Hi everyone!! Just a really simple question (this time!). Having some concerns about the structure of my WIP novel - so far the general idea, plotwise, is to focus on a paranormal detective (and the girl who comes to live with him) and a series of cases they work on. The structure is going to be six sequential stories, each one focusing on a different antagonist - different cases, if you like. So for the first story, we've got a generic ghost story (with a twist, of course) to ease readers into the premise, then we've got a woman keeping a hellhound as a pet, a Christmas demon, etc etc - each story follows the last and should last about 10-15000 words (if any of them come up shorter then I'll see if I can squeeze in one more story!!). Throughout, there's hints towards a final, more personal story that builds up as we go along, involving the girl. This is the last (sixth) story and should hit hardest and leave us in a good place for - potentially - another "volume" of stories. What do we think about this? While it's essentially a collection of stories, I'm hoping for something that reads something like a novel, with at least a little more development for my antagonists etc. Is this a realistic result to aim for? Has anyone tried anything like this, or seen anything similar? How did it go? Thank you, Piper
I think you need two-layered premises and they promises. Six stories. All of them must have a premise of they own. And every premise needs to have a promise of the premise. Your collection of six sequential stories needs also it's premise. And you must break the promise of this premise so that every story has a piece of it. And I don't mean one main and six subs but seven main premises and promises. This shared premise weaves everything together. It makes your six stories one entirety. And this shared premise must not be chopped to six pieces. It must grow from one story, grow more in second... And think a lot of difference between scary and exiting. Scary is not good. Exiting is. You must find the thin line between these and put your steps on the right side of it.
A collection of short stories can be harder to sell than a novel, especially if you haven't sold any short stories to publications with solid and known reputations. A lot of new writers tend to think a structure similar to yours will help them write a novel of sorts, but it's a lot harder than it seems. Is there a reason why you don't want to just stick with the best idea and flesh that out into a novel? That would be my advice. Unless you are trying to be a short story writer. But if you haven't written any of them yet (or even if you have), I would rethink this approach. I think it can be harder to write and for sure harder to sell.
Is it a collection of adventures/episodes or a novel that has to follow the structure of all stories: a beginning, middle, and end? If it is a collection, then each story has to have a beginning, middle and end with a clearly identifiable protagonist and antagonist. If it is a novel, there is a clearly identifiable antagonist and protagonist through out the novel as they go on a series of adventures. The adventures/episodes are within the theme of your novel with the beginning, middle, and end of that theme/story still being carried forward. I'm thinking of Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man". The Illustrated Man and that younger guy are the antagonist and protagonist as the younger man learns that each tatoo on the illustrated man tells an "episode" in the Illustrated Man's life.
Of course it works. Selling it is another matter though. For that, you'll have to make it obvious if it's a collection of stories or a novel. And if you want it to be a novel, there has to be something connecting those stories. Like in Christmas Carol, we got several mini-stories connected by the idea of Scrooge changing from being a miser to being the most generous person in town. This one did very well
I'm a screenwriter and I feel the same way about a Full Feature vs A Short screenplay. Shorts are harder. https://thescreenwritersmarket.com
There's different ways to frame your story, but there's only one structure that really matters: the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. A story can be simple or complicated. It doesn't matter. If it doesn't have those things in it, then it won't work. Period. A lot of people say characters are the foundation to a story, but they aren't. It's the structure. If you don't structure your story, then no one is going to care about your character. So when I see a question like this where a person comes up with these grandiose plans on how they're going to structure it, I have to ask if this structure is built with the basics? Are you structuring this because it will create a nice even rising action? Or are you structuring it this way just because you want to say more things?
What you are telling her is true but what she really wants to know is if she can do this as a collection of stories vs a novel. What you said would pertain to EACH story if it is a collection or the whole story if it is a novel. I think her basic question is collection vs novel.
I immediatly thought of the nightwatch series by Sergei Lukyanenko. Every novel consists of three separated stories that is somehow connected. Sounds a bit like your idea (which sounds like something I'd love to read).
Well, it depends on what you want to know. I started writing screenplays in 1997 and I was able to get an option to buy on 3 of the 8 and I don't even have an agent. I did it by writing them and then entering them in contests. So since I placed first or second is how I got the options. I started at first in College to do novels but you have to get too much in the characters heads and describe all their thoughts. In screenwriting you describe ACTION, it is up to the actors to SHOW the emotions and thoughts. https://thescreenwritersmarket.com
And my answer answered it. Are you doing it this way because it will contribute to the story or do you just want to say more things?
She can say a lot of things and a lot more things and it could still be a novel or a collection. She has to decide if her episodes are related to each other in a way that drives one main story forward or do they stand on their own.
What to take in? What to leave out? I am very interested about writing infotainment and/or edutainment scripts some day.
Well, one mistake new screenwriters make is relying on too much dialogue. Be stingy with dialogue and rely on describing action to tell the story. We WATCH movies. https://thescreenwritersmarket.com
OFF TOPIC How do you connect fine tuning of emotional and social substance that lies in both action and dialogue? What about pace and timing?
Do not write a screenplay without learning structure. There are definite industry standards. If you don't know it, it will be noticed when someone starts to read it. They won't even finish if you break the rules right at the start. Pacing is standard... I written page = 1 minute of screen time. So the standard length of a screenplay (full feature) is 90 to 110 pages. All movie scripts follow 3 act structure. TV scripts take into account commercials so may be 4 to 5 acts. [link redacted]
Only use as much dialogue as necessary to move the story forward. Does a person standing on the Golden Gate Bridge about to jump need to say much? One technique they teach is to imagine your story as if you are watching it on tv and you turn the sound off.
Hi everyone, Thanks for all the feedback here, really helpful and definitely lots to think about - I wanted to try something new here and basically wanted to know if the concept was any good. From what people have said it looks like it could work if done well, I just need to make sure I've got an overall structure that's solid throughout the book, as well as individual structures for each story. I've recently finished the first of these stories, and while the structure within that seems solid enough - in that it's got a beginning, middle and end at least, and pretty much follows a three-day structure in that we think it's all over and then whooops here we go with the actual problem - it just needs a bit of work establishing the first part of the main "threading" storyline, which I think so far is a little week. Anyway, thanks for all the advice/questions - even though god knows I have no answers, it's given me something to consider and I'll keep working and see what happens!! Thank you. One thing that might be worth mentioning (although I suppose, big-picture wise, it doesn't really matter) - I'm not a she, just to clear that up. But like I said, doesn't really matter. Thanks again, Piper
