Writing Fiction: Session 8 - Plot

Plot : Asking The Question

Without a plot, you won’t have a book. With a bad plot or a boring plot you’ll have a book that no one will finish but your mother. And, she might lie to you about finishing it. So let’s talk about the essentials of a good plot. What are they?

Every plot has a beginning, a middle, and an end. That sounds like the easy part, but it’s not. Many writers begin writing about their character’s life, thinking that they have a plot and that they are telling a story. Unless there is a compelling underlying question to weave the events in a person’s life into a story (with a beginning, a middle, and an end), you are merely making episodic entries into your character’s diary. Some of those episodes might be interesting, but they won’t necessarily make a story.

Essentially a good plot will lead your character from the event that creates some sort of conflict or question in his/her life to the resolution of that conflict or question. That’s the key to it. Everything in between is the plot.

Think about the best novels you’ve read. You don’t want to put them down. Why? Because the writer has asked a question or some questions that haven’t been answered. The questions are compelling and the reader feels a need to find out if they'll be answered. Throughout the book the writer answers just enough of the quetions to satisfy the reader, and then, WHAM, the writer throws more and more roadblocks and questions in the way of the resolution. As a result, the characters have more trouble solving the problem(s) rather than less. The tension builds and continues to build until the reader concludes there’s no way out of the snarl of it all. Finally, the writer resolves the issues (the climax) and the reader sighs and says, “What a great book!”

We all want the reader to say that about the books we write. So, how do we get to that point? In developing a plot, you must find a question you want to ask or a conflict that the character will face at the beginning of the story. Bring that question to the attention of your readers early and hook them to want to answer that question by finding out what happens. For example, in murder mysteries, there’s usually a dead body in the first few pages. That’s it. Put a body on one of the first few pages and immediately that body creates questions in your readers’ minds. How did that body get there? Did someone murder that person? If so, who did it and why should I care? And why should the main character care? Does the main character have to solve the mystery? If so, how important is it for the main character to solve the mystery?

You see where I’m going with this. Your plot whether it’s a mystery, an adventure story, a love story, or a saga, must ask a question or questions in the beginning. That gets the ball rolling – or the pages turning in this case.

The middle still must compel the reader to turn pages, also. So, while giving the clues, the writer creates more questions.

The important thing is to make sure you don’t answer your big question too soon. Your plot is over once you do. For example, if Sally discovers a body and John Doe walks into the room and says, “I killed Sam,” your question is answered and your story is over.

Your question needs to be big enough to support the full plot. Let's say there’s a body draped over the piano. It’s Sam, John Doe’s partner. John Doe isn’t there but his car keys are on the floor beside the body. When asked, John Doe tells the police that he was home alone. He has no alibi. Instead of just answering the questions of the police, he begins twisting and turning and answering with increasingly vague answers. So, now you have the question: Can John Doe prove he didn’t kill Sam or find who did before the police arrest him? There you go… that question is probably big enough to support your plot.

Writing Fiction: Session 2 - Novel Ideas

Before you begin to write your novel, you must dream up a winning story idea. Once in a while, writers pull ideas for their novels out of thin air. Rather than waiting for the fiction-writing muse to strike, give her a nudge.

To start the brainstorming process, think about the types of novels you enjoy the most. When you go to the bookstore, do you gravitate to the mystery section, the sci-fi section, adventure, romance, historical saga, horror, westerns, fantasy, or general fiction? Most often fiction writers have the easiest time writing in the genre they read and enjoy.

Once you narrow down a category or two, pick three or four novels by your favorite fiction authors of that genre. Take the time to read them slowly -- cover-to-cover. As you read, dissect them ... feel the rhythm of the story, note the balance of narration and dialogue, internalize the pacing. Can you find some commonalities among the novels in your genre? If so, make note of them for future use.

Reading several novels in this analytical way should clear a path for your book idea. Keep a notepad handy and jot down all the ideas (no mater how foolish) that come to mind. Put the list aside and keep reading. If you let those ideas for ferment for a while, one or more will eventually rise up to claim your interest to an extent that you won't be able to leave it alone.

That's your start. Fiction writers tell me, and I know from personal experience, that once an idea takes hold, it'll start to grow on its own. Don't rush this process in preparing to write your novel. Waiting for the right idea will make the writing process so much easier.

Writing Fiction: Session 1 - Introduction to Writing Fiction

Writing fiction is a little harder to define than non-fiction writing, but many of the steps to preparing to write overlap. For example, at some point:

• you'll want to develop an outline;
• you'll have to do some research;
• you'll want to keep track of people for an acknowledgements section; and
• you'll need to develop a note-taking system to keep your information in an orderly manner.

Before you do any of that and before you start writing fiction, you'll need to learn a bit about fiction and some of the ins and outs of writing it. Writing fiction, whether a short story, a novella, or a full length novel, is the art of telling lies. The longer the piece, the more lies you tell.

In order to gain and keep the attention of an audience, you'll need to put enough detail into your fiction writing to make your story believable without slowing it down. Plus when writing fiction, you need characters that ring true, pacing that keeps the story moving, and dialogue that brings your reader right into the conversation and into the story.

We'll work on each of these areas and more in the sessions to come on writing fiction. For now, start dreaming up your story.

National Novel Writing Month…

Let me tell you how I spent November 2007. This story starts in October 2006. George, a friend and fellow writer from Virginia, sent me an email. In it, he challenged me to write a 50,000-word novel in a month… specifically the month of November 2006. It seems November is National Novel Writing Month and http://www.nanowrimo.org/ sponsors an event where novelists from all over the world write (or attempt to write) a novel in 30 days.

In 2006, I had too much work on my plate and declined, promising George that I’d do it in November 2007. In October 2007, George wrote to remind me to sign up. He added that he was busy working on character sketches, maps of the locale for his novel, and adding specifics to his already-detailed outline. You see, you don’t actually write anything until November, but you can prepare.

While in North Carolina, I had intended to flesh out my outline, but the month of August passed with little progress. Since it was still early in October when George wrote to remind me, I determined I was still okay. After all, I could whip an outline and a few character sketches together in short order, couldn't I?

Well, it wasn’t to be… The last week of November arrived and I had a great title (Behind My Back – An Unauthorized Autobiography) and nothing else. As the days counted down to November 1st, George wrote of his progress at compiling all his background data. I tried to convince myself that he was over-prepared, but I started to panic at the idea of starting to write a novel without a plot in mind.

George's preparation did pay off. He finished at 50,000 words with over a week and a half to spare, and he went on to write another 10,000 while he was waiting for me to catch up. It not only impressed me, but pushed me toward the finish line. No way I was going to quit and let him be the only one to pass the 50,000 word mark. Finally, with two days to spare, I finished at 50,088 words. I sighed in relief.

When I look back on the experience, I know I'll do it again. It was tough to keep going at that pace, but it filled me with energy, and I must admit that it felt good to sit down each morning with my characters to determine what we would do with their lives that day.

I’m starting my outline for next year on January 1st. George knew what he was doing. There is great value in having an outline, maps, and character sketches. But, somehow I suspect that there'll be nothing to compare to this first year when I naively wrote from the heart and any other part of my body that wanted to throw in a word or two.... It was a great adventure.

...so, come along and join us next year…you won't regret it.

Here are some stats from this year….

• Over 90,000 writers throughout the world participated
• Collectively, we wrote 1,187,931,929 words.

P.S. "Winner" in the decal means that I finished.... And, after you've written 50,000 words in a month, you'll feel like a winner, too.