Finishing your plot

[wonkishere]

Some writers know the end of their book when they begin writing it, but are iffy on the parts getting up their. I have heard many writers say that the middle section of the book is the hardest part to write.

Essentially, it's easy to write the end, and make a cool sounding beginning, but what that means is that after you've come up with those parts, you have to connect all the dots so to speak in the middle. It's when you get to that point that everything must be explained, and that's the hardest part of the book for many. A lot of books kind of die there, and I suspect it's because that plotting is something that many writers don't really want to deal with. In the last stages of writing, if they never figured out where they were going, that's where they will be confronted with all the decisions they've been putting off.

I've done a huge amount of work on my plot. The first time I wrote my book, I did a bunch of writing, got to the middle, and didn't know how to finish. So this time I went through and redid the plot a great deal and now I'm rewriting it.

How many people have had this experience?

 

[Glitch]

I agree joining the dots can be hard. I find outlining can help with this.

Only with a few stories have I know the ending when I start. I often find a logical ending presents itself when I start to outline the story. But an outline is just for guidance, and I've altered most when I get to know the characters and the story they are trying to tell.

 

[Christopher Lee]

My current book I just finished took me three years to write. It was the story that I first began when I first started writing as a hobby. I was hell-bent on sticking with it and not starting something new.

I ran into all these problems with this story. The plot was difficult, as I had never plotted a story before. I've rewrote many times, but yes what you have brought up was the most challenging part for me.

 

[Ursa major]

It depends what is meant by plot, and what is meant by 'connecting all the dots'.



I find it hard to believe that it's possible to connect all the dots before one starts writing the book. It either:

• presupposes that one can see into the heart of all one's characters before one has written a word about how they behave (including to one another); or
• assumes that one doesn't mind if one's characters are forced to behave out of character, as long as they do the right thing by the plot.

This is why the middle bit of a book (or series) is hard: you have the destination and the road map, but the characters may be walking determinedly towards the bits on that map marked terra incognita.

 

[Arkose]

I found that planning is essential for me (Hi, my name is Arkose and I am a life long procrastinator and non-planner). I put together a rather large flow sheet with all major characters. Every chapter, I list what the character is doing. I do this to keep track of everything and to keep my mind focus. I have found some major problems by having it written down and have worked through them. I already have changed two main characters based on how their personalities came across in the first couple of chapters. I expect that most changes will come and I welcome them, but the flow chart has made thing so much easier. I love it and recommend it.

I also love asking WWJCD (What Would Jackie Chan Do), to free my mind from any stress or reservations from an upcoming scene. How can you not have fun asking yourself that question?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm okay at beginnnings, once I decide where they should be... I always struggle with that. Actually, then, I lie, I've changed where it starts at least 6 times, but I'm happy with where I am now. And endings, I usually have a vague idea where I want to go. But middles... no idea, at all.... painful, really. So, that seems to be no, no, and vaguely. Then I write it, stop and think about things, write some more and somewhere around draft 3 I get it.... (which is an improvement, it used to be around draft 999999)

@Arkose, could you lend me a nice planner, please.

 

[Arkose]

I have made a more general one for my self using suggestions from

http://www.write-thing.com/2010/05/12/making-a-writing-bible-an-essential-tool-for-story-writers/
http://kriswaldherr.com/blog/2011/04/publishing-monday-what-is-a-novel-bible/

 

[wonkishere]

It depends what is meant by plot, and what is meant by 'connecting all the dots'.



I find it hard to believe that it's possible to connect all the dots before one starts writing the book. It either:

• presupposes that one can see into the heart of all one's characters before one has written a word about how they behave (including to one another); or
• assumes that one doesn't mind if one's characters are forced to behave out of character, as long as they do the right thing by the plot.

This is why the middle bit of a book (or series) is hard: you have the destination and the road map, but the characters may be walking determinedly towards the bits on that map marked terra incognita.

I agree. I think though that if you try to connect, well, some of the dots in the beginning it probably helps. No matter how much you plan in the beginning, as you write out scenes, the act of writing will cause you to have new ideas, and things you did decide in the beginning will almost certainly change somewhat.

The more I write though, the more I feel that I should have spent more time in the beginning trying to piece it all together so to speak. I would have still changed the plot later but I think it would have made things easier later.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I find that if I try to plan out the story before I even start writing it, I usually go way off track. I know the way the story ends, but getting there is what's enjoyable about writing for me. If I knew every step of the path I'd get bored quick - it's an exciting adventure exploring what happens to my characters before I even know myself.

If I write a synopsis beforehand, I never, ever, keep to it. I'm an organic writer though, so that's to be expected; I run off on tangents as ideas come to me while writing, but it's a good thing - makes the story much more natural imo.

Maybe it's just because I'm an organic writer, but I find if I plan a story and keep exactly to that plan - ignoring all the ideas that come to me as I write - the story feels fake, contrived and a little unnatural to me. For me, letting my organic side take over results in a much more real feeling story. I have a general idea of where I'm going with the story, and that's it - only major plot points. I have no idea what each individual dialogue or decision my characters make until I write it.

I find I never have any trouble filling in plot details or figuring out how things happen, it just kinda falls into place for me as I write. Then I go back and improve it through second drafts/editing - just like the first draft, I let my organic side take over with the second draft and I usually think up ideas I missed first time around that improve the story considerably.

 

[Glitch]

I agree that sticking rigidly to an outline will stifle the story. I do however find that the outline helps guide me in the general direction of where I need to go. An outline for me can be as simple as a few bullet points listing key scenes or locations. Although not set in stone, I do find the key scenes tend to stay with the story without being forced.

Each writer is different and what works for one person might/probably won't work for another.

If you're stuck then of course try methods that other people suggest. Pick out the bits you find work for you and drop the rest.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I'm at precisely that point with my WIP, where I'm trying to muddle out the ending. I knew at the start that it was going to a particular finish, and although that finish has evolved in a slightly different direction, I still know how it ends, but the specific plot points that work it all out are still a bit fuzzy. The middle was fuzzy all along, and drove itself, and it just amazes me how many details have worked themselves into a coherent thread along the way.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Your plot is finished when you have achieved World Domination. Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!

 

[Glitch]

Your plot is finished when you have achieved World Domination. Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!

And trying to stay in charge is the plot for book two

 

[Brian G Turner]

Writing a story is a bit like sculpting from a large mass of rock.

At first it is formless, but as you use words as your tool, parts of the story and character start to show their first details. The more you fine tune your words, the more alive the detail becomes. Sometimes the details surprise you - this was not what you expected - but the more you chip away, the more satisfying the detail of the work becomes.

They don't call us wordsmiths for nothing, you know.

 

[Bowler1]

Interesting metaphor I Brian, very fitting.

I have to have a plot idea before I start which is a begining and ending, otherwise the middle would drift off, or would do for me. My plot will be loose to allow development as I go, giving characters space to develop, so my middles don't usually match my starting ideas very much. So I have to have something to aim for, it can be a moving target to some extent, but there has to be an ending idea for me when writing.

 

[nightdreamer]

Except for something I just started, and in the cases where I've dreamed an entire, coherent plot, I almost never have a clear vision of the ending, just a vague concept. As I get into the writing and get to know my characters better (it's rather like relationships with real people) I find that the "dots" seem to organize into a whole. There have been many times that characters have surprised me and ended up doing things I'd never planned, but which in retrospect seem like just the right things for them to do. The characters tend to drive the story toward the ending, and by the time I get there it's pretty well crystallized. I agree that every writer is different.

 

[Jammill Khursheed]

I always start with a concept about what the story I want to tell with the project is about, even before I come up with the plot which is merely what happens to get that point across... (i.e. Star Wars is about redemption and legacy, NOT about the rise and fall of an empire or the religion of the Jedi.)...

That way the plot never gets away from the actual theme of the story, and gives you something to check any new ideas/changes against (a character doing something you never originally intended, and altering the plot, is no bad thing as long as it doesn't change what you're using that plot to get across)... It also allows you to go a bit more 'free range' with the events and characters than rigidly sticking to plot points allows you to...

To me, the over-arching theme, and the characters personalities and interactions, make the plot up as they move along... All I have in an outline is the MAJOR events that need to be hit in the storyline (I write scripts, so these tend to be visual things and climactic battles that HAVE to be at certain points in EVERY script, god damn three act structure), but once I get the characters in there those major events get a little bit altered or the people involved will change...

Basically. the plot is a secondary thing used to get the themes you are exploring across to the audience in an exciting way... If Star Wars had just been annakin, having doubts, talking to his friends about them, then deciding to be good again, with no space battles or lightsaber duels, and was more like a Felini film, it would have been the same thematically... Don't think I would have sat through six films of it though


Jammill

 

[Phyrebrat]

Hello,

I think it may serve to differentiate between plot and overview, or the story arc as Jammill mentioned above.

A good shake of concept usually (in my case, at least) leads to the overview. The plot is something far more detailed that comes along as I write, because - as I think the general census amongst so many of us here - the characters drive your writing in terms of direction, not just content/dialogue.

I do like to write a lot of short stories though, and these tend to be very much formed in terms of what happens and when. But it is still only a wireframe until the characters come in to render it.

An example in my current wip: I asked on the Chrons recently about C4/Semtex and the likelihood of its availability and efficacy in what I wanted it to do in my story. The resulting replies made me take a completely new direction - unexploded WW2 bombs. If I had stuck rigidly to my original idea, the suspension of disbelief would have been lost, as would my intended readers.

So, follow your instincts - or those of your characters - ask for help, and be flexible, is my advice.

hope this helps some.

pH

 

[kaufmannp]

Wow-

I'm new to this forum, and truthfully I'm very new to the writing game as well. Seems like a great deal of talent and imagination behind each post, and typing my small contribution here is quite exhilarating!

While developing my wip, I've known for a while the direction I wanted the plot to travel. I had a synopsis with a beginning, a middle, and an end; and I even had a table of contents written up to try and keep me on track.

What I've seen as I write is that the story is fleshing out almost on its own. My first chapter I ended up adding two additional characters that turned what was originally going to be a straight-forward chase into a fully-formed action sequence. With jokes.

I'm not looking ahead as far as I used to, and I'm going to try and foster a bit more tunnel-vision as I work through these next few chapters. Afterwards I'll look up and see how far off the plot-line I am, and maybe I'll turn back, or maybe I'll keep going.

Either way, it'll be fun. Again, very excited to be posting here alongside you.

 

[Esfires]

Wow-

I'm new to this forum, and truthfully I'm very new to the writing game as well. Seems like a great deal of talent and imagination behind each post, and typing my small contribution here is quite exhilarating!

While developing my wip, I've known for a while the direction I wanted the plot to travel. I had a synopsis with a beginning, a middle, and an end; and I even had a table of contents written up to try and keep me on track.

What I've seen as I write is that the story is fleshing out almost on its own. My first chapter I ended up adding two additional characters that turned what was originally going to be a straight-forward chase into a fully-formed action sequence. With jokes.

I'm not looking ahead as far as I used to, and I'm going to try and foster a bit more tunnel-vision as I work through these next few chapters. Afterwards I'll look up and see how far off the plot-line I am, and maybe I'll turn back, or maybe I'll keep going.

Either way, it'll be fun. Again, very excited to be posting here alongside you.

This is very much like the way I work. I'll have a vague outline in my head describing the general direction of the book, but I leave off the nitty-gritty details of a particular scene until I get to that scene in my writing. I find that this keeps me on track while allowing me to retain a certain spontaneity in the writing. For instance, I added a character into one of my first chapters as a bit of comic relief, intending it just to be a one-off, never-see-him-again part. I ended up liking him so much that he became one of my POV characters and is now integral to both my narrative and the overall themes of the book.