Plotting Fiction

September 16, 2008

 

Mary Rosenblum: I wanted to talk about plotting today. After all, plot is rather essential to story, no matter what kind of story you're writing.  And one of the real issues that beginning writers struggle with is length.  The truth is that length is determined by the plot, not by cutting out words.  Every story has a natural length and if your story is longer than the word limit, cutting it will make it too superficial to work.  Now that does not mean that most novice writers don't need to trim flab. Very few people write tightly from the get-go.  But learning how to plot so that you get a short story, a novelette, or a novel intentionally is going to help you hugely as a writer.  

 I have several anthology contracts on my desk right now. One is for a 10,000 word story, the others are 8,000, 8,000, and 4,000.   I have to plot stories that will suit those lengths.  If I'm plotting a novel, that plot has to be large enough to work at a length of 80,000 to 100,000 words.  Understanding the structure of plot, and how it relates to length is going to give you enormous flexibility as a writer. I know a number of pros who can write novels and sell them but never did learn how to plot a short story.   They try to write a novel plot as a short story and of course it doesn't work!  But a short story plot won't work as a novel either. It's going to be too thin and will feel 'padded' even if you lengthen it with lots of description and dialogue.  

Dramatic arc, story arc, is the increasing intensity of events that lead to the moment of climax, where the main character faces a route that leads to success and a route that leads to failure.  This success and failure can be subtle and often are in mainstream fiction....it might be a choice that will ultimately lead to happiness for this main character, or a choice that will lead to future unhappiness.  It can be a much more 'overt' choice...as when the bad guy is revealed or defeated in a mystery or suspense novel.
Mcnellism: Would you say, Mary, that it's accurate that novel plots tend to have multiple climaxes whereas short story plots have one?
Mary Rosenblum: Mcnell, that's generally true.  Although longer short stories...in the novelette and novella range...often do support subplots and more minor dramatic peaks.  a novel, with larger and more well developed subplots will tend to have stronger dramatic peaks that support the main climax and resolution.  Think of dramatic arc as a sequence of events as the main character(s) strive to reach the climax point and are opposed by other events and characters. That's essentially what you're doing as you craft scenes....making it hard for the MCs to reach the climax.  And of course, at the same time, you're resolving various subplots that enrich our knowledge of and engagement with that universe and the people.

In a short story, you don't have much room, so you need to start close to the climax.  As you write more, you'll get a sense of how long your scenes tend to be. We all have a different rhythm...it's what makes our voices unique.   You can begin to estimate how long a story arc will be by counting the scenes you plan to include.  And if you realize that this is going to run to 6000 words or more and you're doing a LR assignment with a 2500 word limit, it's not a matter of simply writing those six thousand words and then cutting out 3500 of them!  As you might expect, you'll end up with something that reads like summary!   Instead, rethink your plot.  with the basic conflict and resolution. That's generally how I start plotting most of my fiction...what must happen at the climax?  What is the choice I want my MC to make here?  Now...how to I take the readers there in the length that I have to work with?  

This is certainly the reverse of how must of us...including me...start writing stories.  : You get a sort of a good idea, you start writing, and you see where the story takes you.  I did that.  I spent a LOT of time doing major surgery so that this rambling arc turned into a compelling story....compelling to someone other than myself I mean!  I learned, over the course of many many thousands of written words, that I got stronger stories if I didn't jump into the story RIGHT NOW but instead, 'chewed' on it for awhile. Where is this going to end up? What will may character have to choose? What will happen to him or her as that character gets to the climax?  I don't work my stories out in scene by scene detail, but I generally know what my climax scene is going to be.

The import of that scene may change as I evolve the story. It did in the current story I'm just finishing. What my MC's choice leads to is not quiet what I started out envisioning, but I know a lot more about that world than I did when I started.  Still, it allowed me to estimate my length...I blocked out my major scenes that had to occur before the climax, realized that I had one too many, that I was starting too far back from the climax.   So instead, I decided what I had to show the readers in that opening scene, then figured out how to make that happen in what would have been a later scene in the story.  Now the story starts there.   If I was plotting the novel version, I would have retained my original starting scene, which would have introduced the MC to the readers and set up the complex fantasy world I had created. But it would not have propelled the readers into the plot at the point that they now enter the story.

Julia: So if you're plotting, say a 4,000 word story, how many scenes do you plan on?

Mary Rosenblum: For me -- and I' m currently plotting one -- that's about three scenes.   that's my own rhythm.   A very useful exercise is to go over stories you have already written and block them into scenes. See how many scenes you have included. How long is the story?  That will begin to make you conscious of your own writing rhythms.

rpdwrites1:  Does that very with each story?

Mary Rosenblum: Well, rpd, it varies some. If I'm creating a very complex world, as I am in my 10,000 words story, the scenes tend to be longer since I have to squeeze in more world building.   If I'm doing, say, a mystery set in the real world, they'll tend to be shorter since I can imply scenes with fewer words...readers know what a city street looks like, more or less.  I want to stress one thing.... A lot of the techniques and mechanics of good craft can seem daunting. How can you possibly remember all that?   Well, you don't have to. You'll do it on your own as your experience increases without necessarily being able to explain just what you are doing.  I've simply spent a lot of time analyzing 'how' I do things so I can explain it (hopefully clearly!) to people who don't have as much experience yet. It helps speed up the process of learning.

rpdwrites1: write raw print read over rewrite and have someone else read it?

Mary Rosenblum: That's what I do, rpd.

Mary Rosenblum 10:29 am: I clean up my first draft so that my poor readers don't have to suffer the logic errors that I can find for myself, then I send it to my readers.  Then I do the final revisions after I hear back from readers.

Julia: or read it out loud to yourself?
Mary Rosenblum: Reading it out loud helps, Julia. Reading it to other people is even better.  Hearing someone read it to YOU is best. Hard to come by unless you have a cooperative spouse or a writers group with time to read.

LtSonya: if someone does read it to you, what should you look for?

Mary Rosenblum: Sonia, what you look for are repetitions...ouch, I already said that a page ago...places where you find your mind wandering (this description goes on forever...) and that sort of thing.  An outloud read can give you a sense of the pace and the flow of your words. You may hear choppiness, for example.

rpdwrites1: it's always better if someone else reads it because they don't know what you meant to write, describe or explain

Mary Rosenblum: Exactly, rpd.

Julia: Where do you find these people if you're sort of isolated?

Mary Rosenblum: Julia, you can advertise for readers in the LR Newsletter in the Want Ad section.  It’s all free and people are finding critiquing partners that way.

Julia: Oh, okay. I'll try that.

Mary Rosenblum: Tell people what you write and what you're willing to critique.  I will often brainstorm plot ideas with other writers before I even block out a novel.  Often the suggestions of other people spur new insights into cool plot twists or subplots.   I like to do this in person or over the phone. It's a lot of fun.  Try not to think of your initial story idea as cast in stone.   It should not be.   I like to think of them as rather plastic. I bend them and twist them, turn them around, to see if I like some other configuration better.  And often I do.  You can write down your original idea carefully so that you don't forget it.  Now start playing 'what if' games.   What if I make her the MC instead of him?  What if this happens in the middle? What if the evil wizard really isn't the one causing the trouble?  You can really surprise yourself.  Remember...when we grab for ideas we generally grab something that's pretty trite...overly familiar. That's why it's quick to rise to the surface.  A little tweaking or bending can give you something that is familiar but has a refreshing newness to it. That makes editors sit up and take notice.

Mcnellism: In Simon Green's "Blue Moon Rising," one of the characters is a dragon who collects butterflies and fears a princess.  I think that was the result of a "what if" and it worked really well.

Mary Rosenblum: Sounds like it, mcnell!

Mcnellism: Btw, I recommend that book to anyone who enjoys fantasy. :)

Mary Rosenblum: I just critiqued a novel for someone who had a very usual quest fantasy story. But with a small plot twist, she could make it something very 'fresh'. She just didn't see that option.

Lady: I came across a program called Dramatica Pro which appears to help with this "what if" game as it will take your twists and show you how ithey effect the rest of the story; do you have feedback on this system Mary?

Mary Rosenblum: I don't, lady. That could be cool, but I am VERY wary of any kind of program that does this. They tend to use a formula and it potentially can create the 'usualness' that you want to avoid. Ask yourself how many other people use the same program.   I'm going to be posting an article that compares a lot of 'writer software' this week.  I don't recall if it includes this one or not.

LtSonya: after playing around with your story, how do you know when you 'hit' that right idea? Any suggestions?

Mary Rosenblum: Sonya, that's always an issue, although it's less of an issue the more experience you have.  How do you know when it works?   At first, running it by other people can help. Do they get enthused when you describe the story or give them a synopsis?   But ultimately, it's about trusting your own instinct.  That comes with publication and reader feedback.   You find out that 'oh, yeah, I really can write something good' and then you are more confident about listening to your own inner voice and it stops being quite so negative!  At the start, having a few trustworthy readers will help you.

Rae: A good readers is worth their weight in gold.

Mary Rosenblum: That is so true, Rae. And usually that means another writer, someone who can give you specific feedback -- I couldn't understand the character's motivation here -- rather than that general sort of 'I really liked it but the character didn't really move me'.   Although a strong reader is good, too. My main mystery reader is a woman who is a lifelong mystery reader but has never been a writer.  

So when you're plotting, start with something that is going to need to be fixed.  It can be an external problem -- the evil wizard has usurped the throne, a crooked politician is running the city, a woman has been murdered and the MC's best friend has been accused.  Now you know what has to be resolved at the end.   you can start blocking the story arc out.  Is it a short short story? Is it a novel?  Is it a novelette, say 8000 words?  That length will tell you just how far back from the climax scene you can begin.  

Let's take the murder.   For a short story, say 4000 words or less, you're going to need to start right before the revelation of the murderer.   You can't start with the murder and take the readers through the entire investigation!  So you might decide that your MC needs to have all the knowledge needed to reveal the murderer from the get-go.

Rae: Lets say you start with the detective at the crime scene. Then take then through catching the criminals. Is that always bad?

Mary Rosenblum: Well, it's great for a novel. How do you propose to do that in 4000 words without summarizing a lot of stuff...which will totally bore the readers?  Instead... we'll put the MC at the crime scene.   Now maybe the detective is clearly going to make the wrong decision about who must have done the crime and pursue an innocent individual.  Maybe circumstantial evidence points, say, to the wife. He's going to arrest her.   But our MC in that initial scene, is pretty sure that she's innocent.   And that MC has a plan to reveal the real killer. So in that first scene  you establish the relationship between the MC and the detective and the accused woman, you set the scene, and give us backstory as they argue and whatever.  Then, your next scene is perhaps very brief and we see the MC doing something enigmatic, which of course sets up the final revelation.   Then in scene three, the murderer is revealed and the crime is solved.  There's your 4000 word story.  

Now the novel version might start at the scene, introduce us to the MC and his relationship to the woman, take us through her accusation and arrest, lead us through the MC's step by step unraveling of the crime, including some exciting scenes as he's  : attacked or otherwise discouraged from this investigation. And finally, we have the same revelation.

Laina: What if you only have 1500 words to tell it in

Mary Rosenblum:: Then I'd skip the middle scene, Laina. In your first scene you set up a MC who has important information and, of course, the imminent arrest of the accused woman. And in that scene the MC reveals the identity of the murderer through his knowledge or cleverness.  It would either be a single scene or a larger scene, say 1000 words and a short, revelation scene. I'd probably opt for a single scene, myself.

Notice that as we reduce the length, we have to leave some of the 'steps' taken to reach the climax?  In a novel we can include all the steps of the investigation.  In a mid length short story, say 8000 words, we can include one or two steps of the investigation.  In that short short version, the murderer is revealed in a single scene and the investigation is entirely implied.  But because you focus on these scenes, they will be quite strong enough to carry the story.  If you tried to shoehorn in all the steps you'd have to summarize them all and they'd be very superficial.

rpdwrites1: That makes a lot of sense Mary, thanks

Mary Rosenblum: Plot can seem very mysterious until you start to recognize the structure.  At first it's invisible, buried in the story we're trying to tell.  Later, you begin to realize that you can shape the story by changing the plot. So go take out all your old stories and describe the plot. Write it down.

Rae: Out of all you said today, what one thing would you say is the most important?

Mary Rosenblum: The most important, Rae?  to see your plot separately from the story.   Going back over your old work and identifying that plot...the skeleton underneath all that lovely 'flesh' of the story...is going to help you enormously.
[rpdwrites1] 11:02 am: is the plot like the bones of the story?

Jerry: What's the difference between "story" and "plot"?

Mary Rosenblum: Jerry, I'm being a bit arbitrary in my definitions, but to me, story is everything, it's the plot, characters, the whole that is a sum or the parts.  Plot is simply the skeleton.  For your next LR assignment, when you're faced with that short word limit remember...start close to the climax!