Pants(er) on Fire

In November, for many writers, meticulous plotting methods go out the window. It’s pantser all the way, if you’re a NaNoWriMo participant. The idea is to sit and write, write, write. Don’t let the words flow – let them gush (my word count is now 7747). No stopping to correct misspellings or consider, hmm, was that the right word choice? If in doubt, bold or highlight a suspect word or phrase so you can find it later. In December, after you’ve surpassed the 50k goal and are ready to revise.
Last month, I did a basic outline of where I thought I wanted my story to go. Not the same as plotting, which doesn’t allow much leeway if your characters decide to shanghai your story across a wild tangent you’d never have thought of until you were in the moment. For that very reason, I’m not a big believer in plotting.
But how, exactly, is plot defined?
In the article What is Plot, Anyway?, James Scott Bell defines plot as something that will take shape within a manuscript, with or without planning. Either way, the plot must move readers through the story. Bell provides an overview of his LOCK plotting system: Lead, Objective, Confrontation and Knockout.
Okay, but what, exactly, does plotting entail?
Linda Cowgill’s Plotting Along breaks plotting down into three basic steps: Arrangement of Events, Causality and Conflict - all of which lead to an emotional payoff for the reader.
According to Martha Alderson, Goals Define the Plot. Use both short-term and long-term goals to ground your readers along your protagonist’s journey.
Noah Lukeman, author of bestsellers such as The First Five Pages and The Plot Thickens, provides a set of exercises in 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life to help you define your character, and thus determine which circumstances will provide the most impact for a reader based on that character’s weaknesses.
Once you have plotting down, David Freeman suggests Adding Emotional Depth to a Plot Via a Subplot. Using American Beauty as an example, he describes how having a subplot parallel to the main plot can add emotional depth to a story.
If you're not into charting out your plot in the Snowflake Method, (I don't have enough left brain to even comprehend it), try something more flexible: the index card system. This method at least allows you to shuffle the cards as needed when your characters take an unscheduled left turn.
If you're like me, however, and think plotting is akin to John Lennon's description of life - Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans - then start with a roughed-out story idea and just write.
If you need some guidance about pantsing it, check out Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! Chris, btw, happens to be the NaNoWriMo organizer.
Happy writing!

Character, Plot and Dialogue

Sol Stein, who acted as editor for James Baldwin, Elia Kazan, Jack Higgins, Jacques Barzun, David Frost, Budd Schulberg, Dylan Thomas and Lionel Trilling, provides some good insights in his article, Six Points About Character, Plot, and Dialogue You Wish You'd Have Known Yesterday.
I wish I had a great editor like him for my stories! According to Sol, the editor’s job is to “help the writer realize the writer’s intentions” because “writers are wrong.” In some cases, this is true. Some of my stories have a great premise, but for some nebulous reason I can’t quite pinpoint myself, they don’t work. Sometimes a critique partners can pinpoint it, but a great editor would nail it for me. Maybe I should send Sol those stories…
Pay heed to his contention that “characters make your story” (a book you don’t have to read, he says, because the title says it all). Publishers tout thousands of books on writing and story arc and narrative design. Yes, it’s all about the story, but if a story’s characters are weak, who will care about them? It’s imperative for a writer to know his characters inside and out. Like an actor preparing for a role, a writer should do his/her homework beforehand, so that when s/he sits down to write, s/he can easily step into that character’s skin. Inspiration for Writers’ web site provides a chart to help flesh out each one.
I tend to disagree with Sol’s fifth point about conflict. I lean toward the 188+ Hero’s Journey folks’ view that “A pervasive myth argues that the essence of story is conflict. This is extremely misleading. The essence of all successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters is Journey, Transformation, Detachment and Attachment.” They cite The Godfather, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Lord of the Rings and other successful movies as examples. This idea goes back to character development. If a character undertakes a journey and is transformed, the reader goes along for the ride. The more a reader is invested in a story, the harder it will be for the reader to stop reading it.
Conflict can achieve this, too, but some conflict tends to be on the surface, whereas a character’s transformation, if done well, completely engages a reader. On the other hand, conflict can be internal as well as external, as explained in Caro Clarke’s article. According to Jess Lebow, conflict should be taken to the max.
Depending on whether your story is mystery, literary, scifi or romance (or any of the many subgenres), the genre itself may lend itself to conflict. Good advice is to read as many novels or stories in that genre as possible by writers you admire. Study the story structure. And, as always, keep writing.