Having just returned from a novel masterclass, I noticed (as I always do) that each and every novelist has their own structure for the novel (or short story cycle) they’re working on. This makes sense, of course, but I always wonder what makes an author decide on the structure they do. Some writers go for the normal ten to twenty-ish page chapter route. Other writers go for the quick, James Pattersonesque 2–5-page chapters, which is geared towards providing a fast pace, which makes sense, given he writes (or pays writers to write) thrillers and suspense novels. Some writers write in short little paragraphs with breaks (Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room and Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief come to mind).
Others write novels without any chapters at all (some even without punctuation, which is a brave path to take). And, of course, there are tons of other works of speculative fiction that do, well, whatever the authors have decided made sense for their unconventional novel.
When I wrote my novel, The Losses, I wrote six novellas, each from a different character’s perspective. The six points of view told the same story, but from each distinct character's point of view, which allowed me to show how everyone had a different understanding of what happened throughout the novel; in The Losses, the culminating event is a month-long family gathering during Christmastime where a seemingly successful family implodes. So, the structure of my novel is six connected novellas, which provided me with the structure I needed to achieve what I wanted to achieve for my book. Today we're going to go into a short, succinct dive into the plot and structure of your novel, and why they're important.
James Scott Bell, in Plot & Structure: Techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish writes that structure “is what assembles the part of a story in a way that makes them accessible to readers.” He further states that structure “is about timing—where in the mix the elements (of plot) go.” John Dufresne, author of Storyville: An Illustrated Guide to Writing Fiction, says plot is about causality—this happened, and so this happened, etc. Without the causality piece, we just have an episodic work—this happened, and this happened, and this happened, but there is no relationship between any of the events. So, plot is about causality, and structure is about how we, as authors, put our words/chapters/sections/whatever together so that the plot (and other elements of our fictive work) make sense to the reader. And, as knowledgeable writers, we know that there are, in essence, seven story structures available to us—Freytag’s Pyramid, Seven-Point Story Structure, The Hero’s Journey, Dan Harmon’s Story Cycle, Fichtean Curve, Save the Cat Beat Sheet, and the Three-Act Structure. I discuss these all in a previous post which you can read here. If it’s not clear by now, know that plot and Structure are key elements to your fiction working for the reader.
Now, I’ve seen and learned, over my years of writing and acquiring degrees in literature and creative writing and attending writing conferences and workshops that there’ll be writers out there that believe plot isn’t necessary and that structure is whatever you make it. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I believe that once you’ve got the ten thousand hours of learning how to write behind you, and you know what you’re doing, that you have the ability to pull anything off. If it works, it works. (I’m not saying you do—only that you may, indeed, have the self-awareness and ability to achieve such a lofty goal, may being the key word). Personally, I believe you should stick to developing a plot and a relatively “normal” structure because I believe that’s what readers want and expect. I know that when I come across speculative writing or writing with a heavy dose of originality structure-wise, I tend to balk. But that’s just me; you read whatever you want and whatever you’re interested in. That’s your call.
Without going into all of the structure possibilities for your novel, I’ll just share the Freytag’s Pyramid structure visual, as it’s the one I prefer and the one I use the most (except, of course, when I used the six novellas in one novel for The Losses).
I like this simple view because it shows the development of the plot while also showing the structure of the novel. Obviously, you can structure how things happen however you want, but the overarching concept is plain as day and a great skeleton for you to follow while writing your magnum opus. Use it as a checklist. Follow it step by step. Ignore it completely (but you’ll be doing it at your own risk!).
In short, without a plot, it’s going to be tough keeping your readers interested. They want to know whose story it is, what the troubles and hurdles they’re facing are, how they overcome those troubles and hurdles, what happens when they do (they come to a win or a loss, normally), and how you wrap things up in the end. If you’re a genius (and there are some out there), you may be able to use your magic to write something of interest that doesn’t have a plot. Just make sure you are, indeed, a genius. And structure is what’s going to put your reader at ease. They’ll know what to expect, and consistency is usually a salve to a reader’s anxiety when it comes to how your novel is set up. They want to know what happens—tossing them around like a ragdoll because you’re trying to be cute and original with how you put up the scaffolding might turn them off more than you want. But I highly recommend experimenting with both structure and plot as you work on your novel. You never know, you could just be the next (enter genius writer here!).
Cully Perlman is an author, blogger, and Substantive Editor. He can be reached at Cully@novelmasterclass.com