Why to show ONLY the tip of the iceberg when writing?

CHARACTERS DRIVE THE PLOT

In the line of sharing the same idea about writing, Sarah Domet (90 days to your novel) and Chuck Wending think the characters are the makers of the plot and its primary source. The smartphone’s Android (or whatever the name your smartphone system has[1]).

A well defined character will jump out from page and do unexpected. Memorable things.

<<Style and tone and voice reflect your character’s intellect, personality, and mood. Even setting is determined in large part by your character. Where does he or she choose to live? What do her home and surroundings say about her? Does her bedroom have black lights and psychedelic posters or ornately framed original artwork and a bowl of cinnamon potpourri? These decisions are reflective of character, too>>

Sarah Domet, Day 3 in 90 days to your novel.

WHO DISAGREES?

As usual, there’s the one who might not agree with the idea. Patricia Higsmith [last entry about Mermaids in the Sahara], would advice us adding disparity to make our plot more complex and exotic (this last one word, exotic, is my own way to make it sound like the Caribbean instead of a holiday toasting yourself in your own roof).

In Domet’s point of view, it is personality which has them living and going, choosing and reacting to situations and in Highsmith’s; it is the environment which forces them ladies to scream, to semi quote something Martk Twain supposedly said and only semi quote since I’m more interested in quoting Hemingway (though I’m not a fan of him):

“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows, and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”

Ernest Hemingway

That’s interesting but never absolute. Some stories never tell themselves completely to us. They like to keep the mystery or we might strip them out of it in our inexperience. And stories, they choose their writer the same way cats choose.

TO BE CONTINUED

---

[1] …. I know Android has different versions and I know that smartphone in particular has its own controller but sincerely speaking, that smartphone is a serious case of over narrative. Narrative moves the world. But it also should be limited by something and that something starts with my negative to paint it as the wonder. It is, yes, a great smartphone but not the only great one. I respect much more Chinese brands doing their thing for a lot less money. And yes, they’re the menace of the market but who can blame them? They were forced to buy opium… Are we being forced to buy anything?