Article: Originally Posted the week of...

Originally Posted the week of November 25, 2002 on NicholasSparks.com

In love stories, the most difficult problem is coming up with an original, interesting and universal story, and it's the reason that most love stories fail in the market. I've been pretty fortunate in that the ideas I've come up with have been popular in the market, and The Wedding also falls into this category. People will love the story -- of that, I'm fairly confident. The next question then is "what's the best way to tell the story?" This has to do with structure, and in love stories, it's far more complicated than it appears. Unlike most genres, love stories are seldom linear. They are usually crafted as remembrances (as many of mine are) and often have varying time periods (as many of mine do). There can also be many "layers" to the story, and in The Wedding, these layers have to fit together seamlessly, and the story must flow smoothly and clearly for the reader.

Now, without giving too much away, here are the layers:
Man and woman falling in love.
The status of the relationship in the last year.
The story of the same man and woman falling in love in the past.
The events in their lives that have brought them to this point.
The story of Noah.
The story of the Wedding.

Six layers in a relatively short novel, and each is critically important. Each layer has to be able to stand alone, and yet all six layers must blend together in a way that builds drama and excitement for the reader. This "stand alone" and "blend" is hard to do -- and takes time to make it just right. I realized that though I was blending the layers, they weren't able to also stand-alone, and so I've gone back to fix it.

Editor's note: Each week, Nicholas Sparks reports on his writing progress on his website, NicholasSparks.com, this excerpt on writing THE WEDDING is just one of many posts about his progress.

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