The Slumped Shoulder/Flat Forehead thread

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dirtsider

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Otherwise known as the "Well, DUH!!" moment.

Ok, I've been trying to wrap my head around my plot for a while and I end up working in fits and starts. I'd get a little bit of writing done then go "ok, what's next?" despite having a general idea of where I want to go with my story. (The slumped shoulders part of the deal.)

Then I realized.... I was so focused on my MC's that I wasn't taking my villain's actions into account. It was kind of like having my MC's working against a green screen, in movie terms, and waiting to fill the rest later, just so I can have a finished first draft. Once I started thinking about what the villain would do and how he'd react to what my MC's are doing, things started to fall into place. (You know the point when you smack your own head going DUH!!)

That's not to say that I'm anywhere near finished with this draft (that's a matter of discipline now) but I feel better about what I'm doing.

Anyone else have one of those "Well Duh!" moments?
 

ChaosTitan

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dirtsider said:
Then I realized.... I was so focused on my MC's that I wasn't taking my villain's actions into account. It was kind of like having my MC's working against a green screen, in movie terms, and waiting to fill the rest later, just so I can have a finished first draft. Once I started thinking about what the villain would do and how he'd react to what my MC's are doing, things started to fall into place. (You know the point when you smack your own head going DUH!!)
Click to expand...

I have this moment with every novel, so you'd think I'd figure it out by now. Hehe. But no, I'm typing along and starting to run out of ideas. Can't figure out where the story will twist next. Why? Duh, I haven't taken into consideration what the bad guy's been up to off-screen.

These also come a lot in the form of character development and motivation. I'll be following a character along, tapping them on the shoulder asking "Why are you doing this?" over and over. Not understanding, until they finally tell me. Then I wonder how I hadn't seen it all along.

Silly characters. :)
 
tehuti88

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All the time, though they usually relate to the details of character creation and motivation rather than the writing/plotting process itself. I'm always going on about my multiple-personality character and how long it took me to actually figure that out. Jeez I felt stupid, it was so obvious. :eek:

Some others of my "Duh!" moments are just moments of surprise...not so much "Duh!" In my current WIP, around Part 90 a character gives the MC an object and says she can make use of it later on. I had no clue why he gave her that or what the heck she'd do with it. For all I knew it would go nowhere. About a hundred chapters later (yes...a hundred), a use for the object suddenly came into place and fit into the story perfectly, resolving a certain plot issue. I had the same thing happen in my first serial. Bizarre, like my mind knows all this on some level way ahead of time.
 
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