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Character Is Destiny

January 14, 2014 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

2014-01-13-character-thumb

People often talk about a novel being plot-driven or character-driven. For me, that can be an artificial distinction. For my taste, the best novels — those that capture me and make me feel sorry the read is coming to an end — are those driven by both plot and by the protagonist’s character or personality.

I’ve always felt the most engaging novels are those whose narrative drives involve conflict and uncertainty. They’re novels whose plot — along with other attributes — makes me wonder what’s going to happen next. In essence, I’ve always believed a good story is quite disturbing or plumbs a deep truth — one that’s either obvious (think of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl) or draws me on some level of which I may be unaware (think of Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent or Jane Hamilton’s A Map of the World). In my view, a novel’s plot is vital for it to be compelling.

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Filed Under: About Books, Huffington Post Column, On Writing Tagged With: Book Protagonist, Books news, characters, Good Books, plot, Protagonist, Reading, Screenwriting, storytelling, writing, writing a novel, Writing Advice

The Nightmare of a New Novel

November 26, 2013 by Mark Rubinstein

A sense of incipient dread spreads though me when I first sit down to begin a new novel. No matter how many times I’ve done it before, the initial reaction is the same: where will this go? Will the attempt lead me to a dead end from which I can’t be extricated?

Perhaps it’s a crisis in confidence, but it’s far more than just a case of writer’s block. In fact, I’m not sure “writer’s block” is a valid name for this state of mind.

A novel is an organic thing. In a very real sense, it lives, breathes and takes on a life of its own, independent of my initial outline or plot summary. The outline never ensures full-blooded characters, not does it guarantee a rich plot, with compelling narrative drive. Hopefully, the story will grow or even change direction from the first plot summary, and the end result will be something I’d never anticipated. I never truly know the outcome — even as I’m traveling the novel’s trajectory — which can be part of the pleasure and nightmare of writing. In fact, whenever I look at the final product — the published novel — I find myself wondering where it all came from.

Once I barge past that initial feeling of immobilization, the writing assumes its own energy. Many things emerge. They seem to come from some deep mental recess. The experience can seem like a mystifying, dreamlike process, or even a strange form of magic.

But it’s not magic. Rather, mine is the writer’s oneiric landscape over which the quest occurs to capture in words, the thoughts and feelings of my characters in their turbulent stories.

I wonder if every writer experiences this when beginning a new work. I don’t know. I can only speak for myself.

Some people claim to experience this peculiar form of paralysis they call “writer’s block.” It seems to me, they just can’t get past the nightmarish fear of not knowing where it will all go, and beginning the hard work a novel demands — the brutal and beautiful slog of writing fiction.

Mark Rubinstein
Author of Mad Dog House and Love Gone Mad

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Filed Under: Huffington Post Column, Mark Rubinstein, novel, On Writing Tagged With: Books news, fiction, How to Start Writing a Novel, Writer's Block, writing, writing a novel

Writer-to-Writer: A Talk with Simon Toyne

August 7, 2013 by Mark Rubinstein

Simon Toyne is the author of the highly acclaimed Sanctus trilogy. Simon graduated from Goldsmith’s College in London with a degree in English and Drama. He worked in British television for nearly 20 years as a producer. In 2007, he left television and moved with his family to France where they lived for six months. He returned to the U.K. and continued writing, while free-lancing in television to help pay the bills. That is, until Sanctus, the first novel of the trilogy was completed and became an international best-seller. It was followed by The Key and the recently released, The Tower. All three novels have been translated into dozens of languages and are read all over the world.

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Filed Under: About Books, Interviews, Psychology Today Columns Tagged With: apocalypse, belief, best-selling books, books, Books news, British authors, change, Charles Dickins, learning to write, publishers, Richard Matheson, Sanctus, second acts, Simon Toyne, spiritual development, Stephen King, television, theology, Thriller, writing, writing a novel

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