In this series, we've discussed the structure of a novel and what should go into a publishable book: the protagonist's journey, where to place the story peaks or plot points, how to use POV characters, how to create a well-plotted scene and develop subplots and secondary plot lines. Now we can finally approach the novel as a whole.
But a first-time writer still has many questions. For instance, how many scenes should there be in a novel? When do I start my hero's subplot? How do I make sure that a secondary character doesn't take up more place in the book than the protagonist?
Sometimes, writing tutors answer these questions with a condescending "How long is a piece of string?" However, these are very serious issues that have answers: in fact, leading agent Evan Marshall wrote a book, The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, that answers these and other questions from first-time writers.
Plotting and Writing a NaNoWriMo Book: How Many Scenes Should There be in a Novel?
Scenes may differ in size from a few paragraphs to a full-blown chapter, so it's entirely up to you. However, for a novel to make sense, it should contain enough scenes to allow the story (and all the additional plot lines!) to develop fully. Evan Marshall suggests using about 72 scenes for a 90,000 to 94,000-word novel.
Now it's time to get out your cards (or sheets of paper) with your "candy-bar scenes", remember? These are the most special scenes in your novel, those that, according to author Holly Lisle, "you're just itching to write." They may belong to different story lines: some are about your protagonist's main story, while others may be about other POV characters' adventures. Now you'll be adding more exciting and engaging scenes to them in order to complete the story.
Evan Marshall recommends dividing the book into four quarters: one for the novel's beginning, two for its middle, and the final fourth quarter, for the novel's ending. It's not cast in stone, of course. Art has nothing to do with mathematics and the story takes as much time to unfold as it takes. However, this structure of a work of fiction has been around for many hundreds of years, so a first-time writer would do well to follow it instead of writing his first book by trial and error.
How to Write a Publishable NaNoWriMo Novel: Plotting the Book's Beginning
The first quarter of the book (that is, the first 18 scenes, give or take a few) is the novel's beginning. In it, you need to introduce all of your POV characters and start their respective story lines, as well as the protagonist's subplot. The beginning will end with the first plot point: the moment of the protagonist's Big Decision, the Big Step, after which your hero won't be able to go back to his habitual lifestyle. He'll burn all the bridges and commit to achieving his story goal.
In order to plan your novel's beginning, we need to come up with about 18 scenes that introduce your main story, your characters and start their respective story lines. Make sure these scenes are engaging, that they support the novel's theme, and that in every scene, the POV character has a clear-cut goal related to the plot and the book's theme. He must also have a powerful obstacle – another character with a conflicting agenda.
This method may sound primitive, but now it's your job to fill this scheme with human conflict, emotion and atmosphere. Dostoevsky's novels all follow this stratagem, and he's one of the world's most complicated and emotional writers.
Plot, Write and Finish Your Book: Crafting the Novel's Middle
The novel's middle is the place to exercise your creative powers. You can make up as many fantabulous adventures for your heroes as you wish, as long as they all complicate their journey to achieve the story goal and are, in some way or other, theme-related. The middle is where you can explore your novel's theme and come up with many parable-like events and human stories to support it.
Make sure you keep upping the ante: the dangers get more dangerous, the opposition, more desperate. The book's pacing picks up, too: if the beginning took weeks or even months or years of the novel time to develop, now we may be talking days: the story moves faster and faster.
In the very middle of the book, you have the middle point: a powerful event that often turns the book's course (and the heroes' luck) the other way round. After that, your protagonist is entitled to a reaction scene. Please note that pacing should vary in a novel: fast action scenes must be interspersed with more relaxed ones, and especially tense or destructive events should be followed by the POV character's reaction scene. In a similar way, you need to vary the scenes' settings and atmosphere.
Finishing Your NaNoWriMo Book: The Elements of a Novel's Ending
The fourth quarter of your novel – the ending – starts with The Disaster. Your hero is defeated, complete with his values and the book's theme. The disaster, too, is followed by a reaction scene called the dark moment: your good guys take some down time to ponder on their misfortune and rework their plan of action.
Now the protagonist will have to get his act together and fight back. This fight will manifest itself in the novel's climax: the ultimate battle of good and evil, whatever meaning you attach to these words in your book.
In a 90,000-word novel with four POV characters, Evan Marshall allocates 43 scenes for the protagonist's story, including his subplot, 10 scenes each for the 2nd and 3rd POV character, and nine scenes for the fourth one. Again, it's not cast in stone (some novels have only one POV character while scenes may vary considerably in length), but it's a good guideline to start with. At least it'll keep your mind off the dreaded task of "what happens next?" and will help you concentrate on the only thing that matters: your writing.
Next time: strategies to survive NaNoWriMo
Sources:
Evan Marshall. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Writers Digest Books, 2001
James N. Frey. How to Write a (Damn) Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No-nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling. St Martin's Press, 1987
Irene Woodhead - Irene Woodhead is a bilingual English/Russian freelance writer and translator. After years of working as a professional opera/jazz singer, ...
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