No matter how many books I’ve written, each new one seems overwhelming to me. You, too? Well, this is our lucky day, because Helena P. Schrader has broken it down for us in this guest post. Thanks, Helena!
It has always seemed to me that a novel, like the human body, has different parts all of which contribute to its ability to function and survive. For a novel to stand out in the flood of new books, each of these essential elements must function effectively, that is: the plot, characters (protagonists, antagonists, and supporting cast), description, dialogue and theme.
Dissecting a novel means examining each of the organs to see how they work, and I have found it an extremely useful exercise between the first and second drafts. Essentially, after I have what I think is a complete novel, I stand back and ask myself about each of the above key components. By making myself look at each individually and describe them to myself, I often expose weaknesses. Essentially, if I can’t describe each component in a clear, concise way — or if I don’t like what I see when I do describe them! — then I know that something is not right and has to be fixed.
What follows is the dissection of my most recent release (after I fixed all things I didn’t like, of course…):
Moral Fibre: A Bomber Pilot’s Story.
Plot: Moral Fibre has a comparatively straight-forward plot structure, consisting of two interwoven plotlines, those of the male and female protagonists. The male protagonist, Kit Moran, is embarking upon the final stages of operational training as a bomber pilot. His plotline follows the stages of training and his operational career as a bomber pilot, tracing his growing confidence and ability to cope with challenges— until he makes a fatal mistake. The female protagonist, Georgina Reddings, has lost her fiancé to enemy action in November 1943 and has not fully recovered from her grief. She is determined to focus on her vocation as a teacher for refugee children from the slums of London. The plotline traces her initial failures with the children and her gradual evolution as a teacher while gradually coming to the realization that she is in love with Kit and must risk breaking her heart again.
Protagonists: Kit Moran has been raised in Africa, the son of a British Colonial official, but his mother is the daughter of a Scottish missionary and his Zulu wife. Although not obviously coloured himself, Kit is highly sensitive to racism. He does not make deep attachments easily, but they are all the more important to him when he does. Loyalty is the bedrock of his personality, and it ultimately brings about disaster. Georgina Redding is the daughter of a rural vicar, brought up in an easy-going and loving environment that leaves her vulnerable to the harsh realities of the world. Her strengths are her faith and her utter commitment to love.
Antagonists: The antagonists are colleagues of Kit and Georgina respectively. Kit’s antagonist is Red Forrester, an Australian pilot. Forrester wants his crew to be the best in everything — flying, bombing, gunnery, navigation. He selects a crew of like-minded individuals, who are as aggressively competitive as he is, and when they do well, they brag about it. This sets up several situations where Moran is forced to make choices and take actions that would not otherwise have been necessary. Forrester acts as a foil to Moran. He forces Moran to re-evaluate who he is and what he wants. He is the shadow that sets Moran into greater light.
Georgina’s antagonist is Fiona, a fellow trainee teacher. Fiona is more of a rebel, who resents the restrictions placed on women and hates men who are more focused on her looks than her brain. Fiona thinks Georgina should not get involved with Kit. She thinks she should “stand on her own two feet,” and deplores Georgina’s “need for a ring to make her feel whole.” By highlighting Georgina’s alternatives, Fiona makes Georgina define herself more precisely and consciously.
Secondary Characters: The supporting cast are the other six members of Kit’s crew and Georgina’s parents. The men in Kit’s crew depend on him for their lives. They come from disparate backgrounds, both rich and poor, and each challenges Kit’s leadership in different ways. Georgina’s parents are the “adults in the room,” particularly Georgina’s father the vicar. It is often left to him to comment on developments and raise the questions the others are running away from.
Description is the mortar of a book. Without it characters would exist in an empty, featureless world and action would take place in a black hole. To be able to describe the environment in which Kit and Georgina lived, I emersed myself in biographies, autobiographies, social histories and contemporary films. It was much easier to find material on what it was like flying a Lancaster against Germany at night than what it meant to be a teacher at a school for evacuees — but I did my best. Whether I succeeded in evoking the world in which Kit and Georgina lived is something the reader will decide.
Dialogue: The author’s voice is most evident in description, but when characters speak, they should not sound like the author but like themselves. Characters must use language that is appropriate to their age, education level, family background and profession — and, of course, the time period in which they lived. A major challenge with Moral Fibre was to ensure that they didn’t sound like 21st century young people (no, they didn’t say “awesome,” “gottcha,” “what’s up?” or use “like” every fourth word). Yet an equally important challenge was to ensure the characters from different classes used different contemporary British terms — different swear words, for example, different expressions for household objects and different diction altogether. Kit, Forrester and their respective crews, furthermore, would have communicated in RAFese — which was language all to itself.
Theme: Moral Fibre is a reflection on the many faces of courage, but it is more than that. It is intended as a tribute to the aircrew of Bomber Command, all of whom live to a degree under a shadow cast by post-war doubts about the efficacy and the morality of their mission: a strategic bombing offensive against an entire nation. With Moral Fibre I want to push readers off their “high horse” of moral rectitude and challenge their smug assumptions of superiority. I want them to put themselves in the shoes of young men and young women in Britain in 1944. I do not attempt to give answers about what is right and wrong, I simply want a deeper understanding of what was involved for participants.
My principal characters are devout and they each struggle in their own way to understand what God intends for them and what they owe to Him and to others.
I hope that readers can identify with the issues and the feelings that my characters encounter. I hope that by suffering through their crises and triumphs alongside them, they will come to a closer understanding of their own spiritual journey.
About the Book
About the Book
Riding the icy, moonlit sky—
They took the war to Hitler.
Their chances of survival were less than fifty percent.
Their average age was 21.
This is the story of just one bomber pilot, his crew, and the woman he loved.
It is intended as a tribute to them all.
Flying Officer Kit Moran has earned his pilot’s wings, but the greatest challenges still lie ahead: crewing up and returning to operations. Things aren’t made easier by the fact that while still a flight engineer, he was posted LMF (Lacking in Moral Fibre) for refusing to fly after a raid on Berlin that killed his best friend and skipper. Nor does it help that he is in love with his dead friend’s fiancé, but she is not yet ready to become romantically involved again.
Publisher: Cross Sea Press
ISBN-10: 1735313993
ISBN-13: 978-1735313993
Print Length: 436 pages
Find out more information about the book on GoodReads or on the author’s website.
About the Author
Helena P. Schrader is an established aviation author and expert on the Second World War. She earned a PhD in History (cum Laude) from the University of Hamburg with a ground-breaking dissertation on a leading member of the German Resistance to Hitler. Her non-fiction publications include Sisters in Arms: The Women who Flew in WWII, The Blockade Breakers: The Berlin Airlift, and Codename Valkyrie: General Friederich Olbricht and the Plot against Hitler. In addition, Helena has published eighteen historical novels and won numerous literary awards. Her novel on the Battle of Britain, Where Eagles Never Flew won the Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Maincrest Media Award for Historical Fiction. RAF Battle of Britain ace Wing Commander Bob Doe called it “the best book” he had ever seen about the battle. Traitors for the Sake of Humanity is a finalist for the Foreword INDIES awards. Grounded Eagles and Moral Fibre have both garnered excellent reviews from acclaimed review sites such as Kirkus, Blue Ink, Foreword Clarion, Feathered Quill, and Chantileer Books.
You can follow her author website for updates and her aviation history blog.
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