Aspects of the Novel is E. M. Forster’sbest book. Much better than Howards End I dare say. It’s an introductory bookto the art and crafts of novel writing. we have been introduced to certain basic elements of novels-story, plots, characters &c. Some other parts are introduced in the book too, though they are a bit tricky to understand fully. They are "fantasy", "prophecy" and "pattern and rhythm". "fantasy" struck me as an technique to make novels more attractive to readers, and perhaps to "universalize" the theme too. "prophecy" is even harder a definition to grasp. I cannot differentiate it from "fantasy". "prophecy" seems to be about the universal qualities of a novel at first sight, but as I read on, I found that "prophecy" can also be a feature which we must deduce from the thesis-some ideas or points not apparent on the first read, but will emerge if we use our intelligence to contemplate on them later on. "prophecy" is like lines excerpted from a good song, must be considered in the context.
now passing on from "prophecy" to "pattern and rhythm". Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past is a typical example. Personally I think Master and Magarita fits too. Novels are getting more musical, and poetical, without stresses on the plots-time and values of lives etc. Novelists use "rhythm" to show the conscious and sub-conscious of mind, which are hard to shown in the traditional ways of novel writing. But using rhythms is quite hard for commoners. It's so easy to get astray or have gone to far away. For "pattern", it is the bane of novels. Arts should never ever have patterns as a bundle of data do. Henry James is a tragic example. I think George Eliot is another typical failure with seemingly good literary reputation. She's a marriage-maniac. Almost each of her novels ends with happy marriages-Middlemarch, Adam Bede, Silas Marner...by George! had not her uncanny insight and witty remarks compensated so much for the plots and characters, her works would have been disasters!! Charles Dickens' got pattern-mania too. This is due to his being professional writer, I guess. Writing, or any branch of arts, should be a vocation only, never a profession to earn one's living. Good pieces of writing need time to blossom. Choosing writing as a profession will only cause rush writings and patterned writings-one has not the time to perfect plots and characters, because he has to get his bread timely. For dramas the conditions may be different, but for novel writings there's few exceptions to what I've just said. (Perhaps Jane Austen may be one)