TECH: Meandering Our Way through Plot and Structure (1)

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I've recently acquired a copy of Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. It's apparently part of a series called Write Great Fiction, and while I certainly should be doing other things, I expect to be reading it over the next little bit. For the fun of it, I thought I might toss some notes up here along with some contemplation. Obviously if you'd like to join in, that will make the trip a bit more interesting. I'll probably forget to cite the book in every posting, but here's the information from the inside page:

Bell, James Scott. Write great fiction: plot & structure: techniques and exercises for creating a plot that grips readers from start to finish. Copyright 2004. Published by Writer's Digest Books.

Okay? So let's take a look at the beginning, the introduction.

The introduction starts out with consideration of what Bell calls the Big Lie. "Writing can't be taught." Or maybe "writers are born" with the implication that you either have it or you don't.  We've discussed this a time or two here on Writers, and I know it is a somewhat sensitive point, but I'm just reporting that Bell considers this the Big Lie.

So what is the truth? "The Truth is that craft can be brought and that you, with diligence and practice and patience, can improve your writing."

Now, Bell does suggest some discipline or practice that you need. Craft doesn't just fall into your lap, you have to work at it. What are his basics?

1. Get motivated. Make the commitment to write. And do it!
2. Try stuff. Writing is not a passive experience. Pen or pencil on paper, fingers on the keyboard, or even dictating madly into a voice-recognition program, you have to try things, do things, put the words out there, watch the reactions, and try again.
3. Stay loose. Writing is a creative pastime, and you need to have fun at it. Too much rigor squashes the innovation.
4. First get it written, then get it right. Go ahead and splash the first draft out there, without worrying too much about whether every comma and diddle is just right. Then go back and revise and tinker as needed. The first draft is just a draft, so let it blow!
5. Set a daily quota. Write, write, write. Most people do well with a certain number of words, although others prefer a certain amount of time. Either way, sit down and do it.
6. Don't give up. Writing requires persistence. To get the stories done, to submit them, to keep going despite rejection, and then to keep going through the long process of publication!

So, that's Bell's introduction. He's going to talk about craft, and he's going to ask us to write. Regularly, with zest and fun, and keep it up!

Sounds like a plan, doesn't  it? So let's go!

TECH: Stories from Life

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Just an observation from talking to people at a conference recently. I was noticing how often I find myself telling some of the same little stories -- the time that a company tried to put a terminal on my desk as a status symbol, and I immediately moved it in with my programming team, for example. And other little odds and ends from my life.

Sometimes they are hard to remember without the stimulus of people asking questions or discussing things, but if you sit down and think about the stories of your life, you are likely to be able to make a list fairly easily. Think about the ones that you use when explaining your background. Or maybe the ones that you tell when people are talking about their problems. The stories of times in your life that you use to show other people that you understand what they are talking about.

Anyway, I was reflecting on those stories and thinking that they make a nice little set of biographical notes. And they are pretty easy to tell, since you already have practiced. It's mostly a matter of picking them out and spending the time to set them down nicely.

So that's the note. A suggestion that we all have these nuggets of personal stories that we use in conferences and such, and that spending a little time sketching them out is a useful exercise for a writer.

Oh - fair warning, I'll probably be tossing some of mine out here. Feel free to put your own together and post them to the list, too. Think of it as campfire stories, or maybe cocktail party chatter.

No matter how you think about them, write.

TECH: Meandering Our Way through Plot and Structure (2)

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[for anyone just tuning in - I'm wandering through a book called Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. We're just getting started, so you haven't missed much at all.]

So where were we? I jumped right into the introduction without discussing the structure of the book. Looking at the table of contents, Bell starts with the introduction where he argues that the Big Lie that writers are born not made should give way to the Truth that the craft of writing can be learned. Then we have:

1. What's a plot, anyway?
2. Structure: what holds your plot together
3. How to explode with plot ideas
4. Beginning strong
5. Middles
6. Endings
7. Scenes
8. Complex plots
9. The character arc in plot
10. Plotting systems
11. Revising your plot
12. Plot patterns
13. Common plot problems and cures
14. Tips and tools for plot and structure

In appendix A, we have a checklist of critical points. While B has creating your own back cover copy. And of course there's the index.

So about 16 more pieces, depending on whether I get excited and do a chapter per posting or more than one posting per chapter. We'll see how it goes. Just  a glance at Chapter 1, though, suggests that there may be multiple postings per chapter. There's just a lot of good stuff in this book, so we may do more postings to give ourselves time to think about it.

For example, Chapter 1 starts out with the question of what is a plot. Bell points out that writers vary. Some work their stories in detail before they write, mentally, on index cards, in a computer database, or some other way. Others sit down and just start writing, letting the story flow. And there are those who are in between, with a bit of planning and surprises and spontaneity. But no matter which approach you take, when the manuscript is done, there is some kind of a plot there. It may be good or it may be bad, but we need to ask does it work. And Bell has a simple definition for working -- does it connect with readers? Obviously some writers don't care about readers, and that's okay. But if you want to be published and sell, agents, publishers, and readers want to know things like, "what's this story about?" Or "why should I keep reading?" Or "why should I care?" And these are all plot questions!

So the plot is what happens. And that's what this book is all about.

Bell has a quote from Jean Hanff Korelitz. Apparently as a young editorial assistant in New York, she and her colleagues felt the plot -- telling a good story -- was simply not desirable. But then she wrote her own novels. And here's what she says:

"When you get right down to it, there's something uniquely satisfying in being gripped by a great plot, in begrudging whatever real-world obligations might prevent you from finding out what happens next. And it is especially satisfying to surrender to an author who is utterly in command of a thrilling and original story, an author capable of playing us like fish, of letting us get worried, then riled up, then complacent and then finally blowing us away from the final shocks are delivered."

Korelitz concludes that glorious prose without an enthralling story is just verbal tapioca.

And Bell suggests, "But if you want readers, you must consider plot, whether you sniff at it or not."

Believe it or not, that's just the first two pages of Chapter 1, and there is still plenty more. But I think I'll stop here for this posting.

What do you think? Why do readers, along with the agents and publishers, focus on what's happening, the plot of the story? When we describe a book that we really liked to someone, we usually start out by giving a little plot sketch, perhaps along with a tiny comment about the leading character. Why?

But the key question, I suppose, is simple. What do you consider a plot? When I ask you to describe the plot of your story, how do you answer me?