Resolving problems in a book
Solving problems takes on a completely different meaning when you are writing a book. In life, none of the solutions that are offered to a problem maybe to our liking, but we have to accept some of them and move on. In a book however, we are the creators of the problem and we have to find the right kind of resolution to it, one that satisfies our creative urges and satisfies the readers also that yes, this was the perfect solution.
If you are into watching Indian soaps, have you ever noticed how the protagonists have to face problem after problem in their lives? Don't you wonder whether these people ever have normal lives? For instance, the husband would be returning for a reunion with the wife and on the way he gets killed. Big problem for everyone. How will the wife survive? Then she toils and somehow manages to live her life and some poor chap comes along and then another problem arises. The new chap wants to marry her and then you'll find some major hullabaloo about how a widow can get married and THEN, she will agree after much persuasion and just when they are about to get married, the dead husband returns. I kid you not.
But if there had been no problem at all, then the story would have ended right there. In conclusion, we need problems to make our stories continue. I usually don't watch TV but the little that I catch during family time has revealed that these days the TV writers are fed up of perpetually bringing new problems in the lives of the protagonists, so they just do an age leap. All of a sudden the bahus become grandmothers and the little grandchildren grow into strapping young men and coy young women with their own set of problems. See?
Any writer will tell you that a book has to have a central conflict or a problem which has to be resolved by the time the book ends. How it is resolved often forms the core of the story.
As a writer, I've found myself in different situations, all of my own making, where I cannot proceed because the problem feels too difficult to solve. What is the best thing to do in such a situation? Proceed with the writing and hope the solution will come as you write? I used to do that earlier but now, I've changed the method slightly.
I pause.
Yes, I pause the book at the problem because sometimes it seems too insurmountable. And no amount of staring at the black letters on the white page is going to give me a revelation. It's tempting to continue writing but I've learnt that sometimes, pausing helps. Letting the idea ferment in your head for a while is a pretty good idea. When you approach the book again, you never know what could trigger your mind into finding the perfect solution. It seems to happen on its own, I swear!
Most writers have a basic plot in their head as they start writing and it's a good thing too as it helps them stay on course. I however found myself unable to do this when I started writing. I preferred spontaneity in every possible way, from the characters right down to the events that would shape their lives.
However, this is not always possible and neither is it practical. You have to have a basic concept, an idea or premise that you can outline in one single sentence, and then you can move from there. Start with the characters and then move on to their problems. How they resolve the problems and come to terms with their lives will form the rest of the book, and before you know it, the book is written already.
Tying up loose ends and resolving problems for your characters is not an easy thing to do. You have to make it believable and if you can use some information that you had mentioned in passing in the beginning, and make it relevant in the present, nothing like it.
I'll look for such examples and put them up in a separate post when I have time. Until then, let me know what you think!
