Workshop "Writing a novel". Structure of the work. The history of the creation of the novel “Oblomov Construction of the Novel

abridged version

Do you want to write a novel but still can’t muster the strength? This happens quite often. Writing books is easy; hard to write good books. If it weren't, we'd all be creating bestsellers.

good fiction is not something accidental - it is the result of carefully planned action, the design of the novel. You can do design work both before and after writing your book. I tried to do both and, in the end, I was convinced that before was both faster and of better quality.

How to design work of art? In my main job, I am involved in the architecture of complex software projects. And I write books in the same way as programs - using the snowflake method. What it is? Before we go any further, take a look at this drawing. The pattern of a snowflake is one of the most important mathematical objects, which has been studied by many scientists.

Here we see turn-based strategy creating snowflakes. At first she doesn’t look much like herself, but gradually everything falls into place.

You can write novels using the same principles - start small, and then add more and more details until you have a full-fledged story. Part of design work in literature is creativity, and part of it is managing your own creativity: turning disparate material into a well-structured novel. This is exactly what I want to teach you.

Most writers spend a lot of time thinking about a novel. Perhaps you are doing some research. You calculate how the story will develop. You are brainstorming. You hear the voices of various characters. This is the most important part of creating a book, what I call “throwing in the information.” I'm assuming you know how to do it: you've already got an idea for a book in your head, and now you're ready to sit down and start writing.

But before you get started, you should do organizational issues. You need to write down all the ideas on paper in a form that you can use later. For what? Because our memories are unreliable, and because your story (like any other story at the same stage) has many holes that need to be patched before you can begin to work. You need to create an outline for your novel, and in a way that doesn't discourage you from writing. Below is step by step diagram, which I use to create design documents for my books, and which I hope will help you.

Step one

Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Something like this: “An evil physicist travels back in time to kill the Apostle Paul” (annotation for my first novel, Sin). This is your novel close-up, analogous to the large triangle in the snowflake diagram. When you pitch your book to publishers, the abstract sentence should appear at the very beginning of the work. It is also called a hook, which allows you to sell the novel to the publisher, distributors, stores and readers. So try to make it sound as good as possible.

Some tips on how to do this:

*The shorter the better. The sentence should not exceed 15 words.

*No names! Better to say Disabled Acrobat than Jane Doe.

* Connect the overall concept of the work with the characters. Which of the characters suffered the most as the story progressed? Now indicate what he wants to receive as a reward.

* Read summaries of books on the New York Times bestseller list to understand how it's done. The ability to describe a book in one sentence is an art and worth mastering.

Step two

Take another hour and expand the sentence into a paragraph describing the plot, conflict, and resolution of the novel. As a result, you will get an analogue of the second stage in the snowflake circuit. Personally, I like stories that have three conflicts plus an ending. The development of each of the conflicts takes up a quarter of the book, and another quarter is spent at the end. You can also use this paragraph in your proposal for publication. Ideally, it should consist of five sentences. One sentence for the beginning, one for each of the conflicts, and one more for the end.

Step three

All of the above will give you general form stories. Now you need to write something similar for each of the heroes. Characters are the most important part of any novel, so the time you invest in creating them will pay off tenfold when you start working on the book. Spend an hour on each of the main characters and write a short one-page essay: - Name of the hero.

— A sentence that describes the story of his life.

— The hero’s motivation (what does he want to achieve ideally?)

— The hero’s goal (what does he want to achieve specifically?)

— Conflict (what prevents him from achieving his goal?)

— Epiphany (what does he learn, how does he change as a result of the events that happened?)

— A paragraph that describes the events in which the hero takes part.

Important note: You may need to go back and rewrite the annotations after this. This good sign- your heroes teach you something useful for your story. At each stage of writing a novel, you can go back and reshape what you did earlier. This is a very useful thing: it is better to correct all the shortcomings now rather than when you have already written a 400-page manuscript.

Step four

At this stage, you should have it in your head full picture your novel - and it will only take you a day or two. Now we need to write the story. Spend a few hours and turn each annotated sentence into its own paragraph. All of them, except the last one, must end with a conflict (the last one - the ending of the work). As a result, you will receive a synopsis of the novel, which can then also be used to send to the publishing house.

Step five

Spend a day or two writing a one-page description of each main character. Half a page will take minor characters. These character synopses should tell your story from each character's point of view. If necessary, go back and make changes as needed. This stage gives me the most pleasure, and later I insert character synopses into the main synopsis. Editors like this because they always like character-based fiction.

Step six

Now you have a solid story and several stories based on it, one for each character. Take a week and expand your one-page synopsis to a four-page synopsis. Essentially, you need to stretch each paragraph from Step Four to a full page. Along the way, you discover the internal logic of the work and make strategic decisions.

Step seven

Turn the description of the characters into a detailed story about each of them, indicating all the essential details: date of birth, appearance, life history, motivation, goals, etc. And most importantly, how will the hero be transformed by the end of the novel? As a result, your characters will turn into real people and sometimes they will make their claims about the development of the plot.

Step eight

Before you start working on your manuscript, there are a couple of things you can do to help you along the way. First, you need to take a four-page synopsis and make a list of all the scenes that will need to be written. The most convenient way to do this is in Excel. For some reason, many writers do not want to deal with unfamiliar programs. Deal with it. You've already mastered how to type in Word. Excel is even simpler. You need to create a list of scenes, and this program is designed to make lists. If you lack knowledge, buy a book and learn. Spend less than a day - it's worth it.

Each scene should have one line in the table. In the first column, list the characters on whose behalf the story is told, or through whose eyes you look at what is happening in the novel. In another, broader column, write down what happens in this scene. If desired, in the third column you can indicate how many pages you plan to stretch this scene, and in the fourth the numbering of chapters. An Excel spreadsheet is the perfect tool for this because you can see the entire story and can easily move scenes from place to place.

I usually end up with about 100-plus lines and it takes about a week to compose them.

Step nine

Step nine is optional. Go back to Word and write out each scene listed in the table into several paragraphs. Sketch out approximate dialogues and sketches of problems to be solved. If there is no problem in the scene, then you need to create it or cut the entire scene. I usually had one or two pages per chapter and I started each of the chapters on new page. Then I would print out the text and put it in a binder so that I could swap chapters around or completely rewrite them without messing up the rest. This process usually took me a week. The end result was a 50-page document, which I then corrected with a red pen as I wrote the draft. I wrote down all the ideas that came to my mind in the morning in the margins of this document. This, by the way, is a relatively painless way to write a long-form synopsis, which all writers hate so much.

Step ten

At this point, sit down and start drafting. You'll be surprised how quickly you can write. I've seen authors triple the speed at which they write a novel this way, while still making their drafts look like they've already been pre-edited. I've heard writers complain more than once about the difficulty of writing a first draft. All of them, without exception, sit and think: I don’t know what to write about next! Life is too short to write like this! There's no reason to spend 500 hours working on the first draft if you can do it in 150 hours.

That's all, actually. The snowflake method helps me and some of my friends who also decided to try it. I hope you find it useful.

Acknowledgments: I thank my friends at Chi Libris and especially Janelle Schneider for discussing the snowflake method and everything else.

“However,” Koroviev continued to chatter, “I knew people who had no idea not only about the fifth dimension, but who had no idea about anything at all and yet performed the most perfect miracles...”

M.A. Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita"

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is an artist who left a rich literary legacy in almost all genres: he began with a feuilleton, a story, an essay, created a series of original plays and dramatizations that were an audience success, wrote stories, librettos, deep and brilliant novels - “ White Guard”, “The Life of Monsieur de Molière”, “Notes of a Dead Man” and “The Master and Margarita” - the pinnacle of his creativity. This last work of the writer, his “sunset novel,” completes a significant theme for Bulgakov - the artist and power, this is a novel of difficult and sad thoughts about life, where philosophy and science fiction, mysticism are combined and soulful lyrics, gentle humor and apt deep satire.

The history of the creation and publications of this very famous novel Mikhail Bulgakov, one of the most outstanding works in modern Russian and world literature, is complex and dramatic. This final work, as it were, summarizes the writer’s ideas about the meaning of life, about man, about his mortality and immortality, about the struggle between good and evil principles in history and in the moral world of man. What has been said helps to understand own assessment

Bulgakov of his brainchild. “When he was dying, he said,” recalled his widow, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova: “Maybe this is right... What could I write after the Master?..”

How the novel “The Master and Margarita” was created (11 photos) Creative history “The Master and Margarita” in the most general outline boils down to the following. Bulgakov attributed the idea of ​​the novel and the beginning of work on it to 1928, but according to other sources it is obvious that the idea of ​​writing a book about the adventures of the devil in Moscow arose several years earlier.

at the beginning-middle

1920s. The first chapters were written in the spring of 1929. On May 8 of this year, Bulgakov submitted to the Nedra publishing house for publication in the almanac of the same name a fragment of the future novel - its separate independent chapter, called “Mania Furibunda,” which translated from Latin means “violent insanity, mania of rage.” This chapter, from which only fragments not destroyed by the author have reached us, in content approximately corresponded to the fifth chapter of the printed text “It was in Griboedov.” In 1929, the main parts of the text of the first edition of the novel were created (and possibly a plot-completed draft version of it about the appearance and tricks of the devil in Moscow). M. Bulgakov wrote a novel, which he read in a certain society, where they told him that they would not let him in in this form, since he was extremely harsh with attacks, then he remade it and is thinking of publishing it, but in the original editors to release it as a manuscript into society and at the same time with publication” with unprinted in the collection “Nedr” with a different version of the ending. In this first edition of the novel there were at least 15 chapters, of which 10 had titles, took up about 160 pages of handwritten text in a thick school-sized notebook (this is exactly how the handwritten editions of the novel were preserved).
In the first edition, the author went through several options for the titles of his work: “The Black Magician”, “The Engineer’s Hoof”, “Woland’s Tour”, “Son of Perdition”, “Juggler with a Hoof”, but did not settle on any.

This first edition of the novel was destroyed by Bulgakov on March 18, 1930, after receiving news of the ban on the play

We are making excellent progress and are gradually approaching the final of the workshop. Whatever we talked about! And about the construction of the work, and about the dynamics of the text, and even about how to find your audience. If at the beginning of the workshop (or at some stage of the workshop) you started working on a major thing, you are doing well. And if you came here with the thought “this workshop will help me start working on a large form,” but you still haven’t done anything, and you keep collecting tasks in a piggy bank and putting things off on the back burner, alas, alas. It won't be long before you start your novel. If you start at all. However, it’s everyone’s choice. I can say from myself: participation in the workshop is very important. “I’ll collect it and then use it” - this is not here. And this is not about writing at all.

So, we are gradually approaching the finale. Actually... we are already at the finish line! We have two materials left, today’s and the next, which will be devoted to types of drafts and editing. Now do you understand why I often ask “are you doing your assignments”? Because the workshop is coming to an end. A workshop is an event where one does not read, but primarily practices. But I sincerely believe that you have begun work on your novel. Perhaps not from the first task or even from the second, but we started. And this gives you a huge advantage over those who came just to read.

Structure of the work: divide the text and not die

I am one of those writers who say that the most boring thing in literature is stereotypes. No, not stamps, but what they call a beautiful word"ideal". When I hear “an ideal chapter should have twenty thousand characters,” my eye twitches. No, not because it's too big or too small a chapter. But because such an “ideal” fetters us hand and foot. What if, like me, you have a verbose style and your chapters are in the region of twenty-five thousand? But what should you do if, like Anya, your chapters rarely exceed ten thousand? No, no and NO. No ideals. Let's leave this to others - and let them sit for themselves, checking the number of characters in semantic pieces.

I can't say that there are no rules when it comes to planning the structure of a novel. They are. More precisely, it is one rule. And it lies in this: structure ALWAYS serves the plot. Not the other way around. Your chapters begin and end in certain places and at certain events because the plot requires it, and not because the slider on an invisible ruler has reached the “ideal”. But... let's take it in order.

Let's define the concepts

You and I are already adults and serious writers, we are writing a major work as part of the workshop, and, therefore, we have something in common with the writers’ community. God forbid you from actually falling into it, but there is a fact that cannot be ignored. The world of literature has its own language, and in order to feel at home among fellow writers, we need to study it.

Standard Word Document View

I believe that almost everyone uses this particular editor, and therefore I will talk about it. What is a standard Word document? This is a Times New Roman font, size 12, with line spacing of 1, 15 lines and standard (the program provides them itself) margins. It is generally accepted that this type is the most convenient for both reading and typing. I use wider margins, indent 1.5 lines, add spacing before and after the paragraph, and indent the red line 1.25 because I like “air” in the document, but to each his own. Now you won’t be confused when you hear “standard type document.”

“How much is half a page of text?”

Adult and serious writers consider what is written not in meaningful pieces, but in words or signs. Word has a Statistics tab that allows us to determine this.

Number of words. This method is popular in the English-speaking environment due to the peculiarities of the language, but it is beginning to come into fashion here too. Today, many writers consider what is written in words. But personally I prefer ordinary life count signs. Again, due to the fact that in the Russian language, due to its peculiarities, it is not very convenient to count words.

Number of signs. The most popular way to measure the amount of writing. If we're talking about about non-fiction, then they count characters without spaces. If we are talking about artistic prose, then characters with spaces are counted (with very rare exceptions). The author's sheet (a.l., or alka, if we turn to writer's jargon) is 40,000 characters with spaces. Author sheets measure the size of a manuscript. Let's say a novel of 800,000 characters is, let's divide 800,000 by 40,000, 20 author's pages. This is a good fantasy novel of a traditional size, neither small nor large.

Chapters

Before we start talking about chapters, let's turn to our favorite (and not so favorite) works and remember what these same chapters look like there. We will notice that their size varies from book to book and from genre to genre. Moreover: there are works where the chapters do not have a fixed size at all.

What do they have in common? Semantic completeness, logical completeness of this or that piece of text. Why does the author use different chapter lengths?

To create tension

Stephen King is a great master at this. In his works there are sometimes very short chapters, less than one page, clearly defined pieces of text that do not carry any special meaning, but add tension to the narrative. Chapters can also consist of one sentence spoken by another character (or an impersonal narrator), a kind of insertion between the main chapters.

Change of pace of the story

Sometimes authors intersperse long “canvas” chapters with short chapters, alternating between leisurely narrative descriptions and “fast”, spectacular scenes that move the plot. This can be found in detective stories and mystical novels; these are genres where a change of pace is in itself artistic medium.

What to do if, in your opinion, a chapter turns out to be “too big”, and breaking it into smaller ones is not appropriate? Put magic sign"***". I call this "camera switching" because it gives the piece a cinematic feel that I really like.

Attention: reader loves the little bits separated by three stars!

Parts

In the case of parts, everything is not nearly as obvious as with chapters. If only because each writer understands something different by the word “part”. Here's a definition you can rely on at the very beginning, when you still have little idea of ​​what you want from your manuscript. A part is a large semantic piece, separated from other pieces by a clear boundary: for example, time or plot. A time limit is “so much time has passed (a month, three months, a year, two hundred years). A story boundary is a switch to another storyline or something somehow related to this switch: for example, the introduction of a new character or the introduction of a new storyline.

Are parts in a work really necessary?.. To be honest, you can do without them. Especially if your item does not extend over time. For example, my novel The Night She Died has two timelines, past and present. I introduce lines chapter by chapter, alternating past and present, but I did without parts, because the story in this case is a single canvas and does not need to be broken up. In the “Advisor” duology, I did something different. The chapters there in the vast majority of cases are parts - there are temporary breaks in the narrative. And the parts were introduced in order to focus attention on the stages of the hero’s development, on events important to him. Here are two examples where parts and chapters are used as an artistic device, and not because it is “necessary.”

Interludes

A thing that, in an amicable way, should be classified as a chapter, but at the same time it’s not worth it, because it’s not the same thing. An interlude is something like an inclusion in the text of the main manuscript. Not a full chapter, but rather an appendage. It is also a wonderful artistic medium. This is what interludes can be like.

Poetic

In “The Saga of Prince Grivald” they are exactly like this. As interludes, I used the characters’ poems - their thoughts, as it were, between the lines, in poetic form. IN in this case poetry complemented prose, revealed it and gave it new shades, making it sound different.

Insertions of an impersonal narrator

We remember, the impersonal narrator is all-seeing eye, which knows everything. With the help of such interludes, you can give short explanations and detail some points hidden from the rest of the characters. But it would be better to use not an impersonal narrator, but...

Insertions from other characters' perspectives

The difference between an interlude from the perspective of other characters and a change of narrator (change of point of view) is that in an interlude we introduce the character one time (or many times, but in any case he is not included in the number of narrators). By the way, this is not necessarily an existing living character. Such an interlude could just as easily be written “from the point of view” of an animal or a chair, such things.

Dreams and flashbacks

Let us not forget them, our dear, glorious and beloved ones. Most often, what stands out in an interlude is not dreams or even flashbacks, but memories. Sometimes, based on them, a whole line about the character’s past is built, albeit a small one. But in the case of dreams and flashbacks as interludes, there is something very important to consider. The passage must be independent and complete in terms of meaning. Yes, of course, this is not a chapter, but it is not part of a chapter either. Remember this!

Practice time

We divide our novel into chapters and parts, friends. Where do you plan to use long chapters and where do you plan to use short ones? Do you like the idea of ​​interludes?

I wish you good luck with your assignments - and see you next Friday in latest material workshop “Writing a novel”!

"All happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” begins with this phrase famous work Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy "Anna Karenina". Today this novel occupies a prominent place in the golden fund of world literature, but its creation was not at all easy for the author. He planned to write the book in just two weeks, but it ended up taking four years. In his hearts, the writer exclaimed: “I’m tired of my Anna like a bitter radish!”

According to literary scholars, the idea of ​​​​creating the novel “Anna Karenina” was born to Tolstoy after reading one of the works of A. S. Pushkin. When the phrase “The guests were going to the dacha...” flashed before Lev Nikolayevich’s eyes, his imagination immediately began to draw the plot. As the writer himself noted: “I involuntarily, accidentally, without knowing why or what would happen, I conceived of people and events, began to continue, then, of course, I changed it, and suddenly it began so beautifully and coolly that a novel came out, which I have now finished in draft, the novel is very lively, hot and finished, with which I am very pleased and which will be ready, God willing, in two weeks.”

However, Tolstoy was unable to write Anna Karenina so quickly. From a family affair, the novel grew into a socio-psychological one. Tolstoy began work in 1873. When several chapters of the work were ready, the writer took them to the Russian Messenger publication. Now he had to write a continuation of the novel before the release of each issue.

Contemporaries recalled how difficult it was for Tolstoy. Often he set to work with inspiration, and it also happened that the writer shouted: “My Anna bores me like a bitter radish,” “Unbearably disgusting,” “My God, if only someone would finish Anna Karenina for me!” Only four years later the novel was ready.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but the editor of the Russian Messenger, Mikhail Katkov, did not like the epilogue, and he did not allow it to be published. Instead of an epilogue, a note appeared in the journal:

“In the previous book, under the novel “Anna Karenina,” “The ending follows.” But with the death of the heroine, the novel actually ended. According to the author’s plan, there would have been a short two-page epilogue, from which readers could learn that Vronsky, in confusion and grief after Anna’s death, goes as a volunteer to Serbia and that everyone else is alive and well, while Levin remains in his village and is angry at the Slavs. committees and volunteers. The author, perhaps, will develop these chapters for a special edition of his novel.”

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was more than once reproached for the fact that death main character turned out to be too cruel. The writer responded to this quite wisely:
“One day Pushkin said to his friend: “Imagine what kind of thing my Tatyana did. She got married. I didn’t expect this from her.” I can say the same about Anna. My heroes do what they have to do real life, not what I want."

Literary scholars are still guessing about who became the prototype for the main character. Describing the appearance of Anna Karenina, Tolstoy imagined the daughter of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin: “Her hairstyle was invisible. Only noticeable, decorating her, were these willful short rings of curly hair, always sticking out at the back of her head and temples. There was a string of pearls on the chiseled strong neck.”

Tolstoy was aware of the family drama of his close friends, in which his wife filed for divorce and remarried. This was an unheard of resonance at that time.

About a year before work on the novel began, not far from Yasnaya Polyana A certain Anna Stepanovna Pirogova threw herself under the train, abandoned by her lover. The mutilated corpse made a strong impression on Tolstoy.

Tolstoy, you proved with patience and talent,
That a woman should not "walk"
Neither with the chamber cadet, nor with the aide-de-camp,
When she is a wife and mother."

“Anna Karenina” is considered the most filmed work of Russian literature. A

A novel is not just a collection of 33 letters and a handful of punctuation marks. Its purpose is to make the reader plunge into the world created by the author, to feel things, places and worlds that he did not know about. To ignite in the reader a thirst to know what will happen next, to make him turn the page and discover that reading the novel not only brought pleasure, but made him change a little and discovered something new for him.

The most popular genres of literature

How to start writing? Before sitting down to write a novel, the author must determine: who does he want to write for? Who will be his readers? What interests them and what do they read most today? Numerous surveys have shown that today the most readable genres- This love story, science fiction, detective stories and classics.

Romance novels

As a rule, they are read mostly by women who see in life only laundry, cleaning, work, the kitchen and an always busy husband. They need romance and beauty. They need beautiful names heroes, strong characters, memorable places. They won't read about a plumber's love for a cook.

But if the author dares to talk about this, then he needs to think about how to captivate his readers - to think through a touching plot. Understand how to write love scenes in the novel so that the most unattractive character at first glance “plays up” and stands out. Throughout the entire work, note how the characters’ feelings changed them, what difficulties they had to go through to prove or show their love.

Fantastic

The science fiction genre is preferred mainly by teenagers or computer geniuses. In terms of genre diversity, there is room to expand here. It could be an adventure story with incredible embellishments: transformations and unusual stunts, unusual places and technical bells and whistles.

The fantastic genre is good because here you can come up with a name that will intrigue the reader, create fascinating story, based on folk tale with its monsters, wizards and brave knights or cyber fiction with its electronic innovations.

Fantasy - quite popular genre because there is an unlimited “field of activity” for the author. And how to write fantasy novel, in what way, depends only on his imagination. The main set of a science fiction writer - main character, the object of his love, powerful patrons or comrades. And of course, the opposing side: the main villain is insidious and invincible.

Detectives

Novels of this genre have always been read, are being read and will continue to be read. Why are they popular? First of all, the reader wants to have fun, to escape from reality. He likes to solve crimes, like a puzzle. The beginning of the novel is a puzzle that leaves you perplexed. And the author plays: he hides evidence, casts suspicion on a completely innocent character, who behaves as if he were a criminal.

And the reader often goes the wrong way, his guesses are wrong. As a rule, the hero of a detective story - the detective - surpasses the reader in intelligence and gracefully solves the crime. To write a detective story, one puzzle is, of course, not enough. How to learn to write detective novels? Firstly, the reader is interested in following the thoughts of the heroes, pursuing the criminal together with the detective and substantiating guesses and suspicions.

The punishment of the villain is also an important detail; the reader feels pleasure at the sight of the criminal who received what he deserved. Often the reader identifies with the main character, gets used to his role and increases his own importance. A well-written detective story gives him confidence in the reality of what is happening. And he continues to play the role of detective again and again, reading one novel after another.

Classic

It is impossible not to know great creations. Classic literature relevant at all times. Of course, there is no need to create a new “War and Peace”. How to write a novel that will captivate more than a dozen readers? Fill it up deep meaning, raise global actual problems, based on eternal values. Such a work will not leave anyone indifferent, will be interesting at all times and will be useful.

The formula for an exciting work

In fact, there is quite a lot that has not yet been written. It is important to come up with something original and unusual. In a word, yours. General scheme there is no writing a novel. And it never happened. Therefore, there is no universal formula for how to write best-selling novels. But there is no need to reinvent the wheel either. A novice pen master just needs to use general structure: plot and composition.

IN good work everything is logically connected: one action (event) follows from another, and everything that is not related to this is removed. The main principle is consistent, logically structured actions of the heroes. This is the plot of the work. Then you need to decide on the plot elements. What should you think carefully about before writing a novel?

• Exposition - characters, their relationships, time and place of action.
• Omen - hints, any signs or clues that reveal further development of the plot.
• The plot is an important element of any work. This is an event that develops and provokes conflict.
• Conflict is the basis of any work. What could be the basis of the conflict? A person (character) against a person or against himself. The hero is against society or nature. Man versus the supernatural or technology.
• Increasing action - important condition how to write a novel that keeps the reader in constant suspense. It is necessary to create a chain of events that originate from the conflict. Gradually the effect increases and reaches a peak.
• Crisis is the point of culmination. The crisis begins immediately before or simultaneously with the climax. This is precisely the moment when the opposing sides collide, that is, meet face to face.
• The climax is the most significant moment in a novel. The most interesting, since the hero grits his teeth and goes to the end or breaks down and loses.
• Descending actions are events or actions of the characters that lead to the outcome.
• Denouement - resolution of the conflict. The hero wins or achieves his goal, and is left with nothing or dies altogether.

How to Write a Novel

The rules for creating a plot highlight one element - crisis. As stated above, this is the climax of the novel. It is this moment that makes the work stand out and makes it exciting. What is characteristic of him? Firstly, the crisis reflects the genre of the work.

Secondly, he must literally turn the hero’s life upside down, disrupt the natural course of his life, change it for the worse. This moment requires the author’s special attention, so the entire book, the entire planned volume of the work, should be spent on overcoming the consequences of the crisis. Otherwise it turns out short novels, which do not fully reveal the idea of ​​the work.

Thirdly, the crisis must seize the author himself. Only in this case will the book be captivating and the reader will not fall asleep in the middle of the novel. After the author has decided on the crisis, he needs to decide what the hero is ready to do to overcome it, what lengths he will go to achieve his goal. He must be sure that this is the only possible way out of the current situation. This is what will happen the main objective hero.

Four components of a crisis

When coming up with a plot, bringing a character to a crisis, in no case should you rush. This is a kind of foundation of the work. And the author will have to build on it. A poorly thought-out idea will collapse, and a skillfully created, clever plot will only add energy and strength, which help create full-fledged masterpieces, and not half-finished, short novels.

Possession and disposal

The object of possession (disposal) can be a person, an idea, a feeling, information. When trying to resolve a crisis, the character must achieve this. For example, a girl wants to get married, but her family does everything she can to prevent her from doing so. And she is trying to get rid of their oppression. Or a father is looking for a kidnapped child. The desire to find your child is so strong that no obstacles will stop him.

Tragic consequences

The hero failed to achieve his goal, the consequences are terrible - they completely destroy his life. It is not so important how to start writing, but the main thing is to make it clear to the reader that there is a lot at stake here. Let them feel and experience with the characters all the tragedy of the current situation, the fear. In a word, to engage the reader, to endow the characters with feelings inherent in every person. Create a situation that simply needs to be resolved. The girl, unable to overcome the oppression of her family, will remain unhappy. The father, having failed to save the child, will lose him.

High motives

This is what always attracts the reader. If the author of a work gives his hero at least one worthy motive to achieve a goal, readers will empathize with him, admire him, and the hero’s motives will resonate in their hearts. What high motives are worthy of readers' attention? It could be a sense of duty, love, dignity, honor. Camaraderie, justice, and patriotism often resonate with readers. Repentance and self-respect are worthy, noble motives.

It is important to highlight strengths. For example, an investigator, when solving a crime, is guided by a sense of duty. A father saving a child is guided by love. Softer ones - generosity or kindness - will not make the right impression on the reader. It should be noted the negative sides - envy, anger, hatred, pride, greed, lust.

Antiheroes are usually endowed with such traits. Young writers often miss this point: create strong character It's quite difficult to deal with negative impulses. Perhaps the only negative motivation that can attract the reader's attention is revenge. When the hero is left with no choice and the only way to achieve justice is revenge.

Overcoming obstacles

And the last thing the hero must do to achieve his goal is to overcome obstacles. The author needs to create insurmountable obstacles. The goal seems unattainable. Reconsider the created crisis, how deep and insurmountable it is. If necessary, the crisis can be aggravated: make the situation worse, make it larger, change some elements or the scene of action.

The conflict is resolved

Why is plotting important? Because during the existence of literature, a certain scheme of influence on the reader has been developed. If the novel does not fit into it, it will be sluggish and illogical. In voluminous works with several storylines, all of the above elements are repeated several times and are subject to these rules of plot construction.

In addition, the construction of a chain of events, the transition from the beginning to the conflict must be believable. How to write a novel that meets these requirements? The character must have serious reasons do it one way or another. The denouement, the completion of the conflict, is the result of the actions of the hero of the work. Every scene requires logic and common sense. The reader will feel cheated if the character is just lucky. He will respect characters only if they deserve it - they did something worthy.

Deviation from the rules

The author wants to deviate from generally accepted rules, but doesn’t know how? Writing novels in trash style is now quite a fashionable trend. In such a work, the author deviates from the rules. He's not constrained literary forms. It's just a stream of consciousness, relaxation, pieces of thoughts. But still, there should be an interesting storyline. There must be elements that catch the reader: humor, mood, devilry, uncontrollable madness, etc. Something that will shake up the reader.

Write a piece with an exciting plot, unusual places and uncharacteristic for modern world actions can be done if you plunge into history. Exactly. History of any country, city, famous battle or biography famous person interesting at all times. How to write You can create a masterpiece that is worthy of attention and carries historical value only by thoroughly studying the facts and evidence. Readers are attentive to details.

If you want to recreate history, you need to study the period of time in which the author wants to place his characters. Pay attention to clothes, houses, furnishings, utensils, habits, and moral values ​​of that period. Literally immerse yourself in that time. Line up storyline, weave in intriguing characters and give them lofty goals.

Name

How to come up with a book title that is brilliant and memorable? Read the book and think about its idea. Think of titles that fit the main message or the main emotions that your novel evokes. Write down your favorite phrases from the book. Maybe they will become the title of the work. Consider naming your novel after the main character. This is a fairly common practice. Mysterious names intrigue the reader who is looking for something unusual. At the same time, the title should give enough information about the subject of the book, but not too much so that the reader remains interested. Be original. Come up with a name that will stand out from the crowd of similar ones.

The most important thing is not to be alarmed if it turns out that there is already a novel with the same title. There are still more readers. First of all, books whose authors were able to come up with a successful title, collect ideas, thoughts, facts into a single whole and create an exciting, logically structured plot become famous.