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Novels: Help with plotting?



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Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:17 am
Emerson says...



Okay. So I'm burying myself in stories, in novels. I think I've finally found my problem, and as much reading and research as I've done on writing (What is funner to do than read about writing when you have writers block?) I can't figure out how this works for me.

My only ever finished novel, The Letter, probably only got finished due to Nanowrimo. My current novel is, though I love it, failing. My novel-to-be idea looks lovely, but I feel the same fault that my current novel has in it. I'm scared. I know what my problem is: plot. The Letter survived this because it had a plot. That was what it was a basis of, plot. It had been a plot sitting in my head for two years, give or take here and there. Everything else I come up with is characters, perhaps a very loose plot idea, and not really anything else. I have a thin grip on where I am going but...nothing more.

It's upsetting! I want to write another novel that works. So, I think my fault is plotting. I can't find a way to make a story thick enough to be a novel, and for that matter, my plots are extremely weak.

In short: How on earth do I turn random thoughts about a story into a plot, subplot, back stories, and those magic things that are novels? I've read so much about it, but I still seem to be...stuck.
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Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:58 pm
Cpt. Smurf says...



I have the exact same problem. I have many fairly good ideas, with a good beginning planned out, and yet have little, or no idea on how it will progress and end. It is so frustrating, 'cause I don't have the attention span to just sit down and draft a plot, nor am I sure that it should be done that way. One of these days I shall just have to sit in a quiet room and think, writing down bullet points and such, before I progress deeper into the story. The problem is, I don't have the patience.
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Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:11 pm
Insomnia says...



I don't really use plot to progress my stories, as such. I just put my character in a situation with a firm knowledge of who the character is and how they work, and it all goes from there. Just think of what they would do next, and it should help you keep going to the next logical event. :)
  





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Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:47 pm
Snoink says...



Why is it failing? :?
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Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:08 pm
Shafter says...



I always start with characters in a scenario, then try to figure out how they got there. For instance, Caste of the Spider became with a dream about a young man who had just escaped from a brick-making camp. I began wondering: how did he escape? Why was he there in the first place? What was he going to do now?

Another way to do it is to imagine three scenes: one near the beginning, one somewhere in the middle, and one near the end. Try to figure out what happens in between. As always, let your characters lead you.

I'd suggest reading the chapter about plotting in Sol Stein's Stein on Writing. It really helped me!

(But don't take my advice too seriously-- I'm a very haphazard plotter!) ;)
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Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:47 pm
Twit says...



I'm having plot difficulties right now as well, so my advice might not be the best! :lol: :wink:

I can't really say how my plot ideas come to be. Generally, I'll see something, or read something, and get an idea from that, tweak it, then think about it non-stop for a week or so, turning the whole thing over in my mind. Randy Ingermanson calls it "composting" which is a great way to put it, thinks moi. :D

Turning it all over . . . adding stuff . . . taking things out . . . mixing them all up together . . . leaving them to settle . . . :wink: Maybe you need to compost for a bit longer, Clau? I don't know. What's your subject? If it's historical, or something like that, you could get books out and read about the subject. If it's fantasy, then you could ask yourself questions about your characters and places, like, What if this happened...? What if this person did this...? What if...?

You might need to ditch some of your main ideas, and do a rewrite, while still keeping the main theme. I don't know, because I don't know what works for you. Still, I hope this helped. (It's helped me, anyway, getting my thoughts on plot out here, so thank you for the oppotunity!)

Now, why don't the doctors have a prescription for writer's block? Have you tried the Snowflake method?

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Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:59 pm
Sureal says...



Personally, I just sort of make my plot up as I go along. But as I've never actually finished a novel, my advice is far from perfect.

You could try taking some of your favourite novels, and breaking them down to their basic plot.
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Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Emerson says...



Why is it failing?


*sigh* I know, but then I don't know. Secrets is failing (although you have to also consider I've become lazy for writing it) because my plot doesn't move, it just sits there. It's waiting to get to the "good part". And it isn't working that way. Dreamy says I should probably let it sit, in hopes that when I come back I'll have a fresher view. Seems like a good idea.

Now with my new idea, it fails in my mind because all I have is characters. I sort of have something they could do, but it is more of a miniplot to get the story going. It's like I have characters, and they sit, and they have no conflict! And I can't for the life of me think of a conflict. That is how The Letter worked, it was soap opera conflict at every turn. I now seem to suck at making conflict.


I'm thinking that if I researched the subjects my new novel is on, then maybe I might gain some ideas. But research is an excuse for not writing, and I'd actually like to go into the project with less research, and more free roam, despite the fact that I've given it a time period and such.

I just kind find anyway to give my character true conflict. I've run a few things through my head, and they don't work for me...

It isn't really writers block, It's partially my insistence on sticking to one thing and not moving on (I could be working on my miniseries about selective breading...) and because I want to write a novel. I really, really want to write a novel; one that doesn't involve dying for 30 days to crunch out junk, though that is fun too!

Maybe I should go try the snow flake method, or any of those. They've just never worked for me... I'm not good at plotting -_-

Thanks everyone, anyway! I'd love to hear more :-D
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Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:26 pm
Twit says...



Y'know, something else just occured to me. It's how my story started - admittedly it was a weak story, but I'm re-writing it, and it's looking better.

Get a notebook, and just start writing. Just start with a character walking along the street, or going someplace, and see what happens. I'm too much of a seat-of-the-pants writer, which isn't a good way to write, but doing this in a seat-of-the-pants way might get your ideas flowing.

-ST
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Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:43 pm
Caligula's Launderette says...



I gave you some thoughts over on your What I Read eljay.

Cal.
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