Plotting
Posted by Rowena Cory Daniells on October 2, 2010
The creative crucible. Writers create narratives built around plot and character from the intangible in their minds. You need a particular type of brain to do this. I came across an article on research in the brains of professional dancers. Turns out dancers brains are genetically different from footballers, who would have thought?
So creative people are different. For a glimpse of how different take a look at this article ‘The Essential Psychopathology of Creativity. The author says:
‘in order to be truly exceptional at something creative in nature, whatever domain it may be, you need to have those extreme traits that get you labeled by the DSM as meeting the criteria for some kind of a personality disorder. However (and this is the catch), in order to have those extreme, intense traits and not suffer from a disorder, you also need to have some sort of regulatory mechanism that helps to control those traits.’
So we need to be obsessive but also in control.
Here is an article by David Brin, who is both a scientist and a writer. He says:
‘I believe writing was the first truly verifiable and effective form of magic. Think of how it must have impressed people in ancient times! To look at marks, pressed into fired clay, and know that they convey the words of scribes and kings long dead—it must have seemed fantastic. Knowledge, wisdom and art could finally accumulate, and death was cheated one part of its sting.’
And he makes this rather wry observation: ‘Imagine this. If all of the professional actors and entertainers died tomorrow, how many days before they were all replaced? Whether high or low, empathic or vile—art seems to pour from Homo Sapiens, almost as if it were a product of our metabolism, a natural part of ingesting and excreting. No, sorry. Art may be essential and deeply human, but it ain’t rare.’
What makes the difference between someone with a good idea and an author with many books published is persistence and dedication to the craft of writing and a little bit of luck. (Creating your own luck is a topic for another post).
There are people who plan their plots and people who just grow a plot (I’m one of those). And then there are times when you are revising your manuscript and your vision for the book gets really muddy. We covered revising and editing a couple of weeks ago on the ROR blog.
While cleaning up the first book of my new trilogy (all 3 books due to go to the publisher early next year) I realised that I’d ended book one in the wrong place. This is after spending two months (snatching every moment I had free) to clean the book up and reaching near the end of the 600 page novel, only to come to this revelation.
I was not in a happy place. Well, actually it was a really happy place because I’d been having trouble with the start of book two. And suddenly I woke up (while at World Con) with the realisation that I’d ended book one too late and the last 100 + pages should have been at the beginning of book two. This would give me a much better intro to the characters and set up the story arc for the second book.
Of course as soon as I ended the book earlier, I realised I had the room and time to expand one of the View Point narrative threads and suddenly an extra layer of plot emerged.
That brings me back to plotting. The wonderful Holly Lisle has a page on her website called Plotting Under Pressure. This is a great look at how to pull a plot from almost nothing into something that makes sense, and how to do it in a very short space of time. She talks about your View Point characters, and then the word length and number of scenes.
A while ago the ROR blog covered Beware the Sagging Middle. And also Book Structure 101 . All of which brings me back to the book I’m currently working on.I’m itching to get back to it and pull the last 50 pages together, but before I can do this I need a couple of clear days so I can read it from beginning to end and ensure all the new scenes are integrated with the original chapters of the book.
So are you a planner or do your plots grow organicaly? Do you wake up with the solution to a plotting problem clear in your mind?
twittertales said
I just blogged about plotting yesterday. For me, the best system is to plan each chapter as its own short story (complete with building tension, although the resolution often comes in the next chapter or even later – after some new tension has arisen), related of course to the main plot. Before I start writing, I have a one-sentence outline of twenty or thirty chapters – which changes a fair bit as I write.
Louise
Rowena Cory Daniells said
Louise,
I’m never that organised. Although as the book develops I’ll have notes to myself. Must make him more worried in CH 5. Plant idea before CH 11.
If anyone came across these notes, they would make no sense at all. LOL
Chris L said
Though I’ve only written a few novel-length manuscripts, and only one that’s any good, I like to start with an idea. For instance: the role of sex in society, be it in advertising, relationships, in the workplace, whatever. Each chapter either builds toward, or directly references one of these aspects.
I don’t plot too far ahead, but I know what’s going to happen in a fuzzy kinda way. My plots are character driven but sticking closely to the central idea/theme. I don’t like to stray too far and risk diluting the focus of what I’m trying to say.
Rowena Cory Daniells said
Chris, I much prefer character driven plots. And I tend to find that the theme emerges after I’ve finished the first draft of the book. Then I go back and rewrite, enhancing the punch of the theme, while never sacrificing the story. At least that’s the theory.
Chris L said
Hi Rowena,
Do you have a feel for, and this may be a slightly cheeky question, which styles of plotting lend themselves to which styles of writing? For instance, do pantsers make better sci-fi writers? Do pendants make better crime writers?
Chris
Rowena Cory Daniells said
No idea, Chris, in fact I hadn’t thought of it this way. In all the years I’ve been writing and hanging out with writers I’ve met about half and half. I’m guessing that is the same across the genres. But I could be wrong.
Might do a post about it over at the Mad Genius Club and see what the numbers are there. Then I might ask on the Vision list. You’ve really got me wondering now.
Chris L said
Just a thought. I started writing a new story today, just a short one (hopefully). It’s been kicking around in my head for so long now that I just had to do something about it, but it’s such a different thing for me, and I’m writing it more because I have to than I want to.
It’s based on nothing more than an image in my head, but such a wonderful, magical image. I just don’t know if it can be put into words.
Anyway, because I’m experimenting with something new, just thought I’d ask about other styles of writing and how writers approach them.
Cheers
Rowena Cory Daniells said
Good luck with the story, Chris.
I’m very visual, but most writers are music based. I discovered this when I was blogging about the things that I gather around me when I write a book. Most writers talked about the music they played.
Nicole Murphy said
Oh, I wish I could plan, I really do. It would stop me having to write all the drafts I do.
Generally, I get the idea and the majority of the worldbuilding right, then I write draft zero. It’s a planning draft and through investigating it, I work out what the real story is. Then I write the draft that will be the book that I work on.
I have to do some external things to help me work on the plot, because it’s not a natural thing. I use colours to identify what type of scene is where (something I picked up from Scott Westerfeld) and it shows me where the plot is lagging, where I’ve let tension go and so on.
Rowena Cory Daniells said
Nicole, I know what you mean. In one of my EnVision workshops I had a writer whit a 700 page manuscript and about 8 VP characters, with several time lines.
I took a piece of graph paper and colour felt tip pens to the workshop so they could draw the lines down the graph paper indicating how many pages they had devoted to each character, in each time line, in each narrative thread.
It was just too complicated to hold in your head.
Shane M said
I just write and see what comes out. My first book I wrote with no aim other then to amuse myself and fill in time. It wasn’t til I realised that I was writing so much that I wore sores in my fingers that I realised I like writing, alot. My second book I wrote dot points just for the major events and then on the spot connected them. It had worked so far although for my next book I wrote about 50 pages of planning, I then had to expand that in to two books.
It may be hard, but when I am writing I aim to write about 2,500 words a day. In the end it is all worth it.
Rowena Cory Daniells said
Hi Shane,
Setting goals is a good way to get the book written. And there is no right or wrong way to plot, just do what works for you.
FableCroft » Aussie Spec Fic Blog Carnival October 2010 said
[...] And at ROR, Rowena examines plotting [...]
Writing Process « Ripping Ozzie Reads said
[...] First of all, are a plotter or a pantser? And what can you do about plotting? [...]