Articles in the Plot and Structure Category
When driving along the storytelling highway, you are bound to run across a few plot potholes that could send you and your story out of control. Even if you have your trusty map – the plot outline – at your side, it will not always prevent you from running into weather-beaten ruts, perilous potholes, or unexpected road blocks. This is a frustrating scenario for any writer to find herself in, as it appears that the best laid plans are dissolving right before her eyes.
When driving a vehicle, you have a few options for overcoming obstacles to your destination. You can keep moving forward, no matter how treacherous, damaging, or slow-going the terrain will be. You can follow established detour routes, which may make for a smoother ride but can slow your trip considerably. You can kick in the four wheel drive and take it off-road, which can be exhilarating, but can also be more dangerous than the original obstacle.
You can also make a u-turn and head back home, but you wouldn’t want to do that, right? Here are some of the most common plot potholes you may encounter in fiction writing, and solutions to make the storytelling highway a much smoother ride.
Plot Problem 1: Characters Veering Off the Path
Anyone who has been the navigator on a cross-country trip knows the perils of a driver who wants to go off the beaten path. “Hey, there’s a billboard for the World’s Largest Ball of Twine! Let’s go check it out,” your hero says, and the next thing you know your vehicle is turning off on the next exit, into unfamiliar territory. When the characters in your story get distracted by something equally as shiny – and unrelated to the story at hand – it is hard to resist dramatically reaching over and taking the steering wheel out of their hands.
The real world solution is very similar to the literary solution – let the hero get it out of his system. Go and see the amazing roadside attraction, by writing out the unruly scene in your story. Then you will be able to see whether or not the detour was justified. You might be surprised to find that the plot needed a side trip after all, to reinforce the theme of the story, create a new subplot, or to give the protagonist time to think of a solution. Even if the scene needs to be cut out later on, your hero may learn his lesson, and listen to you the next time you tell him to follow your outline.
Plot Pothole 2: Plot Screeching to a Halt
You are writing right along, and then find yourself at a dead end. You have no idea where to go next. Your outline doesn’t give you any clues on how to navigate your way out. Even asking your characters for ideas gets you nowhere. Your plot is stuck in the mud, and you’re tempted to call a tow truck to get you out of the muck.
This plot pothole usually appears when your outline isn’t as strong as you thought it was. You know your characters need to get from point A to point B, but you weren’t completely sure how they were going to do it. Now that you’re on your way, the problem appears much larger and more difficult to navigate. Your best bet is to take a break, and approach your plot problem with fresh eyes. Talk it over with some writing friends, and possibly add a new element or two to the story that can give you more options. Make sure your characters are adequately motivated and equipped to handle the problem, and with a little ingenuity, they can make it out in no time.
Plot Pothole 3: Spiraling Out of Control
When the writing is flowing freely, it is easy to fly by crucial elements of your story. The pacing of your novel may go entirely too fast, as you send your characters zooming towards goal after goal. They don’t get a chance to breathe or process anything that has happened to them. When you finally hit a pothole, your story flies out of your hands. You haven’t taken the time to get to know your characters, and they are overwhelmed and exhausted.
Even in the most exciting, high paced thriller, you need to give your characters slower scenes, where they can pause and decide what to do next. Allow them to pull over, stretch their legs, and examine how far they have gotten in pursuit of their goals. After a high-speed chase, be sure to pause, so your story has natural highs and lows while getting you ever closer to your conclusion. You wouldn’t drive for 24 hours without a break, and your characters need down time as well.
What plot potholes have you encountered when writing? Do you have techniques for avoiding or powering through the most troublesome stumbling blocks? Your solution may be just what another writer needs to keep writing through their novel.
Photo Credit: 11-11-06 © Stratesigns, Inc.
Photo Credit: 09-02-08 © Alex Potemkin
Writing a compelling story involves putting your characters into difficult situations, known as conflict, and showing how they work their way out of them. While we have all faced our share of conflict in our own lives, our heroes can get into more trouble than we ever thought possible! Sometimes, they want to wander far afield from the problems we thought they would encounter, and trip over new sources of conflict we never considered before.
If you find yourself writing about a trouble making protagonist who thrives on conflict, you may wonder how exactly she’s going to get out of it. As your plot progresses, the encounters will only get more intense, and more critical to the character’s primary goals. The heroine has to find her way out, but if she and the writer have painted themselves into a corner with conflict, the story will fizzle out.
The Primer Coat: Review the Plot
The first layer of paint to explore is the plot up to the point of this apparently insurmountable conflict. You’re not looking for a way out of this conflict, even though that is very tempting at this point. The more intense the problem is, the more excited your readers will be, so stick with it! What you are looking for, are hidden tools and clues to paint your way through the conflict, with your protagonist victorious.
For example, your hero cannot think of a way to disable the machine that is threatening to destroy his hometown. However, when you look back at the scene where the antagonist built it, you realize that the key component is susceptible to water damage. If there are cooling pipes filled with water attached to the machine, your hero could use that water to stop the machine and save the day.
The Color Coat: Character Reactions
If your hero is drawing a blank when faced with the biggest conflict of his life, remove him from the story for just a few minutes. Present the problem to him, and freewrite his response. While under pressure, he may buckle, but with some space to breathe and think, he may be able to come to his own solution. Then you can figure out how to make him realize that solution within the story, by having either an internal or external trigger prompt him into action.
Your hero may not have the answer though, which means it is time to look at other characters. Pretend that they are the main character instead. What would the antagonist do if he were in the same predicament? Would the hero’s girlfriend have the same reaction? Write through a couple of imaginary situations, and see if they present alternate scenarios to victory.
The Top Coat: Give Friendly Advice
When you’re absolutely sure you have firmly painted your conflict into the corner, don’t give up hope! Instead, sit with your character over a cup of coffee like you would your best friend. Listen to her problems, and then offer up the best advice you would give.
Your heroine may have to cut ties with her ex-boyfriend once and for all, but doesn’t know how to approach him. Have a mental or written conversation back and forth with her, where she explains everything that is going on, as well as her hopes and fears about the encounter. You can then let her know what you would do if you were in that situation yourself. Whether she listens or not is another matter, but she will be more prepared to face her final conflict, and you will be prepared to wrap up that critical scene in your story.
How have you painted your story conflict into a corner? Did you make your way out, or have to backtrack and start over? What are your techniques for dealing with insurmountable plot twists?
Photo Credit: Wendy Harman (wharman)
When writing a short story or novel, writers are advised to begin “In medias res“ – “into the middle of things” (Latin). The introduction needs to instantly captivate the reader. In media res plops the reader into the middle of the action or an intense situation, revealing only what is necessary to propel the story forward.
However, when writing such a compelling beginning, it is very tempting to explain everything that is going on. How can readers relate to your protagonist, if they don’t understand why she is challenging her grandmother, or fighting off soldiers attacking her castle? The urge to add in hefty amounts of exposition explaining the heroine’s backstory is hard to resist, yet it will bring your plot to a screeching halt.
Dance Through Chapter One
To keep your story moving forward while still delivering important past information, think of the first chapter or scene as a carefully choreographed dance. You begin the scene where your characters are at, no matter what interactions, arguments, or past influences are in play. Then you bring the scene forward two steps, by showing how your characters react to each other and the situation, through dialogue and action. After establishing the scene firmly, then you can give the reader one step back by illuminating a bit of the backstory.
This two steps forward, one step back approach will ensure that your characters keep moving forward, while your reader remains engaged in the story, in both its present and past elements. Backstory can be sprinkled amid your powerful in media res beginning via your protagonist’s thoughts, speech, and actions. Your hero wouldn’t be so determined to save the necklace unless it held a special meaning to him. He can either muse over its importance to himself, or tell his friend that it holds magical powers. If they’re running for their life, he won’t be able to go into much detail, so keep it brief.
What is Important Now?
In media res focuses on the present moment in your story. Anything that pulls the reader out of the present will jar their sense of suspended disbelief in your story. The forward momentum will slow down with too much past details, and causing your story to be muddled and disjointed. Eventually, your reader will grow more confused, and set your story down for something easier to follow.
When choosing to reveal past information, ask yourself, “Is absolutely necessary to move the story along?” If it can wait for a calmer moment, then it should. If your reader can easily figure it out on their own, then let them. Readers love deducing things from clues sprinkled throughout the beginning pages. Allow them to wonder for just a little while, and confirm their suspicions later on in the story.
My rule of thumb for introductions is to only include what is necessary for the characters to move through the story. If the heroine’s friend won’t help her break into an abandoned house without knowing the reason behind the heroine’s motivations, then share it. If she’d follow the heroine no matter what, then it can wait. Just as there are no unnecessary steps in a dance number, there need not be any unnecessary descriptions or dialogue in media res.
Take a Bow
Once you’ve successfully choreographed your characters through chapter one, allow them – and yourself – to take a breather. They’ve escaped the burning building, and have to decide what to do next. Now they can discuss their options, as well as more of the past that led up to the first compelling pages. They’ve earned a standing ovation for their first performance, and so have you.
In media res is an exciting way to begin a story, that will draw you and your readers into the thick of the story. Once you learn how to gracefully navigate your way through, your story will have an alluring introduction that will leave your readers cheering “Encore!” and reading on for the next compelling chapter of your novel.
How do you write enticing introductions? Have you actively chosen to start your story in media res? What challenges did this type of introduction bring?
Photo Credit: 08-22-07 © Adam Mandoki
Photo Credit: 04-22-10 © Jacom Stephens
Photo Credit: 11-03-09 © Juanmonino
Although I carefully map out my blog topics each month, whether I’m writing a full-length feature story or a quick SEO writing tip, I never write from an outline. I have my reasons — and they might surprise you.
Why I Don’t Write from Outlines
Although I carefully map out my blog topics each month, I never write from an outline. This doesn’t change, whether I’m writing a full-length feature story or a quick SEO writing tip: no outline. I have my reasons — and they might surprise you.
Like the best poetry or even a song, an article or a blog post has a rhythm – a melody, a flowing cascade of words down the page. This is different from the “voice†of the writer; it is, for lack of a better term, the “life energy†of the article. A good article should transition smoothly between ideas, leading readers down the path the author wants them to follow.
Full-length feature writing, to me, is like a quiet, spontaneous Sunday drive. I often don’t know where I’m going until I get there. As I scan through pages of notes and quotes, the facts and figures jump out at me, taking their places in line, so that each paragraph leads into the next. Who needs an outline when I have the muse?
The words for a blog post or other Web content, on the other hand, fall fast and furious from my mind in a frenzy. If I took time to outline, I’d lose the idea. Often, blog posts are written before I even have time to think about where they’re going. I type and type — and then I’m done. With my sources in different tabs on my screen and the ideas forming a cloud in my mind, I just write until it’s done and then edit for clarity and conciseness.
Benefits of Outlining
Many writing books say you should outline because it helps a writer to see an article’s overall form and ensures you won’t forget an important fact. In most cases, until I do interviews and/or extensive research, I don’t know where the piece is going. Once I have finished my research and have my notes in front of me, an outline seems redundant.
Some new writers may be scared at staring at the blank page, unsure where their story is going or how they will get there. To me, this is the fun of writing. It’s all up to me – no constraints, no order until I make sense of it all. If I forget a fact because I didn’t have an outline, it probably didn’t belong in the story anyway. (It’s the literary equivalent of the philosophy that everything happens for a reason.)
It’s not exactly a blank page I’m working from either; I have my notes, my quotes. And in my head, there exists the faintest skeleton of an idea, ready to be fleshed out. It’s all up to me to put it together.
In that sense, I guess I do write from an outline. It’s just that the outline exists in my head.
Cast Your Writing Process Vote: Outline or Not?
What about you? What’s your writing process? Do you write detailed outlines? Rough notes? Draw a mindmap? Or do you prefer to wing it, like I do?
Photo Credit: 09-19-06 © OlgaLIS
Pace is one of the most important elements for any short fiction writer interested in success. When handled correctly a good sense of pace can help create a piece of written art, when mishandled it can spell disaster for a short story. Learning the difference between the two is what divides ambitious amateurs from successful writers.
Given the inherent brevity of short fiction, pace plays a more prominent role than in novels and larger texts. In order to fully tell a story within the word restricted remit of a short story, a writer must utilize their skills to keep the plot moving along at a fast clip; fast enough to keep the reader interested, but detailed enough to be comprehensive. Below are a few methods with which to ensure a successfully paced short story.
One of the most fundamental skills a writer needs in order to write a well paced story is the ability to differentiate between a story that works well as a short fiction and one that does not. Amateur writers are often so determined to tell their story that they neglect to consider the correct form of the piece. A longer fiction artificially compressed into short story loses the elements that made it a good story in the first place; as side plots, secondary themes and minor characters are cut to meet the word limit the story loses its ‘heart’. Likewise, although less common, when a single scene or flash fiction is expanded into a short fiction it ceases to be effective as superfluous elements are added to pad it out; and the pace of the important elements slows accordingly. Knowing when a piece needs to blossom into a longer fiction and when it should remain as a single scene or idea is the mark of a good writer.
Having identified a suitable story, how then does the writer maintain a pace fast enough to convey it fully in a limited word count? Where novels and long fictions are able to spend pages building up complex descriptions and imagery, a short fiction writer must have a prudent and comprehensive vocabulary. Where a novel uses many descriptive words, a short fiction uses few. Therefore those used must be suitably evocative, able to conjure up an image or describe a scene briefly but completely. Essentially in this regard a short fiction writer utilizes the same skill as a poet, paring down their work and selecting only the most powerful words. In this way a skillful writer can keep the word count down, but convey just as much meaning and impact in far fewer words than a less skilled writer with twice the space to fill.
Pace is by no means an easy writing element to master, but with practice and patient reworking of short fiction it can be a real asset to a writer and with it a story can shine.
Nicholas Cockayne is a talented UK-based writer with a BA in English and a MA in Creative and Critical Writing. He’s currently involved in Media Consulting, Marketing, and Advertising.
How do you control the pace of your writing? Have you ever considered it’s importance before?
Coming into the final chapters of my current novel’s first draft, I build to the highest peak of climatic plot and feel like I’m barely holding all the threads together.
Writing a novel is a completely unique experience because, unlike short stories, articles, or blog posts, a novelist holds a complex weave of plots, sub-plots, and character growth in their quivering fingers. Each element introduced from the first page to the last must tie into every other element. Every aspect of the novel must have a purpose, every action an outcome, and every sliver of information must have meaning.
When writing a novel we begin by creating a scenario that begs questions within the reader’s mind. This is a vital stage, the development of the hook. In a way this hook is the crochet hook of our novel, it gripes the initial thread, weaving the first knot of our books intricate pattern. With this original hook we write on and at each juncture in our novel we must pick up and tie into the design one of the threads that make up the final design.
As a novel reaches it’s summit there are loose threads from a multitude of sources in an array of colors, lengths, and texture. The novelist needs to maintain tension and keep a firm grasp or risk the entire creation unraveling into a tangle of knots.
This stage of the novel creates an inner turmoil. Anxiety builds. With a project as significant as the writing of a book, fear of it falling apart is real and turgent.
A First Draft Is Just A First Draft
While feeling tangled in the threads of my novel I try to remind myself that, “a first draft is just a first draft”. As with a crocheted design, if a thread is dropped it is possible, although not always easy, to weave that thread back into the pattern after the other threads have been tied. It is the same with a book and indeed, this aspect of the novel process is expected. No one gets it perfect in the first draft.
Still, the risk is very real. While I can later labor over each chapter and line, carefully collecting and restoring loose threads of plot, at this stage it is easy to introduce weaknesses to the tension of the novel in whole. If you’ve taken the time to write a detailed outline you know how your novel should come together. An outline can help you keep the pace of your novel and, just as you would follow a pattern when crocheting, you follow the pattern of your outline.
A Book Is A Puzzle
I recently finished reading Christopher Paolini’s latest installment in The Inheritance Cycle and was charmed by his Acknowledgments in the back of the book. He revealed the same sensation I currently face with my own novel, “Brisingr was a fun, intense, and sometimes difficult book to write. When I started, I felt as if the story were a vast, three-dimensional puzzle that I had to solve without hints or instructions. I found the experience to be immensely satisfying, despite the challenges it occasionally posed.”
Christopher, who had already pulled the threads of Eragon and Eldest together knew the truly daunting task his third book presented. In that way, every book is a puzzle. The pieces vary in shape and size needing a sharp eye, a bright mind, and long patience to find and place each piece to reveal the image.
Be it a Puzzle or a Web, a novel is challenging and difficult to write. The author puts their very essence into the pages, breathing life into the characters, and sharing their hardships.
As I face the final chapters of my current novel I experience the very real fear and confusion of my characters and I suppose they feel mine. They do not know the fate that awaits them and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure how I’ll get them to it. These threads are complex and if I can gather my courage, continue with patience, and push onward, we might just see the completed design.
When reading short story submissions, if there’s one thing that will put editors’ or competition judges’ teeth on edge it has to be telling instead of showing. Many stories of old were written like this – that’s why we sometimes find them a difficult read. We haven’t been given word pictures to stimulate our minds.
All the creative writing gurus nowadays tell us you can no longer get away with this. You can’t ‘tell’ your readers that someone felt scared, for example. You have to say the person’s hands shook or heart pounded, so that readers are shown how to make the connection for themselves.
You may believe showing will be easier if you write in the first person. Your readers can get to know your character by what he or she thinks, as well as what they say and do. But you can still fall into the trap of telling. ‘I remembered the tales of the goblins and I was terrified as I walked through the dense wood’, is telling, while ‘My mind imagined hungry goblins behind all the trees, waiting to pounce on me and drag me off to their cooking pot’, shows the readers just how scared your character is. It’s a word picture that can jump into their own minds.
The other disadvantage of first person writing is that you have to stay in the head of that one person all the time. If the person walking through the wood is Mary, how can you show your reader that Pauline is secretly following her? Mary doesn’t know, because Pauline is doing this in secret. This can only work if your plan is to reveal it somehow later in the story. So choosing whether or not to use a narrator, and write in the third person, is an important decision in choosing how to show, not tell.
How can you be sure you don’t commit the crime of telling? How can you stop the anxiety about this from interfering with the flow of your writing? The answer is to forget about it until the editing stage. You wouldn’t write a story and submit it on the same day, would you?
No, you leave it for a couple of days, and then come back to it. And you go through every sentence carefully to check for errors and ambiguity. You want your work to say exactly what you mean in good and correct English.
So you need to add one more layer to this. Ask yourself more questions. What is this telling me, and then, how is it showing me? How else could it be shown? That is the point when you can decide to make changes that will show, not tell.
Once you get into the habit of this, you may find that you need to make fewer changes, because it becomes second nature to write in that way in the first place. And your competition entries will be more likely to reach shortlists and become winners.
Jean Knill is an talented writer and I’ve adored reading her lively and genuine voice. You can read more about Jean and her writing life on her blog, Jean’s Musings and at WriteLink.
A primary writer’s tip involves the importance of your beginning. The first sentence, first paragraph, first page, first scene, ‘begin’ your story and are, perhaps, the most important words of your entire book. The final page/paragraph of each chapter is also significant and so is the ending.
These are Hooks, Hangers and the Sequence of Events. The Stargate SG1 Series is masterful with these three elements. It offers a fantastic opportunity to learn not only the importance of hooks, hangers and the sequence of events but key points in making your own effective.
How To Begin – The First Sentence Hook
“In medias res” = “into the middle of things” (Latin)
Every episode of Stargate starts where the action is. I mentioned the importance of action in Part Three: Action and Dialogue so you already have some idea what makes action/showing (involving the senses) an effective way to begin your story.
It is often tempting to digress into exposition, prologue, history, and scenic/character descriptions (telling) but these tend to be less captivating for current-day readers. There are some brilliant books that start with less dynamic openings but are rich and engaging. Classics particularly are fond modern-day rule-breakers. Older story structure allowed a slow build up of tension over the first pages but these days it is more common to start with a bang. Times have been changing and present-day readers trend toward fast paced openings. They want to get to the good stuff right off the bat and won’t wait for lengthy scene-setting or information dumps. Book buyers often scan an opening sentence, paragraph or page when deciding to purchase so it is vital you grip them. Leverage your sale potential and ensure they won’t put your book back on the shelf.
After the opening scene you have an opportunity to backtrack or fill in your readers with the details that brought your character to this point. (If it’s necessary.) Often, the vital facts can be fed through the story without interrupting the flow but sometimes it’s important to clue up your readers about exactly how we got ‘here’ in the story since most direct-to-action openings are dramatic situations full of conflict and the first climatic clink.
Some fantastic guidance about hooking your reader is available in Les Edgerton’s “Hooked”. I recommend it to all novelists.
Page Turning, Chapter Turning – Cliff Hanging or Sun Baking?
It’s up to you, your characters and your story.
There are two choices as each chapter winds to a close and it’s occasionally challenging to decide which to make. Should you close the chapter “cliff hanging” or a gentle “sun baking”?
Hangers are designed to keep the reader turning pages. Many readers use chapter breaks as an opportunity to put a book down (we have to sleep sometime). Of course, we don’t want our readers to put the book down do we? We want them to read it cover to cover so we can be sure they finish it. (Admit it; you have a collection of half-read books on your shelves.)
This is where the hanging ending comes into effect. Stargate often ended episodes with a fantastic hanger. It was especially effective for the end-of-season episodes because writers left enough questions to entice readers to hold out for several months off-season to find out what happens next. Viewers dread those evil words, “To be continued…” but they truly work. Those viewers will be back next episode to find out what happens.
When it comes to writing a book you can also entice your readers to keep turning the page. Leave a few choice questions unanswered or close the chapter on the brink of climax. In a way you could “in media res” your chapter endings. Close the chapter while “into the middle of things”.
To the other extreme you may choose to offer a “bake” option to your readers. Some books are better suited to giving your reader a chance to close the covers.
Intense stories can be draining and long stories can be time consuming. By creating an effective ‘pause’ chapter ending, you give your readers the opportunity to come back later. This is really just a reversal on the “hanger” option. Rather than leaving your characters on a cliff bring them down to earth. Close the chapter with a contented sigh of relief. You still need to leave some questions unanswered but they are less immediate.
Either option can work well and it comes down to your personal choice and what suits your story. Sometimes the characters will decide on your behalf. If you’re a planner you might choose in advance while a pantser may have to carve out and edit their chapter breaks in the second draft.
Some books don’t even have chapters but these elements can be played into all areas of your book. The chapter isn’t the only place a reader may steer away from finishing reading. Follow your instincts.
Going in the Right Direction – Always Charging Onward
The Sequence of Events is vital! Keep your facts straight.
In every novel there is a Sequence of Events. Readers start at page one and read consecutively through to “The End”. This sequence never changes and it often takes careful planning/editing to keep the sequence of events from sending mixed messages to readers.
While stories do not have to be chronological and time is flexible there are still some primary elements that must be considered to keep all details consistent and concrete.
I mentioned the remarkable foreshadowing and plotting involved in the Stargate SG1 Series in Part One: Story-Arc, Plot and SubPlot. These two atoms of every story are key factors in maintaining a solid sequence of events.
A literary technique that will strengthen your sequence of events is Chekhov’s Gun. Based on Anton Chekhov’s quote, “”One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.”
This covers two factors:
- Don’t waste words writing about anything that is not vital to your story and
- You can weave significant facts into the story from page one.
Stargate continues to build upon events with the introduction of many seemingly insignificant situations, people and events that later prove to be major elements in the plots. Writers must remember that the momentum is building, ever upward, tension rises until the final confrontation, the final climax when the story comes to a head and all (or most) is revealed.
Tip of the iceberg?
Sorry it’s so long.
This proved to be a rather lengthy entry but I hope you’ve learned a few things that you can carry into your current writing projects. There is much more we could cover and I probably would have done better to break this into three posts. I’ll have to make sure we come back to these topics in the future. They are intriguing enough to warrant more in-depth exploration.
As always, if you have comments, suggestions, or ideas of your own, please comment. Your thoughts are very welcome and I’d love to know how you’ve dealt with Hooks, Hangers and The Sequence of Events in your own writing. Do you have any resources you recommend for finding out more? What do you know that I didn’t cover today?
Related Articles:
For ‘seat-of-the-pants’ writers, the map-less journey to your novel’s ending is filled with exciting turns and suspense-filled late night driving. For many, the way is lit by an inner inspiration and the beckoning call of our characters. Wonders unfold in unique and interesting ways. The journey is full of discovery and enthusiasm.
Sometimes however, we’ll find ourselves completely off course, down a wrong turn, experiencing bumpy terrain (cluttered with potholes and speed humps). Fear rises and it’s tempting to slam on the breaks to get your bearings or turn around in search of an easier road. These fears are, from time to time, well founded. If all your instincts are screaming, “You are going the wrong way!”, chances are, ‘you are’.
This is not ‘always’ the case however. On occasion, these wrong turns are actually going very, VERY right. So how do you tell if you’re on the road to your novel’s swift and gruesome death, or creating the path to a brilliant book?
WRITE IT!
The truth is, in the beginning you simply CAN’T tell. As a novice writer, what you think is a brilliant idea may be average or even dismal. Thankfully, every moment we spend writing, and reading, gives us the experience to know when we have something worth writing about.
Despite these early fumbles the best thing any writer can do when they feel like they have something worth saying, is to write it! If you’re mid-story and you feel yourself taking a detour, take it. You may not know where that path will lead or what you will end up with, but first drafts are not set in concrete. You can rewrite scenes, characters, even whole chapters, if it just doesn’t work for you. As you write, you develop the experience needed to make every future journey easier.
“One of the great joys to writing fiction is that the characters decide which actions they will take and they always surprise, anger, fascinate, disturb, delight me.” – Benita Porter, author of Outlaw Cravings, Colorstruck, and Skindeep.
MIND PLAY!
Alternatively, you could track the concept in your mind. Rather than following the path with your pen, close your eyes and follow it with your imagination. This technique can be done in minutes rather than the days it may take to write these scenes. You can play the story out in your mind’s eye as if you were watching a movie. This may not be a particularly ‘seat-of-the-pants’ type approach but the advantage of ‘Mind Play’ is that you can play various scenarios through the hi-definition plasma of your mind’s eye and discover which you like best.
“I think this is what is so powerful about fiction. The writer enters a world to record the story, the action of that world, and it is full of twists and turns and revelations that surprise even the writer. A lot of times I don’t [have control of the story]. I have control of how I’m telling it, but not why. If I have an idea that I want to use, sometimes it feels like I’m shoe horning it into the book, so I step back and let the world of the imagination take over and guide me. And that place, inside all of us, where creativity is the engine and where ideas are born, never lets you down.” – Adriana Trigiani, author of bestselling and critically acclaimed, Big Stone Gap and more.
LISTEN!
Alternatively, you could listen. Read aloud your work and hear the cadence of your words. Stories that work have a pattern and melody that helps create the motion of your story. Scenes that don’t blend well into the existing pattern are often signs of a detour gone wrong. When the music of your writing hums with life, you’ve got something worth keeping.
It takes practice to hear the language in your stories. Practice by reading, reread your favorite authors, read your favorite genres, read non-fiction, read the newspaper, read the cereal box. Learn to recognize unique voices and unique language structure. Listen to the unique composition of literature melodies and learn to develop (and listen to) your own.
Brian Evenson, author of The Wavering Knife, said, “The writing that I like best is a writing that gives the sense simultaneously of great authority with the language – of control – and the sense that the writer is as surprised by the direction he’s going as the reader is, that he suddenly feels he’s leaving everything behind but is willing to keep on going and see what happens because the language demands that of him. I think that’s achieved by an intense focus on the mechanics of the story, an attention to individual sentence, to rhythm and sound patterns carried out to such a degree that the dynamics of individual sentences occupy the writer’s mind and allows what’s subconsciously present to rise, unpredictably and appallingly, to the surface.”
IN THE END
The journey of your story is an adventure that will often keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s a wild ride. It’s scary and unpredictable. Even those who spend time preparing long before they begin writing often find the story takes them where they never expected if we leave ourselves open to these deviations.
Ultimately, it is openness and a willingness to ‘go with the flow’ that allows us to explore these alternate pathways through our stories. Strict planners can find themselves stymied when the story wants to go where they hadn’t planned. This is one of the reasons combining planner and pantser techniques are the most effective way to write.
Vicki Pettersson, author of The Scent of Shadows and The Taste Of Night, also describes this remarkable experience: “I _am_ sometimes surprised by the direction of the story, and have to rewrite my outline, or realign my thoughts accordingly. If it’s coming alive on the page, that’s what needs to be there. As for some sort of fickle muse, I don’t believe in the muse. “She” is too often used as a crutch. I believe in the work. And I believe in the individual writer. There are things out there that only _you_ can write – not me, not some nonexistent muse – and it’s your experience and imagination that breathes life onto the page.”
One of the most daunting things a “seat of the pants†writer will frequently face is lack of direction. These writers start with an instinctive sense of what will make a good story. They may have a skeleton character concept or an intriguing ‘what-if’ situation and will run with the idea. Working in this way can be wonderfully freeing, the ideas flow and page after page fill.
Novels, however, are a marathon and this technique is better suited to short sprints. So how do you sustain your story when a myriad of dead ends, round-abouts, cul-de-sacs, and no through roads bar the way between the beginning and ‘the end’?
Pay Attention To Where You Have Been
When writing without a street map it’s important to keep track of where you’ve come from. Take note of significant details along the way. This will save you from having to backtrack. As ideas come to you, note them down. Forward ideas can help keep you moving when you’re unsure of your path.
Learn To Identify Signs
Novel writing is often formulaic. Once you’ve worked out the way the roads usually turn at any point you’ll learn to predict their coming. You might also notice your mental state changes at various points. If you learn to recognize these, you can be prepared to alter your course to avoid dead-ends.
Pull Over For Coffee
You may exert yourself writing a particularly intense few pages over a number of days or weeks. When your mind is exhausted it is important to give yourself a chance to recoup. Pull over for coffee, have a hot bath, go for a jog, iron laundry, or bake a cake. Do something that doesn’t require your mental process to give your mind some space. You’ll often find it fills with your story and you can return to writing, fully charged.
Ask For Directions
If you’ve written yourself into an endless loop and don’t know how to get out, ASK! While you mightn’t approach humans with your current project’s issues you should at least spend time addressing them with your characters. Sometimes, talking things over with your goldfish is enough to free your mind and see outside of the current situation. Perhaps have an interview with your characters and discuss where they feel the story has faltered and what can be done to rectify the situation. Don’t forget you can get help from the human factor as well; ask your friends and fellow writers for advice. Just talking about the issue is often enough to clarify the problem and find a solution.
Retrace Your Route
If these suggestions haven’t already set you back on course, retrace your steps. Read over your last few pages, or even further back if you need to. Focus on what brought them to this point and what your primary characters’ goals are. You may need to rework the current point and take a different route to get to a new destination.
The Road Trip Game (What If?)
Play the “What If?” game to decide where you could go from here. If you’ve come up against an intersection and don’t know which road to take, play it out in your mind. See the various options and run with them as a story concept to see where each will lead. You could even mark this point and choose any road at random, if you don’t like the outcome return to the intersection and choose a different route.
Take A Deliberate Detour
If there aren’t enough choices at an intersection or if you’ve snagged against a dead end and can’t bring yourself to turn around, it’s time to take a deliberate detour. Throw in a new plot element. It doesn’t have to work into the final draft. At this point you just need something to clear the way. If that means having superman fly in and rescue your characters from the teeth of a T-Rex, have this unlikely event occur. Free your character to continue their story and know that you’ll have the opportunity to clear that section up later.
Skip It!
Instead of taking a deliberate detour you can skip it. If your character is worked into a corner and has no way out, skip it! Jump right out of that situation and put them someplace else on the road. You don’t need to maintain a linear path. During the first draft it doesn’t matter if there are plot holes. You can fill those in later. For now, the important thing is to continue moving forward. Don’t labor over a pointless intersection, just write on, skip it and you can come back to it later.
For ‘seat of the pants’ writers the first draft is all about finding out what your story is going to be. It’s about getting to know your characters and walking a blind road. If you look to the street signs when you feel lost you will find the journey to your novels end far easier to face. You will keep moving forward and enjoy the adventure along the way.
- Six Part Series: Street Signs and Plot Humps
- Part One: Are You A Pantser Or A Planner?
- Part Two: Seat of the Pants vs. Planning
- Part Three: Street Signs For ‘Seat of the Pants’ Writers
- Part Four: When Wrong Turns Go Right
- Part Five: Plot Humps For Planners
- Part Six: Mr. Random Messenger Meets Suspend-able Disbelief
