by Bonnie Calhoun

Today we continue with Donald Maass' Writing a Breakout Novel.

What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!

Today's lesson is in Section THREE: Theme.

This is the final exercise in this section. It's called Making the Antagonist's Case.

Step 1: What does your antagonist believe in? Why do they feel justified and right? How would the world be better, through their eyes, if things ran the way they would like them to run?

Step 2: Make the antagonist's case stronger. Assume that the antagonist is actually correct: What support for their case can be found in philosophy or religion? On a practical level, how would things really be better? Explain in writing.

Step 3: Choose a character who supports your antagonist, and make the antagonist's case from that character's point of view.

Note: In many manuscripts the antagonists are cardboard. They are bluntly evil or wrong. One dimensional villains do not frighten me...or most readers. Far scarier are villains who have a good reason for doing what they do, and who can justify their intents and actions as working for the good.

The more sincere your antagonist, the more effective they will be, and the more powerfully you will be forcing your reader to decide what constitutes right and wrong. (Which, of course is more effective than telling your reader your own opinion outright, don't you agree?)

Follow-up: find the moment in your story when your protagonist realizes that you antagonist is right, and why.

Conclusion: Certainly you want your hero to doubt himself at times, don't you? Why not push that all the way and let your hero doubt him/her self in the extreme? What would be the circumstances? How close to failure does your protagonist come? In that moment, you will be very close to your core values and theme.

by Bonnie Calhoun

Today we continue with Donald Maass' Writing a Breakout Novel.

What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!

Today's lesson is in Section THREE: Theme.

This is the third and final exercise to this chapter. This one is entitled Same Problem, Other Characters!

Step 1: What is the main problem in the novel?

Step 2: Who else in the story besides your protagonist could have that problem? How would it manifest differently for these other characters?

Step 3: Incorporate the results of the previous step into the story. Make notes!

Note: Theme is not smeared onto your story in the final draft. Like frosting on a cake. Rather, it emerges from the very substance of the story. To make your theme large and resonant, let it work in your story in more ways than one. It doesn't matter that the central problem is different for other characters. Your variations on the theme will only reinforce the themes itself.

Follow-up: Who in your story could have the oppositeproblem? Incorporate that into your novel!

Conclusion: Just as it is advisable to strengthen your theme, it is also no problem to run counter to it. Does your hero rescue his family from the wilderness, struggling against nature? What about the hermit who helps them? He lives at peace with nature, yes? His struggle man be the opposite: to connect again with his fellow man.

by Bonnie Calhoun

Today we continue with Donald Maass' Writing a Breakout Novel.

What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!

Today's lesson is in Section THREE: Theme.

Yesterday we went over Theme, and the exercise was about alternate endings. Today we'll do "the Larger Problem" as an exercise.

Step: 1 Thinking about the story as a whole, what is the main problem facing your protagonist?

Step: 2 What is the bigger problem beyond that?

Step: 3 What is the problem that your protagonist cannot solve?

Step: 4 Find ways to introduce into the story the bigger problem and the problem that cannot be solved. How can that be accomplished?

Note: What public issues stir you up. If you could change the world what would you change. Allow the words to emerge from not only your heart, but from your protagonists problems!

Follow-up: What is the main problem in your protagonists second plot layer? Write it down and follow the steps above to develop a secondary theme.

Conclusion: Every issue conceals a bigger issue. At the heart of every big issue is a dilemma that has no answer. While it may sound downbeat to introduce these elements into your story, in fact they will amplify the problem at hand. the ripples that they send outward in your readers minds are, in essence, your novel's deepest issues, or to put in another way, it's theme at work!

by Bonnie Calhoun

Today we continue with Donald Maass' Writing a Breakout Novel.

What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!

Today's lesson is in Section THREE: Theme.

This chapter is too big to be one post, so I'll divide it up over a couple days!

There are many different ways to discover and develop the themes in your novel. Themes can be motifs, recurring patterns, outlooks, messages, morals...any number of deliberate elements that make your manuscript more than just a story...indeed, that makes it a novel with something to say.

What are the themes of your current novel, and how are you developing them? Whether you are making your point by creating a backward antagonist, or by giving other characters parallel problems, or by introducing problems that are bigger than your protagonist, or by showing us what your character is aiming for (or at least will settle for).

Be sure that you have a means to bring out what you want to say. A novel that has nothing to say will have a tough time breaking out!

Step:1 With respect to the story as a whole, what does your protagonist want?

Step:2 If your protagonist cannot get that, what would she/he take second?

Step:3 If he/she can get nothing else, what would he settle for?

Step:4 Work out alternative endings for the novel based on each of the above answers. How would each ending go?

Note: the point of this exercise is not necessarily to change the ending of your novel( although it might). It is to use alternate outcomes to understand what it is that your protagonist is really after, and why.

Is second-best or the minimum good enough? Then perhaps you need to raise the personal stakes so that those lesser outcomes are in no way acceptable. Buried in the results of this exercise also are clues to what you novel, really is about: it's theme!

Follow-up: Again thinking of the story as a whole, what outcome would be more than your protagonist possible could hope for?

Conclusion: Ah! The answer to that last question may open up even more possible outcomes for the story. Could it be that your protagonist (or you) has her sights set too low? Even if that dream outcome is not practical, how can that vision of greater good be incorporated into the story?