Yesterday, my 10-year-old daughter taught me how to do a fishtail braid. I twisted, gathered, and plaited her long, blonde hair, as a familiar tension gathered in my chest. I would glance to the left, knowing I needed to gather a lock from over there and weave it to the right, somehow combining it in my left hand with the other hair already gripped between my fingers. How was I supposed to grip the hair between my fingers and grab more at the same time? And my right hand was already busy holding additional locks of hair. If I released my grip, the braid would loosen, the tension lost.
This is why I never learned to juggle.
Writing a novel works the same way. Each character has their own story, a character arc. His/her story is woven together with the other characters’ stories and each one impacts the other. The different strands are plaited together, becoming one beautiful braid. I’m currently writing romance. I alternate writing scenes from the male and the female point-of-view (POV). His story, her story, his story, her story…until everything neatly (?) blends together, becoming their story. The plot should turn out to be roughly fifty percent the hero’s POV and fifty percent the heroine’s. Other genres can feature three, four or more POV characters, further complicating the plot. Stories written in first-person may only have one, but contain complications of their own.
What happens when you drop a thread? The tension is lost and the plot unravels.
My daughter is not skilled in removing every tangle from her mass of hair, so when we sit down to braid, I end up snagging tangles and trying to separate hair with my fingers–those already busy fingers. She fusses at me. It hurts.
Yes, it does. The stories become tangled and messy. Careful editing is necessary to untangle the threads.
Finished, I sat back and studied my work. Little wisps of hair trailed down beside her face and the braid was a bit loose, but the woven plaits looked very elegant (for a 10-year-old). She was happy (except where it pinched and pulled). With a little practice, I will improve.
Like anything worth doing, it takes time and practice to learn the craft of writing. Our first attempts will be messy. Our kids, moms, and friends may love our results, but we need to keep working and perfecting the craft if we want to see our manuscript nestled between the covers and sitting on the shelf at Barnes & Noble.
Happy braiding!
(Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
Excellent example. The other day I read where an author was comparing the writing process to stuffing an octopus in a box. Like your braid, there was always something else that needed to be tucked in. 🙂
I’ve read that one, too. What a great analogy and a fantastic visual!