But Where Is The Plot?
September 14th, 2011So, maybe ten months ago a scene popped into my head and I was intrigued—enough to keep thinking about it, figuring out how this situation had come to be, deciding what would come after, coming up with more characters and, eventually, more worlds because if the plot hasn’t quite emerged the solution is to add more stuff. Right?
Imagine you’re putting together some crazy Lego sculpture. Every tower is a nifty worldbuilding element. Clip some Lego bridges in between to connect them. Sometimes those towers need to lean a little right or left to make those bridges fit. Sometimes the bridges start to look a little spindly, but never mind that! Keep building. It’ll get more solid as more stuff is added.
But all the while an uneasy feeling is building that maybe this is getting a little out of hand?
Hesitantly, you step back, gaze at the whole, and think, WTF? There is no shape to it, no solid structure, no pleasing design, no sense of direction. A sort-of storyworld has been snapped together, but where is the plot? Whose story is this? What’s it about? Why should the reader care?
So the whole thing gets shoved into the closet because there are other projects going on anyway.
Later, you take it out again. Pull down several towers, rebuild many of the bridges . . . after a while it’s not utter chaos anymore. In fact, this has turned into a cohesive, interesting storyworld, and yet . . . where is the plot?
How is it possible to have this much storyworld without also having an obvious story? There are lots of subplots, but where is the big one?
This is where I am right now. For years I’ve had a personal rule that I need to know how a story ends before I start it, and I have no idea how this story ends, because it can go in several different directions and I’m entirely undecided which one is right. Despite this, I’m tempted to start, just to get a feel for the work, to see what suggests itself, and just maybe to uncover an answer to that essential question: Where is the plot?
Posted on: Wednesday, September 14th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Categories: Writing.
Tags: fiction writing, plot development, worldbuilding
September 14th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Sometimes, when I’m stuck in that situation, I’ll flip a coin. Sounds crazy, but it works.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
I’m going to keep that in mind, because one thing I’ve learned is that constraints on plot are very helpful. Writing within the rule set and knowing what can’t happen makes it so much easier to focus on what can.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:05 am
Interesting that you work like that; some fiction writers just go for it and let the story evolve. Different personality types? I don’t know, but I say you’re lucky to be blessed with a sense of plot as well as the ability to come up with storyworlds. I’m impressed!
September 15th, 2011 at 1:23 am
When I first started writing I failed to finish a lot of stories, which led to the rule of “know how it ends.” I think I’ve figured out enough on this novel though, to get going on it.