Novel organization style?

Byron said:

I know what I want to write about, I’m just not entirely certain how to organize things. I’m looking to create a novel based on my time in high school. I was looking to organize it by year, with a bunch of chapters in each year. Sort of like a collection of linked short stories. I’m writing this more for myself than anything else, thought I would like the ability to at least make it presentable to publishers.

Any thoughts as to this kind of organization? Could it flow properly this way, or might it end up a tad bit annoying?

Click to expand...

Write it out first and see what it looks like in that particular format? If it doesn't work out, you can always try another style later. I'd assume that there wouldn't be much changes plotwise and you'd have something to build upon if necessary. Just a personal opinion.

Hi, Byron!

I like the idea of organizing something like this chronologically. It's certainly good to show growth of the character. I suggest you go ahead and do that for the first draft, then read it through and see how it works. You may find later that you want to emphasize a certain storyline or theme, and you can always go back and do that. For now, get the stories down. Never know what you might miss by trying to organize it first!

Wow, someone who actually wants to relive their high school experience!

Just kidding.

Maybe like a novel with different parts, with chapters inside? I guess that's what you were saying.

Do you have an overall theme?

Is there an important change in the main character that you could follow from the beginning to the end?

What you're trying to say with your story helps detemine how you say it.

You have used the dreaded "O-" word. Shame on you.

caw

Perhaps you can organize your chapters by themes. It doesn't necessarily have to be chronological. It can be like the shows "Kung Fu" or "Lost". The main character can be going about his day, and then something triggers a memory from high school. Most of that chapter then is about his experiences from that awkward time. It goes without saying that the flashback he experiences is somehow tied to the present.

Mike

I think you're on the right track. Not only does this structure make it easier on you to write, but it's the sort of thing that makes the book different from all the Chapter One type books. You might also think about doing something like a previous poster suggested: perhaps have four sections "Freshman Year", "Junior Year", etc, then have little heading within them: "The Horrors of Gym III", "Faculty Profiles #4" and so on.

One thing you need to be aware of was also previously hinted at. If your stories are really good, hanging them together like this might work out. But you'd be a quantum leap ahead if the whole thing hangs together as a story. It doesn't have to be a "character arc", "coming of age" thing (Jerzy Kosinski's National Book Award-winning "Steps" connects a bunch of stories through a subtle theme, for instance) but it's good to have some sort of plot.

Two books I'd suggest you look at to see how a bunch of tales of school kids can also have an underlying story are "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys " by Chris Fuhrman and Boy's Life by Robert McCammon

I have a book that I'm outlining right now using a similar organization to what you mentioned. It's the story of one person's career and spans sixteen years. Like yours, there isn't a strong central plot, but more a collection of related events, with the real emphasis on how these events change the MC.

The organization method I'm using has a header for each year, then a list of the interesting or important events of that year, then finally a list of chapter titles and individual scenes. This isn't how I normally outline, but it seems to be working for this book.

vincent lam's "bloodletting and other miraculous cures" is a good example of linked short stories... and a good read too.

By the way, I have a sort of "personal history story" just sort of coming up on to a backburner right now. Since my childhood was one of moving around every couple of years, I had already decided to block it out in terms of places rather than years(when you're a vagabond kid you don't need Einstein to tell you about the unity of space and time) and have sections like "Taipei" "Fort Bliss" "Hokkaido" "Baja", etc.

Here's another organizational tip for you. Absolutely free if you send me your email and credit card number which I promise not to even LOOK at. I prepare a sort of "splash page" for every novel or screenplay I start work on. It is basically one big Table, with column headings like "Finale" or "Act 1" or "Tuesday" or whatever. It's like a bulletin board with thumbtacks and cards, but better. Each chapter, scene, section, whatever, that I prepare gets a little tag in a cell on the table: "Finally Nails Sophie", "Arrives Paris" or just "Jimena 4". You just cut and paste to move them around. (I usually use every other row, leaving a blank space to help moves) Then (and here's the part that will leave you breathless with admiration) I make each tag a hyperlink to that scene. So I can scan and rearrange the whole structure in one glance, but instantly pull up any section to work on. Ta daaaaa.
I also fool around when bored, creating cool graphic titles and color schemes, so my splash pages look pretty neat, but that's optional. I also have a sort of masthead on top where I have links to pertinent files, maps, websites, timelines, character charts, the script version of the novel project, etc. for quick reference.

Good luck