How does one create plots? I don’t think they come out of thin air.
Like all of you, I’ve spent my entire life figuring out just what it is I like and don’t like about … everything. And we’ve all come to different conclusions.
Now we’re left with experiences, very specific tastes, and loads of memories. I believe writing is an opportunity to share all those moments that stuck with us. Not just the moments in real life, but improvements on our favorite moments in stories, too.
Whether we’re spending time alone with our thoughts or experiencing life at its fullest, we’re cultivating our tastes which govern what kind of foods we like, what hobbies we enjoy, and even how we decide what we’d like to be when we grow up.
If that hobby or profession happens to be “writer” (yay!), that same thought process determines what genre we’d most like to write in. And that same thought process is at the very root of what happens and exists in our stories.
Most importantly, everything that makes you “you” is so unique, nobody else will ever write the stories in your head. So it’s up to YOU to save them from oblivion! :)
(Uh, you can either look at that statement as a heroic calling or a morbid race against death, lol.)
So I needed to create a plot. I have many memories, experiences, and tastes to draw upon. But if I try to cram everything I love into a single story, it’ll be a cluttered mess! Decisions have to be made somewhere.
While I’m sorting out all those files I mentioned in the last post, I’ll try to show you a little bit of my plot creation process in the next few days.
Prev: Oh, what a tangled plot I weave | Next: Plot creation -part 2-
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[Reply]
Comment by Joseph — September 24, 2008 @ 10:14 am
I’ve tried that. I really have. Let me explain.
Have you ever watched a TV show with great, deep characters portrayed by phenomenal actors—and it keeps your attention for awhile, you might even get really excited about it—but eventually you stop watching because you start to realize the writers have no idea where they’re going with the story?
On the flip-side, have you ever watched a TV show with cardboard cutouts for characters portrayed by wooden actors, but you couldn’t seem to stop watching because it was clear early-on the writers knew exactly where they were going?
I’m trying for the middle-ground. You might have noticed my scene titles from the previous post were rather vague one-liners. They are supposed to be somewhat rearrangeable, flexible, and replaceable. I created those scenes with my entire cast firmly in mind. I’m aware more characters might pop up out of nowhere, or a scene or group of scenes might need axed, or the entire premise of the trilogy could end up changing. But I feel my characters are quite in-tune with the ending. I just want to find the most efficient path to get them there.
Sometimes, my characters do things that have consequences far, far beyond their scope of understanding. So sometimes, it takes a lot more than character personalities interacting with each other to decide what happens next. Sometimes, it takes political polymorphing. Sometimes, it takes natural disasters such as a flood. Sometimes it even takes something completely random, like a hunter’s stray arrow in the dark.
If my characters are deep, human, and real enough … I’ll leave that up to you.
But then again, I might be setting myself up for learning a hard lesson you’ve already learned too well. In that case, sometimes I have to touch the stove myself and get burned ;)
[Reply]
Comment by cirellio — September 24, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
First, I want to create characters that are their own entities. I want them to be believable, natural, and appear to own a soul of their own. For me, the best way to accomplish this is to outline everything about that character from his or her ambitions and fears to nervous ticks and childhood memories. From there, I plan on writing multiple short works focusing on the character and the personality I want them to have, as well as how they interact with the other characters I create.
Like you, I know that characters are much less without a compelling story to move them. I’m a big stream-of-consciousness writer which I feel won’t work too terribly well with more complicated works like the world that I have churning in my head. Because of this, I’m planning on laying out the plot in an Excel spreadsheet using the snowflake method. I feel as if it is the best way to fumble through and create a plot when I don’t know the direction it might take.
Keep up the hard work. I’ll be checking back shortly.
[Reply]
Comment by christopher. — September 24, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
I understand you don’t have a lot of time to write. I don’t either.. honestly I don’t. But I find the less free time I have, the more I make of my free time. It usually works out that I get more writing done on days where I have scarce amounts of time. You might find the same is true for you..
I think you are definitely going about creating your characters properly. At least, you’ve come to the same conclusions I have. If you look far enough back in my posts, you’d even find one where I speak about how I enjoy writing short stories with dialogue between two characters so I can get to know them better.
I have read about and like the ‘snowflake method’. The first time I read about it, it was very inspiring. I especially like the first two steps. Asking a writer to sum up their story in fifteen words or less can be like pulling teeth, but being able to sum up your story like that is a skill writers need to develop. I’ve found poetry helps hone that skill.
In short, we must remember to be confident, and that nothing committed to paper is written in stone (unless it’s a contract ^_^;). I wish you good luck from the bottom of my heart. I know exactly what you’re going through.
[Reply]
Comment by cirellio — September 24, 2008 @ 8:32 pm