The charm of the narrator: The overlooked commonality between novelist and advocate

• Author: Andrew Pyper
• Pages: 41-45

41

g SPRING 2012

e charm  he narra:

THE OVERLOOKED COMMONALITY BETWEEN

NOVELIST AND ADVOCATE

ANDREW PYPER

The novelist’s life is blessed in innumerable ways, but among

its few plagues is the taxi driver/waiting room/barstool/cocktail

party questioner, the know-it-all who, upon learning one writes c-

tion for a living, confesses to having always planned on a side career

of literary fame (“If only I had the time!”) and then, conspiratorially,

asks about “the hook.” Because that’s what a prize-winning bestseller

requires above all, right? A sprinkling of fairy dust that grabs the reader

right o the top, a trick of the trade that compels the turning of pages

into the night. A grimy mechanism that makes us care.

Generally, this mechanism– this hook– is assumed to be a structural

bit of business: opening with a dead body, a blast of high-voltage action,

the introduction of a Big Mystery. Later, these come-hithers will pay o

in more trickery. A twist, a nifty tying together of loose ends, a Shocking

Revelation.

In the name of changing the subject I always say they’re right, though

in fact they’re not. Because what’s most important for building a com-

pelling narrative isn’t plot, but a main character who convincingly feels

and experiences and endures the trials of plot. And what’s most import-

ant to creating a character is voice. This is as true of the courtroom as it

is of the novel.

Whether the words are delivered by a ctional narrator or a esh-and-

blood lawyer (or his or her client), voice tells the story. And the voice that