Gardner's: The Art of Fiction - his advice on plotting.
... is: who has the most naïve world philosophy? The theologians? Or the reductionists?" Phew! I think we get the point about mouthpieces for ideas. However, consider this: Publishing Trends, an international publishing journal based in New York, rated Sophie's World the best-selling fiction of 1995. It was translated, from the Norwegian, into 39 languages and sold over 15 million copies world-wide3 But here again, Gardener feels that picturesque plots lack energy. They lack “the power of inexorable process.” (166) Two down, one to go. Tales of quest may be plotted using symbolic juxtapositions. The heroic epic poem Beowulf, works in this way. Yet again, Gardener tells us that, in the final analysis, this type of intellectual structure “will not appeal to our deepest emotions of sympathy and empathy.” (167) Gardener appears to turn his nose up at “Intellectual” plot structures, which he feels are easier to construct over traditional ones. He uses the example of Kafta’s: A Country Doctor, accusing the plot of being “thin and too obviously contrived.” (167) He believes only the writers of traditional causally related plots truly move us: Homer, Shakespeare, and Tolstoy. I sense a somewhat dismissive air when he says that even in “those modern plots,” in those “mad” stories, the plot must provide a rationale persuasive basis for their surrealist, expressionist, or magical events. (168) Technically, Gardener advises the writer to approach the plot in one of three ways: One - he can plagiarise the plot from another story (perhaps one of the classics); two – he can work backwards from an original climax; and three – he can work forwards from an original initial situation to establish a conflict. Whichever path chosen, the writer must consider what materials he must dramatise to make the climax rational and meaningful. The theme must be well established. The major details of the characters and their allegorical meanings should be properly developed, and the story’s natural length and rhythm should be carefully considered. Many pages of chapter seven are devoted to the logical, systematic, thought processes necessary to develop a plot. It was interesting and useful to get inside Gardener’s mind, to see how develops two plots – one starting from the beginning, the other from the end. I’ve decided I’ll always plot backwards - at least I will get some sleep. Gardener says that in developing a plot in reverse, the writer starts with the climax of the story, carrying it around with him…“musing on it casually as he drifts off to sleep.” (171) Now that’s the best advice on writing a plot I’ve ever had! Gardener believes that a contrived plot, one that is “argument manipulated,” cannot have the same emotion and power as a plot that evolves naturally, by the writers “intuition on how life works.” He also believes that the theme should not be imposed on the plot, but “evoked from within it.” (177) For short story plotting, Gardner accepts that a number of different plotting methods may be applicable. However, when considering plots for longer forms, such as the novella and novel, he shows his Aristotelian servitude. He says, “I will treat at length only energeic plots, since for long works those are the kind most likely to succeed.” (179) The plots of a novella and novel vary to that of the shorter works, due to the natural length of the story. The novella is usually one continuous stream of action, often for one character; consisting of a series of epiphanies, increasing in intensity to the climax. It is therefore more “episodic” than the novel; yet, unlike the short story, the novella, by following a single line of thought, reaches a conclusion where the world - at least for the main character - is radically changed, even though it covers a relatively short period. (180) If traditional novel plotting, with true episodes and time breaks is used, the brevity of the novella will prohibit the final powerhouse effect of a good full-length novel. “Nothing can be more perfect or complete than a good novella,” Gardener tells us. (183) The novel, on the other hand, attempts to reflect the world in all its complexity, and too much novella neatness destroys its fundamental effect. Gardner says that the novel lives for its “closing orchestration,” where the writer brings back intellectual motifs, characters and events, encountered earlier. Unexpected connections and hidden causes begin to synthesize. Life begins to become organized and the universe inexorably moral. (184) The reader needs this denouement to feel satisfied, and writers who ignore this do so at their peril. When discussing plotting the novel, Gardner gives lyrical and juxtaposition plots a cursory mention, before moving on to give the Aristotelian “energeic,” causally related plot, his full attention. He reiterates Aristotle’s advice: A plot should have a beginning, middle and an end - each of equal length; “begin in the middle of things,” and make the development profluent, by using causally related segments. (186) The first section of exposition must show the reader everything he needs to know to understand the initial unstable situation and the ensuing action. (186) If the plot is to be “elegant,” the reader must know the full set of causes and (essentially) nothing else. (186) The main character must feel compelled to act, effecting some change, which means that there must b...