Epistolary Novels--Not What They Used to Be

 Since I will not be able to attend our informal Zoom meeting on February 21—yes! It’s on for tonight—I wanted to toss around ideas about a little-used subgenre in today’s fiction. The epistolary novel. 

The epistolary novel (emphasis on the second syllable):

“a novel told through the medium of letters.”

For the record, I hated them. As a kid, I refused to read them voluntarily. In junior high, I had no choice. The first epistolary novel written in western civilization was Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740). I had to look that up for this article. I have no idea if Pamela was the novel I read in eighth grade. At that point, it was: read the book, take the test, throw out the knowledge to make room in my brain for something more worthwhile. I never read another epistolary novel, never changed my mind until—last week.

Along came Pepper Basham’s 2022 epistolary novel, Authentically, Izzy, on my library’s “New Fiction” shelf. Pepper is a member of ACFW, and can she make romance and wit zing off the page! She performs her magic via emails and texts flying between main character Izzy and the people in her life. I’m guessing ninety percent of the four hundred-plus pages is based on written communications and only contains standard prose for key scenes when the two heartthrobs are together in person.

I’ve begun to appreciate the healthy exercises epistolaries provide to writers.

1. Our main character, or whoever is writing the letter, naturally has a subjective point of view. There is no way we can fall into the head-hopping trap.

2. We are forced to write inner monologue as the character shares thoughts and feelings with the recipient of his/her letter.

3. Author intrusion is impossible.

4. Written communication between characters automatically allows for more than one point of view within the novel unless the person who receives the letters never responds. (That would make for a boring and depressing book!)

5. We have to move the story without benefit of dialogue.

The major pitfall to watch out for is this:

The characters must be able to psychoanalyze themselves as they pour their hearts out to a friend. They have to recognize their own virtues and vices. How many of us can do that in real life? So, the writer has to figure out how their characters can be so talented at introspection without stretching the reader’s suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.

Which is why epistolary novels fell out of favor by the turn of the nineteenth century. Readers wouldn’t take them seriously.

Writing Challenge

When you find the time (am I hearing hysterical laughter?), try your hand at an epistolary short story. Submit it to a literary magazine. Who knows? You may be ACFW Indiana’s next award-winning author!

Linda Sammaritan writes realistic fiction, mostly for kids ages ten to fourteen. She has completed a  middle grade trilogy, World Without Sound, based on her own experiences growing up with a deaf sister. Book One, Reaching Into Silence, was an ACFW Genesis Contest semi-finalist and a First Impressions Finalist.

A wife, mother of three, and grandmother to eight, Linda regales the youngest grandchildren with “Nona Stories,” tales of her childhood. Maybe one day those stories will be in picture books!

Where Linda can be found on the web:

www.lindasammaritan.com

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