Son of Nobody

Martel built Son of Nobody from labeled envelopes, including footnotes and fragments. He cuts his research notes into scene-sized pieces and files them in labeled envelopes running from the first scene to the last. For Son of Nobody a footnote envelope sat on top of a fragment envelope, and long fragments got envelopes of their own.

The page layout puts a lost epic at the top and the marriage story in the footnotes. When he writes he opens an envelope, lays the snippets around his computer and combines them, so he never starts from a blank page.

How I Write▶ 1:59

The scholar Harlo Dunn is never physically described, only shown thinking and feeling. Martel leaves out appearance because stressing a nose or a scar turns a character into a caricature in the reader's mind. He uses words for thought and emotion and treats the character as a vessel the reader looks through.

He does the same with Pi in Life of Pi. "Words are much better at thinking and emotions."

How I Write▶ 57:33

A dog licking a hand carries abandonment a pleading person could not. A character who has just changed from a woman to a man drops a key through a slot while the dog desperately licks her hand. The animal makes the point about need and abandonment briefly and forcefully without the scene turning melodramatic.

Martel says it "allowed me to make an emotional point in a very forceful way." He adds that animals also give readers a break from human characters.

How I Write▶ 15:44