The One Thing a Great Novel Requires
And it’s not conflict
Like many aspiring novelists, I’ve written a lot of duds. I’ll start with what I think is a gem of an idea, churn out 50,000 words, and step back to find that my precious story is a lump of coal.
I know I’m not alone in this. On Medium, I’ve seen dozens of stories from other writers who lament their numerous bad drafts. On Twitter too, I’ve seen so many discussions about novels that are not working. And even more importantly, a lot of us are scratching our heads about why.
Why doesn’t my story work? Why can’t I figure out how to write a novel?
“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.” — Flannery O’Connor
O’Connor’s sentiment is one part of the problem. We’ve all read countless novels, so we think we have a pretty good idea of how they work. One thing happens, then another thing happens, then something big happens, and we can’t put the book down. But a good novel isn’t just a series of events. If you’ve tried to write one that way, you’ve seen it doesn't work.
“It’s because your story needs conflict,” some say. I can’t pin down when I first heard this, but I know I’ve heard it a lot. And while it is true that a story needs conflict, a novel can have conflict and still not be a…
