You’ve had an idea. Your writer’s brain has generated an intriguing character concept, a fresh magical world, or simply a scenario you’d like to read about yourself. If you’re me, it’s usually something along the lines of newly bonded character molecules bombarding your brain on a road trip or in a late night shower. Most plots start with a simple idea, and many writers get stuck on how to proceed from the idea stage. Some like to brainstorm spontaneously, scribbling down ideas on any paper available to stitch together at a later time. There’s nothing wrong with that method, but I’m part of the class of writer who needs everything to fit just so as quickly as possible: every idea is connected, and I’d rather connect the dots first for a cohesive plot than try to sort through crazed early dawn jotting I wrote when I was half-asleep.
So plotting, how I imagine it, is like preparing for and going on a date…and while it’s true that not every date will be meaningful and turn into something worthwhile, usually when I start out this way I finish my projects.
So, here are the 4 ways building a plot is like going on a date.
Preparation
If you’re actually invested in your date and care about how things turn out, it’s customary to prepare yourself for the evening whether you’re dressing up for a formal event or simply meeting up at a café. You shower, do your hair, pick out a stellar outfit, spray on some of that expensive perfume/cologne you save for dates…you know, to make the best impression. With your plot, there’s more that goes into it than just writing down world-building ideas and hoping for the best. A great plot requires several supports: fleshed out characters, a defined beginning and end, and a few turning points throughout to ensure things flow smoothly. Everyone wants to wow their reader and to do that you have to maintain their interest even through the “filler” parts that most stories need. This post isn’t about characterization, but let’s face it: you could have a great plot, but if the characters are all stereotypes or constructed poorly, your plot/date is a readymade disaster.
Pacing
So, you’ve prepared: you have interesting characters and set points of crisis throughout your plot. You’re on the way to the date, but there’s some traffic so you have a little time to think before you arrive. You’ve been looking forward to this date for a while, and you want to savor your time and not rush through the evening. Then again, if the date turns out worse than you anticipated, you’d rather not spend your whole evening worrying about what a time-waster this was.
How does this apply to your plot building? PACING IS IMPORTANT. (Coincidentally, it’s why a lot of people really hate “insta-love” romances storylines.)
You have your major plot points, but you have a lot of in-between content required to build the relationship between your characters and the reader as well as get them invested in your stunning little plot. Making sure things run smoothly isn’t easy, but it’s less fun for all to rush through the story so the reader barely has any time to experience the ideas or emotions you’re slinging towards them. Alternately, it’s exhausting when a writer spends too much time on description or exposition. (Avoid info dumping!)
Pacing is a fine line, and your date could be a fail if you stray too far to either side: it’s like if your date talked too fast and rushed you through dinner and dessert to hustle to the bedroom or to hang out with his bros after, or if he cornered you with a lengthy tale of all his childhood woes in excruciating detail. Court your reader, flirt with them using all the fun tidbits and descriptions, but don’t lay it on too thick! You have a book to write, and time waits for no one…nor do picky readers.
Panic
Let’s assume you’re super talented and up to this point you’ve done everything correctly. The date’s gone well: you flirted, he flirted back, there’s a spark, etc. At this point, you should have well-developed characters ready to interact with the fully built plot you’ve constructed with blood, sweat, and maybe a few coffee-fueled tears.
But oh no! There are a few plot holes you just can’t seem to figure out, and their empty spots on the page yawn before you with all the terror of the void. (In the dating metaphor, this would be an awkward silence after you worry you’ve said something stupid. Horrors!)
This is the part where I tell you that as long as you’re doing your best to work hard and fill in your chapter outline as much as you can, you can leave some parts blank. Some things just take time, and like that idea came to you in the first place as a tiny little promise, the rest will come as you write your novel. Some of my favorite moments as a writer are when neat, tidy ideas fall right into place over plot points I’ve been struggling with for a few weeks. You should try to avoid making excuses, and you should try to write as much as you can even if you have to work a little bit ahead or start editing the first part of your draft early…but it’s okay to wait for the magic to happen now and then. Just don’t rely on miracles too heavily! Your date is waiting for you to fill the silence, and sometimes laughing off the awkwardness or changing the subject is just what the doctor ordered.
Perfection
You’ve done it. You’ve written the first draft of your book! It’s like your date went well enough for him to ask to see you again, or he calls you in the morning, or whatever floats your boat in the dating circle. In spite of any awkward pauses or questions that fell flat or a fumbled goodnight kiss, he liked you enough to look forward to another date.
In some ways, your plot is like this scenario. You finished your first draft, but like most writers, you probably made a lot of mistakes and missed some contradicting points. Your writing process went well enough to actually complete your story beginning to end, but what now? Editing and polishing your manuscript can be a formidable task. People who write more freely have the huge task of tying those important bits together to create the actual book. If you’re more of a planner, the task feels a little less “writing a first draft is a nightmare and existence is a curse” and more like “oh hell, what did I get myself into?” Because you wrote the book, and now you have to fix it. Darn. If your book is a date, you get to experience the confusing feelings and butterflies in your stomach and unintentional awkwardness all over again.
This point is called perfection, but it’s not something anyone can truly attain. Even so: you’ve made the first impression, you’ve written the first draft, and now that you’re a bit more comfortable it’s crucial to dazzle your date, the intended readers.
Your eyes may not thank you for this, but in the editing process, you should re-read your manuscript M A N Y times over a period of a few months. I tried to re-read my novel every couple of weeks before the beta-reader period, and after that, I still went through it a few times. Perfection may be impossible, but by making a point to go through your manuscript to remove errors, frequently used words and phrases, and both easy-to-miss and glaringly obvious plot holes, you should get that much closer.
Again, the task seems daunting and you’ll find new things to change on each pass, but when you finally reach that point where you know you’ve done all you could, you’ll feel this unstoppable confidence and satisfaction that’s hard to beat.
In other words, you realize that you’re more than worthy of whoever you’re dating, and if things are meant to work out then they will.
SECRET POINT NUMBER 5!
I’m aware the dating metaphor only stretches too far. Usually, in moments of confidence, we’re like “he would be L U C K Y to have me” and that’s that. :’)
So let’s put that aside for a second. Many things go into writing a good book, and plot is one of the major ones. But what is the secret ingredient that helps make plots and characters and everything mix well enough to create a really good book? I call it THE BALANCE OF CARE. (I don’t, actually, that is new of this moment. But it works.)
Writing is cathartic, in a way. We drop little bits and pieces of ourselves into the pot, and snippets of other people we’ve encountered as well. Happy memories, old best friends, childhood traumas, and other complicated things sneak into the book unintentionally. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is something to be monitored for writers who already tend to melodrama. *raises hand*
In other words: books are made up of pieces of their writers, but for the most part, that influence should be subtle and nuanced. You may be tempted to throw your hateful ex into the plot as an ugly character who you later kill off, but is it necessary to the plot? Is it necessary at all? Worse, is it obvious to the reader that you’re demonizing someone they don’t know with no actual goal? I’m not saying don’t write those scenes if they help you. Just maybe reconsider in your editing phase if they should make the cut for the final story.
Readers can also tell if the writer is just phoning it in. A great plot is something wonderful, and unique characters are incredible to encounter and sometimes life-changing…but if you’re holding too much back, if you’re writing about an issue you’re no longer passionate about, that shows too. If you started writing a story you really loved but it’s not working for you anymore, it’s okay to change everything and let some stuff go. I think most writers stick to writing things they care about, but it’s easy to get bogged down in what you should be writing instead of telling the story you truly want to tell.
As I said, it’s a balance: it’s no fun to read someone’s clumsy hate mail to someone they don’t like and just H A D to roast in their new novel, but it’s worse when it feels like the writer holds back the pieces of themselves that would make their book stand out for its individuality.
So go forth. Write the books that come from your heart, and write a plot that makes your characters immortal in the minds of everyone who will eventually read your work. Best of luck!
- A Solivagant Writer,
Catherine Labadie
Thank you for joining us for this week's Solivagant Writers. Leave us a comment below and tell us what you thought. This week's Solivagant Writer was Catherine. You can follow Catherine on social @authorcatherinelabadie and @authrcatlabadie. You can check out her work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41085703-long-grows-the-dark or at her website: http://authorcatlabadie.wixsite.com/catherinelabadie/books. Give us some love and share this post if it helped you in your writing. Farewell until next week, and have a happy Monday!
Written by: Catherine Labadie
Produced by: Bethany Lord