Thread: Novel covering extended period: how should it be set out for maximum reader interest?

I’m thinking of writing a picaresque-ish type novel covering 50 years in the life of the MC.

If I set it out purely chronologically, it risks being little more than a diary, no matter how well it’s written.

So I’m casting around for ideas regarding other ways to set it out that would assist in maintaining the reader’s interest.

One that’s occurred to me, that might work, is grouping various happenings in the MC’s life together, in their own sections of the story - all the job dismissals, all the brushes with the law, all the affairs, etc, etc.

No doubt there’re other ways of doing this, that haven’t occurred to me. Possibly better ways. That’s where you come in.

A Fraction of the Whole - Steve Toltz - a novel that covers the entire lives of two people, a father and son. It's set in your neck of the woods Ox, and to be fair it's a good 500 pages.

It works chronologically mostly, but the way the reader made it interesting was that he split the parts into different sections, all wrote in different styles. For example, one was third person, another was excerpts from a Diary and another was part of a memoir that the father had started to write when he was getting old. It's an interesting book Ox, when I was reading it you were one of the people I thought would enjoy it - so something to chew on maybe?

Another book I read, 'The Thief of Time' was about a man who had lived over 200 years and the way that the writer managed to keep it interesting was by having a main time line of CURRENTLY and having the events of the present link with the past, allowing him to dedicate whole chapters to certain parts of his long long life which weren't always chronologically accurate.

I don't know if this helps at all Ox, just thought it might offer you some...inspiration.

Good luck with the novel.

Originally Posted by Tom

A Fraction of the Whole - Steve Toltz - a novel that covers the entire lives of two people, a father and son. It's set in your neck of the woods Ox, and to be fair it's a good 500 pages.

It works chronologically mostly, but the way the reader made it interesting was that he split the parts into different sections, all wrote in different styles. For example, one was third person, another was excerpts from a Diary and another was part of a memoir that the father had started to write when he was getting old. It's an interesting book Ox, when I was reading it you were one of the people I thought would enjoy it - so something to chew on maybe?

Nice one, Tom, thanks. I checked my library's website, they have one copy, I've reserved it. It looks as if it might be just what the doctor ordered:

"As he recollects the events that led to his father's demise, Jasper recounts a boyhood of outrageous schemes and shocking discoveries - about his infamous outlaw uncle, Terry, his mysteriously absent European mother, and Martin's constant losing battle to make a lasting mark on the world he so disdains. It's a story that takes them from the Australian bush to the cafes of bohemian Paris, from the Thai jungle to strip clubs, asylums, labyrinths, and criminal lairs, and from the highs of first love to the lows of failed ambition. The result is a wild roller-coaster ride from obscurity to infamy, and the moving, memorable story of a father and son whose spiritual symmetry transcends all their many shortcomings." "A Fraction of the Whole is an uproarious indictment of the modern world and its mores, and the epic debut of the blisteringly funny and talented Steve Toltz."--BOOK JACKET.

Thanks again.

No problem Ox. Tell me what you think when you've finished it, be interesting to compare views.

Ox,

If Tom's suggestion (which sounds good) doesn't work out, consider writing it as a frame story. It's a common structure, would not be strictly chronological, and would enable you to move through, hitting the highlights and consequences/ups and downs.

Sort of like, where the character is at now, and then tells the story of how he got there.

Terry

100 Years of Solitude was (quite obviously) written for an extended time period, and though it covered the history of a town rather than a person, I'm sure some styles Gabriel Garcia Marquez used can be applied to your planned story, Ox.

Originally Posted by TWErvin2

Ox,

If Tom's suggestion (which sounds good) doesn't work out, consider writing it as a frame story. It's a common structure, would not be strictly chronological and enable to move through hitting the highlights and consequences/ups and downs.

Sort of like, where the character is at now, and then tell the story of how he got there.

Terry

Terry,

I like this too. I've had a look already at some examples, courtesy of wiki, and it's an exciting concept. Thanks.

Originally Posted by SoNickSays...

100 Years of Solitude was (quite obviously) written for an extended time period, and though it covered the history of a town rather than a person, I'm sure some styles Gabriel Garcia Marquez used can be applied to your planned story, Ox.

Thanks for the suggestion, Nick. The library have this one too, so I've reserved it.

This is just a variation on Terry's suggestion, but the central thread could be the story of how he dies, with appropriate flashbacks from there. The Snows of Kilamanjero by Hemingway is a relatively short but famous example.

Oh, my. I never thought of him dying. This guy is going to exit stage left with all guns blazing, if I have my way.

My WIP is novel-length and split into several parts. It covers the life of a young woman from the beginning of her studies abroad concerning the Forbidden People, to how events during the study cause a war between her nation and another. The second book covers her quest for alliance with two KinInshi tribes (cannibals and zombie-raisers, respectively) and how she is tricked into leaving her son with a witch. The third and later books will deal with how the war is fought and lost, leading to the destruction of both species (hers and the KinInshi), her fall of character from bright intellectual to bitter survivalist and her struggles to eventually heal.

I've written everything in journal entries. He father steals the first journal (the one detailing exactly how the war started), and she leaves the second with her infant son so that he can read it when he grows up enough to understand it and maybe get a glimpse of her.

I plan to keep the journal format for later parts and have her entries further apart because of conditions (she'll be working too much, away from paper, etc). I know she finds the journal again much later in life after the war and makes a few addendums to it. It's possible that I'll have to supplement her entries with first- or even third-person narratives from her or other characters.

If you're character can't write, first person might be a better option for a diary-like feel without all the funky "did he run out of ink? could he feasibly write this much in a stressful situation? what about et paper--wouldn't it get wet in the jungle?" stuff. Good clean option that leaves a lot of room for you as the author to play around with POVs. A lot of mysteries are first person so you can certainly keep suspense that way.

Journals can get more of an Anne Frank feel--genuine, firmly cementing of the POV, but it's difficult to pull off.

The town and the countryside serve as the broader context for the novel, but Cien Años de Soledad is the story of the Buendia family. The story is held together by Ursula Iguaran in the same way she holds the family together.

If you can read Spanish get the original. If you can't read Spanish, it's worth learning the language to be able to read this and the other works of García Marquez.

Edit - I neglected to mention my initial reason for posting. The first sentence of the novel will grab your attention in a way few others have been able to do.

Originally Posted by garza

The town and the countryside serve as the broader context for the novel, but Cien Años de Soledadis is the story of the Buendia family. The story is held together by Ursula Iguaran in the same way she holds the family together.

If you can read Spanish get the original. If you can't read Spanish, it's worth learning the language to be able to read this and the other works of García Marquez.

Garza,

I'm already chasing down the translated version. If I take on a language I'll never get any writing done. Hasta la vista, señor.

Edit: I'll just have to hope that grab carries over into English.

Ox - It does, and powerfully, beautifully.

It's interesting that as a child I became captivated by William Faulkner and was condemned by my teachers for it. When first I read El Amor en los Tiempos del Cólera and then Cien Años de Soledad I was captivated all over again, caught up in the same sort of feelings I had for Faulkner's work. Lately I have discovered that García Marquez was influenced by Faulkner.

I'm gonna second the suggestion to check out Marquez, cuz homeboy's got a good grip on what you're going for. Salman Rushdie is another favorite of mine who will be telling a story in the present and then is able to work in all of this past stuff about his characters so that in the end you're getting a long span of information. I just finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz which, apart from being fantastic, also does a good job of casting its net from the present deep into the past of the story.

Your idea of grouping things together in categories...I guess it would depend on how you wrote it out, and perhaps there is a way to do this well and pull it off, but it doesn't sit with me because it seems to me that such groupings would be very forced. Because, thing is, one job loss is not the same as another. They can be worlds apart and have a different influence, a different effect on the character's life, and other than being both about job losses, two experiences of this, if grouped together, could feel like grouping together your experience at a yoga meeting with your experience being violently arrested, you know what I'm saying? I think it's best to link experiences based on in what way they were meaningful to a character, like, did they influence her development in the same way?

Um. Hopefully this post has helped you more than it has not helped you.