Lady Gray: The Beginning of a Novel
Graduation Year
2018
Publication Date
Spring 2018
Abstract
[Archives staff derived this excerpt from the author’s Introduction.] My novel takes place in a multi-national, magical world… The story focuses on the opposing forces working in Alvera…The plot is shaped by the actions taken by the different characters to achieve their goals, and how these actions are motivated by the fictional world…Plot and world-building are not direct substitutes for each other. Rather, I began to think that the plot and world-building are complimentary support structures in a story that work together to create the foundation for a complex narrative. The plot is the super structure of the novel. It is the device that reveals how the character live and interact with the fictional world. The world is the base for the story, the physical setting that the action of the plot is rooted in. But the world functions in more than one way. It is the physical setting of the novel, a base for the story to grow out of, but it is also an active participant in the story. In fact, so active was my world that I began to think of it as a character. Just as characters in a novel have motivations and intentions fueled by their backstory that is shown through the plot. The characters in a work of fiction often interact with the world as they do with each other. This means that when the characters and world interact, details and events are aligning to create the plot of the novel. The fictional world helps to create parameters that give the events of the plot meaning, while the plot provides the overall structure to release the plethora of information that world-building and character development generates. The fictional world, thought of as a character, is another element in a world of fiction to help create characters’ intentions and motivations that furthers the plot of the story.
Disciplines
English Language and Literature
Recommended Citation
Steck, Savanna, "Lady Gray: The Beginning of a Novel" (2018). Honors Projects. 43.
https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/eng_honproj/43
Comments
At the request of the author, this paper is not available for download. Bona fide researchers may consult it by visiting the University Archives in Tate Archives & Special Collections; contact archives@iwu.edu for details.