Losing the plot
As in all good quest narratives I have faced a few challenges this week, narrowly avoided catastrophe and been given a little help along the way. Despite my high expectations derived from tales such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Wizard of Oz there wasn’t a mysterious lady in a lake handing out a sword of power or a genie lurking in a lamp just waiting to grant my wishes. Which is a shame really because it would have made things simpler and probably a lot more fun. This week I just couldn’t figure out how to get to the ending I had planned for my story. Having sat staring at the page for over an hour I realised I was well and truly stuck. Was it because my idea was rubbish I wondered? Should I scrap it and move on? No, that isn’t the problem because I really believe in this story. The issue here was simple. I had lost my plot.
However, I have skipped forwards here so let’s return to the beginning. I am aiming to write a collection of short stories which are all thematically linked and I am calling this Project Copper. I don’t know what I want to do with these in the future so I am trying not to share too much detail and am just going to refer to them by the working title. I have a notebook full of ideas and characters for this collection that I use to help me when I sit down to write. For this particular story I have the key narrative elements such as the beginning and the character arc outlined but I hadn’t sat down and really thought about the events would take me there. Sounds like a pretty basic thing to miss doesn’t it? Perhaps even a little ironic for someone who taught young people to plan out their creative writing for a living? Well it is… and it isn’t. There are as many ways to write as there are writers.
For a long and complex piece of writing such as a novel where there are a cast of characters, multiple points of view and events all being drawn together into the narrative then many people have very detailed plans. This keeps track of all the moving pieces and helps the writer stay focused. As with everything in life there are those who prefer to just let it all flow on to the page and grow organically. These two ends of the spectrum are often referred to as planners and pantsers (as in flying by the seat of their pants). I oscillate between these two approaches depending on what I am writing, how much head space I have and what mood I am in. So having failed to plan I was now paying the price and needed to figure it out.
My first strategy was to write the final line of the story* and try to plot my way backwards. This was actually a really good exercise and helped me see the point at which the character was going to have to make her choice. It also threw up a new issue about careful balance between pace and tension that, I decided, I could deal with later. Next I took the advice of Joyce Carole Oates and tried to change the point of view and see the events from the perspective of one of the peripheral characters. Again that was useful as it gave me another piece of the puzzle, if this situation was unfolding for my friend then I would try to intervene, so that was the next step. Having learned my lesson dear readers, I did add these to my outline plan. The final thing I did was to put down my pen and go for a walk. By keeping myself active I gave my subconscious time to work away at the problem whilst my body was busy. I’m told this also works when ironing or doing housework but personally I’m not going to risk it. I write to avoid these things.
By the middle of the week I was back on track and making steady progress. I had located my lost plot. So the lessons learned here is that in a very character driven narrative I need to have at least an overview of the key scenes or events. I am still very much learning as I go.
*NB I may not use that ending at all. It is entirely possible that my character will do something I didn’t expect and surprise me.
