A writing rule to break: when arc isn’t a best choice

During a book club discussion of a writer from outside the United States, a writing friend from an Eastern European country pointed out triumphantly, There’s no structure! Did she secretly hope to prove that structure in book-length manuscripts is an American plot that should not apply to her own writing? Sorry, no. The book in question actually did possess structure. It just wasn’t the narrative arc that’s come to seem standard in modern fiction. It was, in fact, an ancient and honorable structure, which I was pleased to hear Australian writer Kate Forsyth describe at a recent writing workshop.

Kate Forsyth

The dramatic arc (also described as 3-act or 4-act structure) isn’t the only model available. There is, in fact, an alternative more amenable to some narrative forms – the episodic plot.

Episodic plot has been in use at least since the 15^th century writing of Le Morte d’Arthur. Don Quixote doted on it in the 17^th century, The Pickwick Papers in the 19^th. Many memoirists and writers of narrative nonfiction still employ it, not to mention writers of children’s chapter books. Why has the episodic plot fallen into disrepute? And how (and when) is an episodic plot an appropriate story vehicle?

To review: the dramatic arc (also called a narrative arc) features a story in which, over the entire length of the story, the action rises ever more tensely to a climax, and then falls to a resolution. The pedigree of the narrative arc dates back to the origins of drama – Act I, Act II, Act III, and so forth.

By comparison, in an episodic plot, the narrative consists of a series of interconnected episodes – stories or chapters – which each tell their own story, with its own dramatic arc in miniature, but are also complete and satisfying in their own right.

It demands a strong beginning – think of that as an engine – to grab its readers’ attention and pull them all the way through its long train of story cars, connected by a common character or setting -- until it ends in a final resolution, like a train’s caboose.

Forsyth suggests using the episodic plot for stories that span a long period of time, such as the book my friend complained about at the beginning of this post. Think multi-generational sagas. Think biographies. Think stories covering a long period of time. (James Mitchener, anyone?)

image: wikimedia commons

However, when Forsyth used the beloved children’s book Anne of Green Gables as an example, it occurred to me that the format is also suited to writing for young readers. In fact, the classic “chapter books” parents read to their children (or kids read for themselves) once they’re beyond the picture book stage. Ideally suited to the 15- or 20-minute daily reading requirement my grandsons’ elementary school asks for.

Forsyth credits Jane Austen and her romantic interest in fairy tales for adapting the narrative arc of these short fictions into the gold standard for modern long-form fiction. (And Forsyth knows her fairy tales, having earned a graduate degree in fairy tale studies, as well as adapting them to modern fiction in books such as Bitter Greens, her retelling of the Rapunzel story.)

But if an episodic plot seems to suit your story, give it a try. I’ll add some caveats. An episodic plot isn’t a mishmash. It requires a strong connection between all its story cars. I’ve also heard at least one book editor knock episodic plots as “bus ride” stories. If you know the publisher, editor, agent, you’re aiming for has similar feelings, don’t seek to outrage their feelings. As Forsyth also says, when you break the rules, break them wisely. And well.

Forsyth’s appearance last week in Dallas was sponsored by WORD (Writing Organizations ‘Round Dallas). If you’re looking for a compatible writing group, check out the site. And stay tuned, I hope, for more visits like that of Forsyth.

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Is anybody ready for another contest? Perhaps as an extra way to get our prose in front of agents, editors, publishers? While researching agents to query for my latest, I came across an intriguing idea called prose challenges. The Inklings Literary Agency  site includes a button labeled "prose challenge" that links to a site called Prose. Trident Media Group simply lists its current “challenge” at the Prose site. Demonstrate your writing talent, they say. If they like it. . .

(Later: continuing the conversation with Kate Forsyth)

May we have a word about WORDfest?

Walking into last Saturday’s WORDfest was like walking into a candy store for writing nerds – and this woman, who will talk serial commas and raise you an Oxford, uses the phrase “writing nerds” with the greatest respect.

The event was sponsored by WORD (Writers Organizations ‘Round Dallas), a network of North Texas writing groups, founded on the premise that writers can accomplish more together than by going it alone. Barely more than a year old, it includes over 20 groups, from screenwriters to poets, nonfiction to romance, inspirational to thrillers, editors to instructors. All those and more packed the Tarrant County Community College’s Northeast Campus in Hurst, passing out information, writing advice, and camaraderie for free.

I started collecting fliers and business cards (and signing up for emails) from the groups, determined to hit every one, but finally gave up. After all, I had to drop by a class on revision,), and listen to writers, editors, and even a local publisher discuss what makes them (and readers) love our words, and pick up tips from (among dozens of others) local mystery and thriller writers, such as:

What’s the difference between a mystery and a thriller? To paraphrase writer Brian Tracey, a mystery asks who did it? A thriller asks who’s going to stop it?

Want to make your book a page turner? End every chapter a paragraph earlier.

How to write the dreaded synopsis some literary agents demand to see? No problem. Mark your book’s 1) inciting incident, 2) the hero’s crossover into the special world, 3) the midpoint, 4) the all is lost moment, 5) the climax and 6) the denouement/epilogue. Synopsis done. (I may find the courage to try this!)

And should you find the story sagging in the midsection, try adding a stand-alone story (some of us may call this a subplot) that will propel the action.

Lights, crowds, action, at WORDfest

How do you know if you’re writing a cozy mystery? Per mystery writer Melissa Lenhardt (Sawbones, Stillwater, The Fisher King, and more) the required ingredients are an amateur sleuth, no blood, no sex, and no cussing. But no, the sleuth doesn’t have to be a quilter, baker, or a cat lady!

If only I could have cloned myself, I’d have learned more about the likes of historical fiction, finding a writerly voice, researching, finding beta readers, and more.

Or I can join some (or a lot!) of the writerly organizations, kindly color-coded at the WORD site into critique groups, program groups, discussion groups, or writing classes, not that there’s any rule against combining those categories. Check individual sites for particulars.

(Tracey’s 3-point rule of critiques: those that have the writer nodding in agreement as the critique talks, those that tell you some stuff needs to be changed, and those that make you say, no way in hell am I making that change. The last, of course, will be the change that you will find yourself making.)

Those who were there (like me!) and those who wished they were, can hope for a repeat next year, although, like WORD, it will take a little help from a lot of friends to make that happen. So I’ll add a word from WORD’s guardian angel, author/instructor Arianne “Tex” Thompson : “If you enjoyed this event and want to see more like, please vote with your dollars.”

Pony up for a one-week only deal on swag from the fest. Or feed the PayPal tip jar by emailing findyourtribe@wordwriters.org to keep WORDfest voiced and free!