Always Ask Yourself – A 3 Part Series

By Gayle Bartos-Pool

The writing class I teach might be based on Aristotle’s Sage Words from his classic work, The Poetics, but I do add my own thoughts. The main one is a simple reminder. I hand out a 5 x 5 inch card that reads:

Always Ask Yourself:

Does it Advance the story?

Does it Enhance the story?

Is it Redundant?

The first point is actually something new writers don’t see until it’s pointed out by their editor or their friends or writing group that gets a chance to read an early draft of the story. It might be the result of the writer trying to beef up the number of pages in the book so it looks like a novel and not a short story. Actually, several good short stories can be published in a collection if the writer has a bunch of those shorter works. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve published several myself.

But if the writer wants to turn out a novel, those sections that just take up space don’t help the story. In fact, they slow it down because the reader starts wondering what is the point of the book if it’s full of stuff that doesn’t add anything to the plot except pages.

Whether it’s a mystery, thriller, adventure or romance novel be sure to have each section add something important to the story. Every Murder: She Wrote episode has a part in the beginning where characters are introduced but there is always that one thing that happens or is said or is pointed out in those first ten minutes of the show that points to the killer. Good ol’ Jessica Fletcher doesn’t recognize it then because the murder hasn’t happened, but she sees the light in those last few minutes of the show when she puts all those earlier pieces together. But the clue was there.

So, when you’re writing those scenes in your book make sure the scene is relevant. Maybe it introduces a few characters, one of whom might be the killer in a mystery or the new man in the leading lady’s life. Each subsequent scene or chapter can add a few new details or roadblocks to solving the murder or finding the love of the gal’s life. But a gaggle of gals in a tearoom or a bunch of boys at a neighborhood bar talking about a new dress shop in town or a bargain at the local hardware store might not add anything to the underlying story.

If the ladies talk about a gal in town who seems to frequent a certain divorce lawyer’s office a little too often or the guys mention a neighbor who seems to have come into a little extra money right after a bank robbery, then there’s a reason for the scene. But I have read books where there are scenes that provided nothing to the book at all. Personally, I never make a point of trying to figure out the killer ahead of time in a mystery, but I do like to keep track of the characters so I can make sure the clues were given even if I didn’t figure out “whodunnit” by chapter five. I just like to make sure the plot makes sense and the clues were really there.

I recently read a book by a famous author who writes an equally famous series. Names won’t be mentioned just to be nice, but this particular book had so many characters I needed a scorecard to keep track of them. To top it off, three people had contact with the deceased. One pushed him down a hill and thought they killed him. One actually killed him. One moved the dead body thinking that would protect who he thought did the deed. None of these people knew about the others. I thought yet another person, a woman, had done the deed. She didn’t though she had good reason to bump off the bum. Several others had a motive and might as well have done it since nobody liked the dead guy in the first place. The killer basically got away with it, not that nobody discovered the actual facts, but the killer was mentally challenged and he needed hospital care not a jail cell…

Overall, I was disappointed that the plot was so bloody confusing with way too many suspects and some other stuff packed into the plot that really didn’t add to the story at all. Did they advance the story…No. And they lowered the likability of the main character as well.

In Aristotle’s Poetics he listed the “Five Basic Elements of a Story.” Those Elements are Plot, Character, Dialogue, Setting and the Meaning of the story. I’ve discussed this in previous blog posts. Aristotle wants you to make sure you have some good characters in your story. I added my own requirement to the “character” qualifications. I want there to be at least one character you’d want to invite into your own house. This “famous writer” didn’t have a single character I’d invite over for a beer…Not even the hero.

Others may see the book in an entirely different light and like it. I will still write my books with a bunch of characters that most people would invite into their homes. I want those characters to have values and standards, but with some of the things I see on television I’m afraid a lot of those standards have disappeared. I’ll still craft my heroes with the standards I grew up with. I’ll continue subtly passing them along to readers through my stories because I learned things by reading good books, watching good movies, and a bunch of the old television shows that had those same standards.

As my characters learn things through various encounters at the beginning and the middle of my books they can solve the crime or make it to the destination they are seeking and the readers can enjoy following that journey because I kept advancing the story chapter by chapter because that’s the goal of a writer: Get the reader to the end of the book…and look forward to reading the next one.

So, this is part one of a three part series. See you later for part two. Write On!