Ok, here's the deal: my characters have finally found their voices, but the plot still stinks. its the icky stereotyped 'hero goes and fights and defeats the Big Meanie and his evil nutty henchman' with lots of talking and runaround in between. How can I fix this?
Yet another newbie asking for help...
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Brainstorm.
Sit with a pen and paper (or whiteboard or computer screen or whatever) and just write down any random idea that comes to your head. Don't worry how silly it sounds; just keep doing it.
For example, just based on your basic plot idea:
Big Bad is actually a child around age 12
The henchmen aren't human
The hero has a broken leg because he's crazy and tried to jump off a roof
The real Big Bad is one of the henchmen
etc. etc.
Spend as much time as you can coming up with the most original, zaniest ideas. Eventually a germ of a workable idea will come out of it.
Sit with a pen and paper (or whiteboard or computer screen or whatever) and just write down any random idea that comes to your head. Don't worry how silly it sounds; just keep doing it.
For example, just based on your basic plot idea:
Big Bad is actually a child around age 12
The henchmen aren't human
The hero has a broken leg because he's crazy and tried to jump off a roof
The real Big Bad is one of the henchmen
etc. etc.
Spend as much time as you can coming up with the most original, zaniest ideas. Eventually a germ of a workable idea will come out of it.
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Yeah, unfortunately it's akin to saying "I have a cat with all these cat parts, now how do I make it a dog?" Your best bet is probably going to be to start over from the beginning.
Hmmm...they might be right with the start at the beginning, but I think you may be able to salvage it. Try this:
Open your story to a scene - any scene. Let's say it's one where the hero fights the bad guy. Now ask yourself ... "What would happen if...." and let your mind wander - I'm talking the craziest and the most sane things you can think of - let the thoughts roll. Such as ....
What if the bad guy offers the hero an ultimatum?
What if the bad guy turns out to be someone the hero knows?
What if a beautiful woman walks between the hero and the bad guy and they both want her?
What if there's an earthquake?
What if lightening strikes, hits a tree, and the tree falls down and traps the bad guy but doesn't kill him?
What if the bad guy is suicidal?
What if the sun's so bright it blinds the hero? Literally?
Then take all of these little crazy scenarios and think of all the possible outcomes.
What if the sun's so bright it blinds the hero?
- the bad guy could kill the hero
- the bad guy decides it's more fun this way and silently leaves, only to pursue the blind hero later
-now the hero has a whole new set of obsticles - he can't even button his own shirt. maybe he meets a woman who sounds and feels beautiful, and she helps him formulate a plan so he still stands a chance against the bad guy. of course he eventually is healed somehow (another thing to brainstorm), and the woman turns out to be not so conventionally beautiful, but he's fallen in love with her and her with him. but of course at first he has a battle with his conscience b/c he never pictured himself with someone who's so not beautiful...but when the bad guy takes her from him he knows what he must do....
Have fun with it...and see what happens!
Good luck!
Open your story to a scene - any scene. Let's say it's one where the hero fights the bad guy. Now ask yourself ... "What would happen if...." and let your mind wander - I'm talking the craziest and the most sane things you can think of - let the thoughts roll. Such as ....
What if the bad guy offers the hero an ultimatum?
What if the bad guy turns out to be someone the hero knows?
What if a beautiful woman walks between the hero and the bad guy and they both want her?
What if there's an earthquake?
What if lightening strikes, hits a tree, and the tree falls down and traps the bad guy but doesn't kill him?
What if the bad guy is suicidal?
What if the sun's so bright it blinds the hero? Literally?
Then take all of these little crazy scenarios and think of all the possible outcomes.
What if the sun's so bright it blinds the hero?
- the bad guy could kill the hero
- the bad guy decides it's more fun this way and silently leaves, only to pursue the blind hero later
-now the hero has a whole new set of obsticles - he can't even button his own shirt. maybe he meets a woman who sounds and feels beautiful, and she helps him formulate a plan so he still stands a chance against the bad guy. of course he eventually is healed somehow (another thing to brainstorm), and the woman turns out to be not so conventionally beautiful, but he's fallen in love with her and her with him. but of course at first he has a battle with his conscience b/c he never pictured himself with someone who's so not beautiful...but when the bad guy takes her from him he knows what he must do....
Have fun with it...and see what happens!
Good luck!
Take heart, it can mean you're growing as a writer. There are periods in plenty of writers' careers where they just leave behind the wreckage of story after story as they grow halfway through and realize that although one piece is good...the rest stinks (good characters, stinky plot, in your case).
Start over. Write something else. Keep going. And if the next story flames out in the same way, do another one, and keep going. It's just part of learning to fly.
Start over. Write something else. Keep going. And if the next story flames out in the same way, do another one, and keep going. It's just part of learning to fly.
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Yeah, like Pete said - it's an ever-evolving process. You might want to start your next story with a list of cool plot ideas and add the characters later.
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Can I offer a different take?
The best advice anyone can give to a newbie is to write and finish what you start. Overcoming the urge to stop is a learned behavior. Writers learn to forge through to the end. Only then can you evaluate the whole of the story.
Then, and only then, can you decide to place the novel at the bottom of the trunk and start over.
The writing you do in the trunk novel is not wasted. It is a process that all writers experience. We learn from our mistakes and we develop a writing habit.
SO, BIC.
Allen, whose butt is in a chair but not accomplishing anything useful.
The best advice anyone can give to a newbie is to write and finish what you start. Overcoming the urge to stop is a learned behavior. Writers learn to forge through to the end. Only then can you evaluate the whole of the story.
Then, and only then, can you decide to place the novel at the bottom of the trunk and start over.
The writing you do in the trunk novel is not wasted. It is a process that all writers experience. We learn from our mistakes and we develop a writing habit.
SO, BIC.
Allen, whose butt is in a chair but not accomplishing anything useful.
I agree with ACE. Come up with a lot of really crazy ideas, work them for awhile, and see if they come even close to working. Anything can give your story a really different spin.
Congrats on finding a voice for your story, and good luck with it!
Congrats on finding a voice for your story, and good luck with it!
The hero needs flaws, setbacks, side plots to solve. The baddie also needs blocks to his/her schemes, side-issues to resolve. There needs to be intervening characters--no one lives in a vacuum, who help/hinder both protag & antag.
The weather/planetary upsets can also work for/against either in tidal waves, mudslides, avalanches, etc. Crops can fail, wells go dry, outbreaks of plague, a marauding army from a 3rd party,
The evil Vizier's mother-in-law can drop in and ruin all plans of conquest!
The weather/planetary upsets can also work for/against either in tidal waves, mudslides, avalanches, etc. Crops can fail, wells go dry, outbreaks of plague, a marauding army from a 3rd party,
The evil Vizier's mother-in-law can drop in and ruin all plans of conquest!
Almost every single story in existence has its start in a stereotyped plot like the one described. The way to fix it so you don't feel it sucks, is to give it your own twist so it looks new and fresh even though it really isn't.
Starting over won't help you. Not yet.
I'm gonna go off on a limb and say you're trying to write a high fantasy adventure in the vein of everything you love to read. Good guys, bad guys, magic and/or spaceships, epicness, etc. Amiright?
I'm also gonna guess that when you say your characters found their voices, you only mean the unlikely band of heroes. Maybe some of the villains. But that's about it. Right?
If I'm wrong on any of these guesses, good.
I'm not gonna guess here, though: your plot stinks. You said it yourself. The heroes are going to kill the bad guy but you're not entirely sure why. What's more, you're not entirely sure what's stopping them (physically and ethically) from just marching straight in and lopping his head off.
The big question, really, is why?
Why does the bad guy need to die and why does the hero need to kill him? Why doesn't anyone else get involved? Why do the bad guy's henchmen follow him? Why doesn't the hero just hop a plane to the bad guy's hometown and lop his head off? Not just in the sense of physical obstacles, but ethically why?
If you want a good hero vs villain story, learn from the comic books and develop your villains. Think about it. How many stories do you remember from comics, especially if you haven't read in years? Which ones do you remember?
I remember X-Men vs Magneto. I remember Batman vs Joker. I remember Spidey vs Green Goblin. I don't remember anything about Spidey vs Vulture other than that the Vulture a) can fly and b) is old. What makes a good villain memorable? It's not their powers or their characteristics or any of that. It's that they define and are defined by the hero. They share some kind of connection. How is your villain connected to your hero? Why can't it be anyone else to defeat him?
Develop your villain, look at the story from his point of view, and the plot will start to take care of itself.
If things ever get too linear, throw rocks at the hero. Or the villain. There should be at least four major conflicts or twists preventing the hero from reaching his goal. They should all be different. Maybe a fight breaks loose one time. Maybe the bridge gives way the next. Maybe they get poisoned in a blizzard. Mix things up, and always undermine your expectations.
Go nuts.
Then rewrite it.
I'm gonna go off on a limb and say you're trying to write a high fantasy adventure in the vein of everything you love to read. Good guys, bad guys, magic and/or spaceships, epicness, etc. Amiright?
I'm also gonna guess that when you say your characters found their voices, you only mean the unlikely band of heroes. Maybe some of the villains. But that's about it. Right?
If I'm wrong on any of these guesses, good.
I'm not gonna guess here, though: your plot stinks. You said it yourself. The heroes are going to kill the bad guy but you're not entirely sure why. What's more, you're not entirely sure what's stopping them (physically and ethically) from just marching straight in and lopping his head off.
The big question, really, is why?
Why does the bad guy need to die and why does the hero need to kill him? Why doesn't anyone else get involved? Why do the bad guy's henchmen follow him? Why doesn't the hero just hop a plane to the bad guy's hometown and lop his head off? Not just in the sense of physical obstacles, but ethically why?
If you want a good hero vs villain story, learn from the comic books and develop your villains. Think about it. How many stories do you remember from comics, especially if you haven't read in years? Which ones do you remember?
I remember X-Men vs Magneto. I remember Batman vs Joker. I remember Spidey vs Green Goblin. I don't remember anything about Spidey vs Vulture other than that the Vulture a) can fly and b) is old. What makes a good villain memorable? It's not their powers or their characteristics or any of that. It's that they define and are defined by the hero. They share some kind of connection. How is your villain connected to your hero? Why can't it be anyone else to defeat him?
Develop your villain, look at the story from his point of view, and the plot will start to take care of itself.
If things ever get too linear, throw rocks at the hero. Or the villain. There should be at least four major conflicts or twists preventing the hero from reaching his goal. They should all be different. Maybe a fight breaks loose one time. Maybe the bridge gives way the next. Maybe they get poisoned in a blizzard. Mix things up, and always undermine your expectations.
Go nuts.
Then rewrite it.
Since it sounds like you already have characters you like, maybe you should try developing the story 'backwards', which is what I always do. I start by developing a group of characters I really love, then choose the setting I think would best fit them (Earth or fantasy and time period). Once I have the setting I finish filling out the characters (nation of origin, profession, etc.) and decide what type of novel they would be best suited for (romance, action fantasy, etc.). The very last thing I do is outline the plot. For me, the plot is the least important of all the major story elements, and is based entirely on what would best showcase my characters. Unique characters in an unusual setting can add enough twists to make a very cliché plot work, but more normal characters in a familiar setting will require a more original plot (I've discovered putting unique characters and an unusual setting together with a rarely used plot can actually be too much originality, and result in a story that's too unfamiliar to readers; basically ending up just sounding weird.)
Anyway, this is just a method that works for me and isn't what works for most people. It would require you to start over at the beginning and probably result in a different story too, although it sounds like that's what a lot of people are recommending you do anyway.
Anyway, this is just a method that works for me and isn't what works for most people. It would require you to start over at the beginning and probably result in a different story too, although it sounds like that's what a lot of people are recommending you do anyway.
Plotting 101: (this is a way to do it, not the only way)
Step 1: Think of two major events--an inciting incident and a climax. (An inciting incident is the event that prompts the hero to act. It answers the questions Why now? and Why me?)
Step 2: Add three crises. Each crisis must make things worse for the hero. This can happen in various ways. He can attack the villain--and fail. He can try to enlist an important ally--and fail. He can try to acquire important resources--and fail. He can try to prevent the villain from gaining allies or acquiring resources--as long as he fails. The failures don't always have to be directly caused by the villain (some might be caused by a weakness in the hero). In addition, the third crisis should set the stage for the climax, often by stripping away all of his options so that his only choice left is the ultimate risk.
Step 3: Now you have a roadmap. Start at Inciting Incident. Proceed to Crisis #1. From there, proceed to Crisis #2, then to Crisis #3, and finally end up at Climax. All that's left is to fill in the gaps.
Step 2: Add three crises. Each crisis must make things worse for the hero. This can happen in various ways. He can attack the villain--and fail. He can try to enlist an important ally--and fail. He can try to acquire important resources--and fail. He can try to prevent the villain from gaining allies or acquiring resources--as long as he fails. The failures don't always have to be directly caused by the villain (some might be caused by a weakness in the hero). In addition, the third crisis should set the stage for the climax, often by stripping away all of his options so that his only choice left is the ultimate risk.
Step 3: Now you have a roadmap. Start at Inciting Incident. Proceed to Crisis #1. From there, proceed to Crisis #2, then to Crisis #3, and finally end up at Climax. All that's left is to fill in the gaps.
You may indeed have to rehab your work, but I think it's great that you realize something's wrong with it. That's the first step to making it better!
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