Strategies for Writing the Complex Novel
Bestselling author Rhys Bowen shares her top strategies for writing the complex novel, whether it skips through time or POV.
My first books were mystery novels, in many ways the simplest novel to write, in terms of structure if not of content. The plot is simple: A crime is committed, a sleuth is introduced. Through interrogation, observation, and a series of clues he manages to solve the crime, assembling the suspects together in a room to declare, “I have brought you here to name the murderer.”
At least that was how Agatha Christie did it. Modern mystery novels have become more multi-layered in terms of setting and character development, but the main structure is the same.
Having written several mystery series I had ideas that did not fit into my characters’ lives nor into the mystery genre. My first stand alone, In Farleigh Field, was a WWII thriller told from the point of view of several protagonists. Each discovers part of a complex plot to overthrow the British government.
The Tuscan Child and The Venice Sketchbook are parallel stories in two time periods in which one story reveals more of the lives in the other. My upcoming novel, The Castle in the Glen, is the story of a famous writer whose dementia means she can’t finish her final novel. A young writer is hired to finish it for her and during her research in Scotland discovers that the fictional story is, in fact, true, also that the famous writer might somehow be involved in it. This book required not only three time periods but a portion of the famous writer’s novel, written in a style not normally her own.
You can see that I like to give myself challenges!
So what have I learned from these complex novels?
Firstly any novel succeeds or fails on the strength of the main protagonist. If there is more than one protagonist it has to be for a very good reason: In the case of In Farleigh Field, I wanted to show that the veil of secrecy over Bletchley Park and MI5 meant that employees of each had valuable information and could have succeeded more easily if they pooled this, but were not allowed to.
Each protagonist has to be a real, vivid, fully fleshed out character that we are immediately willing to follow and care about. They must be distinct enough that the reader knows, “Ah, now we are back with Ben.” It is important that the reader never stares at the page and wonders where are we now. Who are these people?
If we are setting the story in two or more time periods it is important that each scene is firmly grounded in the setting of time and place. We have to know instantly where we are when we jump from one time period to another. Clever little hints of being in Italy or in London should open every scene. This can be done through physical description or the manner of speech of the characters. Or through focusing us immediately back on the protagonist from that time period. Juliet was woken by the sound of bells…
If we are using two places or time periods we either have large portions of the book in one and then another segment in the second, or we do as I did and constantly jump between the two. This requires a lot of thought. We don’t want to confuse or antagonize the reader. I always use the simple precaution of heading each chapter. “Paris, 1941.” “Venice, the present.”
If we are jumping between time periods each scene has to be there for a reason and further the plot. We find out something we didn’t know in the previous part of the story. "Aha, so that’s why she kept the letter!” Think of it as filling in the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
So how do I write the two parallel stories in two time periods?
I find it simpler to write one story first and then the second and decide how they fit together. After all, I am telling two separate characters' stories. I want to be completely in each protagonist’s head as I write. The easiest way I found to put them together was to lay the chapters from one time period spaced out along the hallway and then decide where to insert the second time period. I’d ask myself “When do we need to find out this? What would happen if we didn’t find out this fact until later?” Then I lay my second lot of chapters in the appropriate slots on the floor. Primitive, I know, but it helps me to see visually how the story should flow.
Some caveats in this sort of complex novel: Don’t jump around too often for no reason. The story has to unfold seamlessly between the time periods, with each chapter building suspense and making us wonder what is happening to those other characters.
Your characters should be distinct and real. If you have two young women as heroines in 1930 and 1960 they need to feel different both visually and in character. Don’t give them names that are too similar. Don’t start their names with the same letter. And ask yourself, “Why do we need to see both of these lives? Could the story not be told more simply from one point of view with maybe revelations from the past?" Both time periods need to have equal value to complete the story.
So I don’t recommend attempting this sort of book until you are comfortable with a straightforward plot and setting. But then it’s fun to experiment!
Check out Rhys Bowen's The Castle in the Glen here:
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