This is necessary for fiction or memoirs.
Plot is the foundation, the structure upon which we build our story. It has been argued that there are only thirty-six basic plots behind all stories. A movie mogul commented, “Yes, but only six are box office.” While a slight exaggeration, the sentiment behind it is not. Production companies and publishers do not put their money on experiments for fear of losing money. Readers and viewers are comfortable with the basic plots already in existence.
The story built upon this foundation is where the writer can shine, but it will only be successful if you build it upon a solid, familiar structure.
Some writers have an instinct for plot, developed through years of heavy reading. Others must study the elements to write a novel with a strong foundation.
The Elements of a Novel
Plot is THE essential element in a novel. Alone it will not necessarily make a novel good, other elements such as cardboard two-dimensional characters, poor word choices, a meaning (theme) that meanders and loses impact, or a spectacle that defies believability can all destroy a reader’s pleasure and doom the story. But without a strong plot a novel is nothing but a mishmash of words. And with a strong plot, the failure of one of the other elements can be overcome.
The DaVinci Code is a great plot. It has almost nothing else to recommend it. No one remembers the characters, Brown’s word choice was sloppy and amateurish, but he had a GREAT story.
Characters are the next important, element of a story. Believable characters following the plot keep you turning the page. With poor characters and a great plot you may still have a successful story, or with great characters and a so-so plot, you may have a successful story. If you learn to nail Plot and Characters, you will be successful eventually.
Word Choice is another element of a story. I have heard some people complain of the complexity and oddity of the English language, but as a writer….it rocks. The Oxford English Dictionary lists over 616,000 words. German, the second largest language in vocabulary has just over 185,000. We grow up with a rich vocabulary, providing us a multitude of words to express subtle differences and meanings. Using prose and dialect that is clear, concise, and intriguing will improve your story’s chance of success.
Message, or the theme is another element of a story. While not essential, it can convey a moral belief or sway a reader to a new perspective.
Spectacle is the setting. It includes a description of the locale, the dress, the time period, and other parts of a scene. A scene may be well remembered after reading a book, stand out in the readers mind, but a scene alone will not carry a book, nor will a poorly written scene destroy a book.
What exactly is Plot?
First, a character wants something, there is a central problem that must be overcome before the story is complete.
Second, a plot moves through time. It begins at one time and progress to a later time. For nay-sayers dealing with time travel and alternate universes, the character experiences one thing following another, therefore moving forward in his life experience. This moving forward is true even if it is presented nonchronologically. One event still follows another, even if told in reverse order.
Third, a plot must have a causal chain. An event occurs causing another event to occur, in turn causing another event to occur. If we just recite a list of events that occurred to a character that day, but don’t show any unusual consequences related to those events, there is no plot. Everyday, stuff happens. To make a story out of the “stuff”, we, the writers, must reshape it and show the cause and effect each event has to the next event culminating in the consequence. If the character takes a left turn instead of the right he usually takes, and an accident happens killing someone right where he would have been had he done his usual routine, you have an event that causes a different outcome.
Fourth there must be increasing intensity (see workshop on Rising Intensity). Recap, so far a plot is a character wanting something, going through a series of events with a cause and effect relation to each other. Now to be effective the intensity of each event must be greater than the last. The first event might be inconsequential (taking a left turn), but it must lead directly to a meaningful consequence (he lives, another dies). Now, the weavers of Fate had decreed it was the characters time to die, yet he lives. So now each time he takes a figurative left turn, he again avoids the fate he is slated for. The intensity of each event escalates.
The first requirement for increasing intensity is creating a connection between the reader and the protagonist. The reader has to care about what will happen to the hero. This is where you build upon your foundation. Show don’t tell, create three-dimensional characters and use your prose to create the spectacle (scenes). A word of advise, we all hate to see a good person suffer or a bad person prosper – make your hero a “good” guy who your reader wants to root for. That does not mean make them perfect, we hate the perfect person. Even Superman lived a lie. Believability generally means good guys have a few negative traits and bad guys have some positive ones. It makes them human.
I have seen published authors, best sellers even, go overboard with this concept. James Patterson writing with Howard Rougham creates protagonists that are adulterers, liars, or even murderers. Patricia Cornwall has made her serial protagonist, Kate Scarpetta so bitter, cold, and distant that I and many other readers have ceased reading her work. We don’t care enough about this unhappy protagonist to waste our precious time. So many books, so little time.
The second requirement of increasing intensity is that the problem to be faced is significant. Failure to solve the problem will cause dire results. Each scene must move to a more important, more dangerous level, the main character has fewer and fewer choices as the story unfolds, until at the end he must choose between two possibilities to resolve the problem. ie Wizard of OZ, Dorothy faced escalating problems and successfully overcame all of the obstacles in her path in an attempt to go home. At the end, it appeared all hope was lost and she was doomed to live in Oz forever. She had to choose between believing in home and love or losing her Auntie Em and family forever.
Exercise.
Look at your current project and answer these questions.
1) What does your main character want?
2) Does your plot move forward in chronological order?
3) What are your obstacles?
4) Does each obstacle the character overcomes cause something else to happen?
5) Do the obstacles become increasingly harder to overcome? Is the main characters resolution a life altering decision?
Exercise for your own edification:
Take a novel you admire and enjoy. You must really like it, the kind of book you would like to write: suspense, romance, adventure.
Write a plot outline, keep it chronological, note the relationship between consecutive steps, how one event causes the next. If you find any weak spots, why are they weak? How could they be repaired?