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Multiverses in non-science fiction novels
Three examples and a few notes from my own experience
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Parallel or overlapping universes are a popular subject in classic science fiction but they are also appearing in so-called ‘serious fiction’. In my first novel, The Rememberers, I didn’t set out to create alternative or magic reality but…my protagonist found himself with a capability to move into other versions of his world, a capability that turned out to be a little riskier than he anticipated…and a lot more enlightening.
Pantsers and Plotters
In fiction writing I am a pantser, which means I develop the story by the seat of my pants, rather than being a plotter, who thoroughly outlines before writing. So this alternative universe thing was a surprise and where it led turned out to be an even bigger surprise. But this article is not about my novel. It is about a pattern I’m either seeing or noticing more because of my own writing experience. But first a note about the pantser thing.
When I started writing this book I only had a vague idea about where it was going. After writing numerous very down-to-earth non-fiction books for money, I was trained to outline. Not just to outline but to have a line in the outline for each page in the finished book. This outline, along with sample chapters, is what sold the book. So, I was an outliner. But with fiction I didn’t like having everything planned out for me. I’d made many false starts on novels and usually tripped up because of overthinking it. I wouldn’t write consistently and consequently I couldn’t finish things. So when I started The Rememberers I decided to take Stephen King’s advice (and that of most successful authors) and write a certain number of words daily without giving a thought to quality or plot. For that book the magic number was about 900 words a day.
But this sort of stream of consciousness thing began to almost immediately get interesting. All I really had to start with was a title and an abstract notion that my character felt there was a place out there he was missing. After getting fairly far into it, it began to bother a me a bit. Was this the way real novelists worked? I did some homework, focusing on a couple of my favorites, Michael Ondaatje…
