Friday 30 March 2012

Plots, Plague and Psychoanalysis

P- Plot
Working up plot ideas.
 
There is lots of advice available about developing plot and themes for stories but one of the best tips I have come across was to write down thoughts as they occur, in the form of a kind of conversation. 
At the very beginning of my novel “The Witcheye Gene” I had a string of rather vague concepts but no coherent plan. So, after germinal ideas about the plague, mother love and sudden death in childhood, I decided to try out the technique that I first learnt about in David Morrell’s Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing. He recommends writing as you think through plot ideas, rather than thinking first then writing an outline. He maintains this allows a writer to have a conversation about the story without the risk of the best notions ending in the air because the ideas materialise as the writer writes and thoughts occur. The person the writer talks to is, of course, the alter ego. David Morrell says this technique, “encourages you (the writer) to delve below the surfaces of a conventional outline so that a richer book has the potential to be written.”
The question ‘why?’ seems to be the most helpful (although all the ‘W’ questions are used e.g. where, who, what, when) as it makes you think about why you want to write this particular story and why you think the plot/theme is important.  It also clearly helps with making the characters fully rounded and properly motivated.
This kind of writing is also a form of psychoanalysis and helps when the ideas just won’t move forward. I tried it and found it to be a wonderfully liberating exercise and make no apologies for the introspective nature of the discourse. My ‘Conversations’  document shows my thought processes developing the story ideas, and together with a premise, helps keep me on course when moving towards some kind of outline.   It is also extremely useful if, like me, you sometimes go off course and need to get your thoughts back into the main thrust of the story. It provides a kind of road map. Subplots can be woven in and kept in check a bit easier too.
Do you have ways of keeping on course when plotting a new story? Do you plan? Or do you just write?

8 comments:

  1. I do plan. But, perhaps I'm going about it the wrong way. I'm going to have to pick up Morrell's book and try his exercises.

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  2. David Morrell is an awesome teacher. I totally agree about 'why' being the most important question. From 'why' comes the story behind the plot.

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  3. I do plan (a bit) once I've thought out the initial idea. For that I do throw down a bunch of random ideas and see where they take me.

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  4. Excellent post Pat, very useful. x

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  5. This sounds like it could be a helpful exercise, especially for those niggly little sticking points!

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  6. I always plan but it changes when I write - I guess that's my version of thinking it through!

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  7. I used to just write, but I found I had to make too many revisions and delete too many scenes I spent too long on. Now I plan. The planning stage is very free-flow.

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  8. I'm not a great planner. I draft and re-draft, but sometimes my first draft is so sparse it could be seen as a complex plan.

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