Take for instance the novel where I live. I could use any number of labels for the plot, or the plots, plural, of my story: Quest (which can overlap with a Hero story or a Voyage and return story); Face the monster (or at least my inner demons); Coming of age; Enigma; Whodunit; Comedy; Tragedy. All those elements and more are there because my author L believes we are all searching; and she believes we all have demons; and that many of us, whatever the age, are still growing up; that the people we love are impossible to figure out; that we get things wrong from time to time; that life gives us mysteries; and life is sometimes funny and sometimes tragic, and most of us manage to be at least a little heroic once in a while.

Here’s the beginning of an Alice Munro story L likes to think about. It’s called “Differently”: Georgia once took a creative writing course, and what the instructor told her was: Too many things. Too many things going on at the same time; also too many people. Think, he told her. What is the important thing? What do you want us to pay attention to? Think.

L reminded me that Alice Munro isn’t saying these words, the narrator of her story is saying them. It’s worth remembering, L said, that narrators are often saying more than one thing at once, and sometimes not the obvious thing. Tell me about it. I guess L forgot for the moment that I am a narrator.

Still.

I wouldn’t be so bold as to draw parallels between the work of my author L and the work of Alice Munro, I’m just pointing out that there’s more than one way to think about how to shape a story, be it long or short. Whether a person succeeds and to what extent, that’s a separate question.

As for Georgia, the character in the Alice Munro story, here’s how the second paragraph begins: Eventually she wrote a story that was about her grandfather killing chickens, and the instructor seemed to be pleased with it. Georgia herself thought it was a fake. She made a long list of all the things that had been left out and handed it in as an appendix to the story.

Oh, for a simple life. Story, I mean. Oh, for a simple story.

Mentioned in this post: Voyage and return; Enigma; Face the monster (or at least my inner demons); Coming of age; Whodunit; Comedy; Tragedy

The story “Differently” appears in Friend of My Youth; here’s a wonderful piece about Alice Munro’s work, written by Jonathan Franzen.