Purple Prose:
analyzing stories

Today, I’m continuing from where I left off on Monday’s post with the analysis of the YA novel Forbidden. Hopefully the post will give you something to think about as you write your next project (regardless of the genre).

Here's the short blurb to remind you of the premise:

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen, gorgeous, and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Foreshadowing

Throughout the story, both Maya and Lochan acknowledge that what they are doing is wrong. They struggle to figure out how to make things works without hurting anyone. Their major concern is what it will do to their family. At one point, Lochan does research on the laws surrounding incest, especially consensual incest, which is important for his decision at the climax. It shows you what they are up against.

Theme

Every scene in the book was tightly woven to the themes of sacrifice and family and love. The themes provided the forward momentum to the book and helped remove the Ewww factor. Had they not been there, or only happened randomly, the story wouldn’t have been so powerful. Every decision the two teens made were based on these three themes.

Climax

If you’re planning to read the book, and I highly recommend it, you might want to skip this section due to spoilers [alert].

Source

In the climax, Maya and Lochan decide to go all the way. Until now, they had been fighting it, knowing it’s wrong. They had only been kissing and fooling around. But their mother, who wasn’t supposed to be able to get into the house, comes home after finding out what was going on between them. She naturally freaks out and calls the police.

Knowing that he and Maya could end up in jail for what they did, which means the younger kids would be taken away by social services and separated, Lochan makes it look like he forced his sister to consent to their sexual relationship. He even goes as far as to hit her so that it looks like he was the abuser and she was the victim. He knows he’ll end up going to prison for a long time, but the sacrifice is worth it to save Maya and their siblings.

But then things go horrible wrong, and Maya tells the police it was consensual, so that Lochan’s prison sentence will be reduced. But this means Maya can be charged and would face a two-year prison sentence. Lochan makes one more sacrifice for his family. He commits suicide. With him dead, Maya can’t be charged and the family won’t be destroyed more than it already has been.

Heartbroken, Maya is ready to kill herself since she can’t live without Lochan, but her five-year-old sister says something that makes Maya realize that killing herself would make Lochan’s sacrifice pointless.

End of spoiler alert

Source

As you can see from this analysis, there was not one element that made this story powerful. It was the combination of these five elements, along with a strong plot, that made this a book I couldn’t stop thinking about long after I finished it.

What book has had the same affect on you? What was it about the book that kept you thinking about it long after you read the last page?

(Why the pictures of the cute bunnies? Because every time I think of the book and the urge to cry hits, I chant, “Fuzzy bunny, fuzzy bunny, fuzzy bunny.” It works every time. *grins*)

Last summer, I bought the YA novel Forbidden, mostly out of curiosity, but then didn’t have the guts to read it:

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen, gorgeous, and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

First, there was the Ewwww factor, which made me wonder why I bought the book in the first place. Second, based on the full blurb, I knew there wasn’t going to be a happily-ever-after ending, and those are the ones I prefer.

But last week I decided to finally read the book, and ended up loving it. The problem is I couldn’t stop thinking about it once I was finished. I started to wonder, when I wasn’t sobbing, what made it one of my favorite books, and how could I write such a brilliant story, too. A story that left me an emotional wreck long after I finished reading it. So, I analyzed it with the hopes of applying what I learned to future projects.

Characters You Ache For

This book is told from both the point of view of Lochan and Maya. They are the oldest of five children (the youngest is only five years old). Their father left to be with another woman when Lochan was twelve years old. Their mother turned to alcohol and slowly started to distance herself from their lives. And at one point in the book, she is no longer living with the children. So right away, you empathize with the characters due to the strong backstory.

In addition to raising their siblings, Lochan and Maya do everything possible to ensure social services don’t find out about their situation. If it’s discovered their mother has abandoned them, then their family will be torn apart. This powerful backstory explains why Lochan and Maya never felt like they were siblings, and it provides the motivation behind what happens in the climax. Like the two characters, you don’t see them as sibling, but rather two individuals who fell in love.

Great Writing

But the void yawns open like a cavern inside my chest. I feel so damn lonely all the time. Even though I’m surrounded by pupils, there is this invisible screen between us, and behind the glass wall I am screaming—screaming in my own silence, screaming to be noticed, to be befriended, to be liked.(Lochan’s pov)

The writing in Forbidden is beautiful and the emotion intense. Lochan is extremely shy, to the point that he has anxiety attacks when called on in class. This means he’s treated like the class weirdo. You feel his pain, which makes you want to keep reading.

The writing also helps the reader feel Maya’s and Lochan’s pain as they struggle with their love for each other when they know it’s wrong, and when they make sacrifices to keep their family together, while most of their peers are out having fun and being normal teens. And you feel their pain when their secret is discovered. The writing is rich with symbolism and imagery but is true to who they are as individuals. It’s compelling and makes for a great page turner—even when you’re afraid to turn the next page.

Do you strive to write a book that makes people think about it long after they’ve finished reading it? Have you analyzed a book to see how the author achieved this goal?

Part Two of the post will be go up Wednesday. And then you'll see why the book affected me.

Several years ago, I attended a SCBWI workshop with an editor from Harper Collins. She told us to take a book we love and read it three times, consecutively. Great idea, except I hadn’t read a book at that point that I loved enough to use for the assignment. That changed recently when I discovered the YA contemporary novel Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry. This book not only had me bawling as I read it, I cried a few days later when I thought about one specific scene. I knew I had to analyze the book to see what Katie did to make it my favorite book of the year.

First Read Through
Because I first read the book back in July, that didn’t count toward the assignment. It was too long ago. I had to start again. I reread the book without stopping to take notes. And yes, I cried at the same scene that I cried at the first time.

Second Read Through
This time I focused on story structure. Pushing the Limits (PTL) is a dual POV story, alternating between the two main characters: Noah and Echo. Because I love the book Save the Cat (STC) by Blake Synder, I used it to break down PTL according to Blake’s story structure beats. You don’t have to use STC. There are other great books that also discuss story structure. They’re all very similar and can be applied to most stories.

First, I created a table with three columns. This is because I was dealing with two points of view. I assigned ‘Echo’ to the first column, ‘Noah’ to the second one, and the third column was reserved for the STC beats. For example, in PTL the catalyst moment falls under one of Noah’s scenes. I wrote ‘Catalyst’ in the third column in blue ink (for Noah) and described in one sentence the catalyst moment. I used a different color for Echo.

Next, I wrote the GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict) for the POV character of each scene. I also added any notes about plot that I wanted to include. And yes, I cried again at that one emotion-filled scene.

Third Read Through
This time I focused on characterization and the emotional impact of the story. For the main characters (Echo and Noah), I listed:

• Fears

• Key issues (e.g. both have issues of trust and issues with authority, but not in the same way)

• Word to describe them (Noah is self-confident; Echo is insecure)

• Story goal for each

• What Echo and Noah have in common. In other words, the connection that binds them together for the story (since PTL is a romance)

• Wound or fatal flaw

• Identity (how others view them. Their personal armor, so to speak)

• The real them (who they really are when they drop the personal armor).

• Moments that revealed emotion

• Any symbolism used

• Use of the senses

• Small moments with huge impact

• Characterization (for all the characters)

• Hot make out scenes :)

Some of you are no doubt cringing at the amount of time involved for this level of analysis. To me, it was worth it. I learned so much about why I loved the book and how to make my stories (especially my dual POV stories) stronger.

Do you analyze books you love (or dislike)? If so, what do you looked for? How many times do you usually read a book consecutively when you analyze it?