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  1. LastMindToSanity

    LastMindToSanity Contributor Contributor

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    An Anthology With a Plot?

    Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by LastMindToSanity, Nov 30, 2019.

    I don't know if it counts as a genre, but I'm going to try my hand at writing an anthology. Can I still have the overarching plot while writing this anthology? Would it take away from that plot? If I were to just write the singular, linear plot, then there would be a lot of "several days later" going on, because the characters don't always have stuff to do. The characters are sort of split into two groups that become a singular one. Most of them are trying to track down the villain, who's hiding in the city while trying to pick them off one-by-one. Given this, the villain won't always be there, so there'll be stretches of time where the characters have nothing plot or character relevant to do. I'm hoping the anthology format will help with that.

    Thoughts?
     
  2. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    An anthology is a collection of work by several writers. You might be thinking of a short story collection. And collections can be made of of linked stories. I think you will need to read a few (or many) because it's a much different approach than writing a novel. Is there some reason you don't want to make this a novel? A short story collection is a harder sell, especially if you don't have some impressive short story credits. I also think a short story collection can be harder to write. You really want to master the form somewhat before thinking of it on a larger scale. And trying to publish a few (which is super hard) would be a good move. But, yeah, it's not an anthology.
     
  3. LastMindToSanity

    LastMindToSanity Contributor Contributor

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    Okay, so not an anthology, then. I want to try the shorter stories approach because I get distracted by thinking of smaller stories when trying to think of a big, singular one. I thought that this approach would help me stay focused. I guess I also didn't properly explain the format I'd be using. I won't be creating several separate short stories. It'll all be in one book, but the story is separated into side stories that feed into the larger narrative.
     
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  4. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    That sounds a lot like a novel to me! Instead of 'side stories that feed into the larger narrative,' maybe think 'chapters?'

    If you write each chapter separately as if it was a 'short story' then look at the collection of chapters and see what you've got, I think you might suddenly have a 'eureka moment' and see how they all fit together.

    Or ...you can actually write the chapters as separate short stories, but tie them strongly together with an ongoing arc or theme.

    One of the best books I remember reading that follows this kind of format is Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. Still one of the best books ever. Each chapter can stand alone as a short story, but taken together? Wow. You have to actually read the whole collection before the story arc becomes obvious. And when it does? Wow. It's now a bit outdated as 'science' in some ways, but it's spot-on when it comes to beautifully conceived 'fiction.' And more relevant to today's world than you'd suspect from the title.
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2019
  5. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Maybe check out A Canticle for Leibowitz. Similar sort of thing, with three sections.
     
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  6. J.D. Ray

    J.D. Ray Member Supporter Contributor

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    My WIP will ultimately be ~150K words (I think), so relatively short for a novel, but it will have three to four distinct stories in it. I conceived it as one arc, and was unsure I had the capacity to outline and create a full novel. As it turns out, I do, so long as I keep writing at the story pace I'm going (I was so used to writing at the 10K-word story pace, my early drafts of things for this read "rushed"), I can achieve it. By the time it's done, it will be years in the making (already is, not even half finished).

    So, yes, you can get a novel out of short stories with an overarching arc. Hell, if you're ambitious, you get The Expanse. The first three novels go together to create 2000 pages of prologue for the larger story (nine novels and ~7 novellas).
     
  7. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Isn't that actually somewhat long for a novel?
     
  8. J.D. Ray

    J.D. Ray Member Supporter Contributor

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    I created this "answer" to your question, then went looking for a link (you know, form the idea first, then go searching for evidence to back up your thought):

    Then I found this: https://blog.reedsy.com/how-many-words-in-a-novel/
    And this backs it up: https://self-publishingschool.com/how-many-words-in-a-novel/

    So I'm revising my understanding of "novel" length (see? I can learn!). As it turns out, my tendency is for selecting long-ish things to read (I read Lonesome Dove a few months ago, and thought it was slightly long, but not bad). One of my favorite series is The Expanse, the opener for which is 182K wordsHere's a list of famous novels and their lengths: http://commonplacebook.com/art/books/word-count-for-famous-novels/

    And here's a fun graphic: https://i.redd.it/lq2dkf078g111.jpg

    Now I feel like I hijacked this thread. Apologies.
     
  9. J.D. Ray

    J.D. Ray Member Supporter Contributor

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    Oh, also, I intend to publish my WIP in two volumes of around 75K each.
     

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