Many years ago, I imagine perhaps 40 or 50, I went to hear a writer give an all day talk about writing. Wish I could remember his name but memory goes as one ages. He said one thing that stuck with me "A PLOT IS JUST A PLAN."
I've been a writer for all those years and I've spent time with new writers. Many of them worry about the plot and sometimes make it so complicated it makes no sense. I repeat those words to them. I sometimes tell them to think of a road map when you're going from one place to the other. This is essentially what a plot is.
There is the Beginning. when you set up what the story is about. Is this a romance, a mystery, a look at history, a peering into the future or finding a place that doesn't exist. The beginning is when you introduce your characters and what they have as a goal. You might hit a bit on their reasons for wanting something but you may save much of this for the reader. In the beginning you need to let the reader know about the character's worlds and how they fit into this. So the beginning sets you on the road.
Then comes the middle and this is where the road may not be straight. There are complications that may set your characters on a different path for a time but they must come back to the original road or the story becomes confused. The middle deals with interactions and also with actions and reactions to what's happening to the characters. Sometimes the road goes straight up to that point where the end is in sight. Other times this is a rocky road with many twists and turns but as the writer you know you need to drive the characters back to the road and to that peak.
The end is where all the problems are solved and the characters find a satisfactory ending. Note I say satisfactory. This means the reader will smile and nod and believe the ending of the story. The ending of a book must be just right. Not too long and not too short. Too long bores the reader and they want to yell "get on with it." Too short leaves them wondering what really happened during the story. I've been guilty of both kinds of ending and often rewrrite this part many times. Sometimes adding words and sometimes cutting them out.
Just remember A PLOT US JUSY A PLAN>
My Places
https://www.facebook.com/janet.l.walters.3?v=wall&story_f
http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com
https://www.pinterest.com/shadyl717/
Buy Mark
https://bookswelove.net/walters-janet-lane/
No comments:
Post a Comment