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| I 've heard that a story, even a novel, should
have a shape. What does that mean? |
Design, or shape, is a prerequisite
of every good piece of fiction. Stories and novels have a beginning,
a middle, and an end. The beginning usually introduces some
sort of tension…a husband and wife aren’t getting
along; a man loses his job; a girl is stood up by her date;
a plane runs into turbulence; or a million other possibilities.
A short story will almost always deal with one tension exclusively,
simply because that’s all its length will support. A novel,
on the other hand, can support much more complexity of plot,
perhaps one central tension surrounded by sub-tensions of one
kind or another.
The middle of the story deals with the tension(s) fleshes it
out, and often introduces a story within the story. For instance,
a young couple start out fighting about which family to spend
Christmas with. As the story continues, the reader may become
aware that the couple isn’t really fighting about Christmas
at all, but about a much larger issue. Perhaps an issue that
is never even mentioned, or only peripherally referred to.
The end of the story usually has some significance. That significance
can be resolution or a lack of resolution. Often, the end involves
enlightenment, if not for the characters in the story, at least
for the reader.
Different writers work in different ways. Some need to have
a roughed-out draft before they can begin writing. Others start
with an end and work toward it. Most start at the beginning,
although writers often have no idea where a story will go even
after they’ve begun writing. They feel their way along.
There is no right or wrong way to approach the writing process,
but the finished product does acquire a shape or design. If
you’re unsure of that shape in your own work, try analyzing
a story by more or less breaking it down into a beginning, a
middle, and an end. Is one of them missing or not fully realized?
EXERCISE: Al and his son Tony
are going fishing. Tony goes off to college in a week, and Al
knows this may be the last trip of this kind they’ll ever
take. Next week can’t come soon enough for Tony. Going
off to school is the beginning of his adult life and he can’t
wait. For Al, it seems more like something is about to end.
Al and Tony don’t let these feelings show. To any observer,
they’re off to have a good time. Write the story of this
trip, concentrating on giving it a design or shape. Let the
reader know what’s going on at the interior level of the
story as well as at the surface level and bring the story to
some degree of resolution for your characters and/or your reader. |
