On writing: sjuzhet/fabula
Jun. 20th, 2003 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobelia321Boring!Orli has eaten my brain.
Somewhere along the line, Malta was shunted to second place and boring!Orli leaped to the fore! He was unstoppable! He invaded my head, and ficlet after ficlet rolled out in logorrhoeic uberty.
(Note: I discovered the word 'uberty' today. It is archaic and arcane, 16th century, and means "fertility, fruitfulness, abundance". As in: Orli's hair blew in the breeze, in all its crampant uberty. Outré, or what?)
Am rather touched by friendly response to this madness. It types itself straight into the LJ 'event' box, bypassing betas and 'go' and the Mayfair hotels. My brain seems to be reading the comments carefully and factoring them into sequels in devious ways. *g*
And can I say it again: Congrats to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
badgermonkey Hooray!
Reading in t'reference library today, I remembered sjuzhet and fabula. These were Viktor Shklovsky's terms for what is also called plot and story (or, confusingly by Mieke Bal, story and fabula), or, by Genette, récit and histoire. I do have a soft spot for the Russian words, though; they sound so wonderfully rich and resonant.
Anyway, I remembered how interesting it is to think about the relationship of sjuzhet to fabula. The fabula is the story or the sequence of events as they happened in chronological order. The sjuzhet is the plot or the way these events are told in a particular narration (flashbacks, gaps of information to create suspense and surprise, and so forth). So the story is the 'what', and the plot is the 'how'.
Earlier narratologists (1920s to 60s) apparently assumed that the story is there in its entirety, and the plot is the telling of that story, that the story is primary material and the plot the reworking of that material. Later theorists, incl. Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan argued that, no, it is the plot that *reveals* the story. We readers perceive the plot first and construct the story from the bits and pieces we are fed in the plot. We only perceive the story in its entirety in hindsight, when we have finished the novel or tale or when we have finished watching the movie. We are constantly reorganising and rethinking our construction of the fabula/story as we go along and new bits get revealed via the sjuzhet/plot.
It occurred to me that this doesn't only work for *readers*, but also for *writers*. (Narratologists have tended, over the past 25 years, to privilege readers; they are only now rediscovering authors, as I found out today.) Sometimes when I am writing, I am experiencing the putting down of words and plot as a gradual revelation of a story. It's a bit like Michelangelo freeing the statue from the stone. And part of the reason I write (getting back to one of the 5 questionsorlisbunny asked me) is to find out the story, to know what happens next and how it will all end and what it all means. The fabula reveals itself to me as I go along constructing the sjuzhet.
This is what I was missing with k/d epic. I had just *thought* and pondered over that fic too much. I knew the fabula already. Setting it down on paper or on screen often felt like a dutiful ticking off of plot points. No doubt lots of writers do this and it's something you have to go through if you are writing a long fic, e.g. a novel, at least during revision. But it takes the fun and the surprise out of it for me.
Or that's how I feel at the moment at least. Hence completely out-of-the-blue boring!Orli fic: in the mad spirit ofbadgermonkey's Lotswings and in the spirit of discovery through writing words.
Let's see what will be next...
Somewhere along the line, Malta was shunted to second place and boring!Orli leaped to the fore! He was unstoppable! He invaded my head, and ficlet after ficlet rolled out in logorrhoeic uberty.
(Note: I discovered the word 'uberty' today. It is archaic and arcane, 16th century, and means "fertility, fruitfulness, abundance". As in: Orli's hair blew in the breeze, in all its crampant uberty. Outré, or what?)
Am rather touched by friendly response to this madness. It types itself straight into the LJ 'event' box, bypassing betas and 'go' and the Mayfair hotels. My brain seems to be reading the comments carefully and factoring them into sequels in devious ways. *g*
And can I say it again: Congrats to
badgermonkey Hooray! Reading in t'reference library today, I remembered sjuzhet and fabula. These were Viktor Shklovsky's terms for what is also called plot and story (or, confusingly by Mieke Bal, story and fabula), or, by Genette, récit and histoire. I do have a soft spot for the Russian words, though; they sound so wonderfully rich and resonant.
Anyway, I remembered how interesting it is to think about the relationship of sjuzhet to fabula. The fabula is the story or the sequence of events as they happened in chronological order. The sjuzhet is the plot or the way these events are told in a particular narration (flashbacks, gaps of information to create suspense and surprise, and so forth). So the story is the 'what', and the plot is the 'how'.
Earlier narratologists (1920s to 60s) apparently assumed that the story is there in its entirety, and the plot is the telling of that story, that the story is primary material and the plot the reworking of that material. Later theorists, incl. Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan argued that, no, it is the plot that *reveals* the story. We readers perceive the plot first and construct the story from the bits and pieces we are fed in the plot. We only perceive the story in its entirety in hindsight, when we have finished the novel or tale or when we have finished watching the movie. We are constantly reorganising and rethinking our construction of the fabula/story as we go along and new bits get revealed via the sjuzhet/plot.
It occurred to me that this doesn't only work for *readers*, but also for *writers*. (Narratologists have tended, over the past 25 years, to privilege readers; they are only now rediscovering authors, as I found out today.) Sometimes when I am writing, I am experiencing the putting down of words and plot as a gradual revelation of a story. It's a bit like Michelangelo freeing the statue from the stone. And part of the reason I write (getting back to one of the 5 questions
orlisbunny asked me) is to find out the story, to know what happens next and how it will all end and what it all means. The fabula reveals itself to me as I go along constructing the sjuzhet.This is what I was missing with k/d epic. I had just *thought* and pondered over that fic too much. I knew the fabula already. Setting it down on paper or on screen often felt like a dutiful ticking off of plot points. No doubt lots of writers do this and it's something you have to go through if you are writing a long fic, e.g. a novel, at least during revision. But it takes the fun and the surprise out of it for me.
Or that's how I feel at the moment at least. Hence completely out-of-the-blue boring!Orli fic: in the mad spirit of
badgermonkey's Lotswings and in the spirit of discovery through writing words.Let's see what will be next...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-20 06:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-20 06:12 pm (UTC)Also, it's so heartening to get responses for my arcane musings. Because I never used to post anything to do with my rl. I'm trying to overcome that schizophrenia.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-20 10:22 pm (UTC)And that, I think is when writing is most enjoyable- when that sense of surprise is present. You're right though; it's difficult to maintain in a longer fic. There can be such a compulsion to "stay on track," when that is probably a less important matter than so many other aspects. That's probably why I feel like I'm getting nowhere with my epic- I'm having way too much fun letting the story unveil itself verrrrry gradually. *g*
I do love the idea of the fabula revealing itself through the plot, and your Michelangelo analogy illustrates that perfectly. Too often, it seems writers feel constricted and controlled by the plot, when really, it's just a tool. Or, we feel compelled to "plot," when that really will take care of itself as the story is revealed.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-21 04:18 am (UTC)That is exactly true! I found writing a long fic very difficult. I'm actually not so sure now what I learned about writing a long fic because my long fic was so fraught and cathected (hah!) and not really fic but therapy. I do know that I found it very hard to keep all the plot strands in mind and keep the momentum and tone going over such a long period. The tone, especially! Perhaps that was because I had not discovered the right tone for that fic, my *voice*. I find it much easier to do that with humour and parody, they create their own momentum. The dead seriousness is too difficult to sustain, unless it's painfully poetic - which is even more difficult to sustain and (with me) tends to deteriorate into cliché.
Do you know what is going to happen next in your fic, and what the ending will be? I know some people do (<lj user="freyafloyd" does) but for me in that fic it didn't work.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-21 07:13 pm (UTC)Yes, it seems that momentum is the key thing. Just staying interested in the same story for six months or more is a challenge! Maybe the only way to successfully write a novel is to write it relatively quickly; spend loads of time on it and be completely absorbed in it and only it until it's done. Not an easy thing for the part-time slash writer! :)
The tone, especially! Perhaps that was because I had not discovered the right tone for that fic, my *voice*. I find it much easier to do that with humour and parody, they create their own momentum.
I do remember discussing this with you way back when. It seemed strange to me that you would have this problem when your tone in your other fics seemed so effortless. Your "Up Shit Creek" Karl comes immediately to mind. Maybe you just weren't ever really comfortable with your "epic" Karl and Dom? Possibly because they acted as therapy surrogates for you, you never felt they had become independent creations? But I would also agree that the serious tone is difficult to pull off under any circumstances. And sometimes things just don't work out; not every fic will necessarily be a success. Although I'll bet it's still awfully good!
Do you know what is going to happen next in your fic, and what the ending will be? I know some people do (
Er, not exactly. *g* I know pretty much how I want it to end, but the very long middle part is one surprise after another. I even tried to compose a reasonable outline recently to motivate myself to finish, but I've found that while I stick to it very roughly, all kinds of things come up in between the parts I've mapped out. But that could also be because I'm writing this fic less to tell a story than to explore how people might actually have behaved in this sort of situation. I also unknowingly set myself up for a repetitive and somewhat boring backstory by choosing the part of the "canon" I'm adhering to. This really forced me to focus on the characters, their relationship and what's going on inside their minds, rather than "this happened, then this happened." I'm sure that this lack of structure has probably brought about some interesting revelations, but it's going to be a real bitch in final revision. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-23 02:57 am (UTC)I often think of "Up Shit Creek" and have to remind myself that that fic too had its difficulties in the writing. It seems all of a piece now but at the time I had major problems. But the tone of it worked wonderfully all the way through, and in the end helped me to solve the problems. I think you are right: I never *was* entirely comfortable with angsty Karl and Dom and I had a very hard time finding a tone. It was all in objective pov,and possibly that is simply not my thing. Or only my thing in small doses.
Er, not exactly. *g* I know pretty much how I want it to end, but the very long middle part is one surprise after another. I even tried to compose a reasonable outline recently to motivate myself to finish, but I've found that while I stick to it very roughly, all kinds of things come up in between the parts I've mapped out.
Yes, it's the surprises (that are as surprise as much for the writer as later for the reader!) are the wonderful thing about writing. Trying to orchestrate a surprise for the reader is much harder. I do admire good suspense writers; even if they're crap in the detail, the way that novelists can pull off plot is an admirable thing. I suppose the thing to do would be (or one thing to do) to write one draft quickly, with momentum and surprises, and then go back and revise. I can do that in shortfic but was not able to do it in longfic. The problem for me was also, in longfic,lack of fb. Fb really keeps me going, it's such a communal *bath*. I can see the attraction of WIPs for the writer because you get longfic plus fb. Although WIPs can irritate me as a reader (unless it's FOTA, heh).
Re:
Date: 2003-06-24 09:19 pm (UTC)I think that is a huge challenge, especially in fanfic. I've found myself wondering, 150 pages (!!) in, if what I'm writing is utter crap, and there's no one around to tell me. At first I was being good and sending each chapter off to beta as I finished it, so even getting beta-feedback helped quite a bit. But now I just want to finish the damn thing and worry about revisions and beta later!
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-25 08:59 am (UTC)Otoh, who am I to talk? I never *finished* long!fic so I certainly do not have the golden egg of a solution.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-25 03:52 pm (UTC)And I was also going to say: it is tempting to post as a WIP, but I can see that feeling obligated to post more in a reasonable amount of time would create a lot of stress. I would also guess that the feedback would influence the writing- you know, give the fans what they want- and I might lose track of what I'd originally set out to do. And if I never finish, I don't want to be one of those writers who strings readers along for 20 chapters and then loses interest. For that reason, I too have become less of a WIP fan, with FOTA being at this point one of very few exceptions.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-21 07:16 am (UTC)Anyway... *ponders* I have terrible trouble writing anything long, because it does seem to need all this planning, and I'm very, very bad at it, and I just lose interest. I suppose Holding the Pose is the longest thing I've actually finished, and I did have a sort of plan for that, which I wrote in about five minutes, in a burst of inspiration. I didn't stick to it at all; the story ended up being quite different, but it was kind of useful just to know it was there. I know what you mean about thinking too much about a story, and how sometimes that can take over from the actual writing of it, which one feels ought to be the important bit.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-21 07:28 am (UTC)I'm not sure that in the narratological technical sense the first one is a story and the second one a plot.
My feeling is this: the second one is certainly a plot (but also a story) because it posits a causal relationship between two events which seems to be the minimum requirement for any narrative. In this sense, the first one is not even a narrative. But any narrative *has* both plot and story; you can't have one without the other. So you can't have one thing being a story and the other a plot. It's like human beings: both body and soul. Can't have one without the other.
Of course, now to be mischievous: the first bit is, in a way, also a narrative, hence a story/plot. Because once it is written down and presented as fiction, it becomes more than just two coincidental events. We attribute meaning to it and create causality in our heads. We assume that the plot is constructed in a sort of sparse, non-sentimental mode and that there *is* a relationship between the two deaths, simply because of proximity. That's, after all, how editing works in movie narratives: shot one: Orli looks; shot two: Dom writhes on bed. We interpret: Orli looks at Dom writhing on bed. Even if Dom is lit quite differently - we will blame it on the lighting gaffer or something.