tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post3637059561555073850..comments2023-07-03T00:46:29.189-07:00Comments on Pen On Fire / Writers on Writing: Jim Tomlinson on short stories and novelsBarbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-51674118566093871492008-09-03T09:08:00.000-07:002008-09-03T09:08:00.000-07:00Tania, one of the concepts I'm trying to get a gri...Tania, one of the concepts I'm trying to get a grip on in the novel is "plot complication." My tendency has been to go outside the novel text and bring in new elements (a new character or circumstance) when the plot seemed to slow. I thought this is what was meant by plot complications. (And true, sometimes you have to do this.) What I'd end up with was something convoluted and not particularly coherent or pleasing in any meaningful way.<BR/><BR/>Story complication in a novel works best when it uses what's already there in a different way, when it re-introduces some previously used, minor element or character in a different way. Or maybe changed circumstances from what the characters have already struggled to achieve sets up new, steeper challenges for them or others. Unintended consequences can twist a plot and sent it to reeling in such interesting way.<BR/><BR/>It's harder to explain than to see in a brilliant novel like Andre Dubus III's House of Sand and Fog. The prime players are there early on and their goals never change. But the plot complicates with each new pairing of characters and each step they take to reclaim what each believes is rightfully theirs...the house, lost dignity, status in the household, romantic love, a father's respect, etc. The plot moves and complicates by churning the elements already there and bringing sets of desires into direct conflict.<BR/><BR/>I'm trying to learn to complicate my plots that way now, Tania. But I'm not sure if I've fully learned it yet.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02856435398711620038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-40638931434346412312008-09-03T03:55:00.000-07:002008-09-03T03:55:00.000-07:00Very interesting discussion. I love Jim's line abo...Very interesting discussion. I love Jim's line about <I>"A novel is built of a string of consequences and complications, and a hundred pages in it is hard to remember how different the world seemed starting out."</I> Oh yes indeedy. <BR/><BR/>I've read JT's <I>Things Kept, Things Left Behind</I>, great collection, and no doubt any novel he brings to light will be equally fab, but I also appreciate the appreciation of short fic as a completely different form to novels. It gets wearying to see the short form as an apprenticeship to 'the real thing' - the holy grail of the novel. It's great when a writer can do both, but it's great if they can do one or the other really well too. <BR/><BR/>Jim, if you're reading, can you say any more about what you as such a good story teller have learned in that process of novel writing, any examples of mastering (or tofu-wrestling with) that longer structure?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-29941821435396685642008-09-02T13:47:00.000-07:002008-09-02T13:47:00.000-07:00I appreciated these thoughts and would concur:"A n...I appreciated these thoughts and would concur:<BR/><BR/>"A novel is a different thing. It has scope. In general, it addresses bigger concerns, portrays the larger part of a character's lifetime, the societal implications of things, long-term effects, moral consequences of deeds, etc. A novel is built of a string of consequences and complications, and a hundred pages in it is hard to remember how different the world seemed starting out. While the short story is usually centered on a moment, the novel is a seemingly endless progression of "and then, and then, and then..." in a grand and pleasingly shaped arc. <BR/><BR/>Of course, when someone tries to define what a novel is, another someone can always point to examples that disprove it."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-966199387262340212008-09-02T13:32:00.000-07:002008-09-02T13:32:00.000-07:00Tis the stuff good blogs are made of.j.Tis the stuff good blogs are made of.<BR/>j.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com