The Story in the Story
Donald Maass on Sep 02 2009 | Filed under: CRAFT, Inspirations
“In twenty minutes you gave me exactly what I’ve been looking for!”
I got that comment half a dozen times this past weekend. The setting was the porch of a monastery. Was I sharing the secret of spiritual enlightenment? Actually, I was brainstorming plot ideas with students at the fabled Writers Retreat Workshop.
In fact, those students had it wrong. I didn’t give them anything they didn’t already have. The story for which they were searching was already in their pages. Like the forest and the trees, they sometimes couldn’t see their story for the words.
A number of lackluster stories were described to me. It might have been a disappointing experience but over the years I’ve learned that every story has a resource waiting to be tapped: its author.
To help dig out the story inside the story I first asked, “Where did this story come from?” I followed that up with, “What in this story matters most to you? What do you want your reader to see? What’s the biggest thing you want me to take away?”
As the origins of the stories were revealed, and their urgency explored, invariably there emerged plot elements and character qualities that were distinctive, original and strong. I suggested that those elements become the foundation stones—the stories very starting points.
Why is it easier for someone else to see high concept buried in one’s manuscript? Is it because writers worry too much about getting down words and too little about what those words are saying? Or is it that writers don’t trust their hearts? Is it safer to write small?
I don’t know, but often there is a great story buried inside the routine story that’s actually on the page. I wish more writers would dig it out.
– Donald Maass
Donald Maass Literary Agency
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New York, NY 10001 USA
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Photo courtesy Flickr’s tinken.
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I think you hit the target center mass with this post and it was something that I struggled with tremendously with my first book, so much so that I rewrote it six times before I threw the whole thing out, chose the key element, and started from scratch. I ended up with a completely different story but one that was true to the initial spark that got me started in the first place. Now that I’ve written multiple books, I also let them sit for an inordinate amount of time before I go back and read for revisions. If I find that there is simply too much going on in the story to be unable to clearly identify what the heart of the story is, I throw those earlier drafts out and start over. I’ve done this twice now, out of 8 books, and the final product is much truer to the original impulse that started the book. As I practice my craft, I find the books I write now are more coherent from the outset but often need much work with revisions to find the true story.
Great post and excellent advice, thanks!
Jess Scott
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Great post, Don. Sometimes I do think that someone else can see the tree in the forest more clearly. Writing is both macro and micro, and sometimes we get hung up on the micro.
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I wrote a very long first novel that wandered too far away from the central story. I finally cut out the entire second half (350 pages) and focused solely on the first 250 pages and that’s when I found an agent after querying for four years. Your advice is excellent. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for fledgling authors to see the heart of their plots, but it is. Thanks so much for your thoughtful commments.
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I had a crisis when, several years back, the novel I’d written didn’t garner interest from agents and one agent suggested I’d written the story in the wrong genre. I asked myself these exact questions: “What in this story matters most to you? What do you want your reader to see? What’s the biggest thing you want me to take away?” And that’s when I realized she was right. The passion in the story wasn’t compatible with the genre; so I rewrote the whole thing and found an agent, and she sold the book.
Very smart advice. Thanks for a great post, Don!
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‘To help dig out the story inside the story I first asked, “Where did this story come from?” I followed that up with, “What in this story matters most to you? What do you want your reader to see? What’s the biggest thing you want me to take away?”’
Hello, I love the advice you give here. However, the most important piece, for me, are the questions you ask. They are so pertinent to what every writer is doing, but I always neglect to think about the answers to these questions. I just worry so much about getting the words down and stressing over the thought that the words need to just come out the right way, thereby formulate a tale that is so deep and gripping. Thank you very much for the reminder. I will keep these next to my computer so that I can refer to them.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I needed some refocusing today. A nice knock on the head to clear the gathering fog.
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I think the reason this is tough for so many newer writers (and even some more experienced ones) is that they sometimes take an “outside in” approach to a novel, constructing it in terms of a large scale concept and the mechanics of plot, rather than letting the story emerge first via character (goal and motivation) and from that kernel of what is most important to them, as writers.
Having been at the same workshop as Don (and at many, many workshops with him!), I’ve really come to appreciate how digging into a writer’s original intent and then, importantly, into their *protagonist’s* intent, can provide important guideposts for their revision/restructuring.
Thanks for the insight as always, Don! :)
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Donald, will you be having any workshops in the Philadelphia area?
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Thanks a million!
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