Different Techniques of Writing Novels


There is visibly a distinction between the scope of a dramatist and that of a novelist. A dramatist enjoys a very limited scope to unfold his purpose of vision of life. For, within two or three stage hours he must complete his dramatic design, complying with the principles of three unities the unity of time, place and action. But a novelist, on the other hand, can enjoy unlimited time and scope to build up the characters in his novel. And if he so wishes, he can also include long explanation in favour of his own philosophy. It is obvious, therefore, that a novelist can enjoy greater liberty and wider scope by adopting different technical devices in his novel, while the liberty of a dramatist is all too restricted. However, of the different narrative devices, mention may be made to the few important narrative models: omniscient view, the first person narrative, epistolary novel, dialogue in novel and stream of consciousness novel.

Omniscient view: - The most usual kind of narration adopted by a novelist is what we call an ‘omniscient view’. What we mean by the expression ‘omniscient view’ is that the novelist describes not only the outward behaviour in an action of his characters but also their thoughts and feelings. That is, an omniscient narrator describes his story with God like case, as it capable of seeing every event which concerns his characters. The novelist goes even to that extant of knowing their inner most thoughts and motives. Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga may be cited as an instance to this point.

The First Person Narrative:- There is another type of novel where the story is told in the first person. The narrator very often refers to himself as ‘I’. This technique is called the first person narrative. By using this methods, the novelist may make his story more realistic and more credible. Of course, the novelist can enjoy little scope in this method to look very deeply in to the minds and motives of the other characters. In David Copperfield for example, Dickens can only show us the world through David 's eyes, while the other people in the novel can only be observed from the outside. Steer forth is heartless and wicked, Emily is good and innocent. But the readers have no means of discovering why they were as they were, or what made then behave as they did. However, a novelist, who tells his story through ‘I’ must accept certain restrictions, though he can often make the narrative stronger and lifelike.
Epistolary Novel:- Sometimes a novelist decides to tell his story through a series of letters, that is, the unfoldment of story in the novel is made through the exchange of letters among different characters concerned. This method has some extra advantages. Richardson makes use of this form to concentrate to the characters psychology and moral judgment. But in Pamela the reader may find it in hard to believe that the heroine, a simple domestic maidservant would be able to write so eloquently and such lengthy letters. Richardson perhaps realized the incredibility of this, and therefore he somewhat alters his stance in his next novel Clarissa Harlawe. The same device of letter method is also adopted in this second novel too. But the heroine is selected from a family with good education and culture. Understandably, the letters in Clarissa Harlawe seems less improbable than those in Pamela.

Dialogue in Novel:- There is still another method of writing novel which is technically called ‘Dialogue in Novel’. Introduction of conversation in a novel raises a bubble of controversy among those who think that dialogue is the monopoly of the dramatists alone. But this is not at all a tenable criticism. For, a reader of a novel may feel bore if the entire novel is told with simple narration or description, without getting it punched with frequent dialogue. But if a novel is stuffed with frequent conversation among the characters concerned, or, it become much more interesting for the readers. But the introduction of dialogue in a novel gives rise to one important problem for the novelist. His problem is that how can he be sure that his characters will speak in the sort of dialogues he selects. That is, a doctor must be made to talk like a doctor. A farmer must be made to talk like a farmer. A woman of fashion must be made to talk like a woman of fashion. So the novelist, like a dramatist, must have a ‘good ear’ to catch and imitate the speech habit and ‘tone of voice’ or ‘intonation’ of the characters in conversation. This is, no doubt, a difficult taste  but when executed appropriately, it becomes much amusing and interesting.

Stream of Conscious Novel:- Barring the age old method of story telling, there are some ‘interior monologue’ or ‘stream of consciousness technique’. Writers like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf use this technique with a wonderful success, following the principles of Freud. These novelists believe that some of the most important activities of human mind take place below the level of consciousness. They feel that the traditional method of telling story in the chronological order gives a picture of life which is atone inadequate, incomplete and superficial. In the year 1922 Joyce’s Ulysses is published creating a storm of controversy in the literary world. But on a close scrutiny it is found that the novelist has simply invited us to enter into the mind of his chief character Leopold Bloom to share his stream of consciousness to feel the incessant shower of innumerable atoms. Virginia Woolf and other modern novelists strongly uphold the efficiency of this technique to lay the human hearts bare, the major parts of which, to quote D. H. Lawrence, remains submerged like a chunk of ice in our subconscious and conscious world.
                      
Ardhendu De

Reference:An Introduction of English Literature to Foreign Students, R. J.Rees 

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