I’m writing this post during a brief break. The manuscript for “A Killer Secret” has been edited, and I’ve just finished adding the few scenes my editor suggested were needed to wrap up a couple of plot points. Now I’m giving it one final read before handing it over to my beta readers.
As I near the end of this part of my publishing journey, I can’t help but think about the question I asked myself a lot as I began more than a year ago: must I choose between characters and plot?
I’m sure you’ve all read books that kept you on the edge of your seat, up all night racing from one chapter, one disaster, to the next until you reached the end only to have trouble the next day remembering anything significant beyond the action of the story. This seems to be the formula du jour for thrillers. Write them fast so people can read them fast and move on to the next.
Then there are the books where you identify so deeply with the characters that they seem real, like you’ve known them your entire life. But at the end of the book you can’t really remember what those characters did, there wasn’t much action. I feel this way about a lot of older books. So much time is spent examining the characters’ inner lives that there isn’t time left to set things into motion in an exciting and memorable way.
The classics, and the destined to become classics, strike a balance between well-rounded, realistic characters and action that moves along but not so fast that each new plot point makes you forget the last. For me, these are the best reads. You get to know enough about the characters that you care what happens to them as the action builds with each new chapter.
And, yes, I know that different genres have certain formulas and tropes. But I just think that too many modern books are written to be finished and forgotten. They resemble big budget action films that wow you in the moment but make you wish you hadn’t wasted your money on a ticket as soon as you’re walking out of the theater.
There is a reason movies aren’t as good as the books they’re often born from. They lack the nuance, the character building, the inner emotions a good book can unlock. Maybe that’s why there are so many literary classics when compared to film classics. So why write your book as if it were a movie someone will watch once and forget?
I’m new to this long-form fiction thing, so maybe I’m naïve. I just believe there should be a way to balance character and plot. As I read my book for the fifth time, I hope I’ve pulled it off. I hope my readers don’t feel like they’ve had to make a trade off between the two.
I guess I’ll find out as soon as my beta readers report back. Have I mentioned how exciting and scary it is to finally be at the point where people will be reading my book?
