A writer requests help for her character-driven, literary masterpiece and then spends our time together moaning fears of how the use of plot corrupts her literary pursuit. She worries what the professors in her graduate program will say.
Having just finished reading two award-winning literary novels: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery and Run by Ann Patchett in quick succession, I wonder how many literary novels the writer in question has read. She is confused about what plot really is and how useful to any writing endeavor.
In the Elegance of the Hedgehog, not only do the two main characters move from living in their head to their hearts at the arrival of a mysterious stranger, the book finally develops a plot and becomes an actual page-turning story. And, it is precisely then, when the two character’s open their hearts and begin to express actual feelings beyond spite and bitterness and resentment and judgement of others and look inward to the part they themselves play in creating their own misery that the reader in turn begins to emotionally connect to the characters and, finally, care desperately about what happens to them.
The publisher of Run, Jonathan Burnham of HaprerCollins, says of the New York Times bestseller, “The story, although it’s intricately plotted, is really driven by the characters.” (NOTE: isn’t all great fiction???) Yes, we love the characters Ann Patchett breathes life onto the page. But, what makes the book impossible to put down is due to her amazing plotting skills (she is the mistress of plot twists).
When did plot get such a bad name in literary circles? Why the intense fear that creative writing withers and dies within plot and structure?
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I think plot gets a bad rap, in literary circles, because of two things: writers who do not read and who also think that literary writing is an excuse for psychotherapy.
Also there are so few literary writers who are on top of their game today. Most of our top writers, who churn out novels at the rate of a book every 12 -18 mos. are genre writers. Genre writers, for whatever we may think of them, know the aspects that define their category, much of which is heavily dependent on plot, though they do include character.
Yet the literary work, when it is good holds not only intricate and scintillating thought, but carefully woven characters who jump off the page due also to their rich inner life that so heavily influences their actions and dialogue, as well as their psychological and spiritual development.
Unfortunately because the literary writers who are good at what they do, perform their artistry so well–Kiran Desai as one example in "The Inheritance of Loss–novice writers who have not studied genre works think and actually try to make the leap in to writing literary works as an escape from writing plot.
Many would-be literary writers have no idea how much talent and hard work go into crafting an engaging romance. They actually look down on the genre. They approach mystery genre with the same contempt.
Though I write women's literary fiction, I read and study mysteries,and romance novels as a way to learn plot.
Every story or novel holds a mystery, an air of discovery. The more that physical discovery–and it that must be physical to hold human relevance for readers–connects with something internal and intrinsic to the protagonist, the more deeply and clearly plotted the writer must make the narrative line.
In short, when crafting a literary work, the more author must attend to plot.
Thanks again for a reminder of what so many of us want to forget.
Truly there is freedom in clarifying one's plot.
I think the lines between a lot of literary and genre fiction are blurring and I hope your student will read works such as "The Year of Fog" by Michelle Richmond and "American Wife" by Curtis Sittenfeld to see a great blending of accessible literary writing paired with great plots and characterizations. Yes, you can have (and do) it all if you try hard enough.
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