TECH: Plotting Problems?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 18:35:02 JST

A quick list of common plot problems--and hints on how to fix 'em! [note: nearly every "problem" listed has also been used as the basis for a story, so if you are deliberately doing it, be my guest...]

(the list of problems is roughly based on one provided by the SF&F Writers' group--a snailmail version of a workshop).

1. So What?

- is the situation desperate enough (important enough?) to make the reader care whether or not it is resolved?

solution: the situation has to be important to the characters and the writer to be important to the readers. raise the stakes, make sure the character is solidly motivated, and try again.

- is the situation too easily resolved?

solution: typically a problem of following a well-beaten path to a solution, and not raising the stakes enough on the way to it. Try listing 10 unusual solutions--and pick a really strange one for your story. Go through the middle of the story and make sure there is plenty depending on the resolution.

2. Misunderstanding?

- if the characters talked to each other, would the situation go away?

solution: this indicates that there is really no conflict. try listing five goals for each character, and picking ones that conflict. Now build the situation around this real conflict.

3. Contrived?

- does the protagonist do something stupid, something totally out-of-character, just to make the story happen? (e.g. the twit has just been told there's a homicidal maniac out in the swamp, so he decides to take a midnight stroll through the swamp...without lantern or other preparation of any sort?)

solution: really a failure to provide solid background and motivation. your character can do anything--but you have to let the reader know why they are being so idiotic. instead of just deciding to take a stroll, add that Jane, beloved kitten of his mother, has been staked out in the middle of the swamp by the local nitwit... and then let him dash out on a quest to save Jane from pneumonia. Let him carry a lantern and so on, and lose them on the way.

4. Missed the Starting Gun?

- does the story start too late, so that the writer has to pack too much background in or the reader will be totally lost?

- does the story start too early, so that the writer provides pages and pages for the reader to wade through before getting to the story?

solution: look for the important "moment of change" that triggers the rest of the plot and try to start there.

5. Holes in the Fabric?

- motivation lacking or not sensible?

- reactions lacking or not sensible?

- is the reasoning behind the resolution sensible and satisfying?

- are the objectives, the situation, reasonable?

solutions: darn the missing threads. fill in motivation, reactions, etc. and make sure that what is going on is apparent to the reader.

6. Forced Solution?

- does the "deus ex machina" swoop in and fix everything?

- does the resolution depend on coincidence? is it unconvincing, obviously arranged by the author?

solutions: shoot the deus ex machina and make your protagonists stand on their own hands. get the dice out of the resolution(s) and plant enough foreshadowing and other background earlier to make it convincing.

7. Off-Stage Action?

- is most of the action "off-stage"? does the POV character have tobe told most of what's happened?

solution: try another POV or move the action on-stage.

8. Inactive, passive, helpless protagonist

- does the protagonist do anything?

solution: if it ain't moving, shoot it and put it out of its misery. then get a protagonist who does something (right or wrong, without movement it is real hard to write about...)

TECH: Well-Worn SF Ideas

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Thu, 17 Jun 1993 17:00:02 JST

This is summarized from one of the books on SF writing - an article by Stanley Schmidt called "The Ideas that Wouldn't Die." He was trying to list some of the notions that turn up again and again in slushpile SF, with the hope that some of us writers might reconsider before submitting...

He also admits that Card, for example, among other well-known writers, seems intent on recycling these ideas. He suggests that you need to be very, very good - or at least take a new slant on it - before you try reusing these, at least in the SF field.

Use them or avoid them, but you should be aware of them, so here they are:

Surprise Endings that aren't

1. But it was only a dream.
2. And it was all just a game.
3. And the computer game turned out not to be a game after all!
4. The planet's inhabitants called it Earth.
5. And his name was Adam and hers was Eve.
6. And so, after great and protracted agony, the traveler finally emerged into the frightening new world...And the doctor said, "Congratulations, Mrs. Johnson, you have fine baby boy!"
   
   Scientific Misconceptions
   
   
7. She suffered terrible prejudice and persecution because she was a clone instead of a real person...
8. Jeb rocked on his front porch, squinting out at the steamy jungles that covered Vega V...
   
   Stock Plots
   
   
9. "Helen O'Loy" - robot in form of attractive humans with owners falling in love with them
10. The world after a holocaust (often nuclear) has destroyed civilization - populated with moaning wretches complaining about how bad things are and lecturing each other on how their ancestors brought this upon them.
11. Totalitarian societies that look just like hundreds of other fictitious totalitarian societies - but probably not much like any real one.
12. Couples applying for state permission to have a baby.
13. Individuals applying for state permission to live another year.
14. Time travel stories that add nothing new to venerable formulas, such as killing - or unsuccessfully trying to kill - one's own grandfather.
15. Psi stories that add nothing new.
16. UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, vampires, astral projection.
17. Cryogenically preserved patients awakening in Strange New Futures.
18. Aliens evaluating Homo Sap/Earth as candidate for extermination, admission to galactic federation, etc.
19. Deals with the Devil.
20. The frustrated SF writer using a time machine to find a more congenial market for his work.
21. Obvious take-offs on current events, such as aliens finding Pioneer 10.
    
    Narrative Devices and Stock Ingredients
    
    
22. Unnecessary, pointless, and often tedious sex and violence.
23. Feghoots - plot contrived to set up a punch line built around one (complex) pun.
24. Hard-boiled private eyes
25. Lady or the Tiger endings - don't cop out, unless the ambiguity is a real conclusion.
26. The last-minute gender switch.