How did you choose your plot?

[Aprincess4ever83]

Hi everyone-
I wish I could say I had a lack of inspiration but I'm afraid it's the exact opposite. I actually have to much inspiration and the minute I sit down with my current "plot" another much better plot comes into my mind. I can't seem to stick with the original one because I convince myself that the new one is better and the old one wouldn't work.

How did you choose the plot that you ultimately wrote your novel on. How did you know it was good enough to stick with?

 

[Misa Buckley]

I didn't - they chose me.

I'm utterly incapable of sitting down and thinking up a plot, but I've had many visit in the wee hours of the morning (my muse seems to like 3am).

And it's not the plot that holds me, it's the characters. When I'm not writing they bug me until I cave and break Word open.

 

[MGraybosch]

How did you choose the plot that you ultimately wrote your novel on. How did you know it was good enough to stick with?

I knew what I wanted to do from the beginning. Sorry.

 

[Aprincess4ever83]

It's ok! I just like hearing how other people's novels came about!

I love the idea that the plot chose you. That's how I feel sometimes. Maybe I'm just spending too much time thinking and not enough time writing!

 

[Linda Adams]

How did you choose the plot that you ultimately wrote your novel on.

They have to be able to sit for a while. I also have to be able to remember them.

That might sound odd, but when I did short stories, I'd get all these great ideas that I'd have to write right now. I'd get a few pages in, and then it would die. I call them "flash in the pan" ideas--they flash, but don't last. Nearly always, when I've had a great idea that I can turn into a story, one of the notable things is that I don't need to write it down. It's there, in the back of my mind.

The one I'm going to be working on shortly came from two places: 1 - I wanted to do something with seashells and magic and 2 - A comment my father made about a fishing village that gave me a setting. Then the idea sat for over a year while I worked on the one I'm editing. I came back to it perodically and played with what the story might be about.

How did you know it was good enough to stick with?

I write it and make it good.

 

[Aprincess4ever83]

Great advice. It seems I have a lot of "flash in the pan" ideas as well. I do have one character that is literally screaming at me. Day and night. BUT I have yet to find the perfect place for her. I think I'm just going nuts!

 

[sunandshadow]

I've had characters choose me, but the problem is I have several different plot ideas I could do with the same cast of characters; I like them all but it would make no sense to a reader to read about 4 characters in a medieval fantasy setting, then the same 4 characters in a futuristic setting, with no connection between the two stories.

But to some extent this gets trumped by the other big problem I have, which is never thinking up good climax ideas. Romance ideas, check, humor ideas, check, some sneaking/puzzle-solving ideas, check, but no dramatic resolutions of big conflicts.

 

[motormind]

I clubbed my plot over the head and dragged in into my cave by its hair.

 

[BigWords]

I have several different plot ideas I could do with the same cast of characters; I like them all but it would make no sense to a reader to read about 4 characters in a medieval fantasy setting, then the same 4 characters in a futuristic setting, with no connection between the two stories.

Which is why reincarnation and / or using the multiverse to flesh out characters in disparate locations and times is so interesting. Read The Adventures Of Luther Arkwright and Michael Moorcock for some ways to reuse characters time and time again.

 

[Phaeal]

Pick one idea and write it all the way through. Ideas are cheap. Learning to develop those ideas and finish a short story or novel is priceless discipline.

 

[dawinsor]

I outlined the story on index cards. At that point, I could see if it would work out or not.

 

[gothicangel]

I knew I wanted to write a kidnap novel - a book I wanted to read, but didn't exist.

The rest of the story chose me.


I get a lot of ideas from newspapers; watching dramas etc. Though sometimes a good idea doesn't click with me.

 

[DeleyanLee]

I don't pick a plot. It develops as I write the novel and explore the characters and the situation. I give the plot no thought at all until I'm done with the first draft and read it over. Then I can see what the structure of the story is naturally and tweak it so it's stronger and/or fits better.

Though I have to admit, I've written enough to know that plot is one of my talents in writing and not something I have to work hard at. It's just something that I do well. Realizing this has allowed me the freedom to trust my instincts with it and focus my attention on those things that need it more.

In your case, though, I suggest that when you sit down to write, you focus on keeping in mind what it is you intend to write and don't let yourself sabotage what you're doing now with other ideas. Down that path, as the saying goes, madness lies.

Best of luck.

 

[Ryan David Jahn]

I have a bunch of stories floating around in my head, but most of them aren't ripe.

My debut novel's coming out in a week. I wrote it in the summer last year. The first seeds were planted in 1994 and it grew and evolved in my mind for the next fourteen years. My second is coming out next July. I wrote it between last October and May of this year. I first got the idea for the story in 2004.

The main plot of the one I'm working on now only came to me about a year ago, but major elements have been floating around my head since 2002, at least, and finally found the right story to attach themselves to.

A "brilliant" idea I get today may not be ready years.

When the time comes to start a new project, I just go through my mental file -- I don't write ideas down, or outline for that matter -- and find the one that's ripest and that's the one I work on.

 

[Grand_Maester]

I, my two sisters, my best friend, and my cousin are all intimately familiar with the cast of characters, and the basic direction of the story. And so I, and any combination of the others, will talk and brainstorm. Anytime there's a part of the plot that doesn't work, or is totally wrong for one of the characters, we'll talk about it and fix it.
Note: It's not a majority decision, I (as the writer) make the final call. I just use them for ideas, and to bounce my own ideas off of, see if they're worth anything.

 

[TrickyFiction]

If the characters are developed enough, the decisions they would make will be pretty clear. And character decisions shape the story. I would try working with your characters outside the story a bit, develop them more, get to know them better. Then, when you sit down to write, they should guide your story better.

 

[Gynn]

Hi everyone-
I wish I could say I had a lack of inspiration but I'm afraid it's the exact opposite. I actually have to much inspiration and the minute I sit down with my current "plot" another much better plot comes into my mind. I can't seem to stick with the original one because I convince myself that the new one is better and the old one wouldn't work.

How did you choose the plot that you ultimately wrote your novel on. How did you know it was good enough to stick with?

I had a nice plot laid out for my WIP, but over the last two years it has changed considerably because of the characters.

Outline the characters and their goals, then devise the plot from there. Otherwise, they will just get in the way!

 

[DWSTXS]

novel #2 - I took an incident that happened to me and then I stretched it out a bit, and from there it just took off.

novel #1 - the idea came from a conversation I had with several other people, about 40 years ago.

novel #3 - I was just wondering what if?

 

[Bongo Fury]

It's been my experience that good plots are often buried under layers of mediocre ideas. I generally have several false starts before I get to the real story. You know it when you've latched onto that central idea that can sustain a novel.

 

[lauraannwilliams]

I'm figuring mine out as I go along. It's great when I get somewhere and realize that I've already put in the building blocks for something without realizing it, or figuring out that a side character could be tucked back into the beginning to resolve a plot hole. I've had a lot of false starts too.

I do have an end point and have written the first draft of the finale. I find what's helped the most has spending time figuring out what the antagonists motives and actions are - all the stuff that happens off screen, that my character investigates and reacts to are huge driving forces for figuring out my plot.

After all, I don't know what the bad guys are up to, how can I figure out how to stop them?

 

[Chasing the Horizon]

I envy those of you who can sit down and just have a plot unfold itself, lol. I always struggle with plot and have to spend a lot of time collecting ideas and figuring out what will work. That's something the OP could try. Spend a few weeks collecting brief descriptions of all your ideas in a file, then go through them and pick out the best ones. Ideas usually seem great when they first occur to you, but often upon closer consideration they turn out to suck (or are those only my ideas?)

 

[Calliopenjo]

It's not a matter of me choosing the plot, it's the plot choosing me. Slowly as I write the story, I see how it unfolds, what my muse has been trying to tell me.

 

[Ken Hoss]

For my current WIP, it was the MC that came to me with the plot. Things just developed from there.

 

[jerry phoenix]

Pick one idea and write it all the way through. Ideas are cheap. Learning to develop those ideas and finish a short story or novel is priceless discipline.

this says rather more succinctly the comment i was what hoping to make

 

[jerry phoenix]

ahhh, ill comment anyway.

i like plot. my first writing problem was plot, i realised i didnt have one. i always try and find the plot early on in a project now.
i had a plot derailed by bad casting-tv/film lingo,sorry-and so eventually paid more attention to character.
but i love plot. i like a good plot.

as phaeal said, finish an idea. if you care about plot you will get it.