Blog Archives
10 Ways to Structure Your Novel
There are endless ways to structure a novel; the only limit is your imagination! Below I’ve compiled a list of novel structures that I’ve run across recently. Although I tried to keep point of view separate, the two are often very intertwined. Click on the links for more details on the structure from previous book reviews! Please add your favorite/unique structures in the comments below!
Types of Novel Structures
- Linear, following a single character
The entire book is written in letters!
— Example: Still Alice, Harry Potter, most Stephen King books, and many, many more
- Linear, jumping between multiple characters
— Example: The Story of Forgetting, also, Mary Higgins Clark novels - Major flashbacks
— Example: The Year of Magical Thinking and In Caddis Woods - Letters
— Example: The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Gilead - Journal entries
— Example: Gone Girl and The Prestige - Interview characters
— Example: World War Z - Organize by chunks of time
— Example: Rainy Lake, every chapter covers one summer - Write individual stories that connect under one theme/character/story
— Example: Elegies of the Brokenhearted or A Big Little Life - Major backstory leading up to current time
The Prestige has a fun, twisted structure that works well with the story!
— Example: The Kite Runner
- Include footnotes, poetry, or other unique sections
— Example: Sleight and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (book review coming soon!)
Comment below with more structure types you enjoy!
Looking for a book to read over the long weekend?
Here are a few books I would highly recommend to keep you relaxed and entertained over the long weekend.
My number one recommendation! This collection of fictional short stories about the Iraq War is perfect for whatever amount of time you want to spend reading. Read a few stories (see my favorites on the full book review) or get sucked into the entire collection like I did. Redeployment is my favorite book of 2015 (so far)!
Even if you’re not a reader, you’ve probably heard this title, and the suspense is excellent! I also enjoyed the film adaptation, if you’re looking for more of a screen buzz this weekend!
a big little life by Dean Koontz
A short, beautiful book about life, love, and one extraordinary dog. Dean Koontz shares his personal story through the memoir of this dog. A great book for any dog lover!
Photo taken from goodreads.com
A story that needs to be heard. Alice, a mother and respected Harvard professor, is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. A close-up look at a struggle of love, identity, health, and family, Still Alice is a must-read.
Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen
Lost, broken down, alone? This book is a great read for anyone feeling a little bit down in the dumps. No matter how pointless and cruel life seems, there is always light to be found.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: Book Review
Gone Girl will have you debating one question to the last page, and maybe even longer… who’s the hero and who’s the victim?
Summary
Amy Elliot Dunne disappears on the morning of her 5th wedding anniversary to Nick Dunne. The combination of strange circumstances surrounding her disappearance as well as his odd–almost casual–attitude, Nick becomes the main suspect of the investigation. Learning about Nick and Amy’s history through Amy’s journal entries and never-ending plot twists in the present time.
**There are slight SPOILERS throughout this review, but I will never give away the ending!***
Structure
The novel alternates perspective every chapter between Nick’s and Amy’s first-person point of view. Amy’s entries begin as journal entries, which provide the reader with backstory on the couple as well as a direct connection with Amy, who is missing during the present time of the novel. These journal entries have a lot of personality, flair, and intimate details. As the reader is falling in love with the precious, carefree Amy, more and more nasty secrets are surfacing about Nick in the present time.
First-person narratives typically have a reveal-all standard where the reader knows and sees everything the main character sees. That’s not the case with Gone Girl, where both characters keep secrets hidden even from the reader. Flynn cleverly informs readers that secrets are being kept without revealing what the secrets are, increasing suspense and curiosity to an extreme. One of my favorite lines in the novel is the perfect example of this, occurring about 15 minutes into Nick’s initial conversation with the detectives investigating his wife’s disappearance. He admits to the reader that he is lying but we have no idea what he has lied about. It made me want to immediately reread the section!
“It was my fifth lie to the police. I was just starting.” -Nick Dunne
Another single line in this novel inspired my to write an entire blog post around it! Check it out here: Side Characters are People Too
Characters
My favorite part about Gone Girl was that there were not one but two main characters yet neither of them were likable.
Photo taken from the Huffington Post
Because the novel alternates between Nick’s and Amy’s perspectives, we find ourselves with two main characters competing against one another for our trust. Although Nick’s situation initially makes the reader sympathize with him, we become suspicious as the cops continue to unravel his story. **SPOILER AHEAD** Trying not to give too much away, I will say that the huge plot twist halfway through the novel is perfectly timed and executed. As soon as Flynn has every reader ready to put Nick in handcuffs, a shocking twist reveals he may not be as guilty as the cops believe.
Overall
Be sure to read the novel before watching the movie (even more so than normal). Both are excellent, but watching the movie first will ruin the suspicion and suspense Flynn has so beautifully written. I wonder if I would have awarded this book 5 stars had I read it before watching the movie, but because I cannot reverse time and I knew what was coming the entire read, I will give it 4 stars.
Overall, its an excellent read that even the most casual readers will enjoy!
Side Characters are People Too
Halfway through the novel Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, a single sentence struck me so powerful, I had to flesh out my thoughts about it here. **Slight Spoilers ahead** but they won’t ruin the book/movie for you.
Let me set the scene for you…
The wife of the main character, Nick, has been missing for five days. Foul play is expected but no hard leads have been found. The lead detectives on the case sit Nick down to ask him a few more questions. The “friendly” interrogation starts with the detectives asking Nick if he would like a lawyer. His internal dialogue explains why he denies the request. “I knew from my TV shows, my movies, that only guilty guys lawyered up. Real, grieving, worried, innocent husbands did not.”
Although the detectives do not accuse Nick of anything, all the questions point towards him being the main suspect. His lack of alibi, raising his wife’s life insurance policy, discussing their troubled marriage.
The last two sentences of the chapter are as follows:
“Maybe its time I got a lawyer,” Nick said.
The cops exchanged another look, as if they’d settled a bet.
Why that last sentence struck me…
It probably doesn’t hit you as hard as it hit me, but for the entire day, I couldn’t stop thinking about that sentence. Why? Because…
1. It makes the cops seem like very real people, not just the surface characters we see investigating the case.
Although the cops were by no means “flat” characters, this sentence reveals that they are much more than place holders. It alerts the reader that the cops are having secret conversations behind the scenes as well as withholding information.
2. First person point of view can be very limited and deceiving.
Because the novel is written in first person, the only time we see the cops is when they are talking to Nick. This sentence reminds readers that there is a full investigation going on but we only see a small part of, the part that Nick sees. This scene reveals a lot of information that the cops were previously keeping from Nick (which means the readers didn’t know about it either). There is a whole world of conversations, investigations, and information outside of what our narrator knows/shares.
3. It reminded me that even side characters have a full story.
This fact got me thinking the most. I love characters and I always strive to have real, full characters in my own writing but this sentence was jolting because it revealed a huge flaw in my own writing. Every character, no matter how small their part, has a full story and a round personality. To ignore those stories is to ignore the truth. I don’t want my main characters talking to generic, faceless people. I want them to be surprised by what other characters tell them and they should be. Every person has experienced different things and has a different way of looking at the world and their dialogue/action should reflect their individual self. Knowing the unique aspects of side characters begins by realizing they have their own story to tell.
Writing Prompt: Obviously this girl kneeling has a story, but what about that guy in the background? What’s his story?
Glass Typewriter 