In my recent interview with Tabitha Vinson of Praise and Worship ICU (PWICU), we discussed human intimacy, an aspect that, for Tabitha, played heavily in my recent novel, The House.
That night, it struck me that as with The House, and all good works of fiction, intimacy plays an important role in not simply the emotional narrative of a story.
Intimacy heavily contributes to the establishment of the opening of a work of fiction.
Through presenting the protagonist in a series of intimate relationships, readers get to know the personality of the central character, flaws and all.
From this we gain entrance into their yearnings.
And yearnings always relate to desires and wants, ultimately inner conflicts that get ignited once the protagonist enters the quest to achieve her or his goal.
This quest rests on a series of revelations of inner character that result from encountering obstacles to ascertaining the object of their desire.
The journey to gaining this object always involves a moment of crisis when everything appears lost and done for.
And yet alas and with hope remaining alive there comes a point of transformation.
We call this the juncture of climax, where the central character must choose.
Having achieved her or his goal, will she or he continue in their old way of thinking and perceiving the world?
Or has their journey in search of the holy grail of their desires shifted their consciousness and the way they view the world and their place and role in it?
This moment of decision in well-written works of fiction always holds an element of grace.
And with grace always follows redemption.
Intimacy…
Revelation…
Redemption
What an interesting way to structure your novels on an emotional level.
And then I realized, my works of fiction flow in this manner.
What is the emotional pattern of your stories?
What do you like to see happen in novels?
What kinds of novels move you in a way that you never forget the story nor the characters?