Writing a Book Within a Book

 

Last week I wrote about using a story as a means of recommending books to readers. This week I’m going to talk about how to write a story within a story.

The Arabian Nights is a classic example. To keep her husband from killing her, Shahrazad entertains her husband with story after story, always withholding the ending until the next night. That is the story that frames 1001 others, including the story of Aladdan.

Then there is Shakespeare’s famous play within a play, where Hamlet hires a group of roaming actors to tell the story of his father’s death.

Among my favorite modern examples are Anthony Horowitz’s novels about editor Susan Ryeland. In Magpie Murders, for example, she edits a murder mystery for publication while a real murder mystery unfolds around her. The contents of the book she is editing are an integral part of the plot and are included in the text.

The protagonist of my current work in progress is an author, and Burned Out contains passages from the book she is writing about her detective’s last case. That means I have to face the question of how to best weave the inner book into the main plot.

The fact that the book is being written is important to my story, but, unlike The Magpie Murders, the contents of the inner book are not integral to the plot. That means I only need bits and pieces of the book my protagonist is writing, although I will incorporate enough of the manuscript to give the reader the general plot of the inner book, including the solution to the case.

One thing I’ve discovered, however. It can be as much fun writing a book within a book as it is to write the main one.

I just hope it will be as much fun to read.