This week: Drama In Novels Edited by: Choconut  
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| Welcome to the Drama Newsletter with me, Choconut , as your guest editor. With NaNoWriMo fast-approaching, I decided to discuss dramatic novels and drama in novels. I hope you enjoy. |
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Drama In Novels
While thinking about a topic for this week’s newsletter, I have been busy prepping for NaNoWriMo. So, I thought, why not write about dramatic novels? I think it’s probably a pretty appropriate topic for this week.
Firstly, I think the question is: What makes a novel a dramatic novel, as opposed to, say, a thriller or a romance? Well, as far as I can see, there are elements of drama in all novels. There needs to be some momentum pushing the plot forward. Even in literary fiction, where the cleverness and tricks of writing are, arguably, more important than the plot, there needs to be some drama.
I researched the origin of the word drama to get a better understanding of this topic. It comes from the Greek word dran, meaning “do, act.” This explains why we use drama to push a story forward. Drama moves; drama has a purpose.
A sub-genre is melodrama, and this is present in many novels. Typically, melodramatic novels include characters who are overly emotional or on some kind of quest. Tragedies, epic novels, and war novels fall into this genre. For example, in the second part of ‘Atonement’ by Ian McEwan, we see Robbie walking towards Dunkirk so he can be evacuated back to England, but he is injured and becoming increasingly ill. All he has to keep him going are the memories of his half-hour meeting with Cecelia before he left for France and memories of happy times before Briony accused him of assault. His suffering is such that it really affects the reader. When he dies, one day before he could have sailed home to safety, the drama reaches an emotional climax that, from my own point of view, really upset me.
Dramatic novels are usually written in a style that is overtly emotive. They grab hold of the reader and make us feel every feeling there is to feel all at once. We become overwhelmed with emotion. That is the mark of well-written drama. But, in addition to emotion, we need conflict that hooks us and realistic, riveting dialogue. Add these components together, and you get a novel filled with drama and intrigue, a novel that will explode off the pages.
In summary, dramatic novels push a story forward and hook the readers through the emotion they create, as opposed to action/adventure/fantasy novels that move the story forward through plot and action. Drama is, however, a component of almost every novel ever written.
These are a few quotes from some of my favourite dramatic novels:
“But being completely alone was a feeling so vast it echoed, and the authorities were sure to find out and take her away.” ~ ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens.
“Lale pushes himself onto his elbows and observes the vast area contained within the electrified fence. Blocks like the one he is helping construct stretch out into the distance. He experiences a jolt of horror at what this place might become.” ~ ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ by Heather Morris.
“The Augustus Waters of the crooked smiles and unsmoked cigarettes was gone, replaced by this desperate humiliated creature sitting there beneath me.” ~ ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ by John Green.
I’ll leave you with my best wishes for everyone taking part in NaNoWriMo this year. Don’t forget: a little drama goes a long way to hooking your readers. Happy writing!
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| What novels have you read recently that use emotional drama to pull their readers into their story world? How does internal drama affect you as a reader, in comparison to full-blown action drama? |
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Drama: November 04, 2020 Issue [#10441]
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