Today I’m going to explore my theory on novel development.

It begins with the idea that there are a finite number of story types that are able to be told. They’ve all been discovered already.

Before you lynch me, hear me out.

There is a set universe of extremely basic, but extremely effective story structures. Hero goes on a journey, boy meets, gets, loses, gets back girl are both good examples.

These structures work. No matter how much you disagree with me, they are being used everywhere as basic constructs in movies and novels.

Take Being John Malkovich. Nothing else had ever been done like it before. Or had there?

On a basic level, it follows a hero takes a journey structure. Hero has nothing, hero has success, hero lets success get to him, hero loses everything. Sound familiar?
So, no matter how much it pains me, I start with one of those structures. Now, I begin to add layers.

What are layers? They are aspects that add meaning and uniqueness to your basic story structure. Layers are what makes your novel interesting and different from every other boy meets girl story out there.

First I add my high concept layer. How am I going to use this structure to tell an interesting story? This is something like, “a man accidentally travels back in time and must get his parents to go on a date or he’ll never exist.”

Next, I add relationships between my main characters. How do my protagonists and antagonists relate to each other in a way that adds to my high concept?

You can see where this is going. Find elements in your story that were previously separate and random. Then find unique ways to connect them that also add to your high concept and structure.

How do main characters relate to secondary characters? How is the high concept reflected in the environment?

When someone experiences your story, they should “get it” on the most basic of levels. As they get deeper into the experience, they should discover all the layers of meaning you’ve added. It’ll give your story a power and profoundness that it didn’t have before.

Tags: novel, writing, story, structure, creativity, good

Posted by Classic Jef on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 10:55 pm.