Wordsmith Wednesday–Chapter and Scene Endings

Image via Wikipedia

You’re a writer, so you must be (better be) a reader, first and foremost. How often do you succumb to a late night reading marathon and regret it the next morning when you have to drag your weary bones out of bed and face the day? Chances are, the author of a book that keeps you turning pages into the wee hours of the morning has mastered the art of chapter/scene endings.

I learned a bit about this from my good friend and writing buddy, Judy. She’s written a medical thriller and I write literary fiction. During one of our critique sessions, she told me there was nothing at the end of the chapter that made her want to read on. I had pretty well wrapped up an event without any inducement to the reader to want to know more. I countered that literary fiction is different from genre fiction, but as I thought about it, I had to refute my own argument. True, the conflict might be internal rather than action-oriented, but it’s still critical to leave the scene and/or the protagonist hanging off the proverbial cliff.

You can achieve this in a number of ways, but here are a few that I have found helpful.

• Interrupt the action: avoid allowing a scene to come to a logical conclusion. Set up the narrative so that the reader knows something important is about to happen, but leave her dangling. Here’s an example from “Winter is Past” in which Claire has to make a phone call that she dreads facing:
  

I punched in the numbers and held my hand on my chest as though to slow down my racing heart. Maybe she won’t be home, I hoped. She answered on the second ring.

By leaving the call incomplete, I invited the reader into the next scene. If I had continued through to its conclusion, that would allow her to close the book, turn off the light and go to sleep–maybe never to return.

• Close the scene with a question. I find this works well in literary fiction where, as you know, the protagonist is plowing her way through a series of internal conflicts. Let’s look at another example from “Winter is Past.” Claire’s mother is on the verge of disclosing a family secret:
  

“I’ll do better now, I promise. It’s just that . . .” she fell back into silence. “Oh, never mind. It’s not important right now—we’ll talk another time.”

When? I wondered. And about what?

• Complete the chapter scene with a promise. In this example, one of the characters is withholding information from another:

The dogs nabbed milk bones from the floor as I released control and eased into my husband’s embrace. “What do you have planned?”

“I’ll tell you in the morning. Just get a good night’s rest, okay? Come on, dogs; last call to go outside.”

• Interrupt a scene in the middle of an unresolved emotional climax. Raise the question, What is she going to do about it?

By the time I met Josh downstairs, that dull ache had returned to the back of my head. I faked a smile that made me feel like a clown hidden behind makeup. “Let’s go,” I said, trying to squash the emotions still raging inside.

By way of a writing exercise, browse the work of your favorite authors and just take a glimpse at the chapter endings. What techniques have they used to keep you moving through the book? Now, look at one of your own manuscripts and see if there’s anything you can apply to your work to keep the reader turning the page.

Recommended Reading–Update

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve just updated my recommended reading list and thought I might include it as a post. My hope is that you will comment, suggesting books I’ve overlooked or some of your favorites that you would like to share.

Here is an updated (but not comprehensive list) of books I have found to be enriching and well written:

Literary/Mainstream Fiction: Sue Monk Kidd: The Secret Life of Bees; Barbara Kingsolver: The Poisonwood Bible; John Steinbeck: East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath; Betty Smith: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; J.D. Salinger: Catcher in the Rye; F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby; Lisa Genoa: Still Alice; Isabel Allende: Island Beneath the Sea; Chris Cleave: Little Bee; Lisa See: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan;

Non Fiction and Memoir: Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor: Traveling with Pomegranates; Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Jeanette Walls: The Glass Castle; Bill O’Reilly: A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity; Mitch Albom: Tuesdays with Morrie

Spirituality and Inspirational: The Holy Bible (TNIV); Francis Chan: Forgotten God–Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit; Rabbi David Cooper: God is a Verb; St. John of the Cross: The Dark Night of the Soul; Gerald May: The Dark Night of the Soul

Poets by Author: Mary Oliver, Stanley Kunitz, Rumi, Jane Kenyon, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, Ted Kooser, T.S. Eliot, e.e.cummings, Pablo Neruda, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ranier Maria Rilke, Langston Hughs, Matsuo Basho, Thomas Merton

Books about Writing: Anne Lamont: Bird by Bird; Heather Sellers: Page by Page; The Writer’s Digest Series: Write Great Fiction; Natalie Goldberg: Writing Down the Bones

Revised 3/31/11

Summer Reading Recommendations–Literary Fiction

When I was working full-time, I used to look forward to vacation time to have a chance to catch up on reading. As a career woman, often under a lot of stress, I tended to turn toward lighter reading, primarily mysteries, but I missed the intensity and quality of writing that prevails in literary fiction. With that in mind, I thought I’d share with you some of the best literary fiction that I’ve read in the last year or so.

Island Beneath the Sea, A Novel  Isabel Allende, HarperCollins Publishers. The story of an African-American slave and her journey from Haiti to New Orleans, from slavery to freedom.

Still Alice  Lisa Genova, Simon and Schuster. The first person account of a Harvard professor’s descent into early stage dementia. Hard to believe it’s fictional. Genova first self-published this masterpiece, endorsed by the Alzheimer’s Association.

The Bean Trees, A novel  Barbara Kingsolver,  HarperCollins Publishers. A story of poverty, love and friendship showcasing Kingslover’s delectable prose.

Mariette in Ecstasy  Ron Hansen, HarperCollins Publishers.  A tale of a young postulant’s apparent divine possession and religious ecstasy. Hansen employs some unique literary devices, offering some exquisite description.

The Grapes of Wrath  John Steinbeck, Penquin Publishing. Experience the plight of dust bowl refugees who migrate to California at the height of the depression.

The Sun Also Rises  Ernest Hemmingway, Simon and Schuster. If you read this as a teen like I did, you will want to revisit it–a novel of expatriates and the “Lost Generation.”

None of these recommendations is a light, mindless read but the quality of the prose is guaranteed to impact your own writing experience.

Writing and Zen: “Mariette in Ecstasy” A Book Review

Most every spiritual tradition invites us to cultivate the art of being fully aware in the present moment. So much creative inspiration can be culled by attentiveness to detail.

I’m currently reading “Mariette in Ecstasy” by Ron Hansen–the fictional story of a postulant in a contemplative religious order. The author, a Catholic deacon, has an incredible command of detail. Some of the critiques I read on Amazon.com noted that there seemed to be an ill-defined plot, but in my view, this book is an example of the most brilliant attention to detail and sensory description. It is like reading an epic poem.

If you are looking to experience metaphor at it’s best and experimental fiction that, to me, does seem to go somewhere, I suggest checking it out. The read itself invites exploration of one’s relationship to God in a very Catholic context and is a good example of character-driven literary fiction.

(I purchased this book on my Kindle and was not asked to review it.)