The unknowable, mysterious, mythical, mystical, god-like and celestial.
This week we’re taking S U P E R N A T U R A L.
I was this many weeks old when I learned that the clown from Stephen King’s IT wasn’t only the creepiest, weirdest guy on the planet living in the sewers tempting little children down into his lair with candy and sail boats. (In case you can’t tell, I’ve never seen or read IT before.) Let me explain how this revelation came to be.
This week’s alternative topic might be considered C O N F L I C T, but I wanted to play around with the supernatural a bit too. I recently taught a lesson on the six types of conflict in literature to my Intro to Fiction students and had them list out examples from each type of conflict. The basic conflicts in literature are as follows:
1. Character vs. Self
2. Character vs. Character
3. Character vs. Nature
4. Character vs Culture/Society
5. Character vs. Technology
6. Character vs. Supernatural
A story will typically have its main conflict, one of the six above, and also a secondary (or even third) conflict to create even more tension and help carve out some unique details to make the plot stand out among its trope.
A character vs. nature movie like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s San Andreas also includes the dynamic between his ex wife and children (among other interpersonal tensions). In the novel (then film) The Revenant, a character vs. nature story morphs into a character vs. character story when the protagonist Glass harnesses his will to live as a means of enacting revenge on those who betrayed him.
If we’re talking supernatural, which we are, then we might look to M. Night Shyamalan’s Sixth Sense. We know there’s a character vs. supernatural element, considering the child can see ghosts. There’s also a character vs. society issue when we’re feeling bad for the young boy who is ‘different’ from his peers and gets teased (and experiences tension with his single mom who is trying to make ends meet), and then there’s even a lingering character vs. character situation with Bruce Willis and his wife. There are a lot of conflicts intermingling to create suspense. This is good news for any story.
Conflict and tension are what force the reader to turn the page. You hardly have a story without it.
However, the conflict needs to be appropriate to the type of story you’re telling. A character vs. character enemies-to-lovers trope of the breezy rom-com variety might not have life-and-death stakes akin to something from a character vs. nature story (though kudos to a writer who manages to bring out the big guns). However, there are plenty of romance stories that incorporate supernatural elements into the conflict mix—it’s a whole genre in itself. No matter what type of world or conflict, cause and effect need to be established in a way that feels logical to readers.
So, like I was saying, my students threw out the novel/film(s) IT when I asked for examples of character vs. supernatural. I halted with a tiny piece of chalk squeezed between my fingers, hovering slightly over the board. I turned and looked at them, confused. “It’s about a clown, right?” My students know I am not one for scary stories. “No!” they said. “He’s a demon from outer space.” Now, you can imagine my surprise (my horror) when I was informed that the creepy guy in the clown suit from IT was not only wearing a creepy clown suit but also happened to be a demon. And then, so they tell me, not only a demon but there’s something to do with outer space involved. In truth, I don’t need to know anything else. It was ick enough before I knew these details. All of this to say, kudos to King. This is about adding another notch in the bedpost of tension, conflict and high stakes, all while keeping some level of verisimilitude (potential realness in cause and effect or in the reality of the story, even if it’s so far outside our own reality) because pushing the conflicts and tensions in any story is a worthy experiment.
So, this all got me thinking about the character vs. supernatural trope and how we work with conflict in genre. Manmade Constellations is literary fiction tagged with a subheading as contemporary romance because there’s some love stuff, also as small-town lit because that’s where it’s set, so there are almost no elements of supernatural anything. There’s a brief character vs. supernatural conflict with the character of John, though it happened in his past, not in the temporal setting of the novel.
This in-class discussion piqued my curiosity, though, and I began to wonder what type of supernatural story I might like to tell.
(Hint: there’s a small amount of mystical in the novel, Skipped a Generation, I’m about to turn into the editors at Blackstone this month, but it’s still so grounded in our world, I almost forgot that as I was typing this. It’s more supersticious than anything, but there’s some generational mysticism playing out too. Get excited!)
Even if I never quite leave my sturdy bubble of lit-fic, it’s idea-generating and fun to consider what aspects of the mystical most interests me as a writer. And for you all as artists, if it does call to you, how might you blend a bit of the supernatural into the material world? If you’re a sturdy realist, consider what elements of the supernatural most interest you. You might already be a writer of the fantastical and magical, and if so, then this week it might be useful to consider how the supernatural works as a conflict builder and what other types of conflict you weave into your stories to keep the pages turning. Also, if we take a lesson from King, how can you twist the genre by adding stakes and bringing it to the next level (a la clown demon alien)?
The truth is I never read the Twilight books. But it doesn’t matter if I didn’t read them because everyone else did. I did watch the movies, and it’s wild to consider all the conflicts at play! First of all this girl is clumsy and full of insecurities. (Character vs self.) But it’s not just a story of a teenage girl, struggling to fit in in a new place, she also discovers that vampires are real. (Character vs supernatural.) But watch out, there’s also forbidden love. And not just forbidden love, but also a love triangle between a vampire, human girl and werewolf! (Character vs character / supernatural vs supernatural / vampire vs. werewolf.) Not just that, but there are all kinds of cultural power structures in play! The vampire government is freaky, and the wolves must follow the orders of their alpha. (Character vs. society.)
When you aren’t sure where to take your story or you find yourself worrying that there’s positively nothing left to write about, dig into the six types of conflict and test whether there’s some new tension you can bring into your characters’ lives for them to contend with.
I’ll admit, though, that I believe all fiction is a bit supernatural.
Let me explain. When I call my students writer-gods, what I mean is that they are creating a world and orchestrating everything in it. They decide the fate of each and every one of the characters, so essentially, those people in the story have no free will. Yes, I understand characters are not real people, but that’s exactly why all fiction is a bit magical. There was a god, and that (writer)god created everything so that it fit together into a meaningful narrative. Whether that sounds supernatural to you or not, I don’t know. I’m still working on the philosophy, but I think there’s something there.
Last week I had a book event with Cadwell Turnbull, author of No Gods, No Monsters. In this first in a to-be-released trilogy, human society is forced to contend with the news (though unclear and uncertain) that monsters are, in fact, real.
I’m a huge fan of books where characters believe they live in one world (our world, as in the real world) only to discover that there’s an entire universe hidden beyond, living by different rules. It’s Harry Potter, it’s Lev Grossman’s The Magician series, Will from His Dark Materials contends with the truth of multiple universes, Bella from Twilight, the Pevensie kids in Narnia and the list goes on. Though Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is mostly set in our real world with its real-world rules, the standing stones in Craigh na Dun are a powerful mystical element that welcome a taste of druid-like witchcraft into the books. In contrast, in Deborah Harkness’s Discovery of Witches, we (readers) are the outsiders who become privy to this entire lineage of magical creatures that exists without our knowing, without any of the regular old humans in the book’s world knowing either.
The thrill of surprise when a character suddenly catapults from ignorance to knowledge is one thing, but the opportunity to learn about the world with this newcomer can be grounding for readers and offers the writer an opportunity to take it slow in describing this new world to outsiders without otherwise offering too much unexplained exposition. If we’re placed in a new world where all the characters are comfortable because it’s their only reality, the writer needs to adjust the introduction and exposition to fit the character’s perspective. A character won’t be surprised by flying humans if she’s seen it everyday. A character won’t be confused by the money system if it’s the only one they’ve known. This means writers and readers have more work to do in calibrating. This is fun too! But if there are a lot of new reality rules coming fast, sometimes it’s nice to relate to that character who’s only just discovering them with us.
Plus, it gives us mundane humans lingering hope that there’s a world of magic out there that we simply haven’t yet stumbled upon yet.
This week’s creative writing assignments:
Self-investigation: If you were writing a supernatural memoir, what would the premise be? Perhaps you believe in everything—gods, ghosts, mystical creatures and multiple universes (though that’s where physics and supernatural intersect, I suppose). Or perhaps it’s a bit more complicated than that. Just like each and every one of our characters will have their own understanding of the supernatural, so do each and every one of us out here in the real world. Spend some time putting your notions of the supernatural into words via journal, poetry or whatever form you prefer. Get a grasp of how you process the supernatural and see how it might fold into your creative work.
Conflict building: Whether you’re a supernatural writer or a nonfiction storytelling, conflict is what makes our stories move. A problem and a solution. A solution that falls apart. A life plan that doesn't go according to plan. Overcoming the odds. Can you name one single book without a conflict? Even the driest of history texts typically focuses on those moments of tension. Consider a story or project you’re working on and list out the types of conflict at play. Is there a way to add some higher stakes (remember our clown killer who also happens to be a demon from outer space)? Is there a secondary (or third) type of conflict that will add engaging tension (reminder: through cause and effect, as in it needs to feel realistic enough for readers)?
Supernatural: Even if, like me, your work falls squarely into the lit-fic material world, characters or situations can be introduced to add a supernatural element. There are plenty of people out there who believe, sometimes to extremes, that there is a world or beings beyond this one. Whether it will be your protagonist, antagonist or a side-character foil who tests or encourages your main character(s), what would it look like to introduce the supernatural into a project you’re already working on or in the framework of a story you’re conceiving? How would your own beliefs come into play? How would your characters respond to an unexplained supernatural situation, whether it actually happens or they’re simply asked or told about one from another character? Consider how character vs supernatural conflicts might assist in adding tension to your work.
Thanks for stopping by this week!
Take care,
Misha