Plot – Why So Complicated?
I’m on holidays at the moment but I’m reposting some of the more popular posts from my old blog, Darkened Jade. If you leave a comment I’ll be sure to catch up with you when I get back.
Everyone will tell you a story has to have a problem. Or a complication. Or a conflict. It all amounts to the same thing. There has to be a central issue that is in some way connected to the central characters. Why? Because otherwise, what is your story about.
If someone handed me a book and said ‘read it’, my first question would be ‘what is it about?’. This isn’t me wanting the blurb read to me or someone’s review. This is me just wanting to know what is the point of the book. Boil all the fancy words down, what is the reason for the story. Read the two answers below and decide which you would read.
1. Luke and Lane are getting married.
2. Luke and Lane are getting married but Lane’s mother doesn’t approve.
The first tells me what events to expect but it doesn’t sound particularly interesting. Unless it is a biography about two people I had heard of and I was wanting to know about their wedding, I’m unlikely to read it. The second tells me there is a problem. They want to get married, but… And that but is enough to keep me interested. How does Lane’s mother react? Does she try to interfere? Stop the wedding? Why doesn’t she approve? So many questions that I instantly want answered and now I have to read the book to find out.
You have to have a complication.
And before you run off and try to think of something so intensely convoluted that even Nostradamus would have asked for directions the central complication doesn’t need to be too complex. The important thing is that there is a point to reading and the reader can expect some kind of satisfactory explanation. It is not really important to try to confuse them. If you want to make your story more complex, you can layer other complications and side plots in later, but the basic storyline should be relatively clear.
What kind of problem could there be?
Most people I’ve spoken to and most of the advice I’ve read points to four basic types of conflict that appear in books.
1. Man against society – The protagonist (for whatever reason) opposes the world and society in which he lives. The story then usually revolves around the protagonist trying to change things in some way.
2. Man against man – Two characters for whatever reason have opposing view points or goals and the clash of personalities creates the conflict. Frequently one will be villianised while the other will be set up as a hero.
3. Man against himself – Looking at internal conflict of someone trying to change who they are within.
4. Man against nature – Protagonist trying to defeat some kind of monster, natural disaster, climb a mountain, save the world, etc, etc.
While these are the basic types of conflict there are many books that use variations or combinations of these, plus if you include multiple sub-plots it will enable you to explore more than one of these within a single story.
And here’s the link if you haven’t yet checked out the blurb or excerpt for Death’s Daughter.
Twitter Links
I haven’t done a review of writer links in awhile – I used to do them weekly but now find myself just not having the time to put them all together. Here is a recap of some of the links I’ve been sharing on Twitter recently. Sorry if some of the links don’t work – I tried to test most of them and they seem to be up and functioning.
My Links:
- Finding your plot: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/
- Trailer for fantasy novel Death’s Daughter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbZJYfO64Yg
- Have you been given a writing suggestion recently? https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/writers-annoyed/
- Add to the list of character mannerisms: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/mannerism/
- Interview about Death’s Daughter: http://walterrhein.blogspot.com/2010/06/words-with-cassandra-jade-author-of.html
- How do you find blogs to read? https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/5-reasons-blog/
- The Photocopy Saga – https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/the-photocopy-saga/
Excellent and interesting writing links:
- Clarissa Draper shares 36 different plot lines: http://clarissadraper.blogspot.com/
- Helen Ginger – Books to movies – some interesting facts: http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com/2010/06/books-to-movies.html
- Raquel Byrnes – Creating time for writing: http://nitewriter6.blogspot.com/2010/06/writing-in-space-and-time.html
- Careann’s Musings – Something to give all the writers out there a smile: http://careann.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/weekend-addictions/
- Serial Distractions shares some links for writers: http://serialdistractions.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/blog-posts/
- Winded Words – Apes and Art http://windedwords.blogspot.com/2010/06/apes-and-art.html
- Author Interview: Gary William Murning http://networkedblogs.com/4Kbdz – Thanks Talli for sharing.
- Welcome back to Crystal Clear Proofing and her weird word for the week: http://crystalclearproofing.blogspot.com/2010/06/vocabulary.html
- Ryan Lynch – The power of silence: http://lynchian.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/writing-in-general-–-the-power-of-silence/
- Brown Eyed Mystic – Pitching in a sentence: http://browneyedmystic.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/pitching-in-a-sentence/
- Milk Fever – What book would you take? http://milkfever.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/if-you-were-stranded-on-a-desert-island/
- Cat Woods – Fear and writing: http://catwoods.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/strap-on-your-writing-helmet/
- Doggonedmysteries – Toss out those adverbs: http://doggonedmysteries.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/toss-out-those-adverbs/
- Elspeth Antonelli – Decisions Decisions (very fun read) http://elspeth-itsamystery.blogspot.com/2010/06/decisions-decisions.html
- Terribly Wirte – Some interesting errors on the internet: http://terriblywrite.wordpress.com/
- Elizabeth Spann Craig – fast paced books http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/06/fast-paced-books.html
- via Elizabeth Spann Craig – Authors Take Note: Yet Another “How Not to Get Published” Story: http://dld.bz/fXJZ
- Careann’s Musings – Tackling revisions (and weeding) http://careann.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/methods-of-revising-and-weeding/
- Creative Barbwire – My Commandments (very positive) http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/my-commandments/
- Type M For Murder – on being a pro – http://typem4murder.blogspot.com/2010/06/on-being-pro.html
- The League of Extraordinary Writers – How do you prefer to read about setting? http://leaguewriters.blogspot.com/2010/06/and-question.html
As The World Falls Down
The title of this post Not just a fond memory of David Bowie as the Goblin King in Labyrinth – though if you want a trip down memory lane you can watch the Goblin King himself in action and you may never eat peaches again. Though I do want to know how he did that thing with the glass balls. I know I tried this as a kid (with tennis balls) with zero success, than again, I can’t juggle either.
The title of the post is actually referring to character creation and how it is easy for characters to be strong and amazing when things are going well but would they actually cope with the situations they get thrown into.
If you read an older style action novel then the hero, stepping from mundane life to saving the world, will simply shrug off any number of attacks and set backs and continue to plow forward with reckless abandon, possibly having one touching loss of confidence scene. These characters don’t come off as realistic though they work because these stories are simply about the action and that’s all they ever claimed to be.
Far more realistic is the character that ends up catatonic after their world gets torn apart around them but that isn’t particularly interesting either and can kind of leave your story high and dry if your protagonist goes on a mental holiday for half the book.
So what does your character do as their world falls down?
Are they helping it along? Do they follow Sarah’s example (back to Labyrinth) here and smash the walls apart and give no heed to the possible consequence because it is worse to stay where you are? Do they run and hide and need someone or something to help them find their way again? Do they take advantage of the wreckage?
How does your character deal with the world falling down?
Critical, critical
I’m going to admit it. I’m becoming very critical.
I’ve always been critical – particularly of myself – but lately I’ve been really critical of a lot of things.
Today I was given a short story to read. The purpose of the story was to demonstrate how to use descriptive language to create an emotional affect in the reader. Possibly it succeeded in that but the only emotional affect it had on me was the desire to grab a red pen and have at it – I managed to resist the urge but barely.
So what was wrong with the story?
Every single person or thing in the story was described by at least two adjectives in almost every single instance. Every single time. I’m sorry. The person is whistling. Sure, you can tell us how they are whistling and what it sounds like but the next time you feel the need to mention it you could just say whistling. You don’t then need to come up with two new adjectives (or an adverb and an adjective) to describe how the whistling is happening.
Objects were appearing ‘out of nowhere’. Umm, no. Unless they were tearing through interdimensional portals I’m pretty sure they came from somewhere. Maybe it wasn’t an important somewhere but to explicitly state they came from out of nowhere just leads the reader to wonder how that is even possible.
Characters were behaving out of character – which in a short story is really distracting because you don’t even have the benefit of later explaining the out of characterness (I know that isn’t a word).
I’ll admit it. I’m awful and I’m tearing this story to threads. And it lead me to realise some of the weaknesses I still have in my own writing. I like adjectives (not to this extent but I over use them to be sure). I may not have things appearing out of nowhere but I’m sure I suddenly have people in scenes where they shouldn’t be and have no logical reason to be and I’m sure I need to work on it. I need to turn this critical eye away from things I’m reading and apply it to things I’m writing and I need to look at what I could be doing instead.
Plenty of areas here for me to work on. What are you working on improving?
My Favourite Female Protagonist
Following on from yesterday, where I sent out the call for bloggers to tell us about their favourite female protagonist, today I am sharing mine.
I went through all of my fantasy and looked longingly at old favourites and yet I knew right from the beginning who I was going to pick as my favourite.
The winner is: Nest from the Knight of the Word Trilogy by Terry Brooks.
Nest is such an interesting protagonist. She isn’t little miss confident and she doesn’t run straight over every other character. She is quiet and thinks things through. She’s afraid and yet determined. As the series goes on she progresses from a child looking for guidance to a woman who is ready to create her own path. Nest is definitely my favourite protagonist and she owes it to the strong character development that takes place throughout the series.
Favourite Nest moment: Has to come from book two, when Nest is really transitioning from girl to woman and she meets with John Ross for the first time since she was a child. The subtle shift in their relationship is so beautifully constructed.
Close runner up, Tori Alexander, just couldn’t match the development because Tori started her trilogy already fairly confident and determined and didn’t undergo as much change. Jill from Katherine Kerr’s Deverry series is always great fun but her transition isn’t as smooth or as logical at times. I could have picked Calandra but I think I’m biased on that one.
If you haven’t added your link yet – visit yesterday’s post and add your blog. Can’t wait to find out who your favourite female protagonist is and why.
Lots of Links
Not reflecting on the week anymore – mostly because I don’t know from week to week whether I’m going to be online or off anymore (hopefully I’ll be online more often than off). However, I still want to share some great writing links so here they are.
I’ll start with the self-promotion and get it out of the way. If you haven’t checked out Death’s Daughter, here’s the link. Or you can read an excerpt here. And if you happen to have a kindle you can buy it from Amazon here. Self-promotion over and onto some useful links for all the writers out there.
My Pick
Let the Words Flow asks nine writers whether they outline their plots before writing. Some great insight.
Other Links
- Jane Friedman from There Are No Rules has once again shared a list of the best tweets for writers – which comes with a whole lot of links that writers may find helpful. Well worth checking out.
- Helen Ginger on Straight from Hel looks at the use of details in a story.
- Beth Groundwater on Inkspot shares some useful brainstorming techniques.
- K.M.Weiland dicusses what happens when your story doesn’t turn out as you planned on Wordplay.
- Misty Belardo looks at blogging and the eight types of posts that get maximum comments.
- Mari Mancusi guest blogs on Cynsations and discusses the new generation of readers.
Hopefully some of these links will be helpful for you and if you have some other links that you would like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments. Just try to make sure they are writing related. Thanks.
Response to Writing Blind
I ran across a post by Kyle on his blog “Exercise in Futility” called Writing Blind and really started thinking. Kyle asks:
How much should I know about my story before sitting down to start on a draft? Should I have the entire plot mapped out, with all the main plot points, or should I just go with it, and write whatever comes to mind?
And really, we all ask that question from time to time. We get an idea, get really excited and maybe want to leap straight into writing, and some people have to start writing straight away or they lose that spark, that fire, whatever it is that drives them to write the idea down. Others know from experience that they have to have at least an outline, while others still won’t consider drafting without detailed chapter by chapter break downs and six hundred colour coded notes on each character.
I’ve come to understand my own writing pattern fairly well and ever I still wonder whether I could do it better. I don’t plan too much. Mostly because I don’t look at any of my notes once I start writing the first draft. I just don’t. I close my eyes and type and when I feel my fingers slowing I read what I’ve written and sometimes start writing again and sometimes read blogs or tweets or go watch television or do some other work until I feel ready to write again.
However I never start a draft without having written out an outline and character profiles and concept maps. I have a notebook with all of these things in it. I just don’t use them once I’m writing.
My theory is it is a safety net. It’s like when I used to play the clarinet. I would practise a piece over and over again. I could play it perfectly. It could play it without ever actually looking at the music and I knew this because half the time I would forget to turn the page of the music. However, if someone took the music away I suddenly would freeze and wouldn’t be able to tell you what the first note was. The music was my safety net. I didn’t need it, but it made me feel like I knew what I was doing and so I was fine.
My note book with my plans is my safety net. If I get really, really stuck on something and I desperately want to finish it (though usually when I’m that stuck it is because what I’m working on is rubbish) I can go back and see where I was meant to be going and where I’ve gone wrong. That and I usually remember most of what I’ve written down in the book anyway and so I’m following the plan and just adding bits to it and tweaking it as I go.
And that works for me.
The advice I read many time, given to me by many of the bloggers out there, when I first started trying to write for something more than my own enjoyment was that every writer has to find what works for them. Read what others do and then try some of the different suggestions but don’t feel like there is some ‘right’ way to accomplish the task.
Incidentally, I would love to hear what is working for other people at the moment because I’m always looking for new ideas.
One Method That Isn’t For Me
I recently considered the plight of some of my characters and the fact that I put them through so many things I’ve never experienced. This is a small dilemma because I am often left wondering whether the character is actually responding realistically to the situation. I am not the character and I am not going through what they are. All I can do is imagine if I was that person, how would I feel.
That, and read other accounts of similar experiences and research how people have responded to certain events and read psychological discussions etc, etc. Does that enable me to actually understand how my character will feel? Maybe, maybe not. I hope it does enough that I don’t horribly offend any one with a lack of sensitivity.
Considering this, I momentarily wondered if maybe I should actually try to experience some of what my characters go through. Obviously I wouldn’t want to experience most of what I put them through (I would hate to be one of my characters in most of their situations) but it wouldn’t hurt to move a bit closer to understanding them.
The example is one I was playing around with earlier today.
I have a character who is hiding in a tree over night and is trying to sleep. Sleeping in a tree doesn’t strike me as being a fantastically comfortable experience and to be perfectly honest I’m not certain you could brace yourself appropriately and actually sleep.
I started looking at various trees and considering the possibilities.
Finally, I found a fantastic tree that had nice wide, reasonably flat branches, close together and with enough cross branches that you could conceivably brace yourself in the midst of them all and not plummet to your death.
I looked up at them. I wondered what it would feel like to be up there.
Then common sense kicked in.
I am not about to scale a really smooth trunk of a tree to reach branches that may or may not be sturdy enough to support my weight and then attempt to fully relax and hope that somehow I don’t fall sideways and crash to the ground, almost certainly breaking bones. How do you explain that to the ambulance attendant? By the way, I was just checking if a fictional character could sleep in a tree?
I think I’ll just imagine what it would be like and continue to try to put myself in the place of the character and hope I don’t go too far beyond the realm of possibility. Though given it is a made up tree in the story, I think I’ll go out of my way to design it so that it seems slightly more plausible that she didn’t roll out in the middle of the night and crash to her death.
How about you? Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be your character?
Cassandra Jade in the Realm 