characters, setting...but no plot

Dunno what genre you write, but...

if they're fully-fleshed out characters, they at least have a biography. They have hopes and dreams. To be stereotypical (and see if I can offend every genre at once), there's the old flame who comes back into town (romance), the grumbling noise coming from the furnace in the dark corner for the past six months (horror), the farmboy who learns he's a king (for serious, don't), the spaceship that's just returned.

If you have characters and a setting, there is something to be said. Even if it seems meaningless and boring, just pick a character, throw him/her into a desperate situation and then write them out of it. If it doesn't develop into a plot, do it again. And again, and again.

What do your characters want? What's stopping them from getting it? How far are they prepared to go? Define the conflict and the plot will reveal itself. (Personal Writing Theory #3527)

Mantra: Characters, Setting, Conflict.

-Derek

Heh. Welcome to my world.

If, like me, you're better at character than plot, it can be helpful to look at what ways you want your characters to grow and change, and then look for events that can cause this change. That can be a starting point anyway.

Eh, who am I kidding? If I knew how to answer your question, I'd be writing instead of coming on AW complaining that I've got no plot.

i would say you are probably in a very good place. after all, plot is only one damn thing after another.

i wish my characters had a bit more personality, my settings a bit more vivid. all i have is plot.

Do a search on Google for plot. There are X number of main plot ideas, but then there are quite a few deviations from the main ideas - some of which aren't quite so overworked. Hopefully when you look at the plot possibilities something will leap out and catch you in relation to one or more of your characters.

There are character driven novels, but I don't think those are quite so easy sells. Possibly one of the best selling ones of those was "And Ladies of the Club". If you think about it, memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies are in a way, character driven novels. Think about what has sold in all of these categories and why and you might be able to come up with an idea for how to create a decent character driven novel.

Hope that helps. Puma

Even masturbation* works best with mental images of some form of action.

The best way to develop characterization is through the actions of the characters, and the best actions to define characters are those that challenge those characters in some way. This means if you have properly fleshed out these characters, you already have them doing things that challenge them and thus show who and what they are. Certainly these actions have some direction (they were written for some purpose). If none of this is the case, your characters may be taking you on a lovely ride of intellectual masturbation.



*think in writer-specific metaphoric terms related to reproductive productivity

What is the single thing that your main character defines him or herself as?

Use that, and force them into a situation that will make them question their personal take on things, make them question what defines them, make them question their world view... their ethics (or lack of), their routine, their goals, their purpose in life, their role in society... some or all of it needs to be on the chopping block. They should be a different person, in some way, by the final chapter than they were in the first chapter.

You can't make that happen without specific events. There's your plot.

Conflicts. X character wants this but he can't have it because of Y character. Once you've worked out what your characters want...there's your plot. Presumably your characters are different enough that they do conflict. Test out the different conflicts- if A is a young black man and B is a middle-aged white woman, you've got three possible conflicts straight away- age, race, gender. They may not necessarily be your plot and you may decide some don't cause much of a conflict, but it's a start. Add another element and you're on your way.


And if you don't know what your characters want, they're not fully developed yet.

Kateness said:

just pick a character, throw him/her into a desperate situation and then write them out of it. If it doesn't develop into a plot, do it again. And again, and again.

Click to expand...

That sounds excellent advice! I'm in a similar situation as the OP, with characters and a setting but no plot, so I'm very interested in what you all have to advise.

I seem to be having the same troubles. I spend a lot of time on characters (although I hardly spend any on setting. I try to keep that as simple and bare as possible), and I get loads of dialogue done. Eventually, I realise nothing has actually happened.

The last assignment I handed in for my Creative Writing course had that problem. Oops. I'm dreading the mark I'll get for it.

Make the protagonist have a desire, and make something get in his way. That's all I can say right now.

Write out a page of 'what if's. What if they did this... what if this happened to them... what if... what if....

Characters need to want something. If they don't, it's impossible to think up a plot, because goals drive the plot. So what do your characters want? If you can't answer that yet, try...

Do you have any kind of premise at all? A genre, and type of story, something to guide you? What are common plots in that genre? Common plots using that premise? (I suspect this is your first novel? If so, don't worry too much about being original and just work on the skills to plot out a novel and write one. Once you do that, originality will come. If it's not your first novel and you're just stuck on this one idea, then use other plots as a jumping off point to get you thinking)

You say you have a setting already, so maybe look closer there.

What are some bad things that happen in this setting?
What's the worst thing that can happen? Or ever did happen?
Is there anything that can still happening?
How can you connects any of these to your characters in any way?
Is there anything that your characters have to stop or prevent?
(These can be large scale issues or personal one-person issues, though a combo of both would likely give you the best plot)

Now, look at your genre/premise. Do any of those bad things lend themselves to they type of story you want to write? A love story if it's a romance, a terrorist attack if it's a thriller, a quest if it's a fantasy, that kinda thing.

Next, look at those characters with the above ideas in mind.

What are their problems?
What has gone wrong in their lives?
What do they want most out of life?
What do they want most at this moment in time?
What are their biggest fears?
What is their biggest flaw?
Who are their enemies?Why?

Now how might you take your premise, the problems the setting creates, your characters personal desires and fears, and turn that into a plot?

What do they want, that will be made harder by the problems of the setting, and made risky and dangerous by both the setting and their personal fears? What are they willing to risk all to do?

That should give you a plot, even if it's just a basic log line idea you can work from.

Conflicts. X character wants this but he can't have it because of Y character. Once you've worked out what your characters want...there's your plot.

Click to expand...

That.

Or pop up Dramatica. Same process, but the software forces you to think things through. There is a free demo version. Takes a little while to get familiar, but the paradigm is designed to make you work from the characters first, then move you towards their interaction and conflicts and then to the plot line and scenes.

-cb

Chasing the Horizon said:

Heh. Welcome to my world.

If, like me, you're better at character than plot, it can be helpful to look at what ways you want your characters to grow and change, and then look for events that can cause this change. That can be a starting point anyway.

Eh, who am I kidding? If I knew how to answer your question, I'd be writing instead of coming on AW complaining that I've got no plot.

Click to expand...

I know, right?

Try forgetting all about plot, and concentrate on story. Begin the novel by placing yourcharacter in a terrible situation, and tell teh story of how they get out of the situation.

I love the AW maxims we've come to adopt.

Perhaps my favorite is "Chase your MC up a tree then set the tree on fire!"

Give your characters a problem then sit back and watch as they try to figure out a solution.

Be the cruel hand of Fate and inflict your wrath upon the characters and watch as they struggle to overcome the challenges your hurl at them.

Be cruel, be mean, be ruthless, and see how your characters handle it, overcome, persevere...

Mel...

We try to discourage the tree analogy; too many news reports of trees being set on fire... with members sitting up in the branches taking notes.

-Derek

As the quote has it, a writer is somebody who makes up characters and then tortures them .

You've done the first bit - now do the second.

What do they love in their lives? Make them lose it, and seek to regain it.