Craft

Genre in Writing

This post from December 2016, has been re-edited and re-published in April, 2019.

Broad and Narrow Genres

Since the proliferation of Creative Writing courses in universities in the Anglo world, much has been written and said about “genre” in writing.

Creative Writing contrasts with Nonfiction Writing in the broader sense. The former is the sort of writing that novelists, short story writers and poets employ. Nonfiction includes traditional biographical works, academic texts, journalism, and books on a diverse range of subjects, such as food (recipes), self-help and memoir.

Within fiction, there is a breakdown into specific genres: science fiction, romance, historical fiction, mystery, horror, detective stories, action, fantasy and adventure.

Literary Fiction and Commercial Fiction

Literary fiction can be distinguished from commercial fiction, the latter referring to popular “genre” writing that publishers hope to sell to a wide readership. Literary fiction is best defined by contrast with commercial fiction. In the book trade, it is seen as having greater literary merit, focusing on depth of character and a concern with style.

Many writers today are writing for commercial reasons, to be published or self-published in books, eBooks, or online, as quickly as possible. Literary fiction attracts writers who are experimenting with form and interested in lyrical expression and often dark and emotive themes.

The term “creative writing” is more appropriate as an umbrella term for writing that employs fictional devices. This distinguishes it from academic writing, which endeavours to present factual or argumentative texts in an objective framework. Journalistic writing, too, is based on the principal goal of providing factual information to the public, although there will be some overlap with fiction in its use of devices, such as dialogue and narration.

Creative Nonfiction

Non-Fiction includes traditional biographical works, academic texts, journalism, and books on a diverse range of subjects, such as food (recipes), self help and memoir.

Truman Capote’s nonfiction work In Cold Blood (1966 ) is looked on as the forerunner of this genre in modern times. It is also the ultimate true crime novel. Based on painstaking research and interviews, Capote used the story of the cold-blooded killing of a family in rural Kansas, and his investigation of the crime, as the plot for his novel. It is written brilliantly, employing all the techniques of the best fictional writing: strong characterisation, realistic sounding dialogue, vivid imagery, and narrative suspense, without wavering from the facts. Apart, perhaps from the ending, where he improvises a little; endings are often difficult for this type of factually based writing.

One of the first attempts at a creative nonfiction novel in Australia was Poppy by Drusilla Modjeska (Penguin 1990), in which the author recounts her mother’s life. It is well told but lacks the dramatic, page-turning aspect of plot-driven fiction. A past master at this subjective type of writing is Helen Garner, whose The First Stone is now a classic, as well as a cause of ongoing controversy for student discussion in Creative Writing Courses in Australian universities.

Memoir

Modern Memoir has taken on a slightly different aspect within this recent context. It refers to first person narration that focuses on a particular aspect or period of a person’s life. Memoir “sticks to the facts” but employs creative devices, such as narrative drive, strong characterisation, vivid dialogue, and dramatised events.

The best memoirs focus on a universal issue or concern that the author illustrates via personal experience.

It differs from fiction, wherein connections are concealed behind invented characters, settings and names. Many writers are wary of “treading on the toes” of living relatives and friends when they recount true events. It is easier and less constricting to create, rather than to recount the facts.

Lee Gutkind, an American author, is looked on as the Godfather of Creative Nonfiction today. He is the editor of a Creative Non-fiction journal and the author of Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction.

Specific Genres

Of course, with fiction, there is a breakdown of genres within the broad genre: science fiction, romance, historical fiction, mystery, horror, detective stories, action, fantasy and adventure.

Crime, Romance and Fantasy are popular genres in Australia today. Romance, in particular, attracts a large readership, perhaps because it represents hope in a threatening world.

love-eiffel-tower-pigeons

Here is a more exhaustive list of possible genres from Cathy Yardley’s blog: Rock Your Writing.

Action/Adventure — stories including epic journeys, lots of conflict, high stakes, some violence.
Erotica — stories of sexual exploration.
Fantasy — stories usually involving magic, other worlds, mythological/mystical figures.
Horror — stories that invoke fear.
Literary Fiction — stories with a focus on the quality of the prose over the narrative arc.
Mystery — stories that involve solving a crime, usually a murder.
Thriller/Suspense — stories of high tension that can involve either action or mystery.
Romance — stories about love/intimacy.
Sci-fi — stories usually involving technology, aliens, science-related alternative worlds.
Westerns — stories taking place in America’s “Old West,” often with focus on justice.
Women’s fiction — stories about women experiencing emotional growth. Primary emotion: hope.

The Rise of the Monomyth: The Hero’s Journey:

the-hero-with-a-thousand-faces I had attended a seminar on “The Hero’s Journey” and could not see how this theory, first elaborated by the American scholar Joseph Campbell “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” (1949), could be applied in a helpful sense to my writing. George Lucas used it in the “Star Wars” movies and it is very relevant for screen writers in the film industry today in the United States and elsewhere. It is based on the idea of the “monomyth”, that all stories can be conflated into one: the hero’s journey. This starts with the Call to Adventure, continues through Initiation, and ends with the Return. Each of the three stages can be broken up into sub-sections linked to certain archetypes. I feel that this theory can be applied more readily to commercial mass media genres, such as the “Star Wars” screenplays, than to literary writing, at least in terms of plot. However, even here, I could be challenged by those who know. Finally, I can see that the archetypes are invaluable as guides for creating character types in fiction. Just as the debate on genres changes in response to commercial interests, this is true with relevance to movies on the big screen as well.

Are stories all ultimately conflated into the hero’s journey?

April 25, 2019 0 comment

Craft Craft of Writing

Structuring a Short Story

Note: I first published this post on this blog in February, 2013. I have added little to the original for re-scheduling it in April 2019, apart from photos and some minor formatting changes. I have also added Kate Forsythe's more complex pyramid diagram below.

How do you go about writing a short story? You might have a good idea and an interesting character to portray, but you have no idea about how to create a valid structure. It’s a bit like building a house, or a bridge: you want to create a solid foundation, sturdy walls and a ceiling. It’s the same for story writing. But you may decide to focus on the final structure at a later stage of production, rather than at the outset. The basic structure is:

A: a Beginning
B: a Middle and
C: an End.

Aristotle first stated this in 350 BC. Just as you can break the parts of a building down into smaller parts, a narrative structure can also be broken into smaller segments that support and fit into the larger framework.

One way of analysing the structure is to think in terms of a seven-point plan. Why seven? This has esthetic connotations, and possibly spiritual ones, too.

The main part of the Introduction is the hook: a focus that motivates the reader’s interest and involves a character facing a problem. The Middle of the story is the meaty part that contains the plot line or sequence of events. Finally you have the Ending, which involves resolution and/or validation.

I am not suggesting that you, as a writer, must always plan your story ahead of time according to this structure. This is not my intention at all, nor my own way of going about writing a short story. You must be allowed to allow the creative juices to flow from the outset. The 7 point structure may help you merely after “getting it down”, to rearrange and to add parts that have been left out of your narrative.

A: The Hook: 1

The Main Character is portrayed in the Introduction as a personnage of interest. There may be a reference, at least implicitly, to a problem linked to the protagonist, who is often good but flawed or different from the personnage we find at the end of the story. The Setting can be included as part of the Introduction.

B: The Plot: 2

The storyline and sequence of events belongs to the Middle Section, and is the longest part of the book. Here the main character is faced with a problem and a call to action. The first attempt is a reactive one and ends in failure.

Reversals of fortune, Recognitions: 3

Pressure is placed on the protagonist to solve the problem and he makes several attempts to do so.

The Midpoint: 4

The protagonist makes an irreversible decision to take decisive action despite fears and overwhelming obstacles.

Things Worsen: 5

Despite the well-meaning actions of the protagonist, actions may even be the cause of reversals in fortune. At the same time, learning takes place. The character is henceforth prepared and ready for resolution.

C: Extreme Deterioration: 6

At the end comes climax: the character tries to resolve the problem once again and either fails or succeeds in the end. It’s important that the protagonist doesn’t give up, either way. We feel pity and fear for the hero and hope for success.

Resolution: 7

Validation shows that the story is over. The ending validates the promise set up in the beginning. Or it may overturn or reject it.

Addendum:

Keep the basic structure of Introduction, Middle and End in the back of your mind while getting your story down. You may be able to create an esthetic whole straight off. Editing drafts to perfect it may be all that is needed.

If not, rearrange and “flesh out” your story according to the above more complex guidelines. This can be done “after the event”, that is, during the second and successive drafts of the narrative.

Gustav Freytag in 1900 further developed Aristotle’s ideas by his pyramid diagram with its 7 points:

April 12, 2019 0 comment

Craft Craft of Writing Writing

A Grain of Folly

How is Fiction Writing a Form of Folly?

In order to understand the features of fiction, it is helpful to examine the features of an opposite type of writing: the academic essay.

I taught Academic English to overseas students at the University of New South Wales in Sydney for many years. Since retiring, I’ve become more interested in exploring the features of fictional writing. This form of writing has become a sort of passion for me. The expository writing I taught to undergraduates was, basically, the essay.

The academic essay has a fairly rigid structure that can be unpacked and taught, and is on the whole impersonal, and veers towards the abstract. An essay has an introduction, a body and a conclusion, and each paragraph, as well as each body part, follows on logically from the previous one. Within this genre there are explanatory essays, argument essays and comparison essays. Students are encouraged to be controversial, dialectical, rationalistic and argumentative.

cover-of-mystery-and-manners With fiction, the writer needs to develop other skills. According to Flannery O’Conner in Mystery and Manners, the fiction writer needs “a certain grain of stupidity“. Being able to stand back and listen is key to being a fiction writer. “Show don’t tell” is one of the main adages taught to creative writing students. If you can dramatise an event in words, you are half way there. That is, be the opposite of the declarative essayist. Write in scenes, rather than in logical paragraphs. Be concrete, not abstract. In the scene, the writer can capture the nuances of character, passion and conflict basic to good story-telling.

Flannery writes: “I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one. Then they find themselves writing a sketch with an essay woven through it, or an essay with a sketch woven through it, or an editorial with a character in it, or a case history with a moral, or some other mongrel thing.” (Mystery and Manners p.66)

The writer’s job is to recreate the sounds, sights, smells, textures, feelings and tastes of the world through the characters. The narrator should stand back and allow the characters to move the story forward.

“Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” Flannery O’Connor

Do you agree with Flannery O’Connor, or do you think that there can be overlap between opposite forms? Say, between expository writing and narrative? The answer, if you think about it, might be yes, especially for the future.

However, I certainly agree that a little folly serves the fiction writer well. Like childbirth and parenting, we’d surely think twice about taking on the writing life if we weren’t “a little mad”.

February 2, 2015 1 comment

Craft Writing

Alternative Narrative Approaches

Are you a planner or a laisser faire type when it comes to narrative structure? Do you put plot, character or language first?

Aristotle, in Poetics, claimed plot as the main and most important function in creating aesthetic structure. Not much has changed today, although many writers prefer to start off writing without a strict plan in mind.

One successful Australian novelist has a vague idea of what she wants to write about, for example country life in a small village. But rather than planning the structure, she writes in segments and puts them together at a later date; this latter step involves ‘finding’ the storyline, as opposed to having it at the beginning.

One advantage of this approach is that the writer can concentrate on ‘good writing’ as distinct from obsessing about the plot. She can create lively characters and vibrant language before having to worry about the story, which may eventually find itself or sort itself out.

On the other hand, I suppose the advantage of planning beforehand means that you, as the writer, will feel more in control, as you know where you are heading. The narrative might be more coherent and believable for the reader as a result.

Ideally, of course, you’d try to integrate the two approaches. But it seems that writers tend to fall into one or other of the two categories.

Some writers like to experiment with different approaches, especially when writing short stories. For example, you can have an ending in mind and work towards that. Or you can have the beginning and nothing else and start from there. In one group I attended, a classmate tried writing without punctuation, or with minimal punctuation, and managed to create a brilliant story.

One of my best short stories evolved from writing about three colours, as a constraint, which served to take the pressure off the need to tell a good story.

I have discovered that people who like control over their lives tend to adopt a planned approach. Many prefer this approach, especially if they are writing crime or science fiction stories, the preserve of many successful male authors. Women are more likely to be interested in character above all, and will choose to ‘fly by the seat of their pants’ as a first response.

James Patterson, who writes crime stories, is on the side of plotting as a first step. He creates detailed outlines of his stories before putting pen to paper. Kate Grenville prefers to write freely at the start and to search for a plot at a later date.

Fantasy writers and detective story writers will likely employ plotting as the favoured approach, as these genres are more focused on action than on character. Literary approaches would often require an emphasis on characterisation, imagery and stylistic features, which would place them on the laisser faire end of the spectrum.

Another more colloquial term for non-planners is ‘pantsers’, short for writers who ‘go by the seat of their pants’ in creating a short story or a novel.

If you get caught up totally in the ‘Dionysiac’ lust and chaos of ‘pantsering’, (going by the seat of your pants), you might get stuck and never finish, or fail to reach full potential. Then you’ll need to appeal to the ‘Apollonian’ side of your nature, involving the ability to be rational, ordered, and self-disciplined, and turn to structural processes.

However, too much planning may stunt your style, especially if you are a creative and imaginative type.

It is best, if at all possible, to remain with one foot in both camps, like partners in a successful ‘marriage of equality’, in order to produce a brilliant work of art. That is, start off with one approach, but pay homage to the other, at least at some stage or stages of the writing process.

For myself, I like to start off as a ‘pantser’ for the initial draft, or perhaps up until about halfway or three-quarters of the way into the novel. Then I take an opposite tack, and do what the planners do: consider where I am going, draw a timeline and ask questions about structure, narrative arc and beginning and end goals. That is, I consider the ‘big picture’ of the novel and work on making it better, tighter and readable.

First of all, see which side of the fence fits you naturally. Do you prefer to start off by writing in segments, or scenes, and just ‘letting the creative juices flow’. Or do you like to create a plan of your story, and, maybe, a concise plotline, before you actually start writing?

If you start out writing from Chapter One through to The End, as I did for my first novel, this puts you in the non-planner category. At some stage, you will need to consider structure, where you are going, as well as where you are coming from, that is storyline, plot and overarching themes.

At some point you might decide to explore the opposite approach to your favoured one. A marriage of equals is about a certain amount of compromise, and the best creative writing springs from experimenting, in order to find your niche.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments. Shakespeare: Sonnet 116

March 27, 2013 2 comments