How can my story describe a world and a society without relying on individual characters?

You might choose to do a series of vignettes.

Break the novel down into many short chapters, each one with a different set of characters. You won't be spending much time on any one character but many of them will have names and descriptions and some of them the reader will learn a few things about.

For example, you might have some chapters like:

• A hospital emergency room. The team of doctors, nurses, aides, paramedics, and other staff work together over a long shift as victims from a bridge collapse pour in.
• Rescue workers free people trapped by the bridge collapse.
• Police officers help get people home safely, (re)direct traffic, and keep onlookers at a safe distance.
• People from nearby neighborhoods mobilize to bring emergency workers meals and coffee and to help out with people from out of town left stranded.
• Mechanics check out the damaged cars.
• Engineers visit the bridge and come up with a plan to fix it.
• The mayor and city staff figure out the logistics of funding and everything else needed for bridge repair.
• Concerned citizens have a peaceful protest, saying the bridge never worked well in that location and it's time for better long-term planning.
• The urban planners come out in force!

And so on...

While my example is almost certainly not one you want to write a book about (which is why I used it), it shows hundreds of people from all walks of life working to solve the same problem and better their world.

posted over 5 years ago

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Cyn‭

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Collectives are important, but individuals in a collective are a driving force. The first thing you would need to do is establish POV.

Because you don't want inner thoughts, you don't want 1st person narrative. 2nd person narrative is interesting but a bit gimmicky.

So what you want is 3rd person. Not limited, because that's from the point of view of a specific individual. Third Person Omniscient fits, BUT, you can limit that omniscience--if it's in news story form for example, it's only what the "reporter" or narrator knows.

Strictly speaking that would make the narrator 1st person, HOWEVER, in most 1st person, it's about the point of view of that person rather than a reporting. Basically, they aren't participants so much and they aren't presenting their thoughts on a particular thing that has happened, like an historian. They may or may not use I.

In many of the examples that user37393 cites, there's a "distanced" narrator. A person without omniscience that's telling the story of a city, or a group of people. That's the framing device you would need--this person won't know everything and might not have even witnessed everything, but they can relate the tale. They might be part of the happenings, but they are less a full participant and more of a reporter of events.

Something like this:

On the eve of the revolution, the encampment was quiet, with a few lone voices singing out. In the capital city, we heard later, decadent parties continued far into the night, and when we raised our banners and marched through the streets we saw evidence of the night's revelry, empty liquor bottles shattered, tissue paper streamers now damp and dissolved. In the early morning light it was Jon who knocked on the governor's door with his oaken staff, but it was the whole of us that chanted "Freedom for all!" to the confused lady's maid who opened the door.

You might also look at newspaper articles and how those are structured. Because this is event reporting. It can be cinematic, or it can tell rather than show. In this example, the narrator is part of the revolution, but they distance themselves and say WE rather than I and they aren't offering their personal inner thoughts.

posted over 5 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

Erin Thursby‭

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