Last week someone – not a writer -asked how my current novel is going, and I tried to explain that I knew what events were going to take place, but was still struggling to write the rest of it. Oh, she said, so you know what will happen, you’re just padding it out? Well I couldn’t deny it, but padding has such a bad name, and the more I think about it the more I realise it’s the ‘padding’ that makes a novel what it is. I don’t mean meaningless bulk – empty description or redundant characters that only add to the wordcount, but all the richness of detail, the texture and the layers, that make an engrossing read and keep the reader waiting to find out what will happen at the end.
For instance! It so happens I’ve just read the fabulous Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (good deal on Kindle right now) and I could probably sum up the plot in a few (longish!) paragraphs, but despite its 700 pages I’m sure I couldn’t find a single passage which could be regarded as pointless padding. Descriptions, for instance, are terse but vivid. There are a host of characters, major and minor, but all of them has some vital role to play in orchestrating a long (although not overly complicated) story.
Because this is a story that takes as long as it takes. And that’s where the novelist’s art lies, I have decided, in looking not at the big events, but in writing all the tiny moments, the touching, comical, or in this case frequently drug-fuelled encounters that the hero has with his own thoughts or with his various companions.
You can’t eke a story out (and that’s what we’re trying to do) without building characters, and in this case none is more memorable than the rollicking hell-raiser Boris, the kind of friend whose potential for disaster is only matched by his stellar ability to get out of it again. But exploring a character like this – or any of the other characters – takes time. They will eventually drive the plot but we need to know them first.
So what I have learned is that I need more patience. I shouldn’t be worrying about how quickly I can get to the Next Big Thing in my novel but getting the reader there with the right knowledge and in the right frame of mind. How long it takes does not actually matter, and progress should be measured in the building of characters and relationships, not in how far along the timeline I have progressed. There’s no point rushing the reader, because the big reveal gets its potency from what has gone before, from making the reader wait.
It’s about adding the warp and weft of interaction, the significant gesture and the unspoken thought. It’s about adding the effect of the weather or the food or the clothes or the time of day – it’s about the padding.
Ali Bacon / Books and Other Things 
Very well expressed, Ali. I think the best novels are all about the characters…
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Hi Siobhan – have you read The Goldfinch? I can really recommend it. Just so interesting – and readable!
Ali B
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I feel enriched by this article and moved to go and ‘enrich’ my writing. Padding over plot any day. Yes, yes, I know you need the plot as well but sometimes too many other things are championed over good old ‘padding’.
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Hi Gail – I can report I’ve added some words today without on the face of it moving much forward, but everything you add does move it forward in some way, just not always as you might expect. Oh dear the words of a true ‘pantser’! Ali B
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Good padding – could another word be ‘pacing’? I think you’re so right about not worrying about ‘the next big thing’ but focussing on exploring character, the – as you say – warp and weft of interaction, the significant gesture, the unspoken thought. Getting inside the character, seeing the world from his or her point of view… that’s what it’s about… and that’s what it seems to me is ‘voice’! Get that right and the story will evolve. Great stuff, Ali. Thank you!
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thanks Harriet – yes pacing is part of it, and working out the what the pace is I suppose. Then there’s actually doing it – ! AliB
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Oh I hope your interested questioner was happy with your response! How is the novel going questions are tricky. It is – is the answer. Goldfinch is one of my recent favourites. I wouldn’t know where to cut it, what to leave out, even although it’s long and fussy. In the context of the whole book it all makes sense but that doesn’t mean every book should be long. How long? As long as it takes to tell the story.
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Hi Janette, I think you’re right. Each story has its own natural length So far my novels come in around 88,000 but I think my current one will be longer – although don’t know yet quite how long it will take.
I just popped over to your blog – hearing Donna Tartt talking about The Goldfinch sounds wonderful. I didn’t realise she had been in Edinburgh (or anywhere ‘over here’). Very taken with “there’s no ‘readership’ to write for but an ideal reader – one true person who ‘gets’ what you’re trying to say”. And yes, will forgive her the scarf! Thanks for sharing. Ali B
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DT was inspiring. I’ve been to a few author events and she was outstanding, mostly, because, although she’s published very successfully, she’s still very unsure of the craft of putting together a story. One of the questions on the night was about ‘padding’ or taking time to get to a point, she said (summarising an hour here) ‘look at Psycho and how Hitchcock hooks you into the story with leisurely opening, building the tension piece by piece so that when the crunch or climax comes, it’s more shocking/unexpected but by then you’ve hooked the reader into the ‘game’ and they play along.’ She crafts her novels by building to mini climaxes and releasing tension both quickly and slowly and part of that artistry is building authentic characters playing within an authentic and believable storyline. 🙂
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Wow – you can see she has thought about it – possibly for 10 years! Ali B
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Couldn’t agree more about ‘padding’- also about The Goldfinch which I read while on holiday- a fabulous book!
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Hi Jean. good to hear from you! the Goldfinch seems to have had a mixed response, but I certainly enjoyed all 700 pages. Ali B
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