Mass Market Fiction and Charles Dickens

In the dull days of a late spring I have read through several mass market books to pass the time.

One thing I notice about that genre is there are a lot of words used to describe action and few words to describe feeling, yet one knows exactly what the emotional state of the main character is. This is a good lesson to learn from reading what is often looked down upon as dross. An author can go beyond the action, but he/she doesn't have to sink into psychoanalysis of the characters every other sentence.

In the midst of all the mass market fiction, I am also reading a book of short stories by Charles Dickens. The more I read him, the more impressed I am with the way he writes. The detail is amazing, even the minor characters that appear in one paragraph and never again are fully formed. Dickens seems to have found the perfect blend of action, location description and character ruminations to construct stories with depth, message and irony.

Something I have been coming to terms with is that using a lot of words is important in scenes that are crucial to the progress of a book. I keep harping on this because I do such a poor job of detailing those scenes myself. Maybe to accommodate this mass of words, one has to take out other scenes that aren't so important to the overall theme of the book.

I have the tendency to write scenes that have similarities to other scenes. If I really work on inflating the scope of each scene maybe I won't feel the need to rehash anything later in the book. When I read through Dickens I notice he might remind the reader of something here and there, but most of the time he doesn't because he has left such an impression on the mind of the reader by his initial description that it is unnecessary to recap.

I was trying to think of a metaphor for what a writer must do to be a writer and I finally have settled on "One must bubble with words."

Amy

What Have I Wrought?

Well, Victoria, I see what you mean about changes. Oh dear, oh dear. I decided to rewrite my opening scene in Giles' POV and it has been hell ever since.

There is no sleep at night, no progress anywhere else in the book. Giles' raw emotions are nearly impossible to put into words, because he is angry and confused about so many things at that point in his life. I am having trouble writing things down in the right order due to that confusion. Barely a paragraph flows properly.

Unfortunately, the scene must be re-written. Airing certain issues in the first few pages will put some of the plot lines on a firmer path. As the books stands now, the reader might not buy what Giles does later in life in regards to Alison or understand the level of loss he experiences, the level of pain he carries already at 16. The scene from Alison's POV is too benign, too innocent. Honor for Giles is part of a calculation he makes selectively. The reader needs to see where those lines have been drawn and why.

I am beginning to see the shape of the book, with all its twists and turns. The most important thing I can do now is make the pivotal scenes longer and drive home the motivations of the main characters. I hope I have the skill to carry out that intention.

Amy