Linking Your Novel Together

As we wind down on Week 2 of the A to Z blogger's challenge, I find myself struggling through a severe head cold and trying to string two coherent sentences together. So for my "L," I came up with "links."

A well-written novel must be linked. And what do I mean by links? 

Well, if you think about the link of a chain, each one connects with two other links, one before and one after. The only two links which do not connect to two others are the beginning and end. But each link is soldered together to make running your hand over it smooth. 

For a novel, this means each scene is a link. And your entire story should be linked together so that it reads smoothly. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, all of which seamlessly flow into the other.

Each link serves its purpose to string the plot from beginning to end. No scene should be so abrupt that it causes the reader's attention to snag. Each scene should naturally follow the prior one. In other words, each scene needs to build on the information, characters, plot, themes of the one before. If a scene doesn't advance one or all of these, it might need to be revised or eliminated completely.

Each scene should: 

1. Establish when (time);
2. Establish where (setting);
3. Establish who (character or point-of-view);
4. Advance why we're reading (the plot);
5. Make it clear what the character(s) want;
6. Have conflict;
7. Start as late as possible in the action;
8. End as early as possible (think cliffhanger);
9. Transition us from the prior scene;
10. Transition us into the next scene.

A successful novel is one where the reader eagerly grabs a hold of the chain and, link-by-link, works his way from the beginning to the end. He isn't snagged at any one link, he doesn't stumble or want to put the book down. It's a difficult thing to do, but it's what every writer should aim for in their novel. (It's almost as difficult as making this metaphor work.)

~I.E.

Hemingway

H is for Hemingway

"…All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." -- Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Ernest Hemingway. Even if you've never read one of his books, you admit that he's written classics. 

As I struggle with week 2 of the A to Z Blogger's Challenge, I feel like I'm hemming and hawing simply to come up with something that starts with the letter "H." (And believe me, "G" was a challenge! Yikes. I waited until the last minute with that one, and wrote a few different posts before I finally settled on writing about Galahad.)

Anyways, back to Hemingway. I've procrastinated enough on writing this post.

I've had the honor of visiting Hemingway's house in Key West, Florida. The thing I most remember about that visit? The cats. I think most visitors remember those the most. Well, I also remember the warmth. It was December, and I was wearing a tank top. For a girl from the Arctic, that's pretty unusual. Usually, I'm bundled up in a down jacket, scarf, hat, boots and mittens. Oh, and it's about 120 degrees colder than Florida in December. 

Right, Hemingway. Hemingway Home. 

This is Hemingway House. It's full of cats. 

If you know nothing else of Hemingway, know that he liked cats. And, he made his home a haven for polydactyl cats—i.e., cats with a sixth digit on their paws (some have six digits on only two paws, others on all four).

But back to writing. Hemingway had a lot to say on writing, on many subjects. Here are some quotes of his speaking to different aspects of writing well.

1. Writer's Block

"I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it."

Ernest Hemingway 

Hemingway's clear method of avoiding writer's block is to stop writing before it happens. I've tried this technique and found it to be true. Essentially, stop writing for the day when you know what's going to happen next. Then, when you return to your WIP, you can pick up with confidence. Usually writer's block is avoided when you can get started writing. This is a technique that I am especially attempting to use this month as I partake in Camp NaNoWriMo.

2. Knowledge

"If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water."

Ernest Hemingway

I think this is most obvious when a writer tries writing about something that he or she does not know. Often, those are the books so bogged down in unnecessary detail that the reader starts skipping pages. It's important to know where factual information is needed and where it can be skipped. Is that bit of explanation on which paintbrush a character chose and how he mixed the paint really necessary? Or do we just need to know that he chose the red paint?

3. Characters

"When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature."

Ernest Hemingway 

"The hardest thing in the world to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn…" 

-- By-Line: Ernest Hemingway

This must be one of the thing a lot of writers struggle with. How do you create a character that is real, one that has flaws and strengths just like real people? How about one who speaks and thinks realistically? I think it's especially tempting to create "perfect" heroes and heroines in romance novels, but that's not reality.

4. Craft

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

Ernest Hemingway 

"There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges."

Ernest Hemingway 

"For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can."

Ernest Hemingway 

"When I have an idea, I turn down the flame, as if it were a little alcohol stove, as low as it will go. Then it explodes and that is my idea."

Ernest Hemingway 

Ah, Ernest. Wise words from a master of the craft. Or should I say "apprentice?" 

5. Editing

"…After you learn to write your whole object is to convey everything, every sensation, sight, feeling, place and emotion to the reader. To do this you have to work over what you write." -- By-Line: Ernest Hemingway

Editing has to be the single most important thing to good fiction. Certainly no rough draft ever became a masterpiece.

~I.E.