The Very Heart of Fiction

By Bill Drew - Jun 30 , 2008

In my last three posts, I have shown you how to use NewView to generate material for business ads and for promotional material to market your book. Those are, obviously, non-fiction applications of NewView (click here for Part I and here for Part II of that series on NewView).

By now you can tell that I think NewView is a Universal Law. And, if I’m right, then it should be showing up in everything written—–business ads, promotional campaigns, poetry, nonfiction, thriller novels, romance novels, classical novels, short stories—– everything.

Here I will show you how NewView is at the very heart of two of the greatest, most widely published short stories ever written in the English language: A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and Clay by James Joyce. (Because I cannot claim to have read everything, I hesitate to say that every story uses the NewView structure I’m showing you here–let’s just say that every story I’ve read or heard uses NewView; the more the NewView, the better the story, always.)

What good is this to you? Well, if you are a fiction writer, these two NewView analyses will reveal elements that you need to make sure are in your own writing, and do it by design, not by mere inspiration. (Am I saying that inspiration isn’t good enough? Sacrilege!!! But ask any fiction writer who has ever suffered writer’s block, and you’ll get an earful about how unreliable inspiration can be. ) A little nudge here and there with NewView principles will get you past your writer’s block and get your inspiration clicking again.

Here’s the first NewView key to understanding and appreciating (and emulating) any sort of great fiction:

All stories change from something established at the beginning

to a NewView of that something at the end.

That’s it: There’s a noticeable difference, a change, by the end of every story. In fact, a new insight or a NewView — usually a Reversal NewView — is always shown by the end, as compared to the OldView established at the beginning.

Newness and change in values is what literature is all about. And what happens most often is that a strong OldView statement of value, by or about the main character, is given close to the beginning of a story.

Analyzing A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner

In William Faulkner’s fabulous short story A Rose for Emily (click to see the full story, online, just in case you want to check things out), the OldView comes very early—in fact, in the very first sentence (surprise, surprise):

“When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant–a combined gardener and cook–had seen in at least ten years.”

The whole town went to Emily’s funeral, indicating some popularity, and the men attended “through a sort of respectful affection,” which is quite positive, even though Emily is seen as “a fallen monument,” which seems to indicate even more respect (though by the end of the story “fallen” takes on a different tone).

The beginning and all the middle sections of the story show flashback incidents demonstrating the respectful affection of the townspeople for Emily over her lifetime–her refusal to pay taxes, her inappropriate courtship with Homer, her stubborn refusal to say what she was buying the arsenic for. Every incident has conflict, and the resolution of each conflict involves showing respect—and sometimes even affection—for Emily.

But, in the final scene, the OldView of respectful affection shown for Emily at the very beginning is Reversed.

After Emily’s funeral, the townspeople go to Emily’s house and break into an upstairs bedroom. The room is covered with very fine dust, and they find a decaying skeleton in the bed, obviously Homer’s (Emily’s missing lover of years ago). In the pillow right next to the skeleton, they notice an indentation where someone must have lain their head very recently, and they find there “a long strand of iron-grey hair”—Emily’s hair, without a doubt.

Obviously, Emily had killed her lover and slept with his decaying body through many years. That provides a Reversal NewView of the townspeople’s respectful affection for Miss Emily, at least for the reader—if not for the townspeople, themselves.

Here’s another example of the OldView-NewView relationship dominating structure and content in a work of fiction—–

Analyzing Clay, by James Joyce

In James Joyce’s famous short story, Clay (click to see the full story, online), two very strong OldView statements of value about Maria, the main character, are given within the first 600 words:

“Maria, you are a veritable peace-maker!”

“Mamma is mamma but Maria is my proper mother.”

These two very positive assertions of value about Maria are briefly supported in the first third of the story. But through the middle and in the end of the story they are progressively shown to be false.

By story’s end, the NewView has consistently been shown that Maria is, in fact, the Reverse of a strong-willed, wise, and capable “peace-maker” with persuasive powers for bringing contending parties together and making peace. And as to her being “my proper mother,” the NewView Reversal of Maria’s character is that she is not even a strong substitute mother (which is what she had been to Joe and Alphy), let alone a “proper mother.”

The fact is, Maria’s entire character—as developed in the middle and ending of the story—is the Reversal of the two strong character evaluations given of her at the beginning of the story.

As the story unfolds in the middle section, Maria is shown to be actually weak and moldable, and thus not a “veritable peace-maker.” Furthermore, from multiple subtle incidents–in the store, on the tram, at Joe’s home, in reviews of her past–we are shown that Maria has been and still is constantly manipulated and coerced by others; she is simply not capable of giving life to others in any way at all, and therefore she is not a “proper mother” — all in tune with the fitting title of the story, Clay, which is quite moldable and without life.

SUMMARY OF NEWVIEW IN FICTION

• All stories change from something established at the beginning to a NewView of that something at the end.
• A strong OldView statement of value, by or about the main character, is given close to the beginning of a story.
• The beginning and all the middle sections show incidents –sometimes quite subtle–supporting the OldView statement of value or, sometimes, supporting the gradual unveiling of the final NewView, which is often a Reverse Newview.
• Every incident has conflict, and the resolution of each conflict usually relates directly to the OldView statement of value.
• In the final scene, the OldView statement of value is often given a NewView Reversal, which sometimes is combined with other NewView Options, such as Add or Subtract or Substitute.

So why isn’t this vital NewView concept being taught in schools?

Tune in next time, folks, when Dudley Dooright saves beautiful Angela Airhead . . . .

Copyright ( C ) 2008 by William R. Drew Jr. All Rights Reserved.