Plotting a Novel by Harry Riley

‘Plotting a novel or short story’

by Harry Riley

So you’ve decided to create a story. In front of you is a blank sheet of paper or a blank word doc on your computer. You have a general idea of the subject and have thought of a good title. This is your starting point. What next? Authors come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life but they all have one thing in common, an urge to write a book that will grab the reader from beginning to end, and there lies the rub: how to achieve this desired result.

My own, unoriginal method is to study the works that have already succeeded and stood the test of time. I have heard it said that Charles Dickens would not have been published today. The narrative style is out. We have to show not tell. Dialogue is king! This may be true of good dialogue but you can walk into any bookshop today and still find copies of the classics on the shelves. People love a good story. If these books did not sell they would not be there.

Like Dickens, Thomas Hardy studied the often self-destructive traits of human behaviour. His stories brilliantly reflect the twists and turns of life and outside influences and are as relevant today as when they were first written. He could depict the highs and lows and choices that we make to lift us up or plunge us into tragedy. His characters often have failings of pride and jealousy, hate and revenge. A good story is one that strings together many of these elements so that the reader is hooked from the beginning.

Dickens developed pathos, sympathy and generosity of spirit to great effect. That great author also used love, wealth and poverty to show life’s treacherous inequality.

I believe we can learn so much from reading the tales that have entranced generations of readers. This is a lifelong task and there are many thousands of writers out there trying to create the memorable story.

To my mind the one thing that sets human beings above the apes is our ability to make choices, it is this one factor that dictates our fate and choice is often the pivotal point of a great novel.

In ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ a drunken Michael Henshard chooses to sell his wife to the highest bidder, an act that comes back to haunt him with devastating consequences for the rest of his life. With ‘The Withered Arm,’ again by Thomas Hardy, a man chooses not to acknowledge his son until it is too late.

As we grow older in our own lives we may lament: If only I had done this or had not done that. If only: choices, choices!

Also in a great novel there are often sub-plots to grab or divert the reader’s attention. One such device is an unexpected letter containing a verbal bombshell; Wilkie Collins ‘The Woman in White.’ A threat or revelation is used to great effect: as is a ghostly intervention in the novella ‘A Christmas Carol.’

Authors have their own favourite ways to throw in red herrings and confuse the reader’s train of thought, particularly useful in the ‘who-done-it genre.’

The good novel is never predictable and a twist in the tale helps to make the story a memorable experience.

Plotting by this format will not guarantee you a best seller as there are many more ingredients to put into place, not least being an easily readable writing style but that is another subject.