The bottom line-, storytellingup and down society and/or carry us across great spans of distance
and time.
Can you extend the scope of your story? Thriller writers can add
interest by adding characters; however, adding time to their story
lines will weaken suspense. In thrillers, usually the shorter the time
frame the better. So, too, with novels like Joyce's Ulysses, which takes
place all in one day (or night).
For just about every other author, though, there are usually ways
to increase a novel's scope. One technique for doing so involves cre-
ating a cast that has variety and some pairings of opposites.
Obvious choices are good/bad, rich/poor, weak/strong, pretty/plain,
smart/smarter, centered/chaotic, crafty/naive. Pairings do not need
to be terribly obvious. The point is to create contrast in your cast
and give it texture.
Historical writers have unlimited opportunities for scope.
Readers of historicals love broad-ranging casts and a sense of
sweeping change and passing time. Indeed, to portray another era
with anything like accuracy one is practically forced to have scope.
In fact, one of the secrets of adding scope to a story premise is to
set that story against a historical backdrop, preferably war. For
example, take any simple love story, mystery, or tale of family
conflict and plunk it down in the middle of World War II. See what
happens? It gets bigger, doesn't it? Instant scope.
Unfortunately, World War II is overused as a backdrop. There are
plenty of other exciting eras, but the farther back one goes in time
the harder it becomes for modern readers to relate. That limits the
choices. Ambitious authors are always looking for settings that are
less obvious but that still contain broadly significant social currents
that make for powerful scope.
Figure it out. There is always a way to heighten your story's scale,
or enlarge its scope, or both. Writers who bother to do so will ride
the whirlwind and reap the rewards of powerful storytelling.
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