Chris Baty, in his novel writing instruction book, "No Plot? No Problem!" discusses creating a “Magna Carta” of novel writing. A list that can act as a guide during Nanowrimo. While we are outside of Nanowrimo at the moment, I realize that I have never made a Magna Carta for myself.
To start, I went through a list of my favourite novels and looked for themes and commonalities. My shortened list looks like this:
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
- The Saratine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay
- I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
- The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Neverness by David Zindell
- Perfume by Patrick Süskind
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Quarantine by Greg Egan
- On My Way to Paradise by Dave Wolverton
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
- Hyperion by Dan Simmons
And I pull out the following:
- This is largely science-fiction/fantasy list
- There is a theme of children/students and learning
- 3rd person omniscient narration
- Good endings (believable and non-obvious) or large reveals, sometimes, the entire novel is written around the ending
- The writing style is sophisticated without being flowery or over the top
- There is a show, don't tell focus as well as implying without saying things directly
- It feels like the author has through about every detail and developed a complete history/backstory, which gives the novel depth. The author doesn't need to go into all the details however.
- The characters are multi-faceted, three dimensional and have clear and sometimes conflicting motivations. They typically learn something about their place in the universe or make the hero's journey (“Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell)
- Most are one-off novels without sequels or series OR can be read in isolation
- Many have no clear heroes of villains, but merely people on opposite sides
This sounds like a list that anyone would have with any good novel. In a way, all I really want is good story, good writing skills, good characters etc...
I realize that in a way, a list like this could potentially lock me in a box. However, I always keep in mind that some of my favorite novels can break any of the rules at any time and still succeed. It's "whatever works" in my ways and I have to keep that in mind. Still, a reminder of what I like while I'm writing is a good idea and I have it here.
