{"id":998,"date":"2018-09-26T10:28:22","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T14:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/?p=998"},"modified":"2018-09-26T10:28:22","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T14:28:22","slug":"mutually-assured-destruction-avoidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/26\/mutually-assured-destruction-avoidance\/","title":{"rendered":"Mutually Assured Destruction Avoidance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another pre-post thingy, though this isn\u2019t about craft. Instead, it\u2019s a charming discovery I made in my research for my historical novel on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Some of the fleeing Jews boarded boats for Italy, and when they got there, the city-states in the north wouldn\u2019t let them in. The first place to reject them was Genoa, so I looked up the history of Genoa on Wikipedia, because I wanted to glimpse the harbor and the old buildings and get an idea of what was going on. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Genoa was a mercantile powerhouse, and during this period\u2013you can look it up yourself!\u2013the citizens invented a fabric called blue jean<\/em>, which they marketed far and wide. Who knew? So then I looked jeans<\/em> up in the Oxford English Dictionary and discovered that the word, which means “a twilled cotton fabric,\u201d comes from the name of the city-state\u2013jean<\/em> derives phonetically from Genoa<\/em>. The Chinese may have invented spaghetti, but the Italians can claim denim!<\/p>\n

What application might this have for fiction, specifically fantasy? Well, if we have an object, magical or otherwise, that\u2019s significant for our plot, we can invent a history for it that may contribute to its mystery or its allure.<\/p>\n

Now, a reminder that I\u2019ll be at the Chappaqua Book Festival in, unsurprisingly, Chappaqua, New York, all day this Saturday, along with other kids\u2019 book writers you may admire. Pre-release copies of Ogre Enchanted<\/em> will be on sale there and only there. I would love to see you. Here\u2019s a link to the event:\u00a0http:\/\/www.ccbfestival.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the real release date is October 16th, when I\u2019ll be at Byrd\u2019s Books in Bethel, Connecticut, for a launch talk and signing. Very exciting! Here\u2019s a link:\u00a0http:\/\/byrdsbooks.com\/2018\/08\/15\/gail-carson-levine-launches-ogre-enchanted-at-byrds-books\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On July 26, 2018, Christie V Powell wrote, I am trying to iron out the ending of my WIP, and I keep thinking of Gail\u2019s line from \u201cWriting Magic\u201d\u2013 I just want to drop a bomb on all of them! If it turns out half as perfect as Ella\u2019s ending, I\u2019ll be happy.<\/em><\/p>\n

I guess I\u2019ll make a question out of that: How do you make a finale that wraps up all your different plot lines and minor characters without being too jumbled?<\/em><\/p>\n

Melissa Mead welcomed the question: I\u2019ll second that! Endings are my weak point, especially in novels.<\/em><\/p>\n

Maggie R. responded with, Oh boy. I haven\u2019t gotten to that point yet myself, so I can\u2019t offer much advice. But I\u2019ll try to put down some observations. In Ella Enchanted, Ella has a bunch of different problems, such as a stepfamily who hates her, and a person whom she loves but she can\u2019t marry. All of this is solved by getting to the root of the problems: her curse. So, if you can find the root of all of the different plot lines and resolve that, it should mostly resolve the plot lines. Of course, the extras that don\u2019t fit in with the root problem, those can be fixed real quick before the book is over, like the issue of Ella\u2019s father is resolved in the epilogue. (Not saying that you have to have a epilogue. Just using one as an example.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you, Christie V Powell, for the compliment! And I\u2019m with you and my earlier self that a bomb is tempting. Boom! Everything is taken care of.<\/p>\n

Readers may be a tad annoyed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m with Maggie R. in terms of the main story conflict, that resolving the underlying problem will provide the ending. And an epilogue is handy for mopping up any pesky loose ends.<\/p>\n

An epilogue is mostly telling, so we can run through everything almost like bullet points. If the writing is smooth, the reader won\u2019t mind that the information is being delivered economically. At that point, he\u2019ll be satisfied; the story has delivered everything he hoped for; all that\u2019s left is mild curiosity about the little stuff. He wants to know, but he\u2019s fine with getting unembellished answers.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t think every plot thread has to be sewn up. Leaving some of them dangling feels like life. Whatever happened to my high school friend who was so popular and so dramatic about all her romances? I can entertain myself by wondering if she\u2019s on her sixth spouse or never married or stuck with one for, by now, forty years or more. I loved her confidences, because my life wasn\u2019t half as interesting as hers, about which she was uncurious. Has she found another attentive listener?<\/p>\n

Also, if we leave a few threads hanging, we can return to them in future books. I\u2019ve more than once regretted tying up all my loose ends so neatly. Although readers may cheer when Mandy teaches Lucinda a lesson and the crazy fairy starts curtailing her terrible gifts, I\u2019ve been prevented from using her to create havoc in books that take place in the future of Kyrria\u2013although recently I\u2019ve thought of a possible way to get her back into action. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

If we can think of a way to entwine our minor plot threads with the major one, then several can be resolved together. For example, in The Two Princesses of Bamarre<\/em> one of the threads is that Bamarre is ruled by a fearful, indecisive king. When Addie comes into her own, the reader can stop worrying about the fate of the kingdom, assured that she\u2019ll take charge. Just saying, lists can help us find the connections.<\/p>\n

So we have three strategies:
\n\u2219 an epilogue;
\n\u2219 leaving some subplots unresolved;
\n\u2219 and uniting minor elements with major ones.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider my darling\u00a0Pride and Prejudice<\/em>\u00a0and its final chapter, which functions as an epilogue, and what it leaves unresolved. In the chapter we discover, for instance, that Lady Catherine de Bourgh forgives Darcy and Elizabeth, but not if her daughter ever marries. We don\u2019t find out what happens to Darcy\u2019s sister or Bingley\u2019s unmarried sister. We learn that Elizabeth\u2019s two other younger sisters become more sensible, but not about their marriages or their wealth or poverty, which are very important in Austen\u2019s world. When I looked at the last chapter, I found myself wondering if Lydia and Wickham have children. Austen leaves a lot open for sequels, and, since she didn\u2019t write sequels, for future authors to develop. Hmm…<\/p>\n

Going back to Maggie R.\u2019s advice, sometimes it\u2019s hard to figure out what the root problem is. As I may have mentioned before, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot lately about \u201cRumpelstiltskin,\u201d which is complicated for a short fairy tale. The miller\u2019s daughter is the MC, and the thrust (not the root problem) of the tale is her survival and the safety of her child, but there are important side issues. There\u2019s her father. Why does he claim a magical power for his daughter that she doesn\u2019t have? And what\u2019s up with the king? It seems to be all one to him whether he kills the damsel or marries her, since, once he marries her he stops making her change straw to gold. Why does Rumpelstiltskin want the baby? And, if he wants it, why does he give the miller\u2019s daughter a chance to keep it? The fairy tale ignores all these questions, but if we\u2019re taking the story seriously, we can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list of four quests as possible root problems or goals for the miller\u2019s daughter, but I\u2019m sure there are more:<\/p>\n

\u2219 to stop being exploited by her father, the king, and Rumpelstiltskin, and to\u00a0become independent and powerful enough to solve her own problems;<\/p>\n

\u2219 to wrest herself and the kingdom from the grip of greed, since everyone seems out for what they can get;<\/p>\n

\u2219 to care for other people, like her own baby\u2013and possibly her father, the king, and Rumpelstiltskin;<\/p>\n

\u2219 to end child abduction by gnomes.<\/p>\n

When we pick one of the ones on my list or any others you may come up with, we start to envision an ending\u2013or that\u2019s how I do it. Let\u2019s take the greed one, and let\u2019s imagine that the kingdom is poor. Famines occur regularly. The greed is the result of deprivation. Rumpelstiltskin wants the baby so he can raise her to work in the gold mines, along with other human slaves, because food is so expensive. The king wants the miller\u2019s daughter to make gold so he can buy luxuries from a neighboring kingdom,\u00a0which isn\u2019t afflicted by famine. The miller wants to get rid of his daughter one way or another because she\u2019s just another mouth to feed.<\/p>\n

The miller\u2019s daughter, who is a smart cookie, recognizes the problem and thinks about how she might create abundance. At this point I\u2019d know that my ending will be either her success or final failure. I\u2019d start making lists about how to move into my story. What\u2019s this world like, aside from the famines? What caused the latest one? How might she go about resolving it? What are the attributes that will make the job easier? Harder? My lists will be guided by the ending I\u2019m working toward.<\/p>\n

So the ending is baked into my thoughts from the very earliest stages.<\/p>\n

Here are four prompts:<\/p>\n

\u2219 Pick one of the unresolved threads in P&P<\/em> and write a scene from the sequel.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Pick one of the unresolved threads in P&P<\/em> and go through the process I used above for \u201cRumpelstiltskin.\u201d Describe possible quests. Pick one and envision the inevitable ending. Write lists to move into the story. Write the first scene.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Pick one of the other quests I listed for \u201cRumpelstiltskin.\u201d Go through the process and write the first scene.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Jump ahead in \u201cRumpelstiltskin\u201d or your P&P sequel and write the final scene. Then, if you like, write the rest of the story from the beginning, aiming for the ending (which can change along the way).<\/p>\n

Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another pre-post thingy, though this isn\u2019t about craft. Instead, it\u2019s a charming discovery I made in my research for my historical novel on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Some of the fleeing Jews boarded boats for Italy, and when they got there, the city-states in the north wouldn\u2019t let them in. The first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":999,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}