Plot traffic jam: alternatives to brainstorming?

Can it be solved by having one less character, such as by making the characteristics that the new character had simply more complicated details of the existing characters? Conversations they remember versus present tense to the ms?

To me in this case, the best offense is a good defense. Before I start actually writing I outline my plot and my characters and their motivations in fairly good detail

This means I can do the actual writing in a month as I know where the story is going and I don't let it get away from me. It may dart one way or the other for a bit, but I always catch it and pull it back on course.

Once it starts getting out of hand I think you have to take a step back, take a breath and decide if the changes really make the story better or just longer and more complicated.

At the risk of being no help at all, I confess that I don't outline. My object is to try to feel spontaneous as I write and convey that impression to the reader. Since turning to thrillers as a genre, I've also adopted the notion that what happens should never be predictable, and that things don't work out the way the main character expects. This involves many twists and turns, and I love trying to figure them out, staying one step ahead of the reader. Of course, I risk writing myself into a corner, but that's part of the craft or art or whatever you want to call it. And in almost forty years of writing, I've never had so much fun.That said, however, I agree that subtraction can add to your story, or at least clarify your vision of it. Scenes or characters that I introduced in chapter 2 may not have gone where I guessed they might. Maybe they're doing nothing worth while at all, yet they're still sitting there and shouldn't be. When I excise them, the other pieces fit together more smoothly.Just a thought.

Plot

I never, ever try to force the story in any given direction. I believe the story and the characters determine the plot, and if I try to force them to go where I want them to go, the story will suffer.

Which is more important, making the story go where you predetermined it should go, or letting it go where this new character wants it to go?

Sleep on it. You've probably just got an annoying muse who only gives you half the idea at a time (that's to keep you hungry and mean). Tomorrow you'll know a little more about why that character is there. Keep writing.

That's what you get for thinking the ending is in sight. Keep your thoughts to yourself anymore.

By the way, I can't outline and so all my writing is done like this. I normally find that what ever completley dumb idea that comes in and out of nowhere and displeases me madly with it's stupidity, resolves itself over the next few days and becomes an integral part of the work. (One whch I then know, the story would never have worked without)

That's probably no help at all but I suppose what I'm saying is, when in doubt, write your way out of it.

swvaughn said:

Brainstorming, while useful, never seems to generate workable plot ideas for me. So I'm wondering: does anyone out there have a spare clue? How do you re-work your plot (quickly) when it starts to get away from you?

Thanks!

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You have the story so far. You have a new character you can't ignore. Okay. So what are your options, plot-wise?

Do a bunch of mini-outlines, plotting the story from where you are right now, to the end. Cause and effect will dictate how things proceed for each mini-outline. There will only be so many things that can happen, so many possible plots. Try them all on for size, and see if that doesn't give you an idea or two.

I do this sometimes.

Just let it go pal, see where it takes you. You can always come back and kill someone off.

Raiyah said:

Just let it go pal, see where it takes you. You can always come back and kill someone off.

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Agree with Raiy and James. Getting surprised by your own story is have the fun of writing, in my estimation. Give the new character some free rein and see where he takes you.