The Novel In A Paragraph May 20, 2010

The essential structure and elements of the paragraph are illustrative of the structure of the novel. Each small paragraph repeats its essence. Just as the paragraph is primarily a group of sentences whose single topic is to be wrung dry before it closes (unless the topic requires the fullness of development over several paragraphs) the novel is primarily about one topic that is fully developed over its expanse. Of course, dialogue, a significant device of story telling, requires each bit of speech be contained within its own paragraph.

The novel’s length is inherent in its explication of the topic or plot. Once all is revealed and the plot is complete, so is the novel. Topic and plot are explored through the writer’s linear sense of sentence, sense of paragraph, and sense of story. Each sense is based in a developmental thought process of considering topic ideas and maintaining the integrity of the topic until the idea is adequately conveyed.

As a topic sentence is used to present the idea to be discussed in a paragraph, (usually appearing at the beginning of the paragraph), it can be employed elsewhere to establish variety.  Likewise the novel can begin with the revelation of its main idea or plot point in a prologue or first chapter it can also find its proper placement later in the novel.

Topic development of the sentence, the paragraph and thus its extended use to create a novel is accomplished by the application of detail, example, contrast or comparison as well as cause and effect, used either singularly or in combination. Usually two or more methods are employed as in the examples below [1]. Note how these apply to the formation and development of the paragraph; then consider how they can also inform novel writing.

Details: Giving details makes a topic more vivid and develops at more length what is suggested in the topic: (from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

All was now bustle and hubbub in the late quiet schoolroom. The scholars were hurried through their lessons, without stopping at trifles; those who were nimble skipped over half with impunity, and those who were tardy, had a smart application now and then in the rear, to quicken their speed, or help them over a tall word. Books were flung aside without being put away on the shelves, inkstands were overturned, benches thrown down, and the whole school was turned loose an hour before the usual time, bursting forth like a legion of young imps, yelping and racketing about the green, in joy at their early emancipation.

Examples: Concrete examples are given to illustrate the general suggestion of the topic:

Riverside Park is noted for the beauty and variety of its native trees. Along the river to the south are many excellent specimens of elm, sycamore, cottonwood, and hackberry. To the west, covering several acres, is a grove of tall, beautiful black walnut trees, shading here and there a less stately mulberry. To the north the park abounds in large shapely oaks, some of which thrust out protecting arms above clumps of timid redbuds. Other less prominent specimens scattered throughout the park are ash, box elder, and Osage orange.

Contrast: Through contrast, differences are made to stand out more prominently: (from Washington Irving’s “The County Church”)

As I have brought these families into contrast, I must notice their behavior in church. That of the nobleman’s family was quiet, serious, and attentive. Not that they appeared to have any fervor or devotion, but rather a respect for sacred things, and sacred places, inseparable from good breeding. The others on the contrary, were in a perpetual flutter and whisper; they betrayed a continual consciousness of finery, and the sorry ambition of being the wonders of a rural congregation.

Additionally Walsh explains:

When the development of a topic is the explanation of some process, such as building something, it is best to follow the natural order of the procedure. That is the procedure in developing a topic suggesting the construction of an article would be from the selection of the materials on through the different states of the natural order of construction.

Of particular note, within the above examples of sentence and paragraph development, is the language of, admittedly, a different age; however as exemplars of detail, example, and contrast they soar because of that language. Language or vocabulary, then, is an ardent complement to the development of sentences and paragraphs and by extension the novel.

The tool of language or vocabulary, both of the author’s style and the character’s portrayal, is systemic to the reader’s engagement and enjoyment of what is written. The use of elevated language is what is often praised in classic and critically acclaimed modern literature. Some authors are praised for the beauty of their language, their flourish with the sentence and paragraph; writers such as Shakespeare, Joyce, Steinbeck and Hemmingway come to mind, to name a limited few. To apply these lessons of topic development to the fullness of a novel is the point, and use of language is the engine that drives each example.

In today’s world of novel writing it would seem that the saving of trees is the one preeminent factor in the use of language in story development. The cost of producing a full length novel is predicated on its number of pages, i.e., the cost of paper. To that end editors have the job of excising from a manuscript any length they find redundant, excessive or (more menacingly) unnecessary. Therefore the sop of the ‘plot driven novel’ is action that only advances the plot and short clipped dialogue is reputed to be its holy grail. One proponent author is the celebrated novelist and screenwriter Elmore Leonard. He professes to use dialogue, to drive and advance the plot and has little use for scene-setting or detail. Below is an excerpt chosen at random from his novel Mr. Paradise:[2]

HE SAT AT THE dining room table going through Kelly’s handbag, identical to Chloe’s except it was black.

Michigan Operator License: Kelly Ann Barr, 9-11-1976, F, 5-8, BLU, Type A, no restrictions, sunglasses in the bag, an ATM card, Visa, Saks, Neiman Marcus, Marshall Field’s, the Detroit Zoo, Detroit Public Library, AT&T, Blockbuster, more cards than Chloe carried, but not anywhere near as much cash, eighty dollars in the wallet, loose change in the pocket, keys. No condoms.

He brought Chloe’s operator license from this pocket and laid it on the table next to Kelly’s, both laminated plastic cards.

Here, tonight, both girls had the same mess of semi-spiked hair, and both were blond, right? In real life?

But in the license photos Kelly had light-brown hair that flipped up, and Chloe’s was long and blond. The photos, taken two years ago on according to the license expiration dates, could be of the same girl wearing different wigs.

He studied the photos again side by side. Good shots for drivers license I.D.’s. Or these two couldn’t take a bad picture.

He looked at Kelly.

He looked at Chloe.

He looked at Kelly again and remained staring at her eyes. They looked alike when you weren’t’ looking at them together. But Kelly’s expression was more appealing to him, something familiar in her eyes he didn’t see in Chloe’s and it made him think of the Halloween eyes upstairs, eyes peering out from all that makeup, watching him with a quiet expression… The same eyes he saw when the bathroom door opened, cream covering her face but there were her eyes.

Delsa picked up both plastic cards from the table and went into the living room where an M.E. investigator, Valentino Trabucci, at one time with Homicide, an older guy inn a jacket and wool shirt was taking pictures of the victims.

He said, “What’ve you got, Frank, anything?

“Cause and manner.”

“I think we’re pretty clear on that.”

“Otherwise they’re lying to me, as usual.”

Val Trabucci said, “That busted-in front door is bullshit. I hope you made a note of it.”

“First thing.” Delsa said.

“The one I like is Montez Taylor. If he didn’t do these two he opened the fuckin door.”

“Montez said he was the guy.”

“One guy, alone?”

“That’s all, running out of the house.”

“Take Montez back to 1300 and beat it out of him.”

Delsa handed him Kelly’s operator license.

“Tell me what you think.”

Val looked from the photo to the girl covered in her blood. “This the same girl?”

“Kelly Barr.”

“If you say so.”

Delsa handed him Chloe’s license.

Val made the comparison and said, “I could go either way, Frank.”

This random plucking of text from two pages of this Leonard novel, may not be indicative of his entire oeuvre, but it is illustrative of each of the points that Walsh makes regarding the development of sentence and paragraph as well as the points I contend are prospective of the novel writing process. More over the language, though spare, is heavy with detail, example and contrast. Also note that Leonard excels at narrative detail which feeds his ‘darling’, that of, the dialogue driving the plot.

However contrast the language of Leonard and Irving with the random passage below pulled from Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls:[3]

It was dark now and he looked at the light across the road and shook his arms against his chest to warm them. Now, he thought, he would certainly leave for the camp; but something kept him there beside the tree above the road. It was snowing harder and Anselmo thought: if only we could blow the bridge tonight. On a night like this it would be nothing to take the posts and blow the bridge and it would all be over and done with. On a night like this you could do anything.

Then he stood there against the tree stamping his feet softly and he did not think any more about the bridge. The coming of the dark always made him feel lonely and tonight he felt so lonely that there was hollowness in him as of hunger. In the old days he could help his loneliness in by the saying of prayers and often coming home from hunting he would repeat a great number of the same prayer and it made him feel better. But he had not prayed once since the movement. He missed the prayers but he though it would be unfair and hypocritical to say them and he did not wish to ask any favors or for any different treatment than all the men were receiving.

No, he thought, I am lonely. But so are all the soldiers and the wives of all the soldiers and all those who have lost families or parents. I have no wife, but I am glad that she died before the movement. She would not have understood it. I have no children and I never will have any children. I am lonely in the day when I am not working but when the dark comes it is a time of great loneliness. But one thing I have that no man nor any God can take from me and that is that I have worked well for the Republic. I have worked hard for the good that we will all share later. I have worked my best from the first hour of the movement and I have done nothing that I am ashamed of.

All that I am sorry for is the killing. But surely there will be an opportunity to atone for that because for a sin of that sort that so many bear, certainly some just relief will be devised. I would like to talk with the Inglés about it but, being young, it is possible that he might not understand. He mentioned the killing before. Or was it I that mentioned it? He must have killed much, but he shows no signs of liking it. In those who like it there is always a rottenness.

Though all the writers above use the essential elements of the sentence and paragraph there is an obvious difference in the use of language. Yet even this example of Hemmingway’s writing, which is considered ‘elevated’ does not make use of some of the tools that elevate language such as a well developed simile and metaphor. Usually considered part and parcel of poetry, simile and metaphor can breathe life into a sentence, a paragraph, a bit of dialogue or narrative. What those two tools give the writer is an immediate way to connect the reader to the story. In a specific sense it may give the reader a second path into the text of the author and thus deepen the understanding and meaning for the reader. In a larger sense a metaphor can run in the background as part of the plot or tangential to it. Regardless of what sense you make of the propitious and judicious use of the analogous simile or metaphor it can elevate your prose from everyone else. I encourage writers to acquaint themselves with their use.

I recommend you read these passages again, to instill in your writer’s mind the concepts therein embodied. Second I suggest that you look for the use of simile and metaphor in other writers to see how it allows prose to rise above the ordinary. Use that knowledge to inform your reading of other authors and most importantly to inform the story you, as author, are telling your reader wherein the essential structure and elements of the paragraph and its vocabulary are illustrative of the structure of the novel and its language.

Remember these are examples of use not rules. Rules are inherently pedantic and are there as guides, to be adhered to for various benefits, be it story, editor, or reader. But know that rules are often broken by the rule makers and those endowed by success, the license of their iconoclasm. I offer as an example an excerpt of ten rules given by Elmore Leonard in a 2001 essay, re his tenth rules and its corollary.[4]

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you skip reading in a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character’s head, and the reader either knows what the guy’s thinking or doesn’t care. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. It’s my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. (Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.)

As an exercise, develop your own understanding what simile and metaphor are then read various authors for their use and site at least three examples of each. Then look at your own work to see whether or not ‘elevated’ language can benefit your prose or your story.

In the end your process is your set of operating principles, your rules. Develop a strong root system for your process and let it grow, knowing like a tree it must be able to bend in the editorial wind if it is to survive the storms that surely lie ahead.

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[1] Walsh Plain English Handbook, Revised Edition, McCormick-Mathers Publishing Co. Inc., 1959 page 85.

[2] Mr. Paradise, Elmore Leonard, Harper-Collins Publishers, New York, 2004, pages 79 & 80

[3] For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway ©1940 Scribner, New York, pages 213,214

[4] New York Times Published: Monday, July 16, 2001 WRITERS ON WRITING; Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle By ELMORE LEONARD

rjs:  Essay (The Novel In A Paragraph) presented to UTD Summer Writer’s 7.15.2009, posted to Scriptorium: 12.08.2009