Macrostructure in Serialized Fantasy Novels

I finished reading the most recent Fablehaven book (4th in the series). It's still a solid series and I'm looking forward to the next, and final, installment.

But, when I finished this one I felt a bit let down. Not that the book itself wasn't a good story but the entire point of the story was to set-up the next book. Now, granted, it was better than when I read the 6th book in the Harry Potter series -- but I won't get into that here.

However, I did reflect on issues of structure that I commonly see in Fantasy trilogies.

Book 1: Set-up the hero, conflict, and villain. Hero defeats the villain and saves the world.

Book 2: Expand the world setting. Show how saving the world left it in peril. Show how the world is on brink of collapsing to darkness. Train hero in special powers revealed in first book. (Optional: Reveal hero's family relation to villain.)

Book 3: Show allies of the hero unable to overcome their various conflicts. Place hero's love-interest in danger. Hero hovers on verge of defeat -- except villain underestimated something and hero exploits that for final defeat. (Optional: Hero's motivation is more aligned with saving love-interest than world.)

That format works fine in a trilogy because even though the second book doesn't typically resolve its own storyline, the focus on expanding the world typically leaves the reader interested in seeing how the new conflicts will be resolved. The author has still provided us with something we hadn't seen before and we're eager for more.

By contrast, in serialized Fantasy the books become more episodic. Book 1 and 2 follow a similar structure as above, the world gets saved (book 1) but then... On No! it's not really safe (book 2) and we see the broader world framework.

The succeeding books just start filling in the blanks. We already know the world is bigger, so fleshing out additional aspects don't carry the same sense of wonder. (And at worst are just expositionary exercises in which the author shows off how much they've thought about the minutiae of their story.) Which necessitates a strong storyline -- but one that is serving two purposes.

First, the story must be interesting on its own. There must be a conflict that is real, with real consequences for failure (even though we know it won't likely happen we suspend our disbelief). And, for most of the books I've read, the intermediate books do a reasonable job with this.

Second, the story must drive the over-arching plot towards its conclusion. Again, the episodic nature of the books tend to do a reasonable job of this with a well-defined overall goal (defeat the villain) being pursued in steps (collect the artifact, defeat the sub-villain, travel to the mentor). But where the second-to-last novel tends to fail is that its storyline is too closely tied to setting up the final conflict that it cannot be adequately resolved without lessening the tension the author wants readers feeling when they begin the final book.

In essence, the entire story must be rising action leading into the final novel. There is typically still an episode-conflict that needs to be resolved but cannot allow for a true denouement because the author can't let the action fall. The climax confirms the final novel will happen but the author cannot move the characters into their next positions, leaving the ending of the book weak.

And, as with any novel, if the storyline has been good throughout but you are given a weak ending, it is frustrating.


P.S. Does a pretentious sounding title make the post more impressive? ;)

Make-Believe Math

I'm reading a book that I got for Christmas called "An Imaginary Tale: The Story of the (SQRT)-1".

Let's just say that it's not exactly light reading.  But, it is fascinating and it's exercising parts of my brain that have too long lain dormant. My last calculus class was the one that I enrolled in after returning from my mission (10 years ago). My schedule had the wrong classroom on it, so for the first 3 days I showed up to an empty classroom.

Finally someone wrote on the board in that room where the class was actually being held. I walked in late on the 4th day to a full classroom. The professor was mid-lecture talking about "rotating this curve around the axis and determining the volume" and it was at that point that I knew it was a lost cause. (Amazingly, I still remember that moment and what he was talking about.) I asked him after class what he would recommend for a returned missionary who needed to catch-up on Calculus before actually taking his class (which was the second-half of the pair of basic Calc classes).

His recommendation was to basically re-do all the problems from the textbook from the first-half semester of Calculus. As I am now in marketing, you can guess that did not happen.

But that is not to say that I am Math-averse like so many of my colleagues. I simply realized where a wall would be for me and moved in a different direction.

Part of what makes this book a difficult read for someone who doesn't use this kind of math on a daily basis is that he includes lots of equations but jumps past significant chunks of calculations as he progresses through them towards the solution that fits with the point he's making in the text. I'm finding myself struggling through figuring out what happened in-between two steps. Most engineers or mathematicians can probably take those steps for granted, as he does.  I'm hopeful that as I continue reading, I'll at least be able to see how the calculations are being done a little more quickly.

As a final note, to anyone else that picks this up, I would encourage you to skip the Prologue. It's entirely technical but without context. So unless you are intimately familiar with complex and imaginary numbers, it's not going to make much sense. (I nearly gave up on the book, then decided to just give up on the Prologue).

An example of this is on the second page, where he asserts that "every good high-school math student knows how to prove (SQRT)2 is irrational, but that doesn't mean it's now just a ho-hum demonstration." Um... I don't know how to prove that's irrational. I didn't even remember what an irrational number was when I read that bit. So, like I said, start with Chapter 1 if you pick this book up.

Oh, also, you'll want to keep a calculator handy. (How often do you hear that? At least for the books I read, not very often at all.)

Narrative vs. World Building

I just finished 'Ender in Exile' the new book from Orson Scott Card (that Mia got for Christmas). If you haven't read the book yet but plan to (Mia) you might want to skip reading the rest of this post.  Also, if you are a huge fan of OSC and cannot bear to hear any criticism of him, you might want to skip reading this post.

But for the rest of you that know one of my erstwhile hobbies is literary criticism, I invite you to join with me in examining the text, meta-text, and author.

First, the text itself is worth reading. OSC is an excellent writer and his ability to develop dynamic characters -- even in supporting roles. I use the word dynamic in the deliberate literary sense. His characters show growth through the course of the narrative.  And his main characters are well rounded (again in the literary sense).

The main thrust of my critique is that this book is not a narrative but rather an exercise in world-building exposition.

(SPOILER ALERT!!!) The main plot can be summed up thusly: Ender does stuff.  And if I wanted to be verbose about it, I would say: Ender does stuff really well.

My sense reading through this book is that OSC wanted to flesh out more of the universe now that he's had more years to explore it in his own mind. My first clue were the exaggerated chapter intros. Typically these were short emails or other documents that provided some context without being part of the main story. When I was reading 3-page chapter intros, I knew something had changed. He used them to expound on points that couldn't be worked into the main storyline. Then, the book is littered with internal monologues that details an arcane point that doesn't really fit into the main flow of the story. But fortunately, his characters are all so introspective that he's able to use them to voice the tidbits of knowledge he's had tucked away.  And, other scenes seem entirely constructed to give him a platform for retrofitting new information about the Formics that expand on their telepathic/hive structure. I won't even comment on his moralizing.

This is coming out much harsher than I mean it to. It's not that I think OSC is a poor writer, he's proven many times over that he is not. (And who would I be to judge him as one anyway?) But he does seem to have fallen into a style that I've seen many times in my work as an editor for a magazine that published world settings for role-players. He's put so much time into the details of the world that he needs to push them all out to the audience, fill in all the cracks, show us just how intricate his vision of this alternate universe is.  

And when that happens, the narrative suffers.  It has to because it takes a back seat to the exposition. The clever insights and cool details that aren't really relevant to the storyline but can't be left out because... because... because!

I have a second criticism as well. Related to what I felt was a lack of plot, was a lack of action. Part of what made Ender's Game such a seminal piece of work was the action. Ender was constantly moving, one challenge to the next, one game to the next, one army to the next, one war to the end. And through it this incredible tension of whether or not he could handle it physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Was he going to win the war? Yes, of course, that's a given. But was he going to be emotionally and mentally broken after he did so? Quite possibly. The 'happy ending' of the book still held (still holds when I re-read it) the terrible thought that even in victory the hero might be defeated. It's a wonderfully delicate tension and would be nearly impossible to re-create.

In this book, the storylines are all about manipulation and who can do the best political maneuvering in order to achieve the outcome they want. And of course we already know that Ender's skill is in understanding people so thoroughly that he can crush them. We know what the outcomes will be but there is no tension about the consequences.  We are simply along for the ride as Ender continues to out-subtle his various (but rarely nefarious) antagonists.

And the minor antagonist characters (as they all must be minor in comparison with Ender) are what I would have to describe as 'collectively flat'. The definition that I would provide is that they all share the same characteristics of being both willing to overtly manipulate the people around them to reach their goals and they are cognizent and introspective about doing it. This turns everyone into a psuedo-narrator when we are shown their perspective because rather than seeing their actions, we are also privvy to their thoughts about why they are taking those actions, what outcomes they hope to achieve, and who they are either hurting or helping by doing so.

Again, my feeling is that OSC enjoys orchestrating these encounters because if he's describing the most brilliant children in the world and how they overcome the overwhelming odds against them ergo he must be a step above to conceive of the entire scenarios from start to finish. Again, I don't blame him, it's a wonderful position to be in and I should like to try it sometime. But, on the level of the meta-text, it feels as though he's using the auspices of narrative to show-off.

Now, since I've disparaged the book so thoroughly, let me also say the good things about it. First and foremost, it is an engaging read. I finished the book in 2 days.  Secondly, it does add depth of some of the loose ends surrounding the end of the war and questions raised about how would Ender really deal with the knowledge of what he'd done. And, as Mia likes to say, he writes great characters. The most compelling reason to keep reading is because you do care about Ender. Just like the people within the story that almost immediately find themselves caring about him, so too as a reader it's nearly impossible not to admire Ender. Even when you know he's going to come out on top, you want to be there with him, to have some of his glory shine out through the pages and illuminate your own life.

Ender is one of the most enduring characters in modern science-fiction because we both see ourselves in him and we admire the traits in him we cannot imitate.

Negative Space

The concept of negative space in art is often overlooked. It's more difficult to make a piece of art that creates meaning out of the elements that it doesn't include.

I've been reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises this week. There are a couple of things that I like about Hemingway (in spite of criticisms). And the first is that I like his sparse style. His lack of attribution during dialog keeps you moving through the back and forth. It also allows him to play with the dialog a little more.

Second is negative space. I'm more than halfway through the book and he's now directly addressed some elements that have been defined through the negative space in the book. It was rather shocking to actually see them printed in the book. Once you realize that elements exist in the story (but not in the book), you start to take for granted that the characters have the same perspective. They are aware but don't directly address them.

I will however give one criticism of the book. Nearly every other sentence is describing what the characters are having to drink. They always seem to be drinking before, during, or after anything else that's happening in the book.

Protagonist

I've been getting through my summer reading list. So far I've gotten through Pebble in the Sky by Asimov, and part of book of short stories by Arthur C. Clarke.

Currently, I'm reading Conan by Robert Howard. Interestingly enough, it's a book of short stories as well. And even more interesting, the stories are pretty well written.

As I have discovered, Conan is not Schwarzenegger. He is intelligent but his barbaric nature limits his understanding of the machinations of civilized men. His adventures are not just page after page of blood and conquest. One of the stories I just read was more of a detective tale with only one scene of fighting towards the end.

And, as a writer on pre-emptive sabbatical, it's a very interesting character study. Conan is a protagonist. He is not a hero like we would think of hero's in books today. The most striking example is that he often starts his stories as a thief going after some prize. In pursuing these treasures, he shows no concern for the lives of his opponents. So often in modern tales the hero is the one that values all human life (usually in direct opposition to the villain) even those who are actively trying to kill him/her. In my opinion, this is an outgrowth of modern humanism (good) set in an Darwinian world (without a god or afterlife, bad) that values preservation of individual life over all other virtues.

But, I'm getting sidetracked. In the Conan stories, he's interested in his own preservation. When someone crosses him, he immediately fights to save himself. But, he's also willing to put himself in harms way when he gives his word or someone is depending on him. He's not cruel, just has a very clear sense of self-preservation.

If any of you are interested in the more technical parts of literature, I recommend reading Conan as an interesting way to study characters. And, if you aren't, Howard is a good storyteller.

Genre

After reading a very interesting response to a debate I've not been following by one of my favorite author's Ursela LeGuin, I went over to a blog that a friend of mine recommended (his old mission comp. writes there).

When I was astounded (or flabbergasted really) by the revelation that Mormon literature has become a mature enough genre that it can start branching out. So, you don't just have to write a cheesy fictionalized account of some unnamed Nephite hero, now you can write about a scripture-quoting cyber-villain being chased through virtual reality in a sci-fi novel with an "optimistic Mormon twist."

It's amazing to see how far we've come.

Summer Reading Begins

So, it's summer and I'm going to be trying to read and write more (as I've already mentioned). As pat of that, I'm reading the second book in the Fablehaven series. It's only been a few months since Mia bought the first one, so the story was still pretty fresh.

The second book is called Rise of the Evening Star. It picks up almost a year after the first book. The kids are just finishing their school year and hoping to go back to Fablehaven. Conveniently, they haven't run into trouble until the very last week of school.

Again, I don't want to walk through the plot, so I'll review other things. First, Brandon does a good job writing this book as a second episode.
If you've ever read the Hobbit, and then followed with the Lord of the Rings, you can clearly see how the world of Middle-earth expands in the LotR series. The Hobbit gives you a glimpse into a narrow piece of the world defined by the adventure episode. The trilogy expands on the world, taking the adventure to many new places and giving more depth to the world. Tolkien does this very well, which is why the LotR is still one of the foundations for many fantasy stories.

With that background, let me repeat. Rise of the Evening Star does a good job of being a second episode in the world. Some sequels (or second book of the standard fantasy trilogy) try to make the world too big. They add in too many new elements, making the reader keep track of the setting rather than being able to focus on the story in a now familiar world.
In this book, there are new elements, in fact some pretty significant ones, but by staying close to the Fablehaven preserve Brandon is able to add them without detracting from the flow.

Also, when I feel that his pacing has gotten better. The book started off with a nice action sequence. It moved well, and built up to a climatic scene that segued nicely into the main story. After that, he did slow down and spend quite a bit of time in exposition. Introducing new characters, adding some more depth to the secrets of Fablehaven, and exploring Kendra's changes.

I was talking with Mia about this the other day and what came out of our discussion was that I'm not the target audience. :) What we were talking about was the incredible self-awareness of the characters. They analyzed situations and their own feelings with a self-awareness that I certainly don't remember having as I muddled through middle school and high school.
But, as Mia pointed out, the adolescents that this book is written for probably do feel that they are that aware. And that they can analyze situations that rationally.

One thing I admire is that he includes questions at the end of the book aimed at his audience to help them do some critical thinking about what they've read. One of the questions was about a twist at the end of the book. It asks for some speculation about how this could play out in the next episode. Unfortunately, this twist broke some of my immersion. It felt like it was a plot device more than an organic, natural occurrence in the story. I'm going to reserve judgment until I read the final book (next year) but he's going to have to handle things very carefully to avoid being cliche.

Bookish

So, I've started reading again. It feels good, I like reading. I don't spend nearly enough time doing it.

I've been reading Fablehaven. Mia bought the book a few weeks ago, for us to read on the trip out to Utah. We didn't end up reading it then but once we got home I decided to pick it up.

As I was doing a little reading online today about it, I discovered that the writer graduated from BYU around when I did. He was also part of a comedy troupe on campus so I totally recognized his picture. At first I thought I might know him; I don't think I did though.

I was reading through some of the reviews around the Internet. I have to say that I was disappointed with the quality of the reviews that are being produced. Most of the are simple plot summaries with a paragraph or two at the end with their feelings about it.
Fortunately, I did read a review by Orson Scott Card (that's a big score) that wasn't for a publication, besides his own site, and so gave a more honest, though not much more in-depth review. I recommend reading it here.

So, I thought I'd write down a few of my own thoughts on the book so far. I haven't quite finished it, so I can't give a full review. However, I do want to talk about a couple of things that I think are interesting about his book.

One part of the book that tripped me up for the first few chapters was the narrator. It felt like a mix of 3rd person and 1st person. Obviously, the narrator was trying to pull you in, trying to connect you with Kendra the main character. The omniscient 3rd person viewpoint always seemed focused on giving the reader the 1st person perspective for Kendra.
The narrator felt like an actor or character but was also obviously supposed to be absent from the story. It made my first days of reading somewhat confusing. Then I realized that the narrator was acting as a storyteller. Literally, like someone sitting with you around a campfire telling you a story. After that, I quite enjoyed his approach.

Now, I should say that fantasy descriptions can make the world more alive, especially when it's a foreign world. In Fablehaven the description is very detailed. Sometimes more detailed than necessary but always well-written. There were scenes that he described down to the individual actions as people moved through the scene. It slowed the book down in places but for the most part wasn't a large distraction.

Because this is a fantasy novel, I don't feel that I'm giving much away by telling you that there is a battle near the end of the book. However, I really liked Brandon's approach to the fight scene. It was handled creatively and appropriately for his audience. I was very impressed by it.

However, the climactic scene, or at least the one teased on the book jacket about Kendra facing her greatest fear was somewhat disappointing. While I suppose that the situation could be related to more by a younger audience, I didn't feel there was an intensified sense of danger because of Kendra's backstory revealed in this scene to indicate why it was her greatest fear. (Wow, that is a convoluted sentence. Read the book and it will make more sense.)

In conculsion, this was a fast read and a fun one. I would recommend it to someone who wanted to read something light, interesting, and very creative.