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writercisesOriginal Posting July 31, 2017
[As the summer doldrums warm up… It must be time for doing something?]
Writer's Digest, January 1999, pages 29-32, had an article by Monica Wood with the title "The Plot Thickens." All about complications! It starts out with the assertion that "every good story needs a complication." Or, as Monica explains, "A story needs a point of departure, place from which the character can discover something, transform himself, realize a truth, reject a truth, right a wrong, make a mistake, come to terms. This point of departure is the story's complication." Cool, right?
"A good complication engages the reader, gets the story going, and forms the beginning of a dramatic arc that will lead eventually to the story's conclusion." A critical structural element, but… Often misunderstood. Enter the situation, often mistaken for a true complication.
You start writing your story or just thinking about it, and you have an idea about the character and what he's doing. So you've got a set up. Now something happens. Major accident on the interstate? Some exciting predicament, full of sounds and textures of drama… A textbook complication? Well, no, you probably have just a situation. So what is a bona fide complication? "A complication must either illuminate, thwart or alter what the character wants. A good complication puts emotional pressure on a character, prompting that character not only to act, but to act with purpose." Interesting situations are just that interesting, but they don't motivate the character. A complication means the character is motivated.
Sometimes that's just adding back story! Something at stake, something that turns the terrible accident, the exciting predicament, into a meaningful complication. Something that connects with the character, that brings up desires, memories, all that kind of stuff. The motivation really comes out of the back story, but it transforms that situation into a true complication. Now the actions have meaning.
How can you tell if you got a true complication or just a situation? Well, practice and experience. Monica provides a couple of examples, and adds twists to turn them into complications. Make the character act!
Now is it a good complication? Well, good complications raise the stakes. And then thicken the plot. They open pathways for further complications. More and more choices.
Now, while raising the stakes in thickening the plot, the complication should also create and sustain dramatic tension. Check your complications!
In a story, complications serve a variety of functions. But double check them. Even if they're fulfilling the functions, are the complications strong enough for the story you want to tell. Simple complications might be enough for a short story. Longer stories, more complex complications. And of course, as you get into even longer stories and novels, you need more and better complications.
Now, complications may be just internal, or they may be external. Internal complications often result in reflections, while external complications usually run to action. Sometimes you mix them up, partially internal and partially external.
So, there you go. Start mixing up that story, a dash of character, a bit of setting, maybe a fascinating event… And a healthy set of complications!
Practice? Take a short story, something you're working on, and look closely at the complications. Are they situations? Build up that motivation, that back story, and turn them into real complications. Make your characters act! Now raise the stakes, thicken the plot, build the dramatic tension, check complications versus story weight, and of course, consider the balance of internal and external complications. Make those complications complicated!
Write?
tink
[As the summer doldrums warm up… It must be time for doing something?]
Writer's Digest, January 1999, pages 29-32, had an article by Monica Wood with the title "The Plot Thickens." All about complications! It starts out with the assertion that "every good story needs a complication." Or, as Monica explains, "A story needs a point of departure, place from which the character can discover something, transform himself, realize a truth, reject a truth, right a wrong, make a mistake, come to terms. This point of departure is the story's complication." Cool, right?
"A good complication engages the reader, gets the story going, and forms the beginning of a dramatic arc that will lead eventually to the story's conclusion." A critical structural element, but… Often misunderstood. Enter the situation, often mistaken for a true complication.
You start writing your story or just thinking about it, and you have an idea about the character and what he's doing. So you've got a set up. Now something happens. Major accident on the interstate? Some exciting predicament, full of sounds and textures of drama… A textbook complication? Well, no, you probably have just a situation. So what is a bona fide complication? "A complication must either illuminate, thwart or alter what the character wants. A good complication puts emotional pressure on a character, prompting that character not only to act, but to act with purpose." Interesting situations are just that interesting, but they don't motivate the character. A complication means the character is motivated.
Sometimes that's just adding back story! Something at stake, something that turns the terrible accident, the exciting predicament, into a meaningful complication. Something that connects with the character, that brings up desires, memories, all that kind of stuff. The motivation really comes out of the back story, but it transforms that situation into a true complication. Now the actions have meaning.
How can you tell if you got a true complication or just a situation? Well, practice and experience. Monica provides a couple of examples, and adds twists to turn them into complications. Make the character act!
Now is it a good complication? Well, good complications raise the stakes. And then thicken the plot. They open pathways for further complications. More and more choices.
Now, while raising the stakes in thickening the plot, the complication should also create and sustain dramatic tension. Check your complications!
In a story, complications serve a variety of functions. But double check them. Even if they're fulfilling the functions, are the complications strong enough for the story you want to tell. Simple complications might be enough for a short story. Longer stories, more complex complications. And of course, as you get into even longer stories and novels, you need more and better complications.
Now, complications may be just internal, or they may be external. Internal complications often result in reflections, while external complications usually run to action. Sometimes you mix them up, partially internal and partially external.
So, there you go. Start mixing up that story, a dash of character, a bit of setting, maybe a fascinating event… And a healthy set of complications!
Practice? Take a short story, something you're working on, and look closely at the complications. Are they situations? Build up that motivation, that back story, and turn them into real complications. Make your characters act! Now raise the stakes, thicken the plot, build the dramatic tension, check complications versus story weight, and of course, consider the balance of internal and external complications. Make those complications complicated!
Write?
tink