Beginning to end...

In one of my books on novel writing, the author makes a good suggestion, which is to state what happens in the beginning (Chapter 1) of a novel AND what happens in the end. That is, is the character's problem solved or not? Does he win the girl or not?

Honestly, all of this looks so simplistic! It is also the easy part of writing a novel, but at least it offers a destination, however vague that destination may be. The trick is to figure out what steps the character takes to solve his or her problem in order to arrive at that destination. And for any novel to "work," it should have a BIG concept. Here's an example:

I'm reading a novel by John Nance called Orbit, which has a fascinating plot line. In that novel, a pharmaceutical salesman, Kip Dawson, wins a trip to space and accepts the prize against his wife's and children's objections. So there he is, up in a rocket ship, with one other passenger, the captain of the ship. Then just as things seem to be going well, a little space object smacks into the ship and hits the captain in the head, killing him instantly. Kip finds himself alone.

Now how's that for a great concept and a page turner?

I'm sure that the author must have asked himself a "what-if" question, then figured out how his main character, Kip, solved his problem. His beginning chapter was Kip's having accepted the prize and pondering over its implications and the final chapter is....... I haven't reached it yet, but wouldn't tell you if I did. That would be giving away the story and spoiling the reading pleasure for someone who might be interested in reading Nance's novel.

But the whole idea is that the author figured out a beginning and end to his novel, then worked out the details in the middle chapters, some of which include Kip's perceptions of what is happening, the other characters' responses, his realization that his survival will depend on his efforts and so on.