Quantum Storytelling

Robert Nagle has posted an excellent piece on the length of novels and the way they are approached. It’s similar to a mini-rant I did back in May.

In my mini-rant I suggested 150 pages as a good length for a novel. I take that back. My new number is 120, the average number of pages in a movie script. The thinking goes; A page per minute of screen time.

While their books aren’t that short, I’ve noticed that both Michael Crichton and Dan Brown often use short chapters. Short meaning, a few pages per chapter. Often those chapters have cliffhangers at the end before switching to a different track as a way to build tension and suspense.

George Lucas once said that a film is 60 two-minute scenes.

I noticed the sci-fi series Firefly does this exact thing. Often somebody gets shot or is in immediate danger and then there’s a cut to what’s happening with another character somewhere else.

Give the reader/viewer a taste of some excitement, then pull away and build up another moment, pull away again. This works perfectly for short chapters.

My current novel stands at 113 standard pages, and will probably be around 120 when I finish it. Granted I still have to edit it, which means I will be cutting some parts out or rewriting. So it’s hard to say where it will stand when I’m finished.

I’ve always hated that many novels require 50-100 pages of reading before you get to the real meat of the story. I’ve sworn to myself not to allow pedantic buffoonery in the first 50 pages. Get to the meat! This has been a driving force throughout the writing of my novel. I hope it shows in being accessible to readers.

I’ve thought about writing mini-novels. I guess you could call them short stories but they don’t follow the quirkiness or parable format of the short story. I’m talking about taking a full blown novel and just cramming all the exciting bits into 20 pages. What would that be like?

I think modern novelists need to start considering these approaches, as I have a hard time finding people who read books these days. Those that do often take their time, or are wary about making an investment when they aren’t sure it’ll pay off.

It’s time for novels to enter the film and video game era.

The closer I get to the end of my book, the more the critic comes out in me, thinking back on everything that is wrong with the story. I think it’ll be fine once I finish and stuff it in a drawer.

I keep coming back to that thing Joss Whedon said in an interview about how you “find the things that make the story really resonate.”

That is why I’ve always wanted to tell stories. I was talking to an old friend the other day and explained to him back when I was actively writing music it was about storytelling then too. When I got into the game industry making levels, I enjoyed level design because of the sense of authorship and creating a world. As a sound designer, I tell a story through sonic textures.

It’s about themes and memes–latching onto the strongest ones and really nourishing them with supporting elements.

It’s also why I became interested in marketing a few years back and started reading a truckload of marketing books. Most people find that stuff boring, but I saw that as a field of expertise it’s not that different from being a storyteller. Right on par with Seth Godin’s book All Marketers Are Liars.

There’s something about storytelling that is at the heart of all our creative mediums. It’s about the ideas, the heart of a story.

So as I approach the end of my story, I’m already looking back at which ideas were strongest, or maybe which ones should be. It’s hard not to begin editing right away, but I have to be patient and wait out the process. Then I’ll be able to go back and re-examine the ideas and make the heart of the story stronger.

Somebody once told me if you dream in a foreign language then you must be getting pretty good at it. Once, a long time ago, I dreamt in Spanish.

Last night I dreamt I was writing–that I went into a furious session and made leaps and bounds in word count.

I woke up around 6AM, which is early for me. And I hammered out my word count. It’s nice for a dream upon waking to become reality.

But oh man. Now I’m dreaming about writing? Sheesh! I will be relieved when this month is over. Only a couple days away now. I’m at 45,000 words. Just five thousand shy of the contest pass/fail condition. Two days left.

The inner critic is starting to snarl and foam a the mouth. There are so many things wrong with my story that I’d love to dive in and correct. This is where I need the most restraint. It will be easier once the contest is over. I can distract myself with books, games, and Xmas through December. But it’s this final dash towards the finish that has The Editor in me lashing out.

“This book sucks!” he screams.

But I’ll have to wait a few weeks to read it and find out where I really stand.