We are 500 pages into the story when this observation about the ideal structure for stories appears: “Beginning at a fine point, the life of the hero expands outward through youth as he begins to establish his strengths and fallibilities, his friendships and enmities….but at some untold moment, the two rays…turn a corner and begin to converge.” As a writer, I jumped out of my chair when I read this. These instructions reminded me of the principles Towles described on his website. I love it when novelists walk the talk beautifully. This novel can show writers how successful narrative architecture works.
Towles, Amor. The Lincoln Highway. Viking, 2021, p. 502.