nichepoetryandprose

When I wrote ‘Open to the Skies’, I used various ways to examine and tighten the plot.  One of these was to list the various objects in the book and consider them as symbols.

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For my book ‘Crossing at a Walk’, I will use this process to help my eventual readers understand the progress of the story.

Mentioned once, an object, such as a candle, is just a candle.  Mentioned twice, it becomes a symbol, and the reader remembers the first mention of the object and draws understanding from the symbolism.    So a candle may be remembered for its light.  If, in a subsequent mention, someone blows out the candle, this may make a comment on the idea of communication. Passing a candle from person to person suggests the passing of stories between people.  The use of symbols deepens meanings and helps the plot reverberate throughout the writing.

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Symbols operate like mini sub-plots throughout the story.  These mini-plots echo the main plot, and the objects change in a way that illuminates the main plot.  The mini-plots also tend to occur in three ‘beats’, providing a beginning, middle and end.  For example, an unlit candle becomes a useful source of light and is passed between people at a wake.

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In this round of edits, I have tried to examine the use of symbols in my novel.  To do this, I built a list of the objects I have used as symbols.  Then I looked for their occurrence in the novel to see if I could identify three ‘beats’ and a mini sub-plot.  In some cases, I identified gaps – fixing these has helped me to solidify my overall plot.

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This is a short version of my list of some of the objects/symbols in my book.  When I assembled the list, the items in red were missing and I had to fill out the story accordingly.  Perhaps you can use this method to help strengthen the narrative in your own fiction.

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Copyright  2015  Jane Tims