For “Cloud Atlas,” which contained six different stories and settings, Mitchell said he used ideas like glue to hold the vast structure of the book together. These elements are fundamentally interconnected, he said. Mitchell said novels share a basic composition because they are all made of five key components: characters, thematic ideas, style, plot and structure. “Keep your curiosity vital about the world.”

“When you encounter something that gets you excited, there’s a good novel in there somewhere,” Mitchell said. Still, he cautioned against deliberately making one’s work too difficult to understand. He advised aspiring novelists to embrace and write about difficult ideas, in order to be original. This “omnivoracity,” as he called it, allows for literary longevity. Mitchell explained that he tries to write works in a variety of genres and styles. “We’re made of the same elements - brushes with mortality, falling in love, being dumped, intellectual stimulation, creativity, jealousy, hate.” It’s the periodic table of the human condition,” Mitchell said. “We have different lives, but there’s overlaps as well.

English professor Alfred Guy moderated Mitchell’s talk, which included advice for budding authors and a discussion on the power of shared experiences. Mitchell, who has authored five books - including “Cloud Atlas” and “number9dream,” which were both shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize - spoke about the process of literary creation to an audience of 50 at a Morse College Master’s Tea on Tuesday. To write a truly original novel, one must untangle paradoxical and difficult ideas. According to novelist David Mitchell, crafting great literature is akin to escaping from a straightjacket.

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