Hot answers tagged plot
12
We have to distinguish two different layers of coincidences:
Coincidence in the beginning of the story vs. coincidence at the end of the story (Deus ex machina problem)
Conflict decreasing coincidence vs. conflict increasing coincidence
The reader forgives (and sometimes want) coincidences that happen at the beginning of the story and conflict increasing ...
8
Quit bean-counting.
Finish the novel and then go back and worry about whether the first act works. Methods for structuring a story are guides, not laws. The novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is 850 pages. I remember vividly that the first six hundred were a complete slog, and then suddenly something happened and the last 200-odd pages went like a ...
8
I assume every anecdote would have it's own plot, conflict and resolution? Otherwise there would really be no point in telling them.
There are four types of stories: world based, event based, character based and idea based. While it's true that all stories need to have some kind of a plot to be interesting, the plot is not the main focus of every type.
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6
Both scenarios have lots of potential for great storytelling. When choosing between them, consider what kind of story you'd most like to tell, and which of the two is going in a direction you find more interesting/compelling.
Let me throw some light on the primary differences between the two avenues you're suggesting.
Conspiracy
If the drug is a secret, ...
6
Expand the other two acts until that the first takes 25% ;)
On a more serious note, why do you feel this is "devastating"? The way I read your friends' feedback, it's working just fine. You'd have a problem if the act felt too long, or got boring, but it doesn't seem to be the case here.
You may want to take a look at the "lengthy conversations that give ...
6
If you didn't create an outline — that is, if you didn't know beforehand how it was going to end — then you're suffering from impeded arborvision (you can't see the forest for the trees).
1) Put it in a drawer and don't read it for a month. Come back with fresher eyes. You'd be amazed what you catch.
2) Hand it off to someone else and ask your ...
5
the first act should end when the novel reaches around 25% of its length
Aaaaaaaah!
the wordlimit for a debut author is 50K [comment to Lauren's answer]
Aaaaaaaah!
Listen, XORGate, you have a problem, but it is not your writing. You think arbitrary limits are God's commandments. They are not.
Many writers succeeded, because they broke rules ...
5
Perhaps you could introduce a sub-plot. That is, you have your main climax. Call it X (big-X). You need some exposition to lead up to X. Call it x (little-x). So the story should go:
xxxxX
But in reality the exposition takes too long, so it's more like:
xxxxxxxxX
So maybe you could add another mini-climax. Call it Y. You'll need some exposition ...
5
Hmm. In situation A you get to work with the theme of a government lying to its people "for their own good"-- security vs. freedom is what that is, and you get to use the secrecy of the drug as a plot device-- who will the girl tell; who will believe her? Who else will find out, and who else already knows?
In situation B you get to work with the theme of ...
5
1) Character drives plot.
Go back to your character sheets, or cook up a few secondaries, and see what their backstories tell you.
I've seen J. Michael Straczynski credited with:
Conflict is made up of three things: What does your character want? What will they do to get it? What will someone do to stop them?
So look into the backstories of your ...
4
Actually I find the repeated structure interesting. Clearly something is going on, some kind of external magical force which is creating changes in the "real world."
My only advice would be not to be too obvious about how her conversations down the rabbit hole affect the world she returns to, unless you intend for there to be a literal one-to-one ...
4
A rambling narrative can be executed very badly or very well. Maybe it's tool to give color and depth to a world, but it can simply be a sign of an unfocused book. In all cases, what's important is how the reader will react, and that can be tough to estimate. It matters not a bit if you've planned the book out well if the reader believes you've given them ...
4
Have you already considered flipping a coin? I'm not kidding.
Ok, the answer "your story, your choice" will not help, even though it is the best answer for your question. So I'm telling you the real question behind your question:
"How could I overcome the resistance to write?"
Oh, you won't like the answer to this one either: Just write.
If you want to ...
4
When it comes to writing the only hard numbers are in your contract. Don't worry about things like what your word count should be or how long the act is taking. Just sit down and write the novel, once you've written "THE END" you can worry about the rest of it.
To me it sounds like your books is longer then you expected it to be. Not a bad problem all ...
3
An amateur writer does not need any preparations to start. You do not need a plot. You do not need to know "how to start", "how to plot", "how to write". You need to overcome resistance (look inside this book, if you don't know what I mean).
So, you have to start writing. And keep to it. It really doesn't matter if it suits your high ideals or not. Keep ...
3
I'd use a spreadsheet as a wireframe.
If you don't have such notes already, you may have to examine your story a section at a time, and make notes about each part detailing what's going on with Plot A. Then use the spreadsheet to make notes about weaving in Plot B.
The advantage of the spreadsheet is that everything is modular, visible almost all at once, ...
3
One method of buying yourself a benefit of doubt from the reader, before you have the opportunity to show that you're not just a rip-off, is lampshading the similarity. (Warning! TV Tropes link!)
"Do you think I'm some cliché self-righteous psychopathic murderer from a long series of movies, merely bound on getting people killed in most sophisticated ...
2
I think the solution is to ask - and answer - "why"? Why did this person happen to be in the right place? How did they obtain that information that led them right to the villain? Has there been a rainstorm brewing for a few days - is it even the season for storms ( in the UK, the answer here is always yes ).
Events should never be random. However they can ...
2
The rules in place are to help writers overcome hesitation to write, or indecision on how to structure the story. Others will give you rules to follow, and as a result you try to club it into submission and force it to be something that it is not. The story is the important part: write it to keep it in its natural form.
You said "I just cannot move on to ...
2
A chapter is the equivalence in so far that it divides a big chunk (the book) into smaller sections. But for a novel you have much more freedom as in a movie script which follows traditional structures.
Have you ever wondered why most movies are made for certain length? They are usually around 75 min, 90 min or 120 min. These numbers are multiplier of 15.
...
2
To be honest, I find that action/adventure only describes the pace or the general event types in a novel. It shouldn't define your theme, which may very well be that you need to have faith in friends/family you love and trust to get you through, no matter the situation.
For example, have your climax with thrilling action scenes, where your hero does ...
2
Along with nodding vigorously at everything Neil said...
You can have discontinuity in the beginning, but at some point it has to be apparent to the reader how these threads are connected.
In GRRMartin's Song of Ice and Fire series, the main action takes place on the continent of Westeros. Dany Targaryen is the exiled daughter of a previous king of ...
2
You have two things going on: a flashback from the main narrative, and a dream.
If the dream is taking place in the past, that may be a literal flashing-back, but it's not actually a flashback. A flashback is reliable (in the sense of "reliable narrator"), realistic, and a memory of someone. It's a detour from the forward narrative.
A dream, on the other ...
2
I guess sometimes it's about writing, not the idea... And sometimes you just get inspired by some other thing. The line between the two is really thin.
For example, Walking Dead has a lot of similarities with Romero's movies, yet it's completely different not because of the idea but because what happens with the characters and the motivations.
It's just ...
2
Questions about "what to write about" are off-topic. But your question can be also interpreted as "how to start a novel" and so I'm going to answer that one.
First a misconception on your side:
I know nothing about writing.
This sentence is only excusable as a citation. But your name is not John Snow. So forget about it, because writing this question ...
1
One main idea about scene construction is that each scene should do two things. It can move plot and change the emotional feeling of a character/characters, or provide backstory and move plot, or do any combination of one of those and another thing. But it should do at least two things. So the biggest thing to look at is what each of your scenes does.
You ...
1
No rules. But some guidelines:
Try to stay consistent with the layout of the gaps. There are traditionally two allowed "zones of sparsity": Prologue and epilogue. Other than that, progression should be mostly linear.
Bigger gaps are allowed but mark them as such. Four months in a coma shouldn't be a three-asterisk break. It should be a start of another ...
1
Time lapses, time advancements are used to move the story forward per plot situation, tempo, and cohesiveness.
If your story is going to span several generations of characters...well, then, you are going to move the story forward (skipping the non-pertainent boring crap) by time advancements.
If your story is going to stay in the moment, perhaps spanning ...
1
Yes, there is a respected rule: Skip the boring stuff!
It depends on your story, on your style and what you want to show. If you have a gunslinger and you want to establish how good he is, you may want to describe in detail his fight against five other people which only lasts a few seconds to a minute.
If the reader already knows how good he is, just ...
1
I basically agree with Tannalein (and upvoted her answer). Let me just add a couple of comments too long to fit in a comment on her answer.
There's lots of fiction where the writer has some idea he wants to explore, and so the plot is just a thin wrapper around the "big idea".
For example, I can think of several books where it's pretty obvious that the ...
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