The Fiction Toolkit, Part 8
Shelly Lowenkopf -- April 5, 2007
Another in a series of excerpts from Shelly Lowenkopf's forthcoming book, The Fiction Writer's Tool Kit: Terms, Concepts, and Devices for Building a Better Story. In this installment Shelly examines that oft-heard protest against literary criticism, "But it really happened that way." The truth is that fiction is held to a higher standard than reality!
But it really happened that way -- a protest heard with some frequency from beginning writers when they meet editorial challenge relative to the plausibility of some character they have introduced into a scene or, for that matter, when the challenge extends to the events portrayed during a scene.
It is often the case that writers of fiction model the behavior of their characters and the circumstances in which they behave against some personal experience or observation. Nevertheless. The overwhelming duty of the fiction writer is to convince the reader of the plausibility of the character, the character's behavior, and the circumstances in which the character behaves. In this sense, it is a copout for the writer to insist: "But I know it happened that way. I was there." You get no points, indeed no contracts to publish, by insisting on the way things were.
Thank the source of the observation, then revisit the offending incident. Look for a better way to sell it, remembering the goal is plausibility -- not your ability to describe. It may also be helpful to recall the lies told by youngsters as compared with those told by adults. One way we question the veracity of a young narrator is the wealth of detail provided as a distraction. One way we question the veracity of a politician is by the way said individual invokes the American people, as in, "The American people deserve to know the truth and the truth is, I didn't do anything wrong when I took that two-week vacation package from the lobbyist." Even better is the one that goes, "Yes, I know the $50,000 a year I pay my 10-year-old daughter to keep my desk clean is a lot of money, but I'm such a slob, and she earns every cent of it."
To reduce the matter to editorial terms defined by William of Occam, truth in fiction is a different matter than truth in reality; you get paid for the former and pay for it in the latter.
Shelly Lowenkopf's soon-to-be-published The Fiction Writer's Tool Kit: Terms, Concepts, and Devices for Building a Better Story. is more than a lexicon. It defines a conceptual language for thinking about fiction, providing the writer with the tools to raise the level of craftsmanship of his own work.