Review - Aspects Of the Novel by E. M. Forster
Another oldie (I love the creative writing classics!) Aspects Of the Novel was first published in 1927 and is based on a course of lectures E. M. Forster delivered at Cambridge University.
Half of the lectures are devoted to plot and character - arguably the two most important parts of the novel.
The others explore areas such as pattern and rhythm in novel writing, stylistic effect, and the role of truth in fiction.
What I love about this guide to creative writing isn't just the help and advice Forster offers - practical and inspirational though it is - but the witty and somewhat eccentric way in which he delivers it.
Yes, the language is slightly archaic in places (this was the 1920s, after all - and we will probably sound a little strange in a hundred years' time). But the book is, in my opinion, all the more charming because of it.
To whet your appetite, here are a couple of extracts from the guide. The first one is from the lecture entitled "People":
Having discussed the story - that simple and fundamental aspect of the novel - we can turn to a more interesting topic: the actors. We need not ask what happened next, but to whom did it happen; the novelist will be appealing to our intelligence and imagination, not merely to our curiosity.
And here is an extract from the seventh lecture, "Fantasy":
The idea running through these lectures is by now plain enough: that there are in the novel two forces: human beings and a bundle of various things not human beings, and that it is the novelist's business to adjust these two forces and conciliate their claims.
Is this creative writing guide essential?
If you are just starting out in novel writing, probably not. You will have your hands full trying to get to grips with the fundamentals of how to write a novel.
But Aspects of the Novel is definitely one to bear in mind for the future, when you are more confident of the fiction writing basics and are ready to take your knowledge to the next level.
Next Review: A more contemporary writing guide this time, but still not one for the beginner - David Lodge's The Art of Fiction...
