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Geographies of a Story

Geographies of a Story

I think of a novel as having geographies. They don’t have to be necessarily separated by vast distances but they are separated by space. For example in the PBS series Downton Abby most of the story takes place in a single location, however that place has distinctive social geographies. So in my view geography is made up of space, both physical and social. For example there is the servant’s space, the lords and ladies space as well as the space of various rooms in which the action unfolds. In most novels this space tends to be geographical. For example in Game of Thrones (GOT) there is the Wall, Winterfell, King’s landing and the lands across the sea. What I find most intriguing about GOT is the way the characters evolve in the various geographies and then migrate into others. In my class The Exploratory Writing Workshop I see the same effect developing naturally as the students write their vignettes.

One student shows events based upon his heritage beginning in Italy. These events center in two geographies, a wartime location in the Alps in WW1 and also a small Italian town. Then they shift across the Atlantic into New York City where they become the construction site of the Subway and the Italian Ghetto. The central character moves through and about these geographies and the reader gets to see the journey and the supporting characters, one of whom moves with him.

Another student is writing a Western. In this novel the central character begins as a sharpshooter in the civil war, goes to Texas and joins the Rangers, then to a town where he meets his girlfriend and finally to a place for the final shoot out.

Identifying these geographies helps the writer set up the components for telling a good story. The reader gets to see a before snapshot of the Central Character in each environment and see how they change. There comes a life changing event in one that influences what happens in the others. The writer sees clearly the premise and themes of the story and can set up the symbolism and foreshadowing the leads from one to the next.

If a writer just follows their pencil or keyboard this basic structure cannot emerge as clearly as it does when they write a few exploratory vignettes to begin with and then begin to develop these into a simple and comprehensive outline. After the writer gets a few of these vignettes under their belt, the outline flows much more fluidly and it is actually fun to consider the components and consciously poke them into the framework.