Pre-reverse-engineering = note taking.
(Note that you don't need and probably don't want to take the same level of notes for every book you read, and may choose to focus on a limited number of issues during this workshop exercise. This overview applies to reading in general.)
Determine to make a book your own by writing directly in it. Library books or any book you’re not comfortable marking are less helpful for this reason. I find notations in a physical book easier to re-read later, but perhaps you’re comfortable making e-book notes. Make this into an art, developed to accommodate your own needs over a lifetime of literary analysis. You might consider: writing your name and date read on the front flap; then write new dates every time you do a substantive new read (Nabokov says “the only real reading is re-reading”). Make structural notes (i.e. ongoing word count/ dividing into scenes and summary sections), craft notes (noting interesting uses of various elements), content notes (about ideas in the work), and idiosyncractic notes (“getting bored here!” or “this reminds me of in author’s previous book…”.)
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| Nabokov's notes on copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis-- he sure didn't mind writing in his books, and not only commented on other authors, but corrected them--mercilessly. In this case, he strongly disagrees with the translator that Kafka's famous insect was a "cockroach" at all. |
Talk back to your own notes over time. Envision every book as a conversation between you and the author, and later you and your evolving self. Make the book itself your mentor. To refrain from underlining too much (and interrupting the reading process), develop your own marginalia shorthand codes.* Sidenote: The Talmud is a Jewish text with one text (the Mishnah or oral law) at the center and various commentators’ talk-back notes and varying interpretations ringing the text. Be a Talmudic scholar of your own favorite novels. Perhaps someday, we’ll have the pleasure of reading classic texts ringed by comments or hyperlinked to asides from a range of our favorite contemporary authors; wouldn’t that be fun?
*for example, some I use:
- Dg-dialogue
- Dp-description
- Dt-significant, telling detail
- S-setting
- V-strong voice
- M-metaphor
- POV-some interesting or unexpected pov choice
- N-specific narration issue, for example; UR-unreliable narration
- T-tension (up or down arrow)
- TS-time signature (marking where we are in time)
- I-key image
- R-revelation
- Th-theme
- Int – interesting (usually more an issue of content than craft element)
- Emotional effects: H=Humorous, P=poignant (or track whatever emotional responses matter most to you; I happen to put two dots under an emotion word so that I can track reader emotional response separately from craft notes)
Difference between your own notations and “school” notations from our youth: I don’t track everything in every book. I track whatever makes a book most exceptional distinctive in its own right, and the elements I am struggling to use better in a work of my own. That way, if I’m having a POV issue or trying to come up with better details or descriptions, for example, I can thumb through a handful of favorite books and be reminded of my own favorite examples.
NOW FOR THE FOCUS OF THIS CLASS: REVERSE ENGINEERING
1. Reverse engineering:
Always start with by counting the words on a typical full page (you can write this on a back flap for easy reference later—rounded #s are just fine), then multiple by total # of pages to get total for book. For example, Gatbsy 300 words per page X 184 pages = 55,200 (probably closer to 52K since there is blank space at beginning and end of chapters. Either number serves our purposes. This is a very, very short novel—about half or two-thirds the number of words of most published novels today. Its brevity helps us see its structure.) Knowing approximate words per page will allow you to estimate scene and act length, analyze pacing, and so on, making comparisons between a published book and your own manuscript in progress. Feel free to round and estimate very roughly to speed things up (i.e. know approximate wordcount for a third, half, or whole page, using rounded numbers that are easier to add – and don’t bother with marking any more accurately than that). The process will get much faster after you’ve done it for a few chapters.
2. Mark each scene.
This is trickier than it sounds, and note—I’ve never yet done it on a first read, because for me, that would disrupt the reading process (even more than marking marginalia notes). It does not matter if two people mark or count scenes differently, since some of us are lumpers and some of us are splitters—some will interpret most a chapter as a long continuous scene (perhaps broken into parts, i.e. 1a, 1b) while others may start new scene numbering every time there is a break in time or change in characters present (scene 1, scene 2). It only matters that you distill the lessons for yourself. As you stumble between distinguishing one scene from another, or scene from summary between new scenes, you may start noticing those elements in your own work and the novels you read, noting in particular which authors rely more on scene, which on summary (and how summary is written), how they transition, and so on.3. Make a simple chart
(Excel-style pasted into word) prior to doing any fancier graphic representation. Basic elements to include might be chapter/scene numbers, short description of scenes, # of words, range of words (where it falls into book – i.e. 400 word section of expo that falls between word 20,150 and 20,550 – having all these numbers pre-figured will make later representations much easier), page numbers in book, and anything else you might want to note in separate columns. It's easiest to write this in present tense voice, as treatments (summaries in the screenplay trade) are conventionally written.
Narrative outlining can be an art that is your own to refine. Note what matters most to you, and especially what will best help you remember the scene and understand its significance. I've erred on the side of a rough and dirty summary because if I wrote this too carefully I'd never get an entire book outlined. See Gatsby example. Someone with a real knack might more consistently note setting and characters for every scene, how each scene advances the plot, thematic implications, level of tension, and so on. For a different novel, I'd probably create a different kind of chart. That's part of the fun!
Narrative outlining can be an art that is your own to refine. Note what matters most to you, and especially what will best help you remember the scene and understand its significance. I've erred on the side of a rough and dirty summary because if I wrote this too carefully I'd never get an entire book outlined. See Gatsby example. Someone with a real knack might more consistently note setting and characters for every scene, how each scene advances the plot, thematic implications, level of tension, and so on. For a different novel, I'd probably create a different kind of chart. That's part of the fun!
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald\
Chap
|
Scene # (E is expo or sum)
|
Content
|
Pgs
|
# words
|
Word range with cumulative wordcount as second number
| |
1
|
E
|
Narrator Nick Carraway reflects about judging people and about “gorgeous Gatsby.”
|
5-6
|
500
|
1-500
| |
1
|
E
|
Nick explains how he came to be living at West Egg: provides family history, schooling and brief time in war, going east to learn bond business, finding house. First mention of Gatsby,who owns house to the right, explanatory intro of Daisy (second cousin) and her husband Tom Buchanan (wistful former footballer, millionaire).
|
7-10
|
1200
|
500-1700
| |
1
|
1.1a
|
Nick goes to dinner at Buchanans’ house. Nick meets up with Tom—hulking, gruff--who shows him his house. Jordan and Daisy, listlessly lounging on a couch (image of them floating as if in a balloon), are met for the first time. They catch up: memories of Chicago, Buchanan baby asleep, general lethargy, mention of Gatsby, attempt to plan something, dinner on the porch, idle banter with tension between Tom and Daisy, Tom is racist, Daisy is witty. Nick’s attempt to mention Gatsby interrupted (but this foreshadows his later importance). Tom takes a call. With Daisy also out of the room, Jordan explains that Tom has a mistress. They return; phone rings again. After dinner, Daisy takes Nick on tour, confesses a “very bad time,” Tom was missing even at birth of daughter, scene closes with emphasis of sophistication, insincerity, falsity, unhappiness.
|
10-22
|
3150
|
1700-4850
| |
1
|
1.1b
|
Taking leave of the lethargic Buchanans, Nick realizes who Jordan is (tennis player); more aggressive teasing banter between Tom and Daisy; Nick denies a former engagement. Reflection on Tom’s interest in stale ideas (Nordic racism) and unsurprising affair.
|
22-24
|
800
|
4850-5650
| |
1
|
1.1c
|
Nick drives home, spots mysterious figure of Gatsby out surveying “what share was his of our local heavens,” Gatsby seems to be trembling, pointed toward green light of Daisy’s distant dock. 400
|
25-26
|
400
|
5650-6050
| |
2
|
E
|
27-28
|
300
|
6050-6350
| ||
2
|
2.1
|
Nick meets Tom’s mistress, Myrtle. Train pauses at drawbridge site near ashes and Dr. E. sign; Tom gets Nick off train to meet Myrtle in George Wilson’s repair shop. Tom banters tensely about buying car (still being repaired) from George. Tom covertly arranges to meet Myrtle.
|
750
|
6350-7100
| ||
2
|
2.2a
|
Nick, Tom, Myrtle arrive in New York. They take train, get cab, look at puppies for sale on the street, Tom buys her a bitch mutt. (450).
|
31-32
|
450
|
7100-7550
| |
2
|
2.2b
|
Party is held at New York hotel; conversation, lower class people putting on airs. Nick, Tom, & Myrtle drive to Fifth Ave and Nick tries to separate. In hotel, they invite more people; they drink; Nick tries to sit apart, reading. Others arrive, in summ: descriptions of sister, her husband, and re-dressed Myrtle. Partiers praise each other and talking about Mr McKee’s potential photography of Mrs. Wilson, who is trying to appear high class (she sweeps into the kitchen “implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there.” Tom is bored. Second mention of Gatsby (37), with Myrtle’s sister Catherine saying she’d be afraid of him, and also telling Nick that both Tom and Myrtle hate their spouses. Myrtle overhears and agrees. Myrtle brags about Monte Carlo, Catherine brags about almost marrying a “little kyke” who was “below me.” Nick keeps being pulled back into the sordid confessions. Brief summary: sandwiches ordered; and reflection: nice image of him feeling both inside and outside scene, looking up at windows, both enchanted and repelled (clarifying again Nick’s role as narrator, witness, confidante, as established in beginning). Myrtle explains her first meeting with Tom on train. Myrtle babbles on about things to buy. (1700).
|
32-41
|
1700
|
7550-9250
| |
2
|
2.2c
|
Party continues; violence erupts; party suddenly ends. Summ: time elapses, 9 to 10 o’clock. Mr McKee asleep (with spot of shaving cream on his face that Nick wipes off. “People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each, found each other a few feet away.” Suddenly,Mrs.Wilson is shouting Daisy, and in understated paragraph, Tom breaks her nose with his open hand. In brief sum: panic and bleeding and wailing. Mr McKee leave, part, and Nick – drunk, cold, half-asleep—waits for 4 oclock train.
|
41-42
|
400
|
9250-9650
|
4. Make a more visual graphic depiction
Here's a hint of the Prezi I'll share later, but just a quick screenshot preview:
focused on areas of interest to you, which could be:
*SCENES AND CHAPTERS AS BUILDING BLOCKS OF NOVEL
*SAMPLE SCENES OR CHAPTERS LOOKED AT IN CLOSER DETAIL, TO NOTE SUBTLE ISSUES OF SUMMARY/REFLECTION/EXPOSITION VS SCENE ETC
*THEME – REPEATED WORDS OR IDEAS
*IMAGERY
*FORESHADOWING
*REVELATION: HOW AND WHERE IT UNFOLDS
*RISE AND FALL IN TENSION OR YOUR OWN READING INTEREST
*CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
*POV CHANGES OR ISSUES
*OR TIME MANAGEMENT (SEE #6 BELOW)
5. As one reverse engineering element of note,
you might choose to pay attention the story’s duration, or how much time it covers, as well as how time-shifts are used. Management of time is an essential element of structure. Gatsby’s main present-day storyline covers a summer. A season or a year is a common unit of “classic time”—one of the most common duration choices we see in modern to contemporary novels. Older novels, especially bildungsromans (“development novels” in German) often covered a cradle-to-grave lifetime, or something close to it. Kunstlerromans (“artist novels”) often cover most of a lifetime, especially than span of time in which an artist discovers and develops his art and responds to the demand of society, ultimately finding his role in it. Coming-of-age novels may cover just the most intense periods of a person’s maturation, which may be a season or may be several years. Some modernist novels (written in the same generation as Gatsby but more experimental) condense time – think Mrs. Dalloway or Ulysses, which each take place in one day. Some post-modern novels take the experiment further. Nicholson Baker’s Mezzanine takes place over a lunchtime break of 20 minutes to 1 hour. Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow runs backwards in time. The ultimate meaning in a novel—including whether, how, and at what pace characters change, and how an individual story interacts with forces of history and culture—is often revealed in its management of time.
