Plot Talk #3: Inventive Narrative Structures!

I just finished reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple and the novel really got me thinking about inventive narrative structures! If you haven't heard of it, the first 75% percent of the novel is told completely through letters, papers, emails, and other such notes. (It's also really entertaining, by the way!)

Thus far, all of the books I've written follow a pretty normal narrative style. The Midnight Fire was linear third person following a single character, and The Shadow Soul uses the same structure but for two protagonists (there is an alternating POV, but nothing too out of the norm). And a new novel I'm working on uses first person narrative.

However, there are a ton of AMAZING books out there that follow really interesting narrative structures, so I thought we could explore two different styles together--epistolary and nonlinear!

Epistolary Narratives

      

   

Epistolary is just a fancy term for novels that tell the story through documents, i.e. letters, diary entries, emails, newspaper clippings, interview transcriptions, and more. There are so many reasons I love these sorts of books! One, because you really get into a character's head (especially with diary style novels). Two, because the story often reads like a prolonged dialogue so the distinct voices are very strong. Three, because they're often harder for me to figure out so the mystery can be fun. 

However, these books do stretch reality a little bit. For example, characters often confess way more in an email than might be normal in the real world. Or diary entries may have unnaturally precise dialogue and description. I'm not sure about you, but my diary was never so detailed! Still, that's never stopped me from enjoying this narrative style.

Nonlinear Narratives

             

Nonlinear narratives are stories that don't start at the beginning and finish at the end, but rather jump around a bit (usually through time). There are some really cool ways to accomplish this! 

The Time Traveler's Wife uses the character's magic ability as the tool to tell the story, so the readers, just like the protagonist, must make these leaps in time. Pandemonium oscillates between chapters told in the present and chapters told in the past, so you bounce back and forth in time with each chapter. Another Lin Oliver novel, Before I Fall, forces the main character to relive the same day over and over. The Post-Birthday World uses a parallel structure, where in there are two different versions of each chapter based an earlier decision the protagonist makes. And then there are the "Choose Your Own Adventure" style books, like the upcoming Summer Love, where every book can tell a bunch of different tales based on reader decisions. Slaughterhouse-Five is a classic example of the nonlinear style!

Any writers who might be reading, I thought this article brought up a lot of great points to consider when trying to create your own nonlinear story. 

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Are there any books you love that I missed? What do you think about these narrative styles? Leave a comment and get the talk started :)

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All About Plot!

Plots! I love plots. To me, a story is all about the action and tension involved, both emotionally and physically. Yet, a lot of people don't really understand what plot is or what makes a good one. So, I decided to turn my attention to the basic idea of plot, starting with the definition (thank you Webster's!).

"Plot: In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means."

So, what does that mean? Basically, plot is the story - what happens to the characters, how they respond, how that leads to more action and why it is all important. However, plot can get a little bit more complicated than this.

The most common plot format is Freytag's plot structure, which is divided into five sections: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

The exposition is the section where all the characters are introduced, their relationships to one another are defined and their personal emotions are teased out. Next comes the rising action, where the characters begin to struggle against one another and the protagonist begins to move towards his or her goal while over coming smaller obstacles. During the climax, the turning point of the story is introduced. The main character makes a single huge decision that not only defines his or her character, but also shapes the rest of the action in the story. Usually the protagonist and antagonist have direct, or nearly direct, contact which results in a line being firmly drawn. In the fourth phase, falling action, the line is still drawn, but it almost always seems as though evil is winning. This when a story will have the most tension because the main character is fighting huge odds and falling short. Finally, in the resolution, the protagonist and antagonist meet and the story comes to a decisive end, with either good or evil winning. 

Think of almost every story you've ever read or watched and it will most likely follow this basic format. Take The Lion King for example:

1. Exposition - Scar, Muffasa's rival and brother, decides that he wants to be king.

2. Rising Action - Scar begins to chase down Muffasa and plot to kill him. 

3. Climax - Scar kills Muffasa, but Simba lives on. 

4. Falling Action - Simba decides to face Scar and fight for the throne. 

5. Resolution - Simba successfully defeats Scar and becomes the king. 

While this style is hugely popular, there are some stories that break this mold and play with plot in very interesting ways. Here are two examples:

1. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

To be honest, I actually didn't love this play, but the plot is very interesting to study because nothing happens. The entire story is about two character's waiting for a third to appear. While it is sometimes funny, the plot is completely stagnant. There is no action, and that in itself is what I found intriguing about this book. 

2. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

While seemingly a series of short stories, Invisible Cities is really a novel - just one that has been disguised by its unique plot structure. The basic idea is that explorer Marco Polo is describing his travels to Kublai Khan, and the narrative switches between descriptions of the 55 cities and the conversation of Polo and Khan. Calvino is a master of lyrical descriptions and prose poems, which was my favorite aspect of the book. 

I've seen plot played with in other interesting ways too. One format is to start the story with the ending and relive it backwards, totally flipping Freytag's pyramid. Or, you can jump in time so the first chapter is the beginning, the second chapter is the end, until you reach the end of the novel and the two timelines meet in the middle. The sky really is the limit. 

What kinds of crazy plot structures have you read or written? I'd love to hear your thoughts!