Of Distracted Dithering December 4, 2009
Posted by Jen in : Journal, Novel , trackbackCan you see my teeth from there? No? Well, I can reliably inform you that they are a-gnashing. My fingers are a-twitching. The words for Novel 2 are bursting to tumble out onto the page, the characters jostling for prime position. But. Novel 1 was very much character-led. I loved my characters, had my setting sorted and wahooo, off I went. I took the organic instinctive approach (aka making it up as you go along) and it was fun. Well, fun until I got mauled by the RNA critic lady. She was right about one thing though. Novel 1 lacked plot. And now, of course, I’m obsessing. I actually feel a little bit sick about launching in and letting the story scatter itself. I’m not sure what the story is. I have some of the characters, some of the theme and that sort of thing. But that’s not the story, is it? The characters have to actually ‘do’ things. This is, I suspect, bothering me more than it should. I’m too scared to write without knowing everything in advance. But I don’t want to know everything in advance. It’s like life (innit) (she said, philosophically). It’s tempting to have everything mapped out, and possibly know where it’s going, rather than lurch along uncontrollably, falling down potholes and being surprised by sudden gusts of stuff.
Perhaps I’m thinking too much. I know what you’re going to say. Just. Write. The. Words. Perhaps the plot will become apparent as I go. As with life, I can make sense of it in hindsight. So yeah. Abandon ye The Thinkingness.
This blog post didn’t turn out quite as I intended at all. But maybe it doesn’t matter. That’s life, I s’pose. Sometimes it turns out better than you thought it would. So that’s nice, isn’t it?
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I know what you mean and am always fretting about whether I have enough plot etc. I’ve also had a major confidence collapse since my RNA report, but can also see what my reader meant by some of her comments since leaving the report and coming back to it.
Right, I’ve just given myself a(nother) talking to and am going to think positive and get back to it now.
How I hear you oh plotty one. My characters have not so much lost the plot as meandering aimlessly, hoping for a happy ending.
Next book I am going to plot like there is no tomorrow. It will be positively bulging with plot.
Plentiful with plot.
Plotful.
I started my novel with no idea of the plot and sent little bits of action scattering all over the place hoping it would all make sense in the end. Now that I’ve finished it makes a surprising (to me) amount of sense – but there are some gaps and problems which I now have to sort out as part of the structural edit.
On balance, I wouldn’t do it that way again. Like Lane, I will become more plotful before the next outing.
Every time I finish a story or a book I resolve to plan and plot properly the next time. Every time I start a story or a book I find myself unable to plan and plot properly. I’ve concluded that, for me, plot has to come from character more than the other way around; that I need to get to know my characters before I can sort out the plot; that I do this at least in part by writing about them; that, therefore, the first draft is always shit (I believe another writer, perhaps even more than one, may have made this point before me). It’s not until the second draft, at the earliest, that my plot really starts to happen. This quite often involves an irritatingly large amount of new writing and rewriting, but that seems to be how I work. You may be the same. Or not. Either way, it will be interesting to find out!
The RNA (or should that be the RNLI) was correct, of course, to pick up on lack of plot. My tendency is to write and allow the process of writing to create tension, then I stop and look at what is happening on the page and think how to make the tension more concrete, no matter how bizarre, in terms of a plot that needs resolution.
Alternatively, just write, complete, then look at what is happening and you will find a plot.
I had a rough plot before I started as my novel evolved from a short story I wrote during A215. But the plot was rough…I knew the beginning, the end and a couple of turning points. I’ve had to fill in the dots as the characters developed and new secondary characters emerged. Has that method worked? I don’t know, ask me when I’ve actually finished…
Hmmm, is writing not a bit like gardening? You select your plot, scatter the flower seeds, water well, watch them grow, pick the flowers, smell the roses and get stung on the nose by a buzzy bee! Green fingers is the name of the game (methinks)
Not that I’m an expert on the subject – a windowbox is about my limit 
I can’t plan. I spent ages not writing because I felt I should plan. How could Ipossibly start writing a book without a plan? But no, I couldn’t do it. So in the end you have to take a deep breath and start writing…Go on, just do it and good luck.
Give the main character(s) a goal then throw as many obstacles as you can at them to stop them reaching their goal. You’ll automatically end up with a plot – even if you don’t know what the obstacles will be when you started writing.
I have no writerly advice to give but I do wish you all the luck in the world with it!!
C x
Ps. My latest painting is on the blog if you want to go and have a nosey
Just. Write. … Oh, you already know that.
Thing is, everyone writes differently and there are no rights and wrongs, just what works for you. Personally, I find too much advance planning can tend to stifle the story and, if you come up with plot first, you can end up trying to force your characters into places they don’t want to go. If you just let the words flow in 1st draft, when you get to redraft, you can see where superfluous padding might lie and what is causing any slumps etc.
Great to meet you last night!
Oh, I have plenty of plot. My characters dream, drive around, dream a bit more, wake up and plan their days, brush their hair, make phone calls. What do you mean that isn’t plot? Could that be why I’m not published?
Debs – I have to say, Cally’s novel is a really good example of a good plot. I’ve read lots of others, however, that are fabulous reads but actually have very little in the way of plot. Gah.
Lane – Yes, that’s it exactly! The characters could just wander over the page forever and I swore I’d give them a map this time. Perhaps we just don’t write that way?
Helen – It’s encouraging, at least, to see that there are lots of us thinking/writing the same way?
Queenie – Perhaps the plotters are less character-driven in their writing? It’s all ticking away/festering in my subconscious now so at least I’m sort of in the groove, even if all I have to show for it are a load of indecipherable scribbles in my notebook(s).
DOT – You’re quite right. Even though we all know that the first draft is exactly that, there’s still a lingering tendency to finally get to the end and discover that it’s an uncut diamond, all awe-inspiring and simply in need of a bit of a buff.
Cathy – I’ve actually been toying with the idea of writing it as a short story to start with and then seeing whether it wants to grow or not. I work on the theory that, if a story’s got legs, it will spark up and generate its own life (in a Frankensteiny sort of way)?
TF – Ah, I like your analogy. But I do not like buzzy bees wot sting you on the snozzle.
JJ – Well, yes, quite. Not writing while you think you should be writing more directionally is completely blimmin useless, isn’t it?
Cal – Ah, you make it sound soooo easy! But yes, that’s pretty much the way to go. Stick ‘em up a tree and then throw stones at ‘em. Something like that. Maybe someone should throw stones at me?!
Carol – Ooh, a new painting! I haven’t forgotten about that, I just never seem to have that bit o’ my brain engaged at the right time. Will investigate forthwith!
Debi – Hello! It was really brill to meet you too – I was really amazed that the evening flew by so quickly ad I didn’t get a chance to talk to you properly. I suspect and hope our paths will cross again sometimes soon. I wonder whether we tend to have a ‘grass is greener’ thinking bout writing – whichever way we do it, we think we should be doing it a ‘better’ way? I shall stick to my organic instinctive approach I think. It makes it more of magical mystery tour at least…
Fia – Yes, my characters are always doing all sorts of things… but none of those things are actually ‘plot’. Still, it means we know our characters so well we can see their angst as they stand in the Co-op, wondering colour bog roll to buy!
I know these feelings so well. I agonised similarly over all of my mine, resulting in landing on various sides (it has many sides) of the line. Planning is good. Angsting is not good. Writing unself-consciously is good. Structure is good. Argh.
Sorry. I have no answers! Just sympathy.