Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Ideas behind the EWW

The main thread of a novel goes from beginning to end. Some call it the Story line and others the Plot. Springing up and submerging from time to time are what I call the "layers" and others refer to as subplots. Throughout are the characters, the central or POV character, major characters and minor ones. A novel generally has three phases, a beginning, a middle and end. These are sometimes referred to as the Phases. Each phase contains a string of chapters. The number can be shortened or expanded. Normally a writer conceptualizes thirty (30) to start with but this is arbitrary and expands or contracts to fit the normal flow of the story. A chapter contains about 5K words and a novel about 90K words. This too is arbitrary.

The model we use starts with Character Development. A three vignette model is used to identify who the author thinks the Central Character (CC) will be. The first vignette is titled "Placid Waters," the Second "Caught in the Current" and the third "Life Changing Event." This model is used in the Workshop to identify the POV Character, however as a side benefit they also constitute sketches for the first three chapters of the Novel. While only the CC is given this treatment in the workshop, students are encouraged to audition their Major Characters using this method in determining who will get the starring role. Often a supporting character will emerge and steal the show and when this sometimes happens it is a good rather than a bad thing. The results of putting all major characters, "Through the Mill," is it gives the author a greater familiarity with who they are plus they are easily fitted into the context of the story, even if they don't get the top billing.

The reader realizes who the CC is since he stands front and center when the novel begins, and gets to see her thoughts. For want of a better term I call these Character Development Vignettes (CDVs). Again I stress that a vignette is not a completed chapter but a sketch...used in much the same sense that a fine arts painter uses sketches in preparing for a major work.

After the first three CDVs, development transitions to Plot. The first three did not require any consideration of plot. Their purpose was to develop an interesting character(s) and put them through some developmental hoops. The next three Vignettes are different. These are what I term "Vista Sketches." To use the fine arts analogy again, the first three were portrait sketches and these next three deal with the panorama of the novel. These three vignettes are designed to plop down in the middle of each phase and provide an anchor point in the center of each. The writer is like someone, who with arms outstretched reaches back with one hand and forward with the other. The span of her arms extends into the unwritten chapters that proceed the anchor and forward to the unwritten chapters that follow. At this point in the Workshop the student learns about the difference between Tactical Writing and Operational Writing.

Tactical Writing is the art of writing something below the 5K threshold. Operational Writing is the art of conceptional stringing links (Chapters) within the phases and transitioning them from one phase to the next.

A premise of the Workshop is that a human mind cannot deal with more than 5K worth of alpha characters (AC) before it becomes saturated. Thus it becomes necessary to clear one's mind of AC data after about a chapters worth of development. To use a computer analogy, there is something called Random Access Memory (RAM.) You're only born with so much and once you exceed it your brain starts to forget what you've done previously or hiccups when trying to process more.

With this assumption a writer is encouraged to use an outline as a developmental tool, allowing them to put the smaller parts in place without having to juggle the entire scope of a novel at one time. The Exploratory Writing Workshop is a compromise between the process by which the "Pantzers" write and the Process used by the "Structuralists." It allows for a free and uninhibited approach in the sketches (Vignettes) but hands off to a more structured approach once a fuller picture of the novel begins to emerge. I can't stress the importance of this handoff enough. It allows a writer a clear mind to focus on each chapter without simultaneously trying to remember and juggle what came before with what needs to follow.

Most aspiring writers deciding to take the leap from writing shorter works to a longer work, have already acquired what I term "Tactical Writing Skills.' For example they can write an essay, short story, article or other manuscript under the 5K threshold. Without really understanding the differences in process between a longer and shorter work their tendency is to think they can extend what has proven to work for them in the 5 K range and simply extend it linearly into an effort of regional scope. The direction this effort takes is what I call a "Boxcar" approach. Their novel begins with an engine and coal car worth of character development followed by a string of boxcars. These boxcars get abutted end to end and after writing each one the writer clears their mind and goes on to the next. Many novels are written using this technique. The fundamental problem that emerges is that the nature of the process makes it impossible for the writer to really clear their mind. Some of their RAM must be devoted to remembering what was written earlier, remembering subplots, managing the rising action and dealing with the major conflicts while CONCURRENTLY, working on a given chapter. All of these conflicting requirements have a parasitic drain on the amount of RAM that is available. At some point the hick-ups start and the further along the author gets the more the ability to remember, concentrate, and creatively manage is diminished. Like the "Die Hard Bunny" the drum starts beating slower, wheels begin to grind and the author feels a growing disenchantment about where all this is heading.