Monday, April 29, 2013

The Fourth Wall


The Fourth Wall

In playwriting and stage performance, there’s a convention called the fourth wall.  Think of the stage as a room with three walls that contain the action.  The fourth wall is the invisible wall between the room and the audience who views the action through that invisible fourth wall.  The characters on the stage are unaware of that fourth wall and that they are observed.

If a character addresses the audience, they are breaking that fourth wall and acknowledging that what the audience sees isn’t real. Shakespeare broke the fourth wall many times at the ends of his comedies to ask for the audience’s applause.  

The fourth wall is often broken in today’s sitcoms and, occasionally, in TV dramas in a playful manner through dialogue directed at the audience but spoken to another character.  On a few rare occasions, I have seen a character actually wink or smirk at the audience/camera breaking the fourth wall for a few moments before the fourth wall comes back.  This is usually done when a show is making fun of itself and its conventions.  CASTLE and a few playful episodes of SUPERNATURAL have used this method during metafiction moments.  (Metafiction: Literary/performance techniques that draw the viewer/reader’s attention to the fact that he is reading/watching.  For more detail, go here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metafiction

Early novelists had a problem with the concept of the fourth wall and the use of narrative and viewpoint to tell the story.  Novels like Richardson’s PAMELA were told in the form of letters to make up for no narrative voice.  Later novels used an omniscient narrator who saw all the action, the character’s thoughts, and dialogue and related it to the reader.  Sometimes, the narrator spoke directly to the reader with such comments as “Do not despair, gentle reader, for soon, Becky shall have her comeuppance.”

Over time, the omniscient narrator has all but disappeared, particularly in genre novels, and the story is now told in the close viewpoint of one or more characters.  

In some stories, the character looks back on the past and reflects on what has happened as they relate what happened.  This method is particularly popular in older style mysteries in the “had I but known” style.  Example: Had I but known that going to that party would destroy my happiness, I wouldn’t have gone, but I did and here’s the disaster that happened.  Writers like Dick Francis, Gothic romance authors, and earlier romantic suspense authors have employed the story retold method to good effect.  

Most novels now have the reader inside the character’s head in the present moment so she’s privy to thoughts and what the character sees and hears, but the narrative element is invisible.  The reader can only see and know what the character does.  

To break that invisible fourth wall has always been considered bad writing because it pulls the reader from the story.  

Recently, however, I’ve read several novels where the author deliberately breaks that fourth wall at some moment in the story by letting the viewpoint character talk directly to the reader.  This only happens once.

Since the writer has, until that moment, written a competent book, I’m assuming this is a deliberate narrative choice.

Is this a good thing?  I don’t think so because it pulls the reader out of the book.

Is it a probable change in narrative technique?  That remains to be seen.  

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Links of Interest


CREATING BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS:



COMPARISONS OF MOST OF THE EREADERS ON THE MARKET:



WRITERS’ GROUP DIRECTORY:



HOW TO MAKE YOUR WORDPRESS SITE SAFE FROM HACKERS:



CONTRACT TERMS, DERIVATIVE WORKS, PART 2:



ADDING HUMOR TO WRITING:



FORMATTING REMEMBERED DIALOGUE:



WEIRD STUFF IN THE REAL WORLD, HOW SHOULD A CHARACTER REACT?



30 THINGS TO TELL A BOOK SNOB:



HOW NOT TO START A NOVEL:



USING THE BEST WORDS TO DESCRIBE SETTING:



USING THE FIVE SENSES TO WRITE:



THE DIGITAL PUBLIC LIBRARY OF AMERICA HAS OPENED:



BOOK CLUB VISITS FOR PROMOTION:



ARE BLOG TOURS A WASTE OF TIME?



STEAMPUNK, AN OVERVIEW:



WHERE TO INSERT CHAPTER BREAKS:



MAKING A THRILLER, PART 2:



USING A REAL SETTING TO MAKE YOUR STORY BELIEVABLE:



FINDING A COMPETENT CRITIQUE PARTNER:



WRITING THE ENDING:


Monday, April 22, 2013

Second Series Book Syndrome


Second book syndrome has several definitions.  One refers to the writing process of the second book after the successful publication of the first book.  The writer fears that they won’t be able to write as good a book as the first.  Or, they fear that the first book was a fluke, and they really don’t know what they are doing.  Some authors become so frozen with fear that they can’t move forward with their writing.  

The other definition refers to the time after the book has been written and published.  The reading audience discovers the writer’s paranoia about his skills were right, and the second book fails to deliver what the first book did.

Margaret Mitchell was so terrified of failure after GONE WITH THE WIND she reportedly decided not to publish another novel.  Robert James Waller who wrote the phenomenally successful bestseller, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, proved to be a one-hint wonder.  All his other books have failed to even remotely achieve the success of this novel.  So, yes, second book syndrome does exist.

I’ve discovered a new kind of second book syndrome in series.  In the last month I’ve read two urban fantasies that were a second in the series, and both failed badly for the very same reason.  Up to sixty pages at the beginning of the book were nothing but clean up between the plot ending of the first book, and the plot beginning of the second book.  

Minor unresolved problems were answered, characters discussed their relationships after such a great change, and lives and careers that had been changed because of the first book were reordered.

I imagine this all was vastly important to the author and some readers, but it was a massive brick wall to a majority of readers.  

A second book should start like any book, the reader should be immediately shoved directly into the book with an important plot goal and engaging characters and should be kept there for the remainder of the book.  

If you think some things should be clarified or expanded, wait until a bit later and have the character explain to a friend why she no longer works for the police, or why she fears her friends may be targeted by her enemy.  

Also, let the reader intuit some changes.  If they read the first book, they can usually guess why things have changed, and if they didn’t read the first book, they won’t care as long as you give enough information to cover the current situation.  

And, remember, this holds true of all the rest of the books in a series.  Successful series writers like JK Rowling or Charlaine Harris never maunder about at the beginning of each Harry Potter or Stookie Stackhouse novel, and neither should you.  


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Links of Interest


SELF-PUB VIDEO TUTORIAL LINKS:



MAKING YOUR COPYRIGHT WORK HARDER FOR YOU, SELLING OTHER RIGHTS:



WHAT IS A DERIVATIVE WORK?



SELLING AUDIO BOOK RIGHTS:



WORDPRESS BLOGS UNDER HACKER ATTACK, CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD!:



SECONDARY CHARACTERS:



KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS:



A SIMPLIFIED GUIDE TO FORENSIC SCIENCE:



WHAT DOWNTON ABBEY CAN TEACH A WRITER ABOUT TENSION:



WHAT TO FOCUS IN ON IN FIGHT SCENES:



FOR NEXT YEAR’S TAXES:



KNOWING WHEN TO END YOUR BOOK:



HOW TO SET UP A PROFESSIONAL TWITTER PROFILE:



WHEN BOOK TITLES GO BAD:



PLOTTING AND PACING:



KEEPING THE MURDERER SECRET UNTIL THE END:



WHEN CHARACTERS AGE IN A SERIES, PARTICULARLY A CHILDREN’S SERIES:



FINDING A GOOD TITLE:



Monday, April 15, 2013

Back Plot


Tell me the plot of "The Hound of the Baskervilles." 

Easy enough, you say. A country doctor comes to Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The local lord has died of heart failure. But there were a giant hound's tracks near his body, and there's this family legend about....

But is that the only plot? 

Not really. Long before old Sir Charles is frightened to death by a hound, there is a man in South America, a distant relative of Sir Charles, who decides he will be the new lord of Baskerville Hall so he changes his name, makes his wife pretend to be his sister, and....

Some mystery writers call this second storyline the back plot. It is the story behind the story. The detective's plot is the discovery of the back plot. Holmes must reconstruct the murderer's back plot through the clues left behind. He must understand what happened before.

This twining together of two plots is the glory of the mystery and the agony of the mystery writer for she must not only have one plot which is logical and interesting. She must also create a second which intersects it backwards in time.

No, that's not crazy. Think about it. A murder occurs, and the detective investigates. He finds clues, and these clues point toward the past of the victim and the murderer. The detective must decipher these clues to discover the who, what, when, where, and why of the murder. He must travel back in time to the murderer and his motives. 

Holmes studies the crime scene, the stories of the butterfly collector, the sounds of the moor, and the ancestor's portrait, as well as other clues, to find that distant Baskerville relative who has designs on the family fortune.

How does a writer create these two plot lines? The answer to that is as diverse as the authors questioned. Some create the back story, pick the relevant clues to pepper the novel with, then set their detective to work.

Other writers are as surprised as their detective at the murder scene and never guess the killer until the last chapter. Somehow the clues, through the miracle of the writer's subconscious and a little judicious rewriting, have pointed to the murderer all along.

Still other writers mix a little of both methods. Cold calculations about clues and the killer's identity are leavened by the spontaneous generosity of the writer's muse. The writer is as surprised as the reader to discover why the killer hums but never sings and how that fits so perfectly into the puzzle.

No one can tell you what method to use to create a perfect blend of detective's plot and back plot. Each writer must discover what works best for her. But the wise writer takes the time after the book is written and before the rewriting to ask herself, "What is the plot? Does it make sense? Is it complete?"

Then the even wiser writer asks the same questions about the back plot. The wisest writer also remembers that in the back plot the killer is the major protagonist, and it here where the true heart of the novel lies.

Now tell me the plot of "The Hound of the Baskervilles."

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Links of Interest


PROMOTION MARKETING MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS:




ADDING INFORMATION WITHOUT DOING AN INFO DUMP:




WRITING SEX SCENES:




CONTRACT TERMS, COPYRIGHT:




FIXING THE WEAK BLACK MOMENT IN THE PLOT:




LEGAL AND EFFECTIVE USE OF PINTEREST:




FIVE TIPS TO GETTING AUTHOR OR REVIEW QUOTES FOR YOUR BOOK:




CREATING A READER FRIENDLY WEBSITE:




FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT A WRITING CAREER:




MAXIMIZING RIGHTS AND LICENSING DEALS FOR SELF-PUBS:




CONTRACT TERMS, DISCOUNTED ROYALTIES:




MARKETS, MAINLY SHORT STORY:




SETTING TONE AND MOOD IN YOUR SCENES:




100 THINGS AN AUTHOR CAN TWITTER ABOUT:




TWITTER AND BOOK LAUNCHES:




WEBSITE TO PROMOTE E-SINGLES:




USING GOOGLE+ TO BUILD YOUR PLATFORM:



APPROACHES TO EDITING:



INTROSPECTION:



WHEN SHOULD YOU GET A CRITIQUE:



ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL FICTION PLATFORM: