How We Write: Even the Best of the Characters Need a Little Plot

Last week Anna wrapped up our discussion of Character and Mining for Motivation. Now we’re going to start talking plot.

I used to live in a world where all I had to do was open up my laptop and start writing. The first few manuscripts I wrote, I just sat down and wrote. Life was simple back then. However, it was frustrating too because deep down I knew there was something major missing. I bought writing books, characters books, plotting books. I joined on-line critique groups, a local critique group and read my work for my local chapter during critique sessions. A lot of big fancy writing words were tossed at me, many of which I didn’t understand, and frankly, I wasn’t too sure the other writers understood them either.

My very first publisher went bankrupt. It was a major blow to my ego and it came just days after my first book was released. However, I got my very first taste of what revision was all about. The editor for that book I still love and adore. There are no hard feelings as she held my hand through my first round of edits where she destroyed my plot! Yes, my plot! The thing I am so very good at she made me rewrite. My first editorial letter came as an attachment to an email. The letter was three pages long and in detail described the stages of my plot and why it wasn’t working, along with suggestions on how to make it work. This was my first real encounter with how to plot.

There are a lot of working definitions of plot both as applied to writing fiction and in other uses. Most of which involve some sort of map, scheme, chart, draw, devise or construct. When I think in terms of plot, I think in terms of how my story is mapped out. How can I chart it? Draw it? What will be used for construction? How will it be devised?

If you build it, they will come.

Please remember this is how my mind works when I write. Every writer is different. There are no hard fast rules of writing. I am a firm believer in trying various techniques until you find and develop methods that work for you. Everything in this post came from another writer, somewhere along the way. I am still a work in progress as a writer. One of the reason I was so excited to do this with Anna is because it gives me an opportunity to better myself as a writer, and that is the point.

The events in your story drive to the next event and then the next event, until you end at the end. These events in your story help push/pull your characters through of maze of decisions, thoughts and actions that help them arc throughout the story. The very basic map of your story can be done a variety of ways. I use Narrative Structure and I do it before I start writing. I know the main events, or major turning points where my character will have to act in order to move the plot forward. I know what is going to happen in those scenes and the action (even if my character isn’t behaving in a “motivated” way) drives the story forward.

The Plot starts when the protagonist is introduced to the problem. This problem is created by the Antagonist. The Plot is the two of them at odds trying to achieve their goals. WHAT is PLOT. What we have been working on is the WHY, which is CHARACTER. And everything in between has to achieve two things. Raise the stakes on an external level (plot) and on an internal level (character). I know, none of this is really new to you. However, applying it while revising is an interesting task.

A lot of writers look at Turning Points (major conflict/crisis) as tent poles that hold up the story. I prefer to look at it like a step-ladder. Each major point is a mini crisis and the Protagonist has to decide, do I keep going, or do I give up. It’s fiction, they keep going. They get to the top of the ladder and (my favorite part) we push them off and the land in the puddle of the dark moment. Only then do they get to dust them self off and duke it out with the Antagonist.

A while back Anna asked me if I would beta read her entire novel. She mentioned she was lost in character, which means, I have no idea what the WHAT is, but I know where the WHAT needs to go and I know the WHY, so what is in between.

Anna introduced the problem and her characters were well developed. I understood them. I understood what made them feel special, what made them angry, what made the cry, what made them want to run away, but what I didn’t understand, fully, was where the story was pushing toward. It was as if they were wondering around, aimlessly, with no real solid external goal they could tangibly reach. Yes, it was there, but it wasn’t done in tangible terms, not enough so that the characters actions made sense. It’s almost the reverse of “Jen, what does she really want and why does she want this”, because I was asking her “what’s the point? These are lovely people, really, but why are they wondering around? Where is the conflict? The external, tangible, thing I can touch, conflict? I get she wants to be sane, but what does that mean? And what does that mean in this scene? How does it push/pull her to the next decision? Actually, what is the decision? I don’t see her making a decision. There is no point for her to go on. Nothing to work toward.” The points I was majorly lost were the main Turning Points because her characters didn’t really act. They thought and they made decisions and their bodies moved, but they didn’t take action. So, when Anna continued on the journey of moving her characters forward, I had a major misconnect because nothing really happened.

There has to be a connection between the external plot points and the emotional journey our characters are on. I like to look at it as two lines that start far apart and slowly, as the story progresses the external line begins to wrap around the internal line until the two lines become one. This happens when the protagonist defeats the antagonist and the problem asked at the beginning of the story is answered in two ways. The Problem (external plot) is SOLVED and the Internal why of our character is developed fully so that we not only see the character has changed, we FEEL it.

My very first editor told me that my story basically jumped from problem to crisis and never dealt with the in between. Ironically, Bob Mayer told me the exact same thing the first time I took his workshop when he critiqued my synopsis. He basically said that I went from inciting incident to climactic scene and he wondered if anything else happened in the middle of the book.

I don’t know if this is how Anna saw it when she was both done writing the draft and done reading my critique because we generally have a rule, the writer doesn’t get to argue. We get to discuss, talk out, and kick and scream, but she is not required to take my advice and I in turn give it freely without expectation.

When a writer goes from problem to crisis and never developed the points in between you have a book that has lovely motivated characters with internal goals, but no external conflict that raises the stakes for the lovely motivated character. It is important no matter how much you have a “character” driven story, that the plot be followed through the entire story. The must not be ignored.

I do this before I start any book. I do it free hand, in a notebook, that I keep for each new book. Now, it’s subject to change and I don’t input into whatever I’m using to write my book until I’ve written at least half the book. Of course, by then, it has grown and I’ve added scenes between the TP’s that are helping me get there.

Protag: Goal

Antag: Goal

What is the Conflict between these two characters? (Here I do the conflict box which I learned from Bob Mayer).

Inciting Incident: What happens in the beginning of the book that sets the plot in motion? Why does my protag have to act?

TP1: First major decision in action my Protag must make based on an action of the Antag.

TP2: Same as TP1, but different and bigger, more problematic on a personal level and perhaps the external thing is more difficult to reach.

TP3: Same as TP2, but different and bigger, more problematic. Personal entanglement is impossible to break. What is the big bang that happens right here that makes this such a big deal?

Dark Moment: Exactly where did I push my protag off the ladder? Why does the protag think he/she can’t win? What makes them change their mind and stand up and fight? What is the personal internal stake that pushes this into the final external battle?

Climactic Scene: Who? What? Where? When? What does it mean externally to the protag when he/she defeats the antagonist? Is it what he/she really wanted? How has the want changed? What did it do to the protag?

Resolution: How do I show what this means internally to the protag?

Now, here is here I will make you all nuts. I then do this for the romantic relationship since there has to be “conflict” both externally and internally for my hero and heroine. From here, I make out a character and scene chart and then I start writing. When I write myself into a corner, as I often do, I revert back to Anna’s character sheet and start mining for motivation. Yeah, I know, perhaps I should try her chart first. Next book.

This is actually a pretty good video that outlines steps in writing a novel. It’s basic, but you have to start somewhere, then build. The key will be in the foundation. The more you understand and take the time to learn what you are doing, the better your book will be.

Happy plotting everyone.

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• Posted in: How We Write
• Tagged: Anna, Anna DeStefano, Antagonist, Bob Mayer, Book Writing, Brain, Brainstorming, character arch, Character Development, Characters, Creativity, Fiction, Jenni Holbrook-Talty, Motivation, Narrative structure, Novel, novel structure, Protagonist, WIP, Writer, Writers Resources, Writing