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Non plot Family Saga
My “family saga” of 15 novels is about an eccentric strong character who fosters children. He has a large house, and is willing to take large families including Muslims, Mormons, and special needs.
The five part plot scenario is not appropriate.
The only novel I can think of that does not have a “plot” is “Catch 22”.
Nearly two million words in, I do not fancy a major rewrite.
Suggestions, please!
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7 Replies
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Hi Charles
How very interesting. Is this an autobiography? If so, it sounds like you have led a fascinating life, and I cannot be of much help, knowing nothing of autobiographies.
If it is fiction, if you ask a search engine can you have story without structure, it will bring you a lot of answers.
My own personal preference is for a story that has structure, where the characters face challenges and learn something along the way. I have just read an international best-selling novel where the main story question is not answered by the end, but I learnt a lot about a particular culture. Was I satisfied at the end of the story? No, because I didn’t know what happened.
My advice would be – put yourself in the position of your reader. What will they be looking for in each of your books? Do you provide it?
Ideas for 15 books and a million words written is impressive. But – great works are not written, they are rewritten, so some redrafting may be inevitable.
I wish you the very best of luck with them.
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Thanks, Julie.
I have known foster parents. I have known people who have served in Northern Ireland. I have known people with PTSD.
My own family have taken in waifs and strays including a 14 year old gay child, teenage refugees from Eritrea, a battered woman and her teenage children, and a 40 year old mentally handicapped Portuguese woman.
I took on an instant family.
I was an immigration and asylum lawyer in Bradford for 20+ years. I was also a law lecturer.
I was and am politically active on the Left.
Once I had my central character Don Hewson, he and the other characters were so strong that the novels almost wrote themselves. We had Muslims, Mormons, Jews, children of mixed race, special needs, wheelchair bound, a teenage girl who had been assaulted whilst in care… I followed the children through their lives, and now some grandchildren are carving out lives.
The three part or five part plot concepts are great, but are just not relevant.
I will follow your advice on Googling the question.
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Google says you can write without three or five point plot, but it often does not work!
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Hi Charles
Interesting!
I have been giving this a lot of thought. I preface my comments by saying I am no expert, but I hope I have picked up bits and pieces over my time on Jericho.
My first thoughts are these: do your characters learn something / understand something by the end of each novel? (In other words, does someone go on a journey?) Are the events of the story connected by a chain of causality? By which I mean, because action A happens, does it lead to action B happening? (Apologies if you know all this). If these points hold, then you may have some sort of structure without realising.
I must admit, even now, I get confused between plot and structure.
I have now done the maths. Apologies, earlier I credited you with only one million words, when in fact you have nearly two million. 2 mil divided by 15 = 133K per novel (assuming an equal division of words). Unfortunately, I think you may find that is too many.
So – I think you are into editing. There is a lot of good advice on Jericho about editing, and there is the fantastic Debi Alper and her course. In brief, you will have to ask yourself about every scene (not every chapter – every scene!) – does it take the story forward? If it doesn’t, then it has to go. Every scene has to have a purpose, I’m afraid. This is all before you get to line-editing (taking out words).
You have led a fascinating life, and I see how it is inspiring your writing, and why you want to bring it to the reading public. Getting to the end of a draft is hard, so I congratulate you on the nearly 2 million words (I am struggling with my mere 93K!) But for we debutantes, I fear there is no way to avoid the hard yards of editing and rewriting.
Feel free to disregard my comments if they do not strike a chord. I read literary fiction, but I write in a genre model.
I wish you all the best.
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Julie
The children are all growing and learning. As a student, Don worked in the restaurant of a four star hotel, and he teaches all the children to cook. Children under 10 helping to cook earn 10 year old pocket money and a double bed, so all of the children learn to cook before age 10.
This leads to careers as tv chefs on children
s television, and jobs in catering.</p><p>Don also encourages children into music, which leads to opportunities on childrens television.The children all develop in many ways as they grow older.
Don and the social workers learn to appreciate each others qualities.
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Hi Charles
Thank you for the extra information.
Your novels sound like gentle uplit.
I wish you every success with them.
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Hi Charles,
I wonder if it would be helpful to look at other ‘sagas’ and see how they have been done. The Outlander series springs to mind. Possibly Game of Thrones. I haven’t read either (have watched them) but I am presuming there is a story arc to each book and then an overall story across the series.
Also, remember that readers -if your intention is to have readers – only read one book at a time. They may wait months or years between that and the next so I would say each needs to stand alone and feel satisfying.
I hope that’s helpful.
