Structuring My Novel: Influenced by the Experts

This past week, Sue Bradford Edwards wrote a great post about why writers need to be readers, too. I've been thinking a lot about this lately anyway--actually wondering if what I read ever influences how I write or what I write. What I decided that I learn the most from other authors, and the thing I need the most help with myself, is structure. I find myself marveling at how some authors seem to structure their novels just right--to build suspense, to unveil layers of a character one peel at a time, or even to keep the reader guessing who is actually responsible for some crime or bad behavior in a novel. Even memoirs have different structures: some go in chronological order, while others start with the life-changing event and then explain how or why they got there.

After reading Holly Black's White Cat in her semi-new The Curse Workers series (YA), I realized my WIP, a YA novel, is structured all wrong. Holly's book is so engaging because the reader, and the narrator (Cassel) too, don't figure out until almost the end the truth about the main character's family and secrets. If Holly would have started off with revealing the secret to the reader, even if the main character didn't know, like I do in my YA "curse" book, then White Cat wouldn't have been as engaging or as page-turning. Sure, it would have probably still been good--it's an interesting story, and Holly is a good writer. But we care more about Cassel because of how Holly reveals him to us--readers discover him as he also discovers himself. Now I have to decide if I want to go back to the drawing board and re-write my YA novel once again. Thanks, Holly Black. (smiles)

The book I just read for my newspaper book review column, an adult historical fiction paranormal mystery (can you say that all in one breath?) is structured with a prologue! "WHAT? Someone wrote a prologue and got it published?" you say. YES! And the person is a very successful and well-revered author of both children's and adult fiction. The book I am talking about is The Greatcoat and the author is Helen Dunmore. The Greatcoat is set mostly in 1952 in Great Britain and deals with the effects of World War II on the war-torn country. But the prologue and some of the "paranormal" action is set in World War II--it's a very interesting way to structure a book.

In this case, I'm not sure if the prologue was needed, but I suppose Helen wanted readers to get a little insight into her paranormal figure before he started haunting our main character, who can't figure out what is going on. So back to my WIP--should I start with a prologue? Could I reveal a bit about my main character's family and the curse before I start in present time? It's something to consider from reading Helen's book, which I really enjoyed. Again, she didn't reveal the whole mystery until almost the end of the book--that's pretty common. If writers revealed everything at the beginning, then who would keep reading?

So, back to the drawing board, aka the revision process, for me--thanks to two books I've recently read and really enjoyed. How about you? Has a book influenced you so much that it made you either write something new or change the way you were already writing it? What was it about the book? The structure? The characters? The point of view? Let us know!

Margo Dill, author of middle-grade historical fiction novel Finding My Place, is teaching a children's and YA novel online writing workshop, starting on January 22. The class is for people beginning or in the middle of writing a novel for this age group. There will be critiques by Margo and classmates, discussions, and writing instruction. For more information, check out the WOW! classroom page.