Relationship vs. External Plot

My external plots are usually something that could potentially be written as a non-romance. It would often be entirely possible to take one of the happy couple out and write a completely different story while still hitting all the plot points.

To make these plots into a romance, I have to ask how each plot point event effects them as a couple and take time to focus on what the characters are thinking about each other as it happens. He's being pulled this way, so what does that do to her and what is he thinking about her as it happens?

If your focus as a writer is the couple and how outside events change their relationship, the outside plot will help drive the romance.

I suppose this is same-old, same-old advice. ISTM the most important thing about external plot is that it arises from the deepest nature of the characters.

So this would be a workable external plot:

SHE's a small town vet. Conflict arises when she tries to intervene in a case of animal abuse. It turns out it's worse than anyone imagined and now she's got dog fighters coming after her. HE's the small-town cop who first ignored her complaints and now has to admit he was wrong and protect her.

But if you're looking at the character's inner being, maybe you don't start out with what profession they are. You start out with who they are inside. Maybe HE's an idealist and SHE's a tough, practical realist.

And suddenly, it falls into place:

HE's a small town vet. The conflict arises when he tries to intervene in a case of animal abuse. It turns out it's worse than anyone imagined and now he's got dog fighters coming after him. SHE's the small-town cop who first ignored his complaints and now has to admit she was wrong and protect him.

Which is going to be more interesting.

I think the external plotting is looking at the characters' guts and choosing setting and conflict accordingly.

I play the so-what? what-if? game

They fall in love. So what?
He was a member of a bad boy street gang. So what?
She was a wholesome girl who just transferred in.

What if....
His friends thought falling in love turned him into a sissy?
Her friends thought she was being too prudish?
She gave being a "bad girl" a chance?

sunandshadow said:

But other ideas just don't suggest any plot that can run alongside the relationship development to add conflict and excitement. Do you all have this sort of problem? What process or technique do you use to come up with a plot to go with a relationship?

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That's the best question I've heard all day. I wish I had an answer, though.

My plot for the heroine usually emerges first, so I start with a strong idea of what her story arc is going to be. A counterpart to her usually surfaces after that and he is often both a helper and an obstacle in her end goal.

I think if the couple emerges in your mind together, perhaps you could pick one of them to have a major problem to solve. That one problem is going to make things difficult for both of them and their relationship. I think tension would fall in naturally like in real life.

I tend to have the opposite problem--too much plot. Once I get the life stuff, job stuff, friend stuff, family stuff rolling, it's jam-packed, and I get accused of being chick lit instead of romance, because I don't make the relationship the focal point of the book.

I spend a lot of time just thinking about the main characters. What's going on in their lives? What's important to them? What are their biggest challenges and conflicts? What are their family members, closest friends, and coworkers like? How do the main characters relate to/interact with/butt heads with those family members, closest friends, and coworkers?

And it just seems, from all that daydreaming, plotlines arise. And then I have to beat them back like kudzu.

<<I spend a lot of time just thinking about the main characters. What's going on in their lives? What's important to them? What are their biggest challenges and conflicts? What are their family members, closest friends, and coworkers like? How do the main characters relate to/interact with/butt heads with those family members, closest friends, and coworkers?

And it just seems, from all that daydreaming, plotlines arise.>>

I do this very same thing!!

JMC2009 said:

I play the so-what? what-if? game

They fall in love. So what?
He was a member of a bad boy street gang. So what?
She was a wholesome girl who just transferred in.

What if....
His friends thought falling in love turned him into a sissy?
Her friends thought she was being too prudish?
She gave being a "bad girl" a chance?

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This is a great tool! Thanks.

WhatTheWhat said:

And it just seems, from all that daydreaming, plotlines arise. And then I have to beat them back like kudzu.

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Okay, I gotta just cut in here and say this - WTF is kudzu? I see it referred to in novels all the time and have no idea what the hell it is. It either does not exist in Texas or I've seen it and don't know it's proper name.

Please enlighten me!

Off-topic rant over, lol...

On topic, I always seem to relate to sunandshadow when it comes to struggles with plotting and even when I come up with something - anything - it still never seems "plotty" enough.

Right now, for the MMF romance I'm working on, one of the relationship dynamics is that the F is a vigilante and one of the M's is Death and she comes to him for info on murder victims (he absorbs people's memories at the moment of their death and thus can provide info on their death to the authorities) but he's got his issues with her, despises her for being able to pick and choose who she kills when he has no choice, when he kills innocent children without being able to stop it. He envies her, but it comes across as hate - such a heartbreaking scene I had to write the other night in regards to this.

Anyway. It doesn't feel like much, but it's providing lots of conflict between the two so I guess that's a step in the right direction.

Got Kudzu and Kaiju mixed up.

Escape Artist said:

Okay, I gotta just cut in here and say this - WTF is kudzu? I see it referred to in novels all the time and have no idea what the hell it is. It either does not exist in Texas or I've seen it and don't know it's proper name.

Please enlighten me!

Off-topic rant over, lol...

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Google, dear...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu

And it's generally more to the east.

VoireyLinger said:

Google, dear...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu

And it's generally more to the east.

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Thanks, Voirey. I've been telling myself to just google the shit if I didn't know what it was, but I was being stubborn.

Part of me felt like, if the books themselves didn't convey to me what exactly kudzu was like, then the author didn't do a good enough job describing it*. I never could quite figure out if it was a bush or what.

We of course have viney-things here in Texas, but I wouldn't know their proper names. That's one of my peeves with some descriptions used in novels. It's just hard for me to believe that all these characters would know the proper names of so many different kinds of plants. But then I'm just about as far from a green thumb as you can get, so...

*(And I felt dumb not knowing what it was from the outset.)

Cranky1 said:

Got Kudzu and Kaiju mixed up.

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That movie was bad-ass. Just sayin'.

I'm a lot like the OP as well. I have trouble adding in stuff like familial interaction and etc. I do have some interaction with other characters (friends, antagonist, if there is one, and etc.). However, I just feel like something is missing, something isn't right. I don't know.

Escape Artist said:

Thanks, Voirey. I've been telling myself to just google the shit if I didn't know what it was, but I was being stubborn.

Part of me felt like, if the books themselves didn't convey to me what exactly kudzu was like, then the author didn't do a good enough job describing it*. I never could quite figure out if it was a bush or what.

We of course have viney-things here in Texas, but I wouldn't know their proper names. That's one of my peeves with some descriptions used in novels. It's just hard for me to believe that all these characters would know the proper names of so many different kinds of plants. But then I'm just about as far from a green thumb as you can get, so...

*(And I felt dumb not knowing what it was from the outset.)

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The South is great for viney-things.

I'm a bit north of you and we don't have kudzu in my area, but as I go east, closer to TN, the trees start getting blanketed with the stuff. It's thick and grows incredibly fast.

I just posted some fantastic advice I found on the web two years ago on my blog: http://evangelineholland.com/writing/the-three-types-of-conflict-in-romance-novels/

Evangeline said:

I just posted some fantastic advice I found on the web two years ago on my blog: http://evangelineholland.com/writing/the-three-types-of-conflict-in-romance-novels/

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Thanks for this. It was helpful. There are so many things about writing that I feel like I "know" but don't quite "understand" yet.

I write sci-fi romance that is fast paced, so I have to find ways to slow down the danger and action long enough for the couple to notice their attraction to each other.

While the external plot is heavy, I still have to have an internal conflict. I do plan, start with a brainstormed scene list, think what if...Look for lulls in action to develop relationship.

I try and plan pov also so I have a balance. I hate doing extensive cutting and rewriting and for me a well thought out plan makes everything smoother. It does take me a month or so to plot a book.

I used a plotting spreadsheet for my latest wip and like it better than a synopsis--more visual, can color code pov or plot arcs.