As an aspiring fiction writer, it is imperative that you read novels that experiment with traditional story structure thoroughly!
In the realm of fiction writing, there are many things that can spark new ideas. Particularly, you must search for novels that have dealt with narrative structure in creative ways. The main objective of a story goes beyond just crafting a plot; it also involves developing well-rounded characters who come across as authentic individuals. When considering the prose and reader engagement, a great story should resemble a delicate balancing act.
If you are someone struggling to strike this balance, you must venture out to seek new ideas. There are a number of ways in which you can approach this; one of the most effective is to read voraciously and make notes along the way. In doing so, you are incorporating methods from prominent writers of the past and also getting a sense of what your own literary voice would sound like. This very method has helped many aspiring writers find that elusive idea. To know which novels you should check out, read till the very end!
Avid readers and literary enthusiasts are very familiar with the work of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. Adolfo Bioy Casares, a trusted confidant and close friend of Borges, is the author of The Invention of Morel. Though Casares isn't as notable as his friend Borges, his works are as important to read, particularly for writers. In this story, the themes he explores are worth noting.
The plot follows a fugitive who flees mainland Argentina and settles on a Polynesian island. In the beginning, he thinks that he has the island all to himself, but suddenly a few people dressed immaculately show up on the island. These people look like the Argentinian elite, who overlook our protagonist. Through the course of the novel, we get to know that these people are creations of a device that would make copies of people during a moment in time, and they would inherit their personalities but remain without a soul, like Android. In the end, our protagonist falls in love with one of these recreations, called Faustin. It is no surprise that their love is doomed to fail. For its out-of-the-box premise, The Invention of Morel was highly popular in many artistic circles in the early 20th century, and it was also the basis of the film Last Year at Marienbad by Alain Resnais.
Penned by the renowned American science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' is groundbreaking for its innovative narrative concept! The story follows a future world where, due to excessive radioactivity on Earth, the planet becomes uninhabitable. As a result, the United Nations began sending the population to colonies in space. To aid this process, human-like robots are created, but some of these creatures decide not to comply and flee back to Earth to live independently. Back on earth, there are special detectives and bounty hunters appointed by the government who are deployed to search and destroy these robots trying to like humans.
A Russian novel published in the early 1970s, Roadside Picnic, is highly regarded as a classic. Andrei Tarkovsky, an avant-garde filmmaker, adapted it for the 1979 film Stalker. The story follows three men who venture into 'The Zone', which is said to be a place of great spiritual discovery but is not permissible to visit.
