Oops, said the Conductor.

Is your story headed for a train wreck?

This eFile is an exercise in how a successful novel can (and should) come together based on Jeffrey Schechter”s book, My Story Can Beat Up you Story. (If you are just joining this, start from the beginning. It’s not all that far back). Although Schechter is writing about putting together a screen play in three acts, upon looking closer at what he says I see a great deal of what should go into a novel and its organization. This eFile attempts to show how I am trying to implement his suggestions into a novel underway, A Pirate’s Legacy #6: Order of the Brethren which is building toward the climatic battle scene. 

At this point there are those who would scream "Formula! Formula!" My response? If you have a better way to write a successful story, have at it. Looking at every novel that has made it to the big time, they have incorporated the elements under discussion. That said, the "walls" are wide enough that a writer can experiment, and that is what I have decided to do in this novel -- add a second hero.

As a review from an earlier post, these are some of thing one should consider when creating a hero:

Act 1  Who is your hero?

   1.  Know what the central question is

   2.  Exploration, realization, and amplification of orphan status

  

Act 2a  What is your hero trying to accomplish?

   1.  Begins journey to find clues to answering central question

   2.  Acquires all helpers and material to answer central question

Act 2b  Warrior

   1.  Fights, bloodied, wins, loses, draws

   2.  His death and rebirth and/or death of stakes character(s), or near death.

Act 3  What happens if hero fails?

   1.  Must be willing to die and not reborn to answer central question

   2   By giving up what thought he wanted to be awarded what he needs.

   3.  It's not being successful, but doing what is right and necessary.

   4.  The martyr can be another character, and hero learns from or motivated by this other person.

So, who am I considering?

While happily writing along, I took a lounge break a while back (after a heart attack a year ago and pushing 70, I take naps.) Actually, these are an integral part of writing as it provides time to mentally work various versions of a scene until settling on the best approach. During this session it occurred that another character could be a hero -- the protagonist's son, Jean-Paul (or Curly to his pirate associates). Of course, all the basic needs must be developed and presented.

Schechter points out, all successful heroes are orphans or about to become one even if figuratively. In this instance, Curly’s father is departing on a dangerous mission and leaving him behind. He is fifteen, a young man nearing marriage age. His father was fifteen when he fathered Curly. They have been very close, perhaps too close. The Dolphin has a hard time seeing him as anything other than a child, not quite ready for adulthood. In short, Curly receives no respect for what he is, because he hasn't earned it. His reaction is to childishly swim out and board his father’s ship as it begins to sail away (not exactly stow away – jump ship in reverse?). The Dolphin is persuaded to let him stay so to learn to become a man, but he continues to treat Curly as a boy. The central question for this character is: What must I do for my father and others to recognize me as something other than a child?

The story itself could easily be written with either Francois (the Dolphin) or Curly as the hero and have a good story, but how about experimenting by having two heroes? A story within a story? That doesn't follow a formula. The question then, do I plow ahead as outlined with one hero (the Dolphin), re-write so that Curly becomes the hero, or re-write to experiment?

A writer must be mindful to develop a strong, readable story even if that means throwing out whole chapters. In the final analysis this boils down to the author’s desire to put together a worthwhile story – worthwhile to himself and worthwhile to the reader -- while experimenting and putting a personal, artistic touch to the story line. Unless under contract to a publisher, there isn’t any rush to publish (a serious problem in today's self-publishing business).