The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz, tells the story of a dark plot for a bestseller, and an even darker plot around writing it.
After a promising debut novel, an almost forgotten second novel, and no shot at publishing his third book, Jacob Finch Bonner finds himself teaching in a pay-to-play MFA program. One of his students, Evan Parker, is completely sure he’s writing a winner. Evan is the worst Guy In Your MFA, convinced that he’s writing the Great American Novel and that it’ll be a huge commercial success, and he’s not convinced that anyone could teach writing, so basically everyone around him is wasting his time. He’s got a plot idea that’s so good the writing won’t even matter, but of course he can’t tell anyone what makes it so good, and ugh, I already hate him. Evan does tell his plot, or at least, enough of an outline with the shocking twist to Jacob, but not to the reader. We just have Jacob’s reaction to go on, and Jacob is thoroughly impressed. Ugh, even worse, insufferable Evan actually has an extremely good plot.
We readers are really far into The Plot before we get to see what that twist is, and by that time I was just dying to know. I often complain that not-gonna-tell-you is probably my least favorite way to build tension, but it works here, probably because there’s a whole secondary storyline and so much going on. I didn’t feel like I was getting heavy hints at the Big Secret and abrupt subject changes. We discover just as much of the plot as Jacob has on his mind. And I have to tell you, I was so curious about that plot. What could possibly be so stunning and still be something that bro Evan could have made up?
After a promising debut novel, an almost forgotten second novel, and no shot at publishing his third book, Jacob Finch Bonner finds himself teaching in a pay-to-play MFA program. One of his students, Evan Parker, is completely sure he’s writing a winner. Evan is the worst Guy In Your MFA, convinced that he’s writing the Great American Novel and that it’ll be a huge commercial success, and he’s not convinced that anyone could teach writing, so basically everyone around him is wasting his time. He’s got a plot idea that’s so good the writing won’t even matter, but of course he can’t tell anyone what makes it so good, and ugh, I already hate him. Evan does tell his plot, or at least, enough of an outline with the shocking twist to Jacob, but not to the reader. We just have Jacob’s reaction to go on, and Jacob is thoroughly impressed. Ugh, even worse, insufferable Evan actually has an extremely good plot.
We readers are really far into The Plot before we get to see what that twist is, and by that time I was just dying to know. I often complain that not-gonna-tell-you is probably my least favorite way to build tension, but it works here, probably because there’s a whole secondary storyline and so much going on. I didn’t feel like I was getting heavy hints at the Big Secret and abrupt subject changes. We discover just as much of the plot as Jacob has on his mind. And I have to tell you, I was so curious about that plot. What could possibly be so stunning and still be something that bro Evan could have made up?