Happy Wednesday, my writing friends,
Last week, I mentioned a certain book that I wrote that
recently launched…I promised not to mention it again, but its initials are
LFYGBA.
I co-wrote it (as well as my other novels) with the amazing Tricia
Goyer . This one weaves a historical tale, told in letters,
throughout a contemporary tale. Tricia wrote the modern part and I penned the
letters.
Recently, a friend asked how I showed a story all in
letters. I’d be happy to share.
Epistolary Novel
I didn’t come up with the idea. Epistolary novels—tales told
in letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, or other documents—have existed
for a long time. The first one I read was Dracula,
by Bram Stoker. Scary! But so well written. Also, C.S. Lewis used this form in The Screwtape Letters. My kids enjoyed
the Dear America series (so have I!). And of course, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, tops the list of
popular recent examples.
Two main cool things draw me to these novels. First, short,
to-the-point chapters; second, strong character voice.
Get To the Point!
In normal fiction, there’s a lot of wiggle room. I like description:
the soft whistle of a distant train, the scent of bacon cooking on a campfire… But
people don’t write letters like that. I would find myself lost in the scene,
imagining myself as my heroine, describing what I saw and felt, only to realize
later (or by my editor telling me!), I needed to cut it down. Epistolary novels need to say a lot in as little words as
possible.
For my female protagonist, I allowed myself a bit more
leeway, but I wouldn’t allow Clay, the leading man, to describe much at all.
What a challenge to show enough of a scene for readers to feel like they were
there, but also not make him sound too wordy—and thus, wimpy! A lot of time and
editing went into his letters.
Voice
Normally, (even though we’re taught not to) I find a little
freedom in a narrator voice. Does every single word always sound exactly like
what the character would say? In a regular novel, probably not (maybe it
should). But when portraying the character through letters? No space for
narrator voice. At. All.
How obvious would it be if a letter to suddenly jumped from
Ellie’s voice (the heroine) to the author’s? It would rip the reader right out
of the scene.
This realization hit me early on and had an awesome effect.
It made me go deeper into point of view than I ever have before. I absolutely had
to become Ellie and Clay (and
Grandfather and Janey), in order for them to sound authentic. Especially with
Clay, after every letter, I’d go back and ask, “Does this sentence sound like
Clay?” I did that several times.
So my advice, if you’re interested in writing an epistolary
novel, first, remember to trim the fat off of those letters, and second,
painstakingly work to create a distinctive voice.
And third, learn the term epistolary—it just sounds cool.
God bless and happy writing!
Ocieanna
