Nothing is an Accident
Sometimes you see a plan. These sets of circumstances that draw you to the place you are now. Maybe it's just a way of looking at misfortune with an optimist's eye, but I always think that if I had never nearly died of Crohn's disease, I never would have moved to Florida so my parents could help me when I was too sick to really be all alone. And if I had never moved to Florida, I never would have met my bestest friend, Pammie, and if I had never met my bestest friend Pammie, then I would not have been the recipient of the best cookies on the face of the planet. All right . . . so my logic gets a little . . . quirky . . . but you get the idea.
Sometimes you don't see a plan. It's all just a huge happy accident. Or unhappy accident. Or just a mess and you can't see a plan to save your life.
Not so in a novel.
In a novel, NOTHING is there that isn't planned. Not one word. It doesn't matter if you don't outline and have no plan (I rarely do). In the end, even THOSE authors go back and read every word over and over again, excising the ones that don't belong, searching for better words. Deleting scenes, adding scenes, honing dialogue.
Even our character NAMES have meaning. Settings. Clothing choices. It all belongs. My character's father is a wine snob. It's no accident he is drinking the vintage he's drinking -- a lovely 2001 from a certain region in France. I chose the restaurant. I chose the damn wine list. Of COURSE they carry that wine so he can be outed as the snob he is.
There are no accidents. It can look that way. Sometimes I don't even REALIZE the plan, but no . . . there's always a plan.
So what details have you put in your work-in-progress that are no accident? If it's all in the details, what did you choose to show us (not tell us!) about your character?
16 comments:
So true! I think that's why I have to start at the beginning and read through so many times. And I think that's what I mean when I try to explain how I see a story: that the beginning is the end, and the middle is the beginning and the end. A detail or scene just can't be there to get you from X to Y, at least I don't find it works for me.
Like, in my current WIP, she has a fight with a woman, which, among other factors, compels her to move away. But, that can't be it. There has to be some other purpose for that fight, something later, not just something immediate. Something inner to match the outer, too. And that fight needs closure in the end of the book, too, somehow.
Everything is a thread to be woven in, to match the whole and serve the whole.
But that's just how I see it, LOL. I just got done with a book that clearly doesn't share my viewpoint. :-)
Truth is stranger than fiction...
I think there is always a plan in life, too, we're just not always privy to it - I'm a firm believer that there are no accidents or coincidences.
In fiction, though, my favorite authors are the ones who have hidden nuances throughout their work. Maybe a name... Maybe they use the name Cassie as a sort of ode to the mythological Cassandra and the character mirrors her in some way... perhaps she has premonitions or perhaps her crux is that the people around her don't listen to her warnings or in some way make her feel powerless.
I love those type of details. The ones that are not spelled out in the fiction itself, but the careful reader can see the connection from their own research and knowledge.
My names often come to me in a flash, but then I research the name to make sure it fits my character. I know a writer who comes up with the character's birthdate and then does an intricate astrological chart on them to make sure the characteristics fit, and to flesh out more on the character... I myself sometimes use tarot cards to come up with more ideas or to flesh out what's there. And I love adding these small layers in to not only flesh out the characters but to lend to the foreshadowing of the plot itself.
Great subject, Erica.
By the way, Frankie was definitely on purpose - the name was resurrected from my first novel attempt, but the character is altered and even the full name is different (the first was Francesca, this one is Francine) even that bit, that the reader won't even be privy to, alters the telling for me.
Hi Spy:
Oh, I love your story of the character and the fight. A lot of times, I do the same thing. I move a character from point A to point B, but I think "that's not enough. There needs to be some sort of wounding, something more."
E
Merry:
My very first novel had a Cassie, whose full name was Cassandra.
The book I just finished has a Calliope.
E
I try my hardest to make everything I put in my book matter. It's extra work to figure out a theme and layer in symbolism--and can seem thankless when many romance readers just care about a hot hero :blah:--but it's all very important to me. Names are the most important piece of the puzzle. If a name just doesn't fit, even one I've changed on purpose, the story won't move along. It's odd how a tiny detail can characterize a character and a book.
I'm a panster and I think those "accidents" happen the same way in my stories. Half the details I throw in (with no reason as to why) come in handy later.
The only time I intentionally wrote an "accident" is when I gave my characters their names in my WIP before last. Phoenix and Adam.
Phoenix that's kind of a given. Yet, when I decided to find the hero's name I did some research on the myth surrounding the phoenix. And the reason why the phoenix never dies is because Adam left the bird in the garden of Eden.(According to myth of course)
It felt only right that he went back and got her.
I love it when I look back and see the foreshadowing that I stuck int here which I didn't know why I was writing it at the time.
Also my characters evolve and I have to go back and make sure what they did in the beginning matches what they've become.
Needless to say, I don't outline.
la belle:
I can't move on unless a name is just right. I wish I could just leave a blank or something, but it has to be just so.
E
melissa:
Your process sounds much like my own.
E
sarah:
I love that too. In KNOCKOUT (backlist title), I had a minor character who was a Serbian immigrant-turned-boxer. All of a sudden, midway through the book, he had actually been in the military there as a sniper, and then beyond THAT he turned into a love interest. Not sure how it happened, but it was a small think that kept snowballing.
E
A lot to think about, as always, Erica. I've found that minor details are what have grown into something pivotal in my WIP. I didn't even know it when I wrote it. Then I think -- oh yea, of course Tracy will want to do x,y and z --- she has been doing it all along --- and now it's on center stage instead of in the background.
I also go back and read and see what intentional bits do not add to the story in the end. Out they go.
I have learned full well that unless it's a novel...plans, well, not something you can count on!
Amy:
I do the same--look through and see which quirks can be cut, what doesn't add to the story.
E
A few years back I had a neighbor whose name was "Star." It didn't fit my neighbor but I always thought I'd give that name to a character. I started a novella two days ago, and I knew right away the name fit her. She has the personality and attitude to go with the name. That's all planned, and I'm having fun with her.
Edie:
I love it. Naming characters is such a particular thing. Like naming your child. I am SO grateful that each of my kids fits his or her name.
E
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