Get with the plot!

Sc00t · Sep 22, 2006

Hey everyone. I don't post here much, i'm more of a forum lurker (Sorry! Eek!) But I usually write stuff for an online RPG more than regular fiction. That means writing for one character and that doesn't REALLY require intermingling diverse plots like short fiction or novels. I *do* want to write a full novel eventually but I think that maybe starting off with short fiction would be better for me as somewhat of a transition from writing for RPG's to writing a novel.

Here is my major problem though. Plots. You read these books with 3 sub-plots going on that all come together at the end with this awesome twist that makes you shiver or cry or whatever, and you just think "How does someone see that bigger picture?" I can only really write a one dimensional story, one set of characters, one route, one ending. What I *want* to write is something a little more intelligent, something with intertwining plots etc.

So the questions are; How do you plan out a piece? how do you come up with plots yourself? Any tips, suggestions, help, etc will be more than appreciated!

thanks everyone

-sc00t

Jamesaritchie · Sep 22, 2006

plot

I don't. It's easier to get a good plot, and a good subplot, without planning than with it. Just tell a good story. Plot and subplot come with the story.

wordmonkey · Sep 22, 2006

For me at least, I have my characters who I know pretty well but never inside-out (they always surprise me at some point).

And I have a very very very loose plot idea. I know where it starts, I know a couple of places I wanna visit along the way, and I know where the main plot ends. But I have no idea how all those points will get connected. That's for the characters to decide.

In many ways I'm the antagonist and all my characters are protagonists. In the novel I have coming out in October I had one "through-away" character who wouldn't go away and as things progressed he made himself more and more important, until at the end he becomes a deciding factor in the outcome. Wasn't planned, but the character took over.

Sounds insane, right?

Mike Coombes · Sep 22, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
I don't. It's easier to get a good plot, and a good subplot, without planning than with it. Just tell a good story. Plot and subplot come with the story.

Heh. Those are the bits that leave you shouting at your monitor "What the hell do you think you're doing? That was never supposed to happen!"

Magic moments.

Kate Thornton · Sep 22, 2006

That's really the magic of writing fiction - the story. The story tells itself and you tell the story. Both kinds of magic happen. Add the craft of good writing to the art of compelling storytelling and you have a winner.

Tips: Try writing two stories together - two sets of characters, etc. Have them intersect at some key place or time or event.

Try writing a completely new character, someone or something *completely different* from your usual. Do it in first person to really get into their shoes.

Try writing long - then go back and cut out 30%. Make the story tight, not choppy.

Look at the story you want to tell - is it intriguing? Does it make sense? Would people (or Hobbitts or zombies or fuzzy pink unicorns) really do this?

Try a setting you never thought of before, like a general store in the 1940s or a hospital tent during the Boer War or your local Starbuck's, where the wifi connection is suddenly allowing coffee drinkers to sip & slip between dimensions.

Best of luck!

crypticquill · Sep 23, 2006

I agree with everyone above.

I'm currently working on a book (that may or may not ever be published, who knows if I'll even try) that started in my head back in...middle school, I think it was. I never started writing it, but later in college I had the assignment of writing a short story in one of my creative writing classes. That story popped into my head, and I sat down and wrote it in one night. A couple of months later, it was published in a college literary magazine.

Then, back in January of this year, I entered one of those online writing contests where the entry can only be so many words. This one was 100 words, and the prompt was something like, "You're at a book signing and you look up to see the most unexpected person. Who is it and what do you say?" And you know what? That prompt pushed me to write the second chapter (which will end up being the first chapter) of the story I started back in college - the story that popped into my head in middle school.

So, for me, plots just pop up as translucent ideas and I go with them until they're opaque.

alleycat · Sep 23, 2006

This is not an original thought, but one thing you might want to keep in mind is that "the plot" is not "the story". They're related, but not the same.

As for plotting, try doing it a number of different ways (everything from a detailed outline to completely winging it) and see what works for you. There have been many good writers who have done it either way. To paraphrase Stephen King, "I can't tell you how to write, I can only tell you what works for me."

crypticquill · Sep 23, 2006

Then I should rephrase - stories pop up as translucent ideas, and plots form until they're opaque.

L M Ashton · Sep 30, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
I don't. It's easier to get a good plot, and a good subplot, without planning than with it. Just tell a good story. Plot and subplot come with the story.

For you, James, sure, and even for a bunch of other writers, but not for everyone, not by a long shot.

alleycat said:
As for plotting, try doing it a number of different ways (everything from a detailed outline to completely winging it) and see what works for you. There have been many good writers who have done it either way. To paraphrase Stephen King, "I can't tell you how to write, I can only tell you what works for me."

This is completely true.

I'm a plotter. I plot in detail to the point of having pages and pages and pages of notes. It works for me.

I tried the pantser method - writing by the seat of your pants - but that one resulted in a novel taking three years to write. With the plotting method, I can write a first draft in a matter of weeks. But that's me.

Do what alleycat says - try a bunch of things until you find what works best for you. You might even find that, for you, one story will demand one method, while another requires another. All that matters is that it works.

Good luck.

PeeDee · Oct 2, 2006

I'm with James, I'm afraid. I have an idea, a character, a phrase, a scene, an ending, a beginning, whatever. I write and it all comes together. I'm very grateful that I can do this. Sometimes, I'll outline or plot, but mostly it's an exercise in curiosity than anything else.

You know those one-dimensional stories you come up with? Write three related ones, and then edit the beginnings and endings together. Wham. You've got an interlaced story.

(simplistic? Sure. Could it work? Why on earth not?)

Get with the plot!

Sc00t

Jamesaritchie

wordmonkey

ook

Mike Coombes

Guru

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

crypticquill

Please don't leave, Mr. Moon

alleycat

Still around

crypticquill

Please don't leave, Mr. Moon

L M Ashton

crazy spec fic writer

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?