Novel Writer's Toolkit: Revised Edition

Tool 6: Idea Into Story: Plot

Plot

A story is a character trying to resolve a problem.

I use to say a story was a problem that needed to be resolved.  Using Write It Forward, I now see my blind spot.  I was leaving out the part of writing that I was weakest at in my definition of plot:  character.

A plot is a series of events that outline the action of a story.  Notice it says action.  Things have to happen.

The characters’ motivations drive the plot toward the climax.  The number one thing you must know about every character is their primary motivator.

Time is linear.  Usually.  We’ll discuss time in more detail later.  I realized I had to do a twelve year time jump in Duty, Honor, Country.  I was struggling for weeks on how to cover those twelve years. Every solution I came up with had either too much detail or not enough.  I couldn’t find the balance until I went to my Beta Reader and asked for help.  I gave each of the six main characters a single important historical scene in those years that showed whether the character was changing or staying the same, so that by the time we resume a normal timeline in the Civil War, the reader isn’t jarred by the characters when they meet again.

Plot:  By Aristotle

An interesting character facing a problem

Story is solving the problem

Tragedy:  In solving the problem, it gets worse, which leads to the dark moment, which leads to the turning point

Character must plausibly solve the problem

There are six good questions to ask yourself before you begin writing:

What do I want to write about? 

What do I want to say about it?

Why do I want to say it?

Why should anybody else care?

What can I do to make them care?

What do I want readers to do, think or see?

What I have found is that most writers can answer the first three, but not the last three.  The last three focus on the reader, while the first three on the writer.  

The longer I write, the more I write like a reader, rather than a writer.  That might sound strange, but as I write, I put myself in the position of the reader.  Have I hooked the reader?  Am I maintaining suspense?  What does the reader know up to this point?  Remember, you’re trying to get a story that’s inside your head, into the reader’s head.  I try to constantly be aware of what I’ve developed in the reader’s head.

The key to all the techniques and tools is that they must be used to insure smoothness.  By smoothness, I mean that your writing must not jar the reader either in term of style or story.  The reader is interested in the story.  Reading is the means by which they learn the story, but it is only a medium.  The medium must not get in the way of the story.  When the reader is pulled out of the story into the writing because you didn't use the proper technique, or didn't use it correctly, you stray away from the story.

A good maxim to keep in mind is:  "Don't let them know you're writing."  

Backstory

Backstory is everything that happens before you start your story. You need to know it, but the question is how much does the reader need to know? And when?

The key is to not info dump. The moment you pause the story and start explaining what happened, you’re giving too much backstory. It’s hard for the writer to see this during draft, so don’t worry too much about it until you are in rewrite stages and working on tightening down story. Remember the reader is interested in what is happening now, not what happened ten years ago, even if it is part of the story, it needs to be weaved in only when the reader must know it in order for the story to make sense.