Barbara Eberhard's Blog - Posts Tagged "climax"
Creating Drama
When I write a novel, I usually have only a rough outline of the major events. As I've written before, I let the details come to me as I write. I've learned that works well for me, and it allows the characters to take over sometimes - which I love.
My latest novel, "Rich People's Problems", was bubbling along, as the others have. It started with big drama as the female main character is revealed to the public to be a famous novelist. She'd used a pseudonym for all her writing, and only a select few people knew of her pseudonym. When she becomes famous, she escapes to where she grew up, at first for the comfort of "home". But then she realizes that the only famous person she knows lives there. Together, they help her come to grips with her newfound fame and the press attention that comes with it.
All that was great. I had a basic outline of the sequence of events. I added some drama with her biological father being a jerk, first by having left his pregnant girlfriend to raise their child alone and second by barely trying to be part of his daughter's life and usually just embarrassing her. Her mother turns out to have been gay all along, a fact she didn't really realize or accept in high school. Anyone who reads my books knows that I usually have at least one LGBTQ+ character, in keeping with my attempts to normalize differences.
But as I thought about the book a couple of weeks ago, I realized that there wasn't a dramatic arc to the story. To be sure, it starts with drama. And there is more along the way.
But there wasn't a real climax, when everything came to a head.
I've been wracking my brain about it for the last few weeks. And I finally came up with a climax, one that not only brings all the drama together, but also continues the secondary title "The Story of Raggedy Ann and Andy".
Today's task was to rework the outline and chapters to reflect this new climax. We'll see whether it really hits the mark when I get there in a couple more chapters.
My latest novel, "Rich People's Problems", was bubbling along, as the others have. It started with big drama as the female main character is revealed to the public to be a famous novelist. She'd used a pseudonym for all her writing, and only a select few people knew of her pseudonym. When she becomes famous, she escapes to where she grew up, at first for the comfort of "home". But then she realizes that the only famous person she knows lives there. Together, they help her come to grips with her newfound fame and the press attention that comes with it.
All that was great. I had a basic outline of the sequence of events. I added some drama with her biological father being a jerk, first by having left his pregnant girlfriend to raise their child alone and second by barely trying to be part of his daughter's life and usually just embarrassing her. Her mother turns out to have been gay all along, a fact she didn't really realize or accept in high school. Anyone who reads my books knows that I usually have at least one LGBTQ+ character, in keeping with my attempts to normalize differences.
But as I thought about the book a couple of weeks ago, I realized that there wasn't a dramatic arc to the story. To be sure, it starts with drama. And there is more along the way.
But there wasn't a real climax, when everything came to a head.
I've been wracking my brain about it for the last few weeks. And I finally came up with a climax, one that not only brings all the drama together, but also continues the secondary title "The Story of Raggedy Ann and Andy".
Today's task was to rework the outline and chapters to reflect this new climax. We'll see whether it really hits the mark when I get there in a couple more chapters.
Starting with the Ending
As I noted in my previous post, I'm writing a new trilogy. Each book will be story of the quest for that character, but will include references to the other characters and some of their lessons learned along the way. So that means that each book has to end up in the same place. Regardless of how each main character gets there - and their paths will be different - they all have to get to the same place in the end, to finish the quest.
So, this weekend, I wrote the end of the trilogy from a generic perspective. How the quest will end. How magic will be restored. And how the three main characters come together to make that happen.
I'm going to take that same ending and incorporate it into each of the three novels. But change it, as well, as each of the final chapters - as with the first chapters - will be written as a first person narrative. Thus, we start and end each book inside the head of the character about whom the book is written - and whose quest is described in the book. This is a style taken from my fictional biographies, which are always written in first person.
(However, the interim chapters - however many they might be - will be written with an omniscient narrator, as I've done with all my previous fantasy novels. It think the combination is interesting - and makes the trilogy unique.)
Today, I took the generic ending I had written yesterday and tailored it for Hallas, the main character of the second of the three novels. So, now that final chapter lets us know how he was feeling during the pivotal climax. With a bit of a denouement, as well.
I'm still not sure if I'm going to write all three books concurrently. But it's sure starting to look that way.
So, this weekend, I wrote the end of the trilogy from a generic perspective. How the quest will end. How magic will be restored. And how the three main characters come together to make that happen.
I'm going to take that same ending and incorporate it into each of the three novels. But change it, as well, as each of the final chapters - as with the first chapters - will be written as a first person narrative. Thus, we start and end each book inside the head of the character about whom the book is written - and whose quest is described in the book. This is a style taken from my fictional biographies, which are always written in first person.
(However, the interim chapters - however many they might be - will be written with an omniscient narrator, as I've done with all my previous fantasy novels. It think the combination is interesting - and makes the trilogy unique.)
Today, I took the generic ending I had written yesterday and tailored it for Hallas, the main character of the second of the three novels. So, now that final chapter lets us know how he was feeling during the pivotal climax. With a bit of a denouement, as well.
I'm still not sure if I'm going to write all three books concurrently. But it's sure starting to look that way.
Creating Conflict
One of the key elements to any writing is a climax. Usually, a climax involves the resolution of conflict. And then the denouement shows the characters continuing on in their lives.
When I start to plan out a new trilogy, I have an overall plan for the trilogy. In the case of Dichotomies, I needed to figure out what the dichotomies were going to be. I started with land people and sea people - half the human population lives on "islands" created by magic generations earlier. Those islands - called res - are sinking. Whether that's because the sea - or moc - is rising or because the res are sinking, no one knows. All the sea people - the Resani - know is that the change is occurring. They don't know that magic created the islands; therefore, they don't know that they need magic restored to fix the islands.
From the land people's perspective - the Canians - they don't seem to need magic. They get along just fine without it. Except their lands are not as fertile as they used to be. And as a result, the Canian population has reduced. This population decrease has happened naturally; people just aren't having as many children. But towns are being deserted (pun intended) due to lack of population. The governments of the Canians are worried.
The two ethnicities have grown to distrust each other. Each thinks the other is "evil", though specifically how is unclear. I haven't yet decided if there will be some big event that created the distrust in the past or whether it's just the result of distance and lack of communications. People who don't know each other tend not to trust each other.
The two ethnicities have also evolved to have different physical characteristics. This, too, creates some conflict - the continued feeling of "other". Some of the conflict among the three mages who have to save the world comes solely from them not trusting the other ethnicity.
But each book also needs a conflict to create the arc to the climax. The words of the prophecy tells us something of what that arc looks like.
When darkness sees the light, when the silence joins in the song, when pain finds happiness, the truth will be restored.
There has to be more to the story than just finding light, song, and peace.
Today, I figured out the storyline for Hallas. I have the barest of sketches for Kymri and Tyagi. I know Kymri has to learn to be a warrior and lead an army despite being blind. I know Tyagi has to proselytize to all the humans, to get them to believe. Still working on the details.
When I start to plan out a new trilogy, I have an overall plan for the trilogy. In the case of Dichotomies, I needed to figure out what the dichotomies were going to be. I started with land people and sea people - half the human population lives on "islands" created by magic generations earlier. Those islands - called res - are sinking. Whether that's because the sea - or moc - is rising or because the res are sinking, no one knows. All the sea people - the Resani - know is that the change is occurring. They don't know that magic created the islands; therefore, they don't know that they need magic restored to fix the islands.
From the land people's perspective - the Canians - they don't seem to need magic. They get along just fine without it. Except their lands are not as fertile as they used to be. And as a result, the Canian population has reduced. This population decrease has happened naturally; people just aren't having as many children. But towns are being deserted (pun intended) due to lack of population. The governments of the Canians are worried.
The two ethnicities have grown to distrust each other. Each thinks the other is "evil", though specifically how is unclear. I haven't yet decided if there will be some big event that created the distrust in the past or whether it's just the result of distance and lack of communications. People who don't know each other tend not to trust each other.
The two ethnicities have also evolved to have different physical characteristics. This, too, creates some conflict - the continued feeling of "other". Some of the conflict among the three mages who have to save the world comes solely from them not trusting the other ethnicity.
But each book also needs a conflict to create the arc to the climax. The words of the prophecy tells us something of what that arc looks like.
When darkness sees the light, when the silence joins in the song, when pain finds happiness, the truth will be restored.
There has to be more to the story than just finding light, song, and peace.
Today, I figured out the storyline for Hallas. I have the barest of sketches for Kymri and Tyagi. I know Kymri has to learn to be a warrior and lead an army despite being blind. I know Tyagi has to proselytize to all the humans, to get them to believe. Still working on the details.
