Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
One last lesson in storytelling from the master?
Though an old white hetero guy who once worked at Boeing, there’s much to be learned about the modern art of writing a novel from the unknown Thomas Pynchon. Despite, perhaps because of, his stories being buried beneath so much bravura.
Just some of the tricks: Defying all storytelling conventions while giving them a passing salute, de-activating his active hero, capturing today’s zeitgeist deliberately by placing his setting back in time and far away, providing variations on themes through multiple mirroring storylines, fiendishly mixing made-up stuff with seriously researched history, confounding historians with anachronisms and confusing geographers with barely traceable character journeys, keeping you aware of the artifice through a barrage of de-familiarisation only to snap to actual emotion at odd moments when the characters do or don’t get what they want, keeping you on your toes with lists of absurdities or absurd ditties, keeping the tone light-hearted except when some new turn suddenly makes you gulp.
Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea and attempts at emulation not recommended. But anyone who seriously considers writing a novel should dip into a Pynchon just to see what is possible.
Try outlining your own story:
