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writercisesOriginal Posting March 23, 2017
Writer's Digest, March 2001, had an article by Nancy Kress on pages 10-12. The title was "Out Of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire." The subtitle was "Why bad things should happen to good plots: creating problems for your characters keeps your plot moving and your readers entertained."
Nancy starts with a short anecdote about novelist Maureen McHugh. Apparently Maureen has a sign above her computer. She says, "It is the only thing I know about how to plot."
Wow! What do you think the sign says?
Actually, it says, "THINGS GET WORSE."
All right! Nancy reminds us that "stories are about things that went wrong." The basic story plot is first, something happens that someone doesn't like, second, the problem gets fixed or it doesn't. Of course, that's not quite enough to build a plot about. So what should you be looking at? Nancy recommends thinking about four questions.
1. What can go wrong for the protagonist? Your character want to do something positive, reasonably straightforward, and knows how it's supposed to go. Then the writer gets into it. What can go wrong? And let the character deal with that.
Nancy gives the example of a woman on her way home from work with just enough time to go to the bank and cash a check before she picks up her son at daycare. What could go wrong? Some possibilities! An accident on the way. At the bank, a robbery, and Susan is taken hostage. At daycare, the little boy doesn't want to go home. No matter which one you introduce, now the character has some extra things to do and think about.
Now admittedly, lots of stories have built-in problems. Mysteries usually start with a murder, and someone's trying to find out who done it. Along the way, lots of things can go wrong.
2. How can solutions make situations worse? Well, suppose that your character tries to do something to fix the problem. And in the process of fixing it, makes things worse.
For example, Susan could drive away from the accident to call for help. But when she gets back, the police and ambulance are taking care of things. Should she tell them she caused it? Or, as a hostage, Susan might try to escape. And get shot in the process! Whoops. Or maybe thinking about her little boy not wanting to go home, Susan quits work to spend more time with him. But… Now she doesn't have that income.
3. What else can go wrong? Novels often have multiple unrelated troubles. Pile them on! Make sure they have some natural relationship, but adding problems can keep the story going.
4. What can go wrong for the other characters? Your protagonist has got lots of other people around. "Sometimes, you can generate interesting plot developments by asking what can go wrong for these people."
That poor woman trying to cash a check and pick up her child? There's a husband who certainly might have some reactions to all that other stuff. But he could also have some problems in his own life. An affair, new job, heart attack, being arrested? Those are certainly going to affect Susan.
Clearly, these questions are not a formula for mechanical plotting. Instead, they're to help you brainstorm, to take that idea for a story and turn it into a full-fledged plot. Go ahead, use them to find your own personal exciting combinations.
So that's the article. But, there's a sidebar on page 11 that summarizes these four questions. Here's how Writer's Digest put it.
– Think about what your character is trying to accomplish. What are some of the things that can go wrong?
– Don't let your character off the hook too easily – think of how solutions to the character's problem can make the situation even worse.
– Once you've established a primary problem, throw your character a few curveballs by developing additional woes.
– Allow your secondary characters to have problems of their own. How do these troubles affect your protagonist?
So, there you go. What can go wrong, how can fixing it make it worse, what else could go wrong, and who else can have problems?
Lots of ways to build up that fire!
tink
Writer's Digest, March 2001, had an article by Nancy Kress on pages 10-12. The title was "Out Of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire." The subtitle was "Why bad things should happen to good plots: creating problems for your characters keeps your plot moving and your readers entertained."
Nancy starts with a short anecdote about novelist Maureen McHugh. Apparently Maureen has a sign above her computer. She says, "It is the only thing I know about how to plot."
Wow! What do you think the sign says?
Actually, it says, "THINGS GET WORSE."
All right! Nancy reminds us that "stories are about things that went wrong." The basic story plot is first, something happens that someone doesn't like, second, the problem gets fixed or it doesn't. Of course, that's not quite enough to build a plot about. So what should you be looking at? Nancy recommends thinking about four questions.
1. What can go wrong for the protagonist? Your character want to do something positive, reasonably straightforward, and knows how it's supposed to go. Then the writer gets into it. What can go wrong? And let the character deal with that.
Nancy gives the example of a woman on her way home from work with just enough time to go to the bank and cash a check before she picks up her son at daycare. What could go wrong? Some possibilities! An accident on the way. At the bank, a robbery, and Susan is taken hostage. At daycare, the little boy doesn't want to go home. No matter which one you introduce, now the character has some extra things to do and think about.
Now admittedly, lots of stories have built-in problems. Mysteries usually start with a murder, and someone's trying to find out who done it. Along the way, lots of things can go wrong.
2. How can solutions make situations worse? Well, suppose that your character tries to do something to fix the problem. And in the process of fixing it, makes things worse.
For example, Susan could drive away from the accident to call for help. But when she gets back, the police and ambulance are taking care of things. Should she tell them she caused it? Or, as a hostage, Susan might try to escape. And get shot in the process! Whoops. Or maybe thinking about her little boy not wanting to go home, Susan quits work to spend more time with him. But… Now she doesn't have that income.
3. What else can go wrong? Novels often have multiple unrelated troubles. Pile them on! Make sure they have some natural relationship, but adding problems can keep the story going.
4. What can go wrong for the other characters? Your protagonist has got lots of other people around. "Sometimes, you can generate interesting plot developments by asking what can go wrong for these people."
That poor woman trying to cash a check and pick up her child? There's a husband who certainly might have some reactions to all that other stuff. But he could also have some problems in his own life. An affair, new job, heart attack, being arrested? Those are certainly going to affect Susan.
Clearly, these questions are not a formula for mechanical plotting. Instead, they're to help you brainstorm, to take that idea for a story and turn it into a full-fledged plot. Go ahead, use them to find your own personal exciting combinations.
So that's the article. But, there's a sidebar on page 11 that summarizes these four questions. Here's how Writer's Digest put it.
– Think about what your character is trying to accomplish. What are some of the things that can go wrong?
– Don't let your character off the hook too easily – think of how solutions to the character's problem can make the situation even worse.
– Once you've established a primary problem, throw your character a few curveballs by developing additional woes.
– Allow your secondary characters to have problems of their own. How do these troubles affect your protagonist?
So, there you go. What can go wrong, how can fixing it make it worse, what else could go wrong, and who else can have problems?
Lots of ways to build up that fire!
tink