Writing at the Macro Level

A few posts ago I tried to make the point that a story needs to work in the big picture—at the macro level—before tweaking at the micro level will improve the book.

What brought this on was Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, which worked on the level of story despite many instances of what a lot of people point to and make the (not always) whispering accusations of “bad writing.” As I try to progress as a writer, I need to look for what works, and why. Then do the same thing in my own writing.

How can I do this?

First, by remembering that story trumps all. I knew this once; really I did. There might not be any original ideas out there, and following the “no -ly adverbs” rubric isn’t going to turn an idea (that other people have also had) into a kick-butt story (that only I can write).

What makes an idea a kick-butt story? How it’s laid out in the bigger picture. The stories I like the most have seemingly unrelated things come together in amusing ways as the story plays out. Trick me. Tease me. Do that first then I might care whether or not you used saidisms in your dialog tags.

I have written five novels, only one published so far. Each one started off by me writing whatever scene came to mind and seeing where it went, even if I had an idea of the overall picture. But then I do two things once I get to about 20,000 words.

First, I write a draft of the query letter and answer four questions: What does the main character want? What must he do to get it? What gets in his way? What happens if he fails? This will tell me if I’ve got enough of a story to go anywhere with.If I can't answer these, then I don't have a story (yet).

Then, I start an outline. I take all the scenes I have, and plug them into a numbered list in chronological order. Not only does this show me where the holes are, it often gives me an idea of how to fill them.

Great! So now I’ve got a kick-butt story, right? Not so right, and here’s where my abilities to describe the process come to an end. There is no way I can describe how to put in (what I think are) the clever twists I see in other people’s writing. Don’t get me wrong, I can do them, and I think I can do them well. I just can’t say how that process happens in a way that other writers might be able to benefit from. All I can say is know your story, and let your mind wander off the page long enough to let things settle down to where they want to be. Then get writing again.

Once I have a story that works on the macro level, then it’s time to obsess on the micro level “rules.” And not before.