Welcome to my six-part
writing series: Narrative Traction. This week is Part four: Event Based
Narrative Traction.
Once
again, what is Event Based Narrative Traction?
As I said in the
second post, informational narrative traction is where you withhold information that the reader wants. Even
based narrative traction is when there is something the reader/viewer wants to see happen. EG: The first kiss
in a romance novel.
Again, this comes
down to what the readers wants, so the first step is creating that want, and
creating it strongly enough that the reader sits through your entire book to
get it. As in my last post on Informational Narrative traction, I have found
some examples of Event Based Narrative Traction. These were a bit trickier to
find for two reasons. Firstly, because to want an event to happen, you usually
have to know something about the plot, characters and setting, so it was hard
to find examples that made sense and secondly, it is quite tricky to find event
based examples of traction that aren't quite long. They require a lot more set
up.
First up, we have 'Captive Prince' by C.S Pacat (who
taught me about narrative traction in the first place!):
"I
hear the King of Akielos has sent me a gift," said the young man, who was
Laurent, Prince of Vere. "An Akielon grovelling on its knees. How
fitting."
Around
him, Damen was aware of the attention of courtiers, gathered to witness the
Prince's receipt of his slave. Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen
Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult.
Damen's view, half-truncated by the short chain at his neck, had been enough to
see that. But Laurent's expression had shuttered quickly.
That he was only one of a larger consignment
of slaves was something Damen had guessed, and the murmurs from the two
courtiers nearest him confirmed it, gratingly. Laurent's eyes were passing over
him, as though viewing merchandise. Damen felt a muscle slide in his jaw.
Councillor
Guion spoke. "He is intended as a pleasure slave, but he isn't trained.
Kasor suggested that you might like to break him at your leisure."
"I'm
not desperate enough that I have to soil myself with filth," Said Laurent.
"Yes,
Your Highness."
"Break
him on the cross. I believe that will discharge my obligation to the King of Akielos."
"Yes,
Your Highness."
What is implied
could happen here? What do we want to see happen? There are a few key phrases.
Firstly, 'He is intended as a pleasure slave' and secondly 'Break him on the
cross'. We're not sure exactly what is going to happen to Damen, but we know he
is helpless, a slaved and chained up, and we know it is going to be violent.
Within the context of the story, there is already a lot more going on. This
scene acts to pile on several other elements of event based narrative traction,
since the over-arcing plot of the trilogy is Damen's drive to get home and get
revenge on his brother for usurping him and selling him as a slave to the
enemy. This is an example of a secondary traction arc, to carry us over the
next few chapters as we find out of Damen will be turned into a pleasure slave
or whipped on the cross.
Here is another
example from 'Triptych' by Karin
Slaughter:
Everything
Will Trent said and did grated on Michael's nerves, from his 'of course,' when
Michael said he would drive to the way he stared blankly out the car window as
they travelled up North Avenue toward the Homes. The GBI agent reminded him of
those geeky kids in high school, the ones who kept slide rules in their breast
pockets and quotes obscure lines from Monty Python. No matter how many times he
watched it, Michael still didn't get Monty Python and he sure as shit didn't
get geeks like Trent. There was a reason those guys got the shit beaten out of
them in school. There was a reason it was guys like Michael doing the beating.
Again, this promises
pending violence. We can see from the hostility Michael feels for Trent, that
there is going to be some sort of conflict or climax between them—either soon,
or later in the book. Michael wants to hurt Trent, not just hurt him, but bully
him like he did the other geeks in school. He sees this as his right. And if
you're reading Karin Slaughter, it's because you want to see these kinds of
conflicts play out.
Now for something a
bit lighter. From my all time favourite trilogy, 'Leviathan' by Scott Westerfeld:
Since
getting on the bus with Jaspert, Deryn's skin had itched with wondering what
she looked like to strangers. Could they see through her boy's slops and shorn
hair? Did they really think she was a young recruit on his way to the Air
Proving Grounds? Or did she look like some lassie with a few screws loose,
playing dress-up in her brother's old clothes?
This tells us Deryn
is a girl, dressing as a boy, to join the air force. We know, somewhere in the
future, she is going to get caught and it will have serious repercussions. That
is the promise being made to the reader with this set up. We want to keep reading,
because we want to see how that happens and what the consequences are.
And finally, we
have a snippet from 'The Blade Itself'
by Joe Abercrombie:
And
here it is. That horrible, beautiful, stretched out moment between stubbing
your toe and feeling the hurt. How long do I have before the pain comes? How
bad will it be when it does? Gasping, slack-jawed at the foot of the steps,
Glokta felt a tingling of anticipation. Here it comes…
This is an example
of more immediate narrative traction. Obviously, a toe stubbing can't be drawn
out over a whole novel. Or even a few pages. That pain is going to hit in the
next paragraph. However still we can fell that pull, that traction, driving us
forward to witness the explosion of pain he is about to suffer.
I hope now you can
identify event based narrative traction. Next week we are going to look at how
to creative narrative traction in your own work—the nuts and bolts of it. The
final post in the series will be troubleshooting and working narrative traction
into your plotting and synopsis.
POSTS
IN THIS SERIES:
1. What Is
Narrative Traction
2. Types Of
Narrative Traction
3. Infomational
Narrative Traction
4. Event Based
Narrative Traction
5. How To Create
Narrative Traction
6. Troubleshooting,
Plotting & Identifying
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