1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,880 [MUSIC PLAYING] 2 00:00:08,170 --> 00:00:11,710 The novel is about time. 3 00:00:11,710 --> 00:00:17,080 You cannot write a novel that does not involve time in some 4 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:18,310 way. 5 00:00:18,310 --> 00:00:21,340 So Leon Edel, the biographer of Henry James, 6 00:00:21,340 --> 00:00:27,430 said, if it's a novel, there's going to be a clock in it. 7 00:00:27,430 --> 00:00:29,260 Time passes. 8 00:00:29,260 --> 00:00:30,000 In a lyric poem, maybe not. 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,880 In a lyric poem, maybe not. 10 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,270 That could be about a timeless moment. 11 00:00:35,270 --> 00:00:38,770 But in a novel, time happens. 12 00:00:38,770 --> 00:00:39,580 People change. 13 00:00:44,150 --> 00:00:49,570 The clock hands move, or least the digital ticks happen. 14 00:00:49,570 --> 00:00:52,940 But there are two ways of viewing time. 15 00:00:52,940 --> 00:00:55,740 One is circular, and one is linear. 16 00:00:55,740 --> 00:00:59,880 So the circular kind of time revolves, 17 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:00,000 and that's where we get analog clocks. 18 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,849 and that's where we get analog clocks. 19 00:01:04,849 --> 00:01:06,710 That's where we get sundials. 20 00:01:06,710 --> 00:01:09,290 That's where we get the idea that there are seasons. 21 00:01:09,290 --> 00:01:10,910 They keep moving around. 22 00:01:10,910 --> 00:01:13,520 Lunar cycles-- they're circular. 23 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:17,540 The other way of viewing time is that it's linear. 24 00:01:17,540 --> 00:01:20,480 It begins at the beginning, garden of Eden. 25 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,020 It ends at the end, Book of Revelations. 26 00:01:24,020 --> 00:01:26,540 And you go from here to there. 27 00:01:26,540 --> 00:01:30,000 And that's where we get people talking 28 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:30,110 And that's where we get people talking 29 00:01:30,110 --> 00:01:32,840 about the wrong side of history, et cetera, et cetera. 30 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,510 Actually, there is no wrong side of history or right 31 00:01:35,510 --> 00:01:39,460 side of history because history is always changing. 32 00:01:39,460 --> 00:01:40,700 It's the wheel of fortune. 33 00:01:40,700 --> 00:01:43,550 And in the wheel of fortune, characters 34 00:01:43,550 --> 00:01:45,800 rise up on one side of it. 35 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,770 They may achieve a moment of having a crown at the top. 36 00:01:48,770 --> 00:01:51,230 Then they're thrown off the other side, and some of them 37 00:01:51,230 --> 00:01:54,750 are crushed underneath. 38 00:01:54,750 --> 00:01:58,890 There's nothing about human history that is inevitable. 39 00:01:58,890 --> 00:02:00,000 What kind of time, however, are you 40 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:00,440 What kind of time, however, are you 41 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:02,810 going to have in your novel? 42 00:02:02,810 --> 00:02:08,030 Are you going to have a kind of time in which things come round 43 00:02:08,030 --> 00:02:09,560 at the end to something like what 44 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:11,250 they were at the beginning? 45 00:02:11,250 --> 00:02:14,600 Is it going to be "The Mayor of Casterbridge"? 46 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:20,020 Is it going to be from rags to riches to rags? 47 00:02:20,020 --> 00:02:22,550 That would be a circular motion. 48 00:02:22,550 --> 00:02:26,960 Or are you going to take as your model 49 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,000 a kind of inevitable progress in which everything 50 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,200 a kind of inevitable progress in which everything 51 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,020 is going to get better and better until you reach 52 00:02:36,020 --> 00:02:40,430 the city of God, the classless society, whatever that goal may 53 00:02:40,430 --> 00:02:41,780 be? 54 00:02:41,780 --> 00:02:49,010 You probably have some kind of idea in your head about time, 55 00:02:49,010 --> 00:02:52,340 whether time, as Robertson Davies said, 56 00:02:52,340 --> 00:02:58,550 wounds all heels, whether time brings a just resolution, 57 00:02:58,550 --> 00:03:00,000 whether hidden things come to light, whether a balance is 58 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,930 whether hidden things come to light, whether a balance is 59 00:03:02,930 --> 00:03:04,730 achieved, or whether you're going 60 00:03:04,730 --> 00:03:08,660 to have an ironic end in which bad people triumph 61 00:03:08,660 --> 00:03:11,830 and good people are crushed. 62 00:03:11,830 --> 00:03:12,590 Your choice. 63 00:03:12,590 --> 00:03:15,542 [MUSIC PLAYING] 64 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,670 How do you indicate to the reader 65 00:03:21,670 --> 00:03:23,320 when you're moving from the present 66 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:25,580 to the past and vice versa? 67 00:03:25,580 --> 00:03:27,970 Well, there's a number of pretty obvious devices. 68 00:03:27,970 --> 00:03:29,890 You can certainly put the time. 69 00:03:29,890 --> 00:03:30,000 A lot of people do that. 70 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:31,570 A lot of people do that. 71 00:03:31,570 --> 00:03:39,070 So May, 1940, April, 1977-- 72 00:03:39,070 --> 00:03:41,500 you can do that. 73 00:03:41,500 --> 00:03:46,030 You can put in some indicators. 74 00:03:46,030 --> 00:03:49,330 Clothing is always a pretty good clue. 75 00:03:49,330 --> 00:03:52,550 Lulabelle adjusted her bustle. 76 00:03:52,550 --> 00:03:57,380 The simplest way if it's a time-sensitive structure 77 00:03:57,380 --> 00:04:00,000 is simply to put the date. 78 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:00,530 is simply to put the date. 79 00:04:00,530 --> 00:04:01,220 That's not hard. 80 00:04:01,220 --> 00:04:08,280 Just as if you're changing person, put their name. 81 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,540 And don't make everybody a redhead. 82 00:04:10,540 --> 00:04:12,800 That's very confusing. 83 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:14,960 And don't have them all have names that begin 84 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:19,170 with M or any other letter. 85 00:04:19,170 --> 00:04:21,829 Make the names different so we can actually 86 00:04:21,829 --> 00:04:24,620 remember who these people are. 87 00:04:24,620 --> 00:04:25,720 Thank you very much. 88 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,000 And I'm keen on maps if it's an historical drama that requires 89 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,290 And I'm keen on maps if it's an historical drama that requires 90 00:04:33,290 --> 00:04:36,140 a lot of moving around. 91 00:04:36,140 --> 00:04:41,120 So where would we be in Lord of the Rings without those maps? 92 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,280 We like to know where things are. 93 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:47,900 And that, too, is a very old device, most noteworthily 94 00:04:47,900 --> 00:04:49,850 in "Gulliver's Travels." 95 00:04:49,850 --> 00:04:52,670 [MUSIC PLAYING] 96 00:04:56,430 --> 00:04:58,620 The problem with flashbacks is that you can't 97 00:04:58,620 --> 00:05:00,000 make them too long or tedious. 98 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,320 make them too long or tedious. 99 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,360 So too much exposition explanation, then we kind of 100 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,590 nod off. 101 00:05:07,590 --> 00:05:11,340 Remember that time when, and he was married 102 00:05:11,340 --> 00:05:13,770 to her, but before that-- 103 00:05:13,770 --> 00:05:17,080 do we really need to know that? 104 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,650 So tell us what we really need to know in 105 00:05:20,650 --> 00:05:25,630 as engaging a way as you can so that we don't nod off. 106 00:05:25,630 --> 00:05:27,490 But unless you begin with something 107 00:05:27,490 --> 00:05:30,000 that's going to hold our attention, 108 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,510 that's going to hold our attention, 109 00:05:32,510 --> 00:05:34,557 we may not stay with you. 110 00:05:34,557 --> 00:05:37,359 [MUSIC PLAYING] 111 00:05:40,630 --> 00:05:45,220 I think it depends what sort of story you're telling. 112 00:05:45,220 --> 00:05:50,800 And sometimes you're jumping around in the space and time. 113 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,010 So it's the "meanwhile" device, which 114 00:05:54,010 --> 00:05:56,940 Charles Dickens used a lot. 115 00:05:56,940 --> 00:06:00,000 So meanwhile, unbeknownst to Oliver Twist, his evil brother 116 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,650 So meanwhile, unbeknownst to Oliver Twist, his evil brother 117 00:06:02,650 --> 00:06:05,710 was plotting to demolish him. 118 00:06:05,710 --> 00:06:10,780 Neither group knows what the other ones are up to. 119 00:06:10,780 --> 00:06:17,920 And then the beauty of it is watching it all converge. 120 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:22,400 Some of these devices were very explored 121 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,340 in the 19th century novel. 122 00:06:25,340 --> 00:06:28,070 So "Wuthering Heights," for instance, 123 00:06:28,070 --> 00:06:30,000 begins with somebody unrelated to the people in the story. 124 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,050 begins with somebody unrelated to the people in the story. 125 00:06:32,050 --> 00:06:34,970 It's this gentleman who for his health 126 00:06:34,970 --> 00:06:38,780 wants to rent a house in the countryside. 127 00:06:38,780 --> 00:06:42,410 And that's how he gets into the Heathcliff story. 128 00:06:42,410 --> 00:06:46,610 So the frame device is this unrelated man 129 00:06:46,610 --> 00:06:49,610 being told about the Heathcliff story 130 00:06:49,610 --> 00:06:51,860 by the old housekeeper who has known 131 00:06:51,860 --> 00:06:53,840 the family all of this time. 132 00:06:53,840 --> 00:07:00,000 We never hear the story told from within either Heathcliff 133 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,485 We never hear the story told from within either Heathcliff 134 00:07:05,485 --> 00:07:12,350 or Catherine Earnshaw because to do 135 00:07:12,350 --> 00:07:14,840 that would diminish their stature 136 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:20,330 as larger-than-life romantic figures. 137 00:07:20,330 --> 00:07:23,300 We see them through the eyes of others. 138 00:07:23,300 --> 00:07:29,420 We observe them through the eyes of lesser mortals commenting 139 00:07:29,420 --> 00:07:30,000 upon them. 140 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,340 upon them. 141 00:07:31,340 --> 00:07:33,250 But we do cut back in time. 142 00:07:33,250 --> 00:07:34,250 We start in the present. 143 00:07:34,250 --> 00:07:35,960 We cut back in time. 144 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:36,980 We hear the story. 145 00:07:36,980 --> 00:07:40,784 And then we go forward in time to see how it works out. 146 00:07:40,784 --> 00:07:43,628 [MUSIC PLAYING] 147 00:07:47,420 --> 00:07:49,387 Leaping around in time-- 148 00:07:49,387 --> 00:07:51,470 well, I think you're going to have to ask yourself 149 00:07:51,470 --> 00:07:54,530 why you want to do that. 150 00:07:54,530 --> 00:07:57,040 It's the same as any of these things. 151 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,000 Is it going to work with your story to do that with the story 152 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,240 Is it going to work with your story to do that with the story 153 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:04,610 that you are telling? 154 00:08:04,610 --> 00:08:09,620 So there aren't any abstract tips as such. 155 00:08:09,620 --> 00:08:15,310 I think, again, it's a matter of try it this way. 156 00:08:15,310 --> 00:08:18,500 See if it works for your story. 157 00:08:18,500 --> 00:08:21,460 And if it doesn't, the wastepaper basket 158 00:08:21,460 --> 00:08:24,040 is your friend. 159 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,920 Try it another way. 160 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,000 You have infinite freedom within your world 161 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,330 You have infinite freedom within your world 162 00:08:32,330 --> 00:08:35,539 that you're creating until you send it 163 00:08:35,539 --> 00:08:38,870 out into the rest of the world, at which point 164 00:08:38,870 --> 00:08:40,919 you lose control over it. 165 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:44,450 So it is a megalomaniac's dream, writing a novel. 166 00:08:44,450 --> 00:08:46,700 You can do anything. 167 00:08:46,700 --> 00:08:48,860 But then you have to ask yourself 168 00:08:48,860 --> 00:08:54,600 is this working for my book that I'm writing right now. 169 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:59,720 So don't move from the abstract into the concrete. 170 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:00,000 Move from the concrete. 171 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:01,850 Move from the concrete. 172 00:09:01,850 --> 00:09:05,480 Work with your hands, as it were. 173 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,510 Trees don't grow out of air. 174 00:09:07,510 --> 00:09:10,210 They grow out of dirt.