As a literary agent, Noah Lukeman hears thousands of book pitches a year. Often the stories sound great in concept, but never live up to their potential on the page. Lukeman shows beginning and advanced writers how to implement the fundamentals of successful plot development, such as character building and heightened suspense and conflict. Writers will find it impossible to walk away from this invaluable guide---a veritable fiction-writing workshop---without boundless new ideas.
Noah Lukeman gets it. Noah Lukeman, The Plot Thickens: Eight Ways to Bring Fiction to Life (St. Martin's, 2002)
One would probably pick this book up thinking that it's about plot. And it is, to an extent; Lukeman's belief (which I agree with) is that plot stems naturally from characters, so in actuality this is a book about character development. And that is a good thing. I've read a whole lot of novels over the years, and static characters have always been one of my complaints. Lukeman here attempts to engage budding (and established, perhaps) writers to break out of the static-character mold. Once your characters are living, breathing beings, he posits, your books will come alive on their own.
As with Lukeman's other how-to-write books, The Plot Thickens is structured as exercise and explanation, but it's much, much heavier on the exercise this time around; fully a third of the book is nothing more than Lukeman firing questions at you. And given the length of the book, this should give you an idea of how thoroughly he wants you to know your characters. He comes up with questions I'm not sure anyone's thought to ask the people they know, let alone characters in a novel. And that's Noah Lukeman's strong point: he gets you to think, not just to follow along. I have to say that I liked this one even better than The First Five Pages. If you're an aspiring writer, Noah Lukeman is a goft; use him wisely. ****
Organic novel writing There are many books available that tell you how to write a book according to a formula. This is not one of those books. Rather than providing aspiring writers with a template for writing a formulaic, but average, novel, Noah Lukeman discusses the characteristics of great fiction and instructs his readers on how to use these characteristics to organically create their own "masterpiece". Topics of discussion include: creating realistic, 3-dimensional characters and using them to generate plot ideas; creating compelling story arcs (physical and spiritual journeys for your characters); suspense; conflict; context; and transcendency (the art of writing a "classic" novel that will stay with your reader after he or she has finished reading).
This book is very different from any writing books that I have ever seen and one which I find myself constantly returning to. Although Lukeman preaches against the "master plot" theory (that is that there is a finite number of "classic" plots and all stories can be constructed from this), I actually find that this book complements "20 Master Plots" (another of my favourite writing books) very well. When I am trying to come up with a novel idea, I find that the best situation for me is to have both of these books on the desk in front of me. One book is about writing within a framework, the other is about writing outside the framework and the combined effect is somewhere in between (which is a pretty good place to be, in my opinion). I highly recommend both of these books to all aspiring writers.
A chauvenist's plot tips I'm only on page 24 and I'm put off by the guy's misogynist attitude. "I use 'he' predominantly and 'she' in instances where the facet is particular to a woman." Okay, so I'll just pretend most fictional characters are male...? So then he reverts to "she" when he discusses a character's "grooming" and "body language". Or "Romance: Does the ex-wife want to get back at her former husband?... Is she a prostitute trying to change her ways?" Boy, female characters sure are pathetic. It's subtle, but I can't help feeling he doesn't think highly of women, fictional or otherwise. I do like his idea that character begets plot, so I'll finish the book, but I'm disgusted and skimming it.
Getting into the "inner lives" of characters First of all, I love the quotes at the beginning of every chapter. Specifically, "Begin with an individual and find that you have created a type; begin with a type and you find that you have created--nothing." - F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Though I am fairly new to the type of writing I have been attempting for the past year, as each day passes I can't tell you how true that quote is.
Noah Lukeman really focuses on characterization in a way I have yet to read by anyone else. He focuses on specificity, details, motivation, awareness of enlightening questions, inspiring an intense journey to be taken with characters. He presents questions that most probably don't even consider in their own lives and perhaps should. Getting to know my characters so intimately through his suggestions, helped me create characters that stand out. They each have a specific voice, no matter how large or small the role they play in the work itself. This book absolutely added an extra dimension to my character writing. I'll never part with it!
Satisfing Your Readers' Hungry Soul In writing good, solid fiction, the setting we create is experienced sensually, the action of the plot hangs on logic and connections, continually surprising the reader, and the characters cause us to recognize aspects of ourselves, remind us of people we know, (or don't want to know!), and are memorable.
In The Plot Thickens Lukeman offers up, well, one of those mythical magical bags that are always full of whatever you need - in this case plot deepening, character fattening questions. You know from the start that you will not remember most of the questions, nor use every question for any one character.
It is a book to read, to study, to think about. It is a book to carve out a space on your bookshelf for. It is a book to reread. Each of the questions can help you get closer to your characters: A few of them you will get to know intimately.
Buy Lukeman's The First Five Pages, too, and read it first. Then read The Plot Thickens. Your writing will be inspired. This is Noah Lukeman's genius, inspiring us to work hard to give our readers something precious - food for thought that grows the soul.
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