The Magic of Finding a Play in Your Novel

To many, NaNoWriMo is all about the novel—it’s in the name, after all! But as you’re editing the story you wrote in November, you might realize your novel isn’t a novel, but something totally different. Today, writer Aino Hyyryläinen shares her experience turning what she thought was a novel into a play:

I spent November 2013 writing Manna, my NaNoWriMo novel about a young woman who suffered from
seasonal depression during winter, until she discovered that her
father was Jack Frost. Manna could make snowflakes dance and bring
light into the gloomy Nordic November around her. I fell in love with
her story—and turned it into a play two years later.

I, too dream about publishing a novel one day, but I’ve found that the
majority of my stories turn out to be plays disguised as 50,000 words
of prose. And I think that’s magic.

What
is a play?

It may seem like an obvious question, but bear with me.

A
play is a drama that’s performed on stage. At least, that’s the
definition that feels most authentic to me. In terms of story, it’s
not always easy to recognize. Here’s what led me to believe that
Manna
wasn’t
a novel, but a play:

1. The
story felt most effective when told briefly.

What
I wanted to say with Manna
could
be summarised very briefly. The story wasn’t meant to become a
250-page novel. Instead, it became an hour and a half of performance.

2. The
novel didn’t edit very well.

I
spent day after day staring at my first draft, screaming “What was
I thinking?!” both internally and externally. The novel just
couldn’t be edited. Then I realized I was looking at it all wrong.

3. It
was mostly dialogue.

I
love listening to my characters. I listen to their intonation and
funny speech patterns—and that’s what I write down. Often
dialogue was enough in Manna.
Adding action tags or descriptive sentences seemed to take something
away instead of adding to the story.

In case any of these points (or others that I fail to mention) make you
stare into space, wondering if your novel is in fact not a novel, but a play—don’t
panic!  Before you embark on a very different
rewriting process, here are some things I want you to remember.

Performance
is publishing. If
you’ve set your eyes on a sweet book deal, it can be difficult to
let go and allow your story to completely change shape. Now,
performance is different from traditional publishing, but it’s just
as beautiful—and still gets your story out into the world.Plays
are interpreted in the same way novels are.
Some of those interpretations happen on stage, and others in the
minds of the audience or reader.Performance
makes your story tangible.
It brings the tiniest of details and wittiest of dialogues to life.Performance
reaches people, just as a book does. Your story isn’t lost and you’re not letting it down by turning
it into a play. You’re letting it shine.The
stage is magic. To
the writer, performance is full of insecurities: What if the cast
misunderstands? What if the world feels wrong? What if the characters
don’t feel real? Not to scare you, but all those things could
go
wrong. They could also go so right you’ll never feel the same
again.

When
Manna
was
in rehearsal, I cried so many tears of joy my face hurt. I could help
Jack Frost put on his coat and tie Manna’s shoelaces. I watched my
characters conjure snow out of thin air and hug each other. I saw
them and they saw me. When I asked them a question, they answered.

It was like magic didn’t exist before—then I witnessed it every day. I wish you will too.

Aino
Hyyryläinen is a writer and translator from Finland. She mostly
writes plays, marketing content, and nonfiction. She owns a
cooperative business, Kulttuuriosuuskunta Obskura, with six other people. She’s always loved theatre and has actively
written, directed, and acted for eight years. Aino
firmly believes that creativity is an adventure and she’s always
ready to discuss queer life and art. She documents the sometimes
tiny, sometimes huge events in her life on Instagram at @ainotuulia.

Top photo licensed under Creative Commons from Hernán Piñera on Flickr.