Young Writers Society

I want to write a novel about a city kid (probably a girl, but not sure yet) who goes to work on a dude ranch. But as usual I need a good plot. Adventure or mystery or something. Maybe even something supernatural but probably not, we'll see. I worked on one and a lot of stuff happened but it was a lot more like an eventful/dramatic season of some western verison of Real World than like a novel. Any ideas?

First, I'll say that a setting ought not to come first when writing a story. The idea of plot is a little deceptive too. Some people spend so much time working on a plot for a story that they never get around to writing a story. Be sure not to fall into this pitfall.

To help you out though, think of all the many things that go on at a dude ranch. I'm assuming that you've been to one, by the way. Based on all the activities, what potentially story worthy situations could arise from these activities? I won't go too much farther into this, because this needs to be your story, and if I just give you something then it won't be your story.

Hope I've been helpful.

Try filling out the character who's going to the dude ranch first. What is her life like? What problems could she possibly get into? Once you have a fully developed character, you'll have more of a plot.

Sadly I already have come up with the character but still no specific plot comes to mind. (I really suck with plots.) She's for sure from the city (right now I'm thinking Long Beach) so the dude ranch is pretty much the opposite of what she's used to, which is okay with her--she certainly doesn't plan on spending her whole life in the country but a few months there sounds interesting. She describes herself as an adventurer; she wants to go everywhere and do everything. She always wants to go out and do something--the kidn of person who will spend an hour trying to persuade everyone else to go dancing when all they feel like doing is sitting at home watching a movie. Her goal for the summer is to become a real cowgirl, so she comes up with a list of stuff to do (start listening to country, switch to whiskey, learn to rope, shoot a gun, chew tobacco, meet a hot cowboy, learn to horseback ride, go to a rodeo, etc.). I'm thinking of having each chapter start with a new item on the list.

The characteristic that lends itself most to a plot is that she's the kind of person who would enter a completely dangerous situation without thinking about it--or if she did think about it, she'd still probably do whatever it is anyway.

I should clarify that I do have a lot of ideas for subplots and various stuff that happens, and the other characters, just not one main plot that spans the whole novel.

I'm not really set on this being just mine; if anyone's interested in cowriting, let me know.

Edit: I should add that it will probably take place in the Colorado rockies. Colorado seems to have more dude ranches than any other area, and plus that's where I worked so I know more about it. Also, it's for sure going to take place on a small dude ranch, like ten employees, so everyone who works there will probably be a pretty important character.

If you have a lot of subplots and things of that nature, but no main plot, you might consider doing a bunch of short stories. Or just making one particular subplot the main plot.

That sounds like a very interesting soap opera. Not to be offensive, but I'm serious. That could be a really good dramatic novel, and I would read it. You know, with her having goals at the beginning of each chapter, then fulfilling the goals each time. At first, you know, work small, with her completing easy tasks. Then, you said something about drinking whiskey, maybe she gets sick and a hot cowboy takes her back to her place. Then, most of the novel she could be chasing this hot cowboy and realize how much of an idiot he is. Then, her heart broken, she goes back to the city, alone. Her friends wonder how her trip was, and she doesn't talk about it for a while. She starts making new plans, and she meets a guy in the city.

Okay, so this may not be such a great idea, but it's a start, right?? Use it if you want, although I think you could come up with something much better yourself.

Thanks for the response; it's good to know that the novel could be potentially interesting without some totally major adventure plot. However I'm starting to think of one.

This is an idea that should have come to me right away. At the ranch I worked at, there was a wrangler who was a criminal working on the ranch to hide out. The owners got suspicious when he never cashed his paychecks. Then they got a series of forwarded e-mails from his ex-wife about crimes he had committed. They contacted the police and sure enough there was a warrant out for his arrest (for embezzlement at his previous job, I think gun trafficking, and failure to pay child support). So the cops came to the ranch and took him away. His girlfriend was renting to own a house from the one of the owners of the ranch, and she claimed she had no idea about any of the crimes. The owner (who is a pothead) believed her and let her continue renting. However, somehow the staff heard that she pays her rent in cash every month, so we all know she must have been involved. As for the criminal guy, I heard he disappeared after his arrest, and it was rumored that he was still in the surrounding mountains, hiding out.

From the beginning I've been planning on the character arriving at the ranch to see a guy in handcuffs and a bunch of cops, I can't believe it didn't occur to me earlier to try to expand this into an entire plot instead of just an incident.

There are a few possible ideas that stem from this:

1) The main character could be a criminal hiding out. I doubt I'm going to go with this one, but it's one of the first things that comes to mind.

2) The main character's cowboy love interest could be a criminal hiding out.

3) I keep the beginning I had in mind, but the man in handcuffs did in fact begin hiding in the surrounding wilderness after his arrest, and ends up being central to the plot. I have some more ideas about this, but I just started thinking about it today, so I'll figure it out more and write it down later.