- Look at your current scene. Who are the two principle actors, and how are they at odds? Who wins, who loses? Go deeper. Win or lose, how is your POV character changed inside in this scene? Get that down in words.
- Look at your protagonist’s overall arc of change. List the major encounters your protagonist has with other characters in the course of the story. Now, chart out how each encounter enacts a dimension of your protagonist’s overall arc; that is, how each scene with another character becomes another step in that journey.
- Pick three of those other characters. Write down how each one is changed, in turn, by encountering your protagonist. Work out a consequence for each. What happens because they are changed? Better still, work out one thing that each of those other characters will do as a result.
- What is one unexpected result of your protagonist’s overall journey? How does it ripple outward in the pond, affecting many? Show that.
Newton’s law is a law because it’s true all the time. Is it true in your manuscript? If not, better get back to work because—accept it—you can’t win against Mother Nature. In story terms, you ignore Isaac Newton at your own peril.
How is your protagonist changing others, and how are others changing your protagonist?
Donald Maass (he/him) founded the Donald Maass Literary Agency. in New York in 1980. He is the author of The Career Novelist (1996), Writing the Breakout Novel (2001), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (2004), The Fire in Fiction (2009), The Breakout Novelist (2011), Writing 21st Century Fiction (2012) and The Emotional Craft of Fiction (2019). He has presented hundreds of workshops around the world and is a past president of the American Association of Literary Agents (formerly AAR).
Major points for connecting Newtownian physics with writing. I’d like to believe I keep this stuff in mind all the time (and maybe I do) but seeing it expressed in different terms is always a good reminder. Thanks!
Jeffo-
Many writers learn and conceptualize the process through metaphor. I’ve come around to it myself.
Hi Donald.
These questions were difficult for me to answer, which I guess makes them all the more important.
My protagonist changes others by bad mouthing a minority group because of one negative encounter. By voicing her prejudice, she allows others to view the minority group in the same way and thus intolerance spreads.
Others change my protagonist by having so much confidence in her abilities that she ends up trying her hardest to live up to their expectations.
I hadn’t really thought about the character arcs from this angle but it’s been very useful. Thanks for the prompts!
Mary Ann
MA-
Welcome. To take this further, work out how characters change each other…then turn each of those changes into something each character does.
Breakthrough! This is very exciting and helpful information.
Sounds like a 21st Century Tuesday, but it’s Wednesday.
Thank you Don
Brian-
Ah, what a nice word to hear! Keep it up.
Thanks for this article, Don. I’m doing a read-through today/tomorrow in order to trace the protag’s arc through her life decisions that have come back to bite.
One major encounter has her carom into the next and then a third, but I must explore how those confrontations affect the other characters–and, in turn, their world.
I learned a new vocab word this morning from you, too: carom. The physics of billiard balls is an apt metaphor for how characters should act. Love it!
Audra-
Yes, “carom” is one of those great forgotten vocabulary words. You run across them in old novels and wonder what we’ve lost.
“Flimflam” “Escritoire” “Buncombe” I could go on but I’m becoming otiose.
Don, this is very helpful. Newton’s laws of gravity bring to mind the concept of “action/reaction.” For every action taken by the MC (or against the MC) there must be a reaction. And the end result is that the POV character is changed in some way. This gets into the question of what “change” means in the context of a scene. Is it a change in trajectory or circumstances or is it a fundamental change that is transformative to the MC? I don’t believe the change occurring at the scene level should be a transformative one. Rather, the MC changes gradually as he/she is forced to overcome obstacles. Thus, I like your point urging writers to look at the MC’s overall arc of change. At the scene level I believe the change should be incremental, but by the end of the story the MC is transformed. And that’s the payoff of the story. Thanks for another useful and thought-provoking post.
CG-
“At the scene level I believe the change should be incremental, but by the end of the story the MC is transformed.”
That is succinctly put. You absolutely get it. Now apply!
Don, reading your post became a visual experience for me this morning. I starting seeing my characters in motion, ‘caroming’ off each other and spinning off into subplots and arcs of their own. Marvelous!! Thank you.
Susan-
Secondary characters are underutilized in most manuscripts. They’re also the secret solution to the problem of the middle.
All I can think of when it comes to Newton’s cradle is what my father’s set looked like after my then three-year-old got hold of it. No more click clack, just a lot of entanglement. So to continue the metaphor, my child was a deus ex machina that completely recalibrated the ‘stable’ interactions of the Newtonian Cradle. This explains a lot about my interaction with my daughter, but I’m not sure it helps writing in any way. But it was fun to get outside the usual way of thinking about characters, thanks!
Jeanne-
I guess Newton didn’t account for the action of the divine. Well, you can’t think of everything.
When these posts show up in my email, the author’s name only appears at the bottom. As I read, though, his identity gradually became clear.
Who else writes such concise, memorable and actionable advice?
Now I’m caroming back to scene I was writing when Donald Maas nudged me and this secondary character is going to wonder what just hit her.
Actually, Donald Maass writes quite a bit like that Donald Maas character.
Charlie-
You are right, I’m not real. I am a character, a creation. Possibly an alien visiting Earth? I will not reveal my true identity here. You will have to buy the graphic novel to learn it.
Just know that I’m here to make the writer’s world a better place.
I’ll have to have a nice long date with this one…
Kerryn-
Bring wine.
While making breakfast, I had an aHa! moment about a scene that’s coming up for revision soon. My protagonist’s friend from the past makes a wisecrack as part of a chops-busting ritual they share. What I realized this morning is she shouldn’t respond as he expects because events of the story have changed her.
Your post tells me I need to dive into that text and make that note while I’m thinking about it. Thanks!
Rhonda-
The thing is, you can go “ah-ha!” every day, in every scene you’re working on. That’s the power of craft tools and techniques.
In working through the exercises above, I was thinking how much more complex it becomes, not only with the addition of the three characters, but also accounting for the internal goals of each. Of course their outward impact effects each player, but so too must their inner ambitions and intentions be changed by each impact, often in veiled ways. It suddenly becomes a multidimensional game–sort of like a 3-D Jetsons version of carom.
You’ve also gotten me thinking about the implications for the reader. I just started a Robin Hobb book (The Rain Wilds Trilogy), and she’s introduced quite a few characters and situations to a fairly complex world that I’m already familiar with. As she set the table, I was already imagining the trajectories of the various balls she’s put in play. But, at 30% in, she’s already foiled my fore-vision in a couple of ways, sending me back to recalculation. It’s great fun! Which also reminds me that, as you say, we are the gods of our worlds on the page. (Even Newton was a deist, wasn’t he?)
What a unique take! Very inventive. Makes me wonder if you have a Newton’s cradle in your office, Don. Thanks for making me think and strive, as always.
Vaughn-
Hey, thanks. That’s a step I didn’t think to include: Find actions to show how characters have changed, but keep listing possible things they might do…until you find one that’s unexpected.
Don, I’m dreadful at understanding scientific processes and I had to read your post twice to get your point. I think this is really helpful for writing (I have a scene I’ve been struggling with so this perspective might give me that jump I need). But I have to agree with Jeanne, that Newton’s law explains a lot about personal relationships. Myself/my mother. Yeah, shock waves for sure! Thank you for the insight, suggesting once again that writing comes forth from so much of our personal experiences.
Paula-
Writing is personal, true enough, but a mystery too. For instance, why am I fascinated by science, math and economics? I cannot factor to save my life. It must go back to my father, somehow.
Great stuff, Donald, and a very apt metaphor for how characters interact. But your post also gave me the irresistible urge to play with one of those Newton’s Cradle thingies, which sadly I do not own.
But thank goodness for the interwebs, through which all things are possible:
https://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/scenario/newton.htm
Clack away!
Keith-
Thanks for the link! It’s great. The clacking balls even slow down realistically as gravity begins to act on them.
Now I’m glad I don’t have a Newton’s cradle on my desk. For something that makes you feel smart, it’s a real time waster.
As usual, great food for thought. A Newton’s Cradle is a great image for this, keeping the ball moving.
Loved your analogy, Don, and it’s one I’ve used myself, but have never articulated before. I have this toy to demonstrate conservation of momentum. Now I can use it for writing workshops too. Thanks so much.
Don,
As an engineer turned writer, there’s a special place in my heart for those who understand and apply principles of science to art. Acceleration is defined as a change in velocity, which has two components: direction and speed. When an object is in motion, it will maintain its direction and speed until acted on by an external force. The force will cause the object to either change speed, or to change direction, or both.
So when a character (object) encounters opposition (force), he or she must hesitate or double down (change speed) or go around the opposition (change direction). If none of those things occur then there is no conflict.
Cal-
Oh, just wait until we get to the writing truth buried in partial differential equations. I’ll be explaining that just as soon as I understand calculus.
It is so important for the characters to be “in motion”. Action makes or breaks a novel, in my opinion. Having them just sit around talking all the time is just plain boring. Getting them involved in situations where actions and movement take place makes it more exciting – especially if readers don’t know if they are going to solve the problem or escape it!
Great visual. I’ve been blogging lately about the old friends I’ve caught up with on facebook. One young lady, in particular, who I only knew for a few weeks but changed the direction of my life (yes, she was cute and yes, there were several official dates, then the Navy made me go away). For almost 30 years, I didn’t realize the impact she had on me. After reconnecting, I realized that one person, at a critical point in my life, may have made me a completely different person. It takes little to change the course of a man’s life. Yet we forget that sometimes when writing our novels. If our protagonists are the amazing people they should be, it stands to reason that everyone they meet will be changed by the encounter. The “mass” of their personality should be sufficient that even minimal velocity will cause a significant redirection. Thanks for a great post (and my new favorite website).
Ron–
Beautiful story, thanks for sharing that.
What gives someone such impact that they change us? What is it in us that makes us, in turn, change? The answers to those questions may be the key to what makes characters memorable.
I love this image of Newton’s Cradle as it applies energy wise, expectation wise, science wise, laws of attraction and repellation (that ain’t a word, but anyway! :D) of our writing/characters.
You always give me something to think over deeply, Donald Maass.
Don, I’m wondering if the restrictions of a short story change the physics a bit. My MC is a person who is trying to get absolution for a terrible thing he’d done years ago that ruined lives, and none of the other characters can give it to him, so he fumblingly seeks it elsewhere, without solace. Until he has a breakthrough at story’s end.
This will be a moderately long story (8,000-9,000 words?), but in it I don’t follow any changes in the other characters through these fractured encounters, because they are peripheral to the inner movement of the MC. Does the short story form need to show those kind of multi-character consequences to have its richest telling?
Tom-
I don’t regard short stories as novels in miniature, yet much of what can make novels more effective also can enhance short stories. I’d look for an opportunity show change in others. If it’s there, grab it.
Great analogy, Don. One thing the Newton’s Cradle image spoke to me about is the immediacy of the reaction. Not necessarily the action the second character chooses when hit, or the action the first character takes once stopped, but the emotional reactions that each character will base his next actions on.
Even when we aren’t sure what we are supposed to be feeling, we are feeling a lot, and it seems many manuscripts deny their characters that all-important emotional reaction that Newton’s strong of balls so aptly demonstrates as immediate. We need those reactions to help us stay in relationship with the character.
Kathryn-
Good point. Emotional responses are immediate. They cannot help but be. Where I think some manuscripts go wrong is in recording the top-layer, most obvious emotion. That’s almost always the expected feeling and makes little impact on the reader. It’s too familiar.
Digging deeper to find and elaborate a secondary, under the surface emotion is almost always is more effective. There’s time to do it since after all we don’t have to set down our characters’ emotions as fast as they would feel them.
You had me a Newton’s Cradle, Don. Fun and useful metaphor!
Always a pleasure to read Writer Unboxed. I learn so much each time a take the time to read one. Thank you for sharing. I’m doing the NaNoWriMo this month and these tips will be really great now and particularly when I do my editing. Thanks.
This was a brilliant piece, how you correlated the energy transfer in executive balls (Newtons law) to fiction writing. Loved reading through this. Great points and tips shared throughout!
I LOVE THIS POST. Science(!) + writing = WIN. Thank you. :)
At this point I don’t think my main characters has emitted much force on others, but she definitely lets other characters affect her. They’re needs bowl over her desires and wants quite a lot.
But this post is making me think of how our actions have unintended reactions, and I’m thinking I might try to show how even though she seems helpful her actions and words will have unintended consequences.