How to write a novel, by Melon Umi Nekozawa. Catapult the emotional arc upward.

※This is a re-post of an article previously published on my personal blog, "Neverending School."

The first time I met novelist Melon Umiushi, I asked him about his method of writing novels. Melon-san debuted with "Samaki-shiki Last Resort" and is active in novels such as "Natsu no Hakobune" and "Kids Fire Dot Com," as well as reportage and essays including "Tomorrow, Machines Will Become Human." Melon-san says the key is to keep emotions elevated, not lowered.

Novels are written to elevate emotions in a "catapult-like" manner

――I wrote my first novel when I was 30. I also referred to "Books for Novelists to Read to Write Novels" on Melon-san's blog, but... well, I couldn't write. I did finish it, but... it was tough.

Melon Umiushi (hereafter: Melon): What did you struggle with?

――First, I struggled with whether to write the plot (storyline) first or start writing first... In the end, I wrote a plot, but then I went in a different direction midway through. I got stuck about two-thirds of the way through and had to rewrite it.

Melon: When you redid it, did what you originally wanted to write change?

――I don't think that changed.

Melon: Were you able to write the scenes you wanted to write?

――I had some scenes stocked up, but I struggled with where and how to put them in...

Melon: But to have gotten that far, I think that's very good. May I borrow your pen?

This is the minimum you should consider (Melon-san draws a diagram).

――It's the three-act structure, like Syd Field's.

※Syd Field... American screenwriter and producer. His book "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting" is famous as a textbook for storytelling.

※Three-act structure... A script and story composition method also appearing in Syd Field's theory. The story is divided into three acts:

1. Setup

2. Confrontation (Conflict)

3. Resolution

The event that marks the transition from Act 1 to Act 2 is Plot Point 1 (PP1), the climax at the turning point of the story is the Midpoint (MP), and the point where the story transitions from Act 2 to Act 3 and moves towards the ending is Plot Point 2 (PP2).

Melon: That's right. The initial setup, PP1, MP, PP2, and end, that's five, so perhaps it's called 5 ACT? On top of this, you add an emotional line. The simple three-act structure doesn't have that.

Put a big event at the beginning to dramatically raise emotions. Then, go to the midpoint, and another event happens at the end to move towards the conclusion. The three-act structure allows for this kind of event buildup. This is the writer's plot line, so it's okay for there to be "ups and downs," but the reader's emotions must constantly rise.

However, this is just the basic idea. I also initially wrote novels based on the three-act structure, but then I realized I was wrong. When I set the points first, writing the connecting scenes became painful. Wasn't that the case for you?

――That's right! Exactly...

Melon: So I realized this method was wrong. I have my own refined theory, and it's not about points of events, but thinking in sequences.

This block is one chapter. What's important are the beginning and end of this chapter. First, an incident occurs. Then the incident becomes more complicated. The protagonist gets into trouble. Then they make a choice. It's a repetition of choice → result → choice → result...

If you only think about that, the story connects.

――This is easy to understand.

Melon: The problem with thinking only in "points" in the three-act structure is that it ends at that point.

Instead, perceive them as accelerating transition points. Don't let any chapter end.

If a boy and a girl meet in Chapter 1, you shouldn't end it there. You should end it where the boy and girl are about to meet, or something happens after they meet.

You mustn't cut off the vector, the momentum.

――When Sonic passes through a catapult in the "Sonic the Hedgehog" series, he accelerates, it's like that, isn't it?

Melon: Exactly. You absolutely must not let it settle. If it ends too neatly, force it to break apart.

And then, make the end of the previous chapter and the beginning of the next chapter overlap.

――I see, so the punchline of the previous ending becomes the start of the next.

Melon: If you understand this, the rest will be driven by momentum, so you don't need to think about the points. Please try it this way.

Emotional Propulsion is Key in Novels

――Regarding your works, Melon-san, which ones were written using the three-act structure and which used the "catapult method"?

Melon: I wrote my debut work, "Samaki-shiki Last Resort," without thinking much, but looking back now, it was indeed written with the catapult method.

"Zero-shiki" was written using the three-act structure and 5 ACTs. When you start writing by only thinking about the points, you lose sight of the emotional arc and the bigger picture, so I decided from the beginning to make it a story that goes up and down. That's why I made it so that when the plane flies, emotions rise, and when it falls, emotions also fall.

I think "Nico Nico Jikyu 800-en" was also done with the three-act structure and 5 ACTs.

This theory applies to both long and short stories, so even a short story required as much effort as writing a long one... and I wondered why something so simple took so long. By the way, for a long story, you'd need two or three subplots here.

However, in the case of pure literature, there are different frameworks than these theories, so in my own works, they sometimes get mixed up.

――So you didn't use it for works like "Ai ni Tsuite no Kanji," right?

Melon: That's right. The former editor-in-chief of Gunzo liked "Ophelia no Uraniwa," but I didn't use any theory for that at all. The short story "Worlds End x Book End" (included in "Hon o Meguru Monogatari Shosetsu yo, Eien ni" Kadokawa Bunko) was done using the catapult method, and it worked out perfectly.

Melon: It's good to consider the beginning, middle, and end of the entire story, but if you only come up with scenes first, you can just expand on them.

A Big Incident Should Occur First

――Do I not need to be conscious of the three-act structure or other structures within each individual chapter? Doing that seems very difficult...

Melon: It's perfectly fine if you don't. Just think about the beginning and end, the hook and the pull. What you should be careful about is to create an incident as early as possible. The incident that novice novelists tend to place in the middle is probably the one that should be at the very beginning.

――A major incident has to come first.

Melon: Beginners often start writing for self-confirmation without knowing what they want to write. Things like world-building, character personalities. Only after that is confirmed does an incident finally occur. But that's too late. A major incident has to be at the forefront.

――If it's not something to show an audience, then maybe that's true.

Melon: It's likely just a rough sketch, a foundational stage. Light novels, for example, are very good at this, with many works doing it with minimal effort.

If a story wants to take a certain shape, it's better not to resist it.

Melon: But it's better not to have creative theories. They make things rigid. They're good as an initial guide, but once you've mastered them, you don't need to use them.

――It's better if it's ingrained and you can write freely.

Melon: If it's not embodied, the unconscious part won't emerge. Something that's entirely calculated is just boring.

――So, momentum is really important. I think you, Melon-san, have a rational and logical side that meticulously builds the framework, and on the other hand, also a sensitive and intense emotional side. How do you control that?

Melon: I don't control it.

――Like a quietly angry Super Saiyan...

Melon: I'm always curious about the opposite. I tend to think in contrapositives. If I read a right-wing book, I want to read a left-wing book. I naturally want to find balance. If I study logic, the next thing is the unconscious. So, when I go into theory, I naturally try to return to intuition.

――When you write using the catapult method, do you ever think, "Oh, this is a digression," or "This is different from what I had in mind," if you had some kind of initial plan before you started writing?

Melon: It depends on the thing, but sometimes the direction becomes clear once it starts moving, right? It's better not to hinder that. If the story has a shape it wants to become, it's better to let it live. There's a flow where if you hit it this way, it can only go that way.

However, there are two types of this: cases that fall into common patterns, and cases that don't. In the case of patterns, it's better to break them. It becomes uninteresting if the reader can predict what will happen.

The one thing you mustn't bend is the characters' feelings.

Melon: What I forgot when I first wrote with that rigid three-act structure theory was the characters' feelings, their emotions. The most important thing not to bend is their feelings.

Even if you have a story you want to advance in a certain way, for example, if we were eating gyudon right now, we wouldn't suddenly start dancing naked. Emotions can't be bent that much. There aren't many emotional patterns that everyone naturally understands and agrees with. If you don't base it on that, it will be wildly off. If the reader isn't experiencing the same emotions, their heart won't be engaged. It's about whether you can control it to that extent.

Simply put, if you want to make everyone sad, it's "make them empathize, then kill them." That's it.

――That's a classic for "crying games"...

Melon: Or setting it up from the beginning that they're destined to die. Ingenuity is necessary. Readers get frustrated by stories they don't understand. They read because there's a hook that makes them want to know "what happens next." Writing that "what happens next?" part is what a novelist does. It's no good if readers don't wonder "what happens next?" from the beginning.

So, get out of the realm of logic and just make it work with emotion.

The short story "Worlds End x Book End" I mentioned earlier, its emotions transcend logic. The ending makes no sense. But it has an emotional feel to it. You end up thinking, "It makes no sense, but it's so emotional!"

It's a work that I wrote having decided, "If it were before, I might have written this logically, but for this work, emotion should take priority."

There's always a chance with novels

――What is your motivation for writing novels in the first place, Melon-san?

Melon: I have a kind of compulsion, "I must always write," but I've always loved reading, so it was natural for me to start writing. I write because I want to write.

Why does everyone want to write novels?

――That's true (laughs). I've always wanted to write for some reason.

Melon: I think that's just how it is. Everyone has that "I want to write" fantasy.

――Many people have writing as a goal, right? Like, "I'm a corporate slave now, but someday I'll be a novelist..." Why is that? Self-fulfillment?

Melon: Novels offer a dream. There's always a chance (laughs).

――A chance! That's exactly it. A dream.

Melon: People often say that "I want to be a novelist" is bad, and that only people who want to write novels should become novelists. But I wonder if that can really be separated. There are people who write novels but aren't writers. And sometimes, novels written by people who want to be writers turn out well. You could say that the work and the writer are unrelated.

From a publisher's perspective, they might say, "There's no chance," or "Manga has a better chance." It's not a business chance, it's a "dream." Like, even a scoundrel of a human can make something of themselves if they write a novel. There's rarely anything else like it.

――There's a saying by Ryu Murakami, "A novelist is the last profession."

Melon: I think so too, but it's not just people who are struggling; I also wish more "successful" people would write (laughs).

Luxury and bubbly novels might be in demand. That's why people from all kinds of professions should write novels.

――When did you first want to become a novelist, Melon-san?

Melon: I already wanted to be one when I was in high school. I was at a boarding school and didn't have much freedom, but when I was reading light novels, I thought, "There might be a chance with this."

――Did you always hold onto that thought?

Melon: I just thought about becoming one; I didn't actually write seriously. It was around 27 that I seriously decided to become a novelist. At that time, I was only writing the beginnings of novels. I had many files that only contained the opening.

――It's often said that completing something is the first step, but what was the trigger that allowed you to move forward from there?

Melon: People don't do things unless they're forced into a situation. Deadlines are like that too. It's impossible by your own will.

――So, you found yourself in a situation where you had no choice but to write?

Melon: In my twenties, I met a writer named Gichi Otsuka. At that time, I told him I wanted to write a novel, and he angrily said to me, "I hate people like you the most. I've met dozens of people who wanted to be writers, but none of them actually wrote novels. You'll probably end up like them, a pathetic adult holding onto an unfinished manuscript and constantly saying, 'I really want to be a writer.' Just quit already."

To refute his words, I spent six months writing my first long novel of about 500 pages. Of course, the first work I ever wrote wasn't decent, and the response I got was, "Oh... you wrote it."

About two years later, when it came to novelizing a game, I was under pressure again. I was able to write it because there was a deadline. I had to pitch several game ideas, and one of them was chosen to be made. I didn't have experience then, and it was an 18+ game, but I wanted to make a game. Not a romance adventure, but one using the system of the card game "Daifugo."

――That's "Samaki-shiki Last Resort," right?

Melon: The contract had a novelization clause, and I made sure to retain the rights for myself. That's why I was able to write it. I think you should seize such opportunities. Opportunities are everywhere.

――Indeed. I also sometimes think, "They'll probably refuse... but I'll ask anyway" when requesting an interview, and surprisingly it works out, and then other projects start rolling.

Melon: It's the difference between doing and not doing. Just do anything. Opportunities won't come if you just prepare and wait. You have to do what's available at that moment. You don't have to think about "winning some award"; you can apply for literary awards even after you've debuted. Let's do what we can now.