John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
Warning: This Crosscut Technique May Make Your Story Too Exciting
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Hi Bookfoxers, Debra Sparks, in her craft book "And Then Something Happens" talks about the benefits of the Crosscut Technique. She's really talking about how to create suspense in your book, and notices that all these books and television shows kept on doing the same thing: jumping to a new storyline. Why? What's the point of leaving a story we're invested in, just to make the reader step into a new piece of the story with different characters? Well, that's the magic of a crosscut. A crosscut:
Let's expand on each of those. First, crosscutting creates suspense. You're creating suspense because you opened some curiosity loops in the first story, and the reader is hungry for resolution. A crosscut creates an stopping point, just like the end of a chapter, and a stopping point is always an opportunity for a cliffhanger. Normally, with a cliffhanger, we get to see what happens if we move to the next chapter. But a crosscut delays the cliffhanger's resolution for even longer -- we don't just have to read the next chapter, we have to read two or three more to pick up this story again and learn the next plot point. It's like a cliffhanger on steroids. For example, Bran Stark in Game of Thrones gets pushed out of a window. Do we get to see what happens to him in the next chapter? No, no we do not. We have to wait for multiple chapters until we learn that he survived the fall, and is recovering, but will be crippled. Which brings us to the second point ... Second, a crosscut strategy is all about delay.
One of the cornerstones of storytelling is delay. Don't give everything all at once, make the reader plough through the pages to get the narrative catnip at the end. I mean, what would the Odyssey be if Homer delivered Odysseus to his home after a few days? No, he has to suffer through extremely long delays, which means the reader has to suffer through those delays as well:
They delays make the story, though. There isn't a story without delays. Before we get to the third point, about creating mystery, let's have a word from our sponsor.
Third, crosscutting creates mystery. For example, I was recently reading a Vonnegut novel -- not one of his famous ones, like "Slaughterhouse Five," or "Cat's Cradle" -- but "Sirens of Titan," which is an absolutely crazy novel. Halfway through the novel, Vonnegut switches from the main character of Malachi Constant to a character called Unk. Huh? Most readers feel pretty bewildered at this point. But slowly, the reader comes to realize that Unk is Malachi Constant, it's just he's been brainwashed and his memories have been erased. Another great example of mystery creation through crosscutting is "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham. It's a three-part storyline, concerned with three women (one of them being Virginia Woolf, as she writes "Mrs. Dalloway.") And when Cunningham jumps from character to character, the reader initially is confused. But then we slowly start to see the connections between all three storylines. "Mrs. Dalloway" is a linking device:
Each storyline takes place over the course of a single day, mirroring the structure of "Mrs. Dalloway." And all three stories explore similar themes, like mental illness, sexuality, and societal expectations. Writers, Beware: Normally, crosscutting happens when you have multiple POVs -- it's not as effective if you have a first person narrator. But whenever you're writing from an omniscient narrator, it's an excellent technique to use. Best, John Matthew Fox of Bookfox PS. I know I haven't been emailing recently, and I apologize. Right now I'm putting all my efforts in developing my Youtube channel, so please check out those videos. |
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John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
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