Mosaic Writing

I remember (vaguely) reading Dos Passos in college English. I've also read Brunner, though not "Zanzibar." You might want to read or scan Dos Passos' "USA Trilogy," see how he uses the mosaic method, and see if it fits your needs. Maybe experiment with it a bit.

The "USA Trilogy" includes "The 42nd Parallel," "Nineteen Nineteen," and "The Big Money." Dos Passos uses four intersperced techniques or "narratives": (1) life stories of several characters, (2) newsreel-type historical accounts, (3) biograpies of historical characters, and (4) something he called the "Camera Eye" -- a sort of stream of consciouseness. I don't think you need to follow that exact style, but it would provide some examples to play on.

I'd be interested in your results. More experimentation with style on this site, and fiction in general, would be a refreshing change. It's so easy to fall into a formula with writing, especially when the overriding concern is publication.


Good Luck with your writing.

I loved Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up, The Shockwave Rider-- read a lot of PK Dick, & John Brunner when I was in High School. I'll have to look into the Mosaic method.

I did a little research on mosaic writing (a Yahoo search, actually) and from the sound of it, it might be similar to what I am doing with one of my novels, to a certain extent. I'm not integrating portions of different types of narrative like Dos Passos but I am telling the story of 3 characters with sections from each of their points of view, and their stories are separate but also intertwine with one another. For example, the main story is about the fragile relationship between members of a wealthy family that deteriorates when a nurse comes to take care of the dying grandfather and comes to replace the children of the family in the mother's eyes. The story is told from the point of view of the daughter of the family, the son of the family, and the nurse. They all have their own stories on how they are dealing with the turn of events. For example, the daughter's story involves not just coping with watching how the nurse comes to take her place in the family but also tells how she discovers an alternative "family" in a strange club of women dancers (not very well explained, but that's the best I can do for now ).

The way I'm writing the story is having alternative chapters from each of the 3 character's points of view. The first chapter is from the daughter's point of view, then the story continues from the son's point of view (but also follows him independent of the story at hand), then the third from the nurse's point of view, etc.

Not sure if that's what you're looking for.

Tam