The Novel Idea

From Concept to Story

 

By Mary Rosenblum

 

            You have that great novel concept;  A plane crash that strands passengers in the Amazon, a series of murders in a snowbound resort, a magical gateway that leads to an alternate universe.  It’s a great idea, you can imagine the world, the interesting people who will be part of this…you’ve got just what you need. 

            So where do you go from here?  How do you get from idea to something you can start turning into a novel? While your great idea may grip you, it’s probably too vague yet.  Stifle the urge to sit down and start typing page one, and instead, give some thought as to how you’re going to get from beginning to end.  A general idea of what you want to do will make start much stronger.  Ask yourself a few questions here:  What is the Big Problem?  Whose story is this?  Where do we end up? 

 

What is The Big Problem?

            Every story is driven by conflict.  It may be a subtle and internal conflict in a literary mainstream novel, or a strong external conflict in a murder mystery or thriller, but conflict is the beating heart of your novel.  Most novels contain a variety of conflicts…the central conflict and a variety of subplots that add minor conflicts.  You will almost certainly find more conflicts in your novel as your characters come to life and interact, but before you begin, define the main conflict that will drive the novel from beginning to end. 

            Is it an internal conflict?  It that conflict the young man’s need to escape his father’s oppressive control?  Is it the murder that must be solved?  Is it the character’s need to survive in the alternate world, once he or she has stepped through the portal?  In our plane crash story, the big problem is the passengers’ need to survive until they are rescued or can find their way out of the jungle.  In our snowbound resort story, the residents need to survive the killer who stalks among them.  In our magical gateway story, the character needs to find a way home or find a new life in the world on the other side of the gateway.

 

Whose Story Is It?

            Now that you know the nature of the problem that must be solved during your novel, start thinking about your main character or characters.  Even if you have a number of strong characters, usually you will find that one or two become your main characters. Your readers will identify with them strongly and they will tend to carry the action of your story forward.  Which characters will you use?  While you may have instantly decided who your main character is, still, give some thought to your story and who has the most to gain or lose here.  In the fantasy gateway story, for example, it’s obviously the character who steps through the gateway who has the most at stake here.  But what if three characters step through?  You have Sandy, who is 15, her sister Cara, 12, and their kid brother Sammy, 8.   While you could use all three as point of view characters, you’re probably better off picking one of the trio to engage your readers.  It might be Sandy, who as the oldest, feels responsible for her younger siblings.  Perhaps it’s really Cara’s story.  Perhaps she is the child who sees magic in the real world. Her older sister, more interested in boys and clothes, scoffs at it.  But in the fantasy world, Cara might be the one who is most able to deal with this universe and get her siblings safely home.  In doing so, she may also find that her ability to see magic is not merely something that gets her in trouble, but instead, is something that has immense benefit to her and to others.  She ha the most to gain here.

            In our Amazon story, we’ll have several surviving passengers, of course.  Think about your characters and ask yourself who has the most to gain by leading that group to survival.  Is it the man who thinks of himself as a failure, who has failed at business ventures and doesn’t have a lot of charm and charisma.  He might discover that he has more strengths than he realizes as he keeps the group together and solves problems. 

            In the murder mystery, all the characters are in the same boat.  They are all stranded in the snowbound resort and all stalked by a killer.  Perhaps that Point of View character is a retired detective, or simply a clever man who has helped friends and neighbors solve small mysteries before.  Perhaps it’s a young man who is falling in love with one of the guests.  Not only will he be saving himself by unraveling the mystery, but he’ll be saving his new love.

 

Where Are You Going?

            Finally, ask yourself where the story goes.  No, you don’t have to use that ending.  As your subplots develop and characters bring in new conflicts, your ending may change.  But in general, decide where you think this novel will end up right now.  That gives you a landing point for your dramatic arc and will give you a very rough road map for how you’ll get there from here. 

            Our Amazon adventure may end with a rescue plane spotting our passengers.  Or they may stumble onto a rubber plantation, dirty and injured, but safe now.  Our fantasy travelers may ultimately help an embattled ruler retain her throne and ultimately find their way back to their own universe.  In our snowbound resort, our resourceful sleuth may finally figure out who the murderer must be and trap that person, or reveal his or her identity to an arriving police team. 

            Those endings can always change.  The Amazon  passengers may all die, or perhaps only one will finally emerge from the jungle.  Our fantasy travelers may one or all decide to remain in the alternate universe.   And our snowbound resort may yield only bodies when the police finally dig their way through the drifts.  But having some sort of goal in mind gives you a rough landscape for your dramatic arc, a beginning and an ending, so that you can get a sense for the shape of your story. 

 

Set To Go

            Once you have answered these three questions, you’re ready to start thinking about your novel, about the characters who will carry the story, the events that will interfere with their progress or aid them on their journey.  You have the important parts down.  From here on, you’re fleshing out these very spare bones.  But you have those bones.