No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty

Author:Chris Baty [Baty, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Language Arts & Disciplines, Composition & Creative Writing
ISBN: 9780811845052
Google: O8aRltYgWsUC
Amazon: 0811845052
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Published: 2004-09-16T04:00:00+00:00

HATCHING YOUR PLOT

This is the biggie. If there’s one thing that keeps most people from diving into novel writing, it’s an absence of the mysterious thing called plot.

As intimidating as it seems, plot is simply the movement of your characters through time and over the course of your book. Which means that by having characters in your book, you’re guaranteed to have a plot. The plot may be subtle, or it may be the kind of thing that causes people to walk into trees because they couldn’t put your book down. It’s up to you.

Some writers are dazzlingly adept at coming up with the series of unexpected developments and juicy revelations that we commonly regard as a story’s plot. If you are one of these people, you are lucky indeed, and the chances are good that you already have a semicomplete story arc in mind for next month’s project.

If you do already have a sense of your plot, I recommend you spend as much time as possible

“pitching” it to yourself before writing. Talk through the story from start to finish, as if you were laying it out for a particularly patient agent or producer. Be sure to explain the climaxes and the highlights, and try to add a couple of minutes onto your pitch with each retelling. For the rest of us, the great majority who are unsure of what exactly will, or should, be happening to our characters next month, I say this: Fear not. No plot truly is no problem. The act of writing is a 100

percent reliable plot-forge. It may seem a little scary to leave your story’s backbone to chance, but fusing character and setting into an engaging, readable narrative is what our imaginations are best at. Just focus on creating vivid, enjoyable characters, and a plot will unfold naturally from their actions. As I discovered the first time out, characters will eventually demand that certain actions be taken, and there’s something uniquely thrilling in that moment when you see them take charge. However, you can help the plot percolation process along by taking another gander at your Magna Carta I list. What of the story-oriented items from that list seem most exciting to you as a writer? And which of the things you love would lend themselves well to a short-term novel-writing feast?

Also, if you already have an idea of your characters, you can help sketch out the first plot points by taking some time to think about the dramatic changes, turning points, or horrible events you could inflict on your characters over the course of the book.

Here are some time-tested plot-providers to consider: Can someone in your story get fired? Can a marriage or relationship implode? Can someone get a disease? Can someone die? Can an unexpected windfall occur? Can someone be wronged, and set out to exact vengeance? Can someone find a precious or unusual object? Can your character set off on an impossible quest or journey? Can someone try to become something

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