Writing: Plot and Structure

The Twelve Days of Anna: Day Twelve: Big Finish

You can call it what you will–the obligatory scene, last turning point, climax, big finish–but what it all boils down to is fulfilling the promise of the rest of the book: the Big Bad Goes Down and the Good Guys Win.  (Yes, sometimes the good guy goes down, but not in our books.) And the thing about writing series, especially if you have one Big Bad throughout the three, is that you have three stories to build up reader outrage so they’re all snarling “Get that guy” by the end.

However, because I’m a sprained plotter, I have developed all kinds of coping mechanisms and theories for the rewrite.  They don’t always save me, mostly Bob does that now, but they work for me.  I should make it clear that these are not rules, they’re not even guidelines.  They’re just some of the theories that help me analyze a plot to the end in the rewrite without imploding. (I have a lot of theories.) (more…)

The Twelve Days of Anna: Day Nine: Pacing, Escalation, and Word Count

One of the (many) things I do that drives Bob crazy is word count.  I’m obsessive about word count.

(Well, he’s obsessive about the number of spaces between sentences, so it’s all just math.)

One of the most difficult things about writing story is pacing.  The story needs to move smoothly, without the reader saying, “Wait?  What?  This is too fast, I’m missing things” or “My god, this is slow, I’ll have to skim.”  It’s the reason every story needs beta readers that will be brutal enough to say, “I know you love this part but it’s boring.”  I once wrote a novel that had thirty pages of three women discussing art deco china.  No, you never read that scene, I cut almost all of it because it was death to pacing.  And I’m lousy at pacing.

And now I’m doing Parts instead of Acts, so I have to adapt. (more…)

The Twelve Days of Anna: Day Eight: Acts and Parts

The thing about a novel is that it’s long.  In our case, 100,000 words, and we usually go over that.  Thatsa lotta words to keep in your head.  Bob has no trouble with this because he’s a linear writer: He starts at the beginning and goes on until he gets to the end.  Me?  Not so much.

I write the good parts, the fun parts, whenever I think of them.  Trying Bob’s Way not only makes me insane, it makes me a lousy writer.  At this point I should make it clear that Bob has never expected me to write his way.  I just can’t figure out a way to write my way while he’s writing his.  Neither one of us is big on plotting things out ahead of time, we both like seeing what pops up as we write.  (I have an explanation for that, but that would be a digression.). I am willing to compromise by agreeing to five turning points in the plot so I know where to slot things, basically a four act structure, but that messes with Bob’s process, so nope.

What I’m trying now is probably making him insane since it’s another variation on Acts, but I’ve divided this book into Parts.  What’s the difference?  Acts are defined by turning points, specific scenes in which action causes a reaction that turns the story around to a new path.  Acts are major plot points.

But Parts, as I’m defining them, are scenes sequences defined by content.  That is, “In this scene sequence, this happens.”  There’s probably a turning point at the end but I’m not concerned about that, I’m concerned about a complete arc of that Part’s content.

So I blocked Arresting Anna out into eight parts and I’m sending them to Bob one at a time.  You know that screaming coming from Western Tennessee?  That’s Bob.

Here are the Parts:

Part 1: A Very Bad Day

Part 2: A Pretty Good Night

Part 3: Arresting Anna, The First Time

Part 4: The Office Investigation

Part 5:  Arresting Anna, The Second Time

Part 6: The Murder Incident

Part 7: Arresting Anna, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Part 8: The Morning After

Those will probably change, but for right now, the plot is

1. Both have a bad day and then meet in the casino.
2.  The one-night stand.
3. The FBI (Nate and Carter) comes for Anna.
4. The FBI investigates the museum; Nate investigates Anna.
5. The Bad Guys up their game; the cops come for Anna.
6. Things get worse and somebody dies (“At last,” Bob says.)
7. The Big Finish as the Bad Guys go down screaming
8. Anna kicks ass at the museum

 

This gives me do-able sized chunks of text to work with and arc plot and character in, always keeping one eye on the book’s arc as a whole.  It also shows me what needs to be cut or rearranged (and thank you, Argh, your help was invaluable), and how my pacing is going (word count, something else I love and Bob hates; it’s a miracle we ever finish a book).  But most of all, it gives me a chance to skip around.  I write a scene and then figure out which part to slot it into.  We do need to get about 50,000 words done before I can see the Parts, but that’s okay.  Bob can be patient for that long.  I think.

I’ve always said it doesn’t matter how many acts your plot has (although if you have too many, that also means too many turning points and your readers get whiplash, and too few and your pacing goes to hell because there aren’t enough twists in the plot) or how long they are (just make sure they get  logically the first part should probably be 15,000 words and the last about 5000, but so far, Part One is 10681 words (close enough), and Part Two is 5,676 words (hmm).  But Part Two is the one-night stand, and really, that’s plenty of words for a one-night-stand.  And then we get to Part Three where the FBI shows up at the museum and both the action plot and the romance plot shift into high gear.  Part Three is 9033 words.  That’s about 25,000 words, and my first acts have always been around 30,000 plus, but I think the FBI showing up at the museum, which is going to the major setting for the book, is probably a Turning Point.  I’m not thinking about it too much because I have Part Four to do a final revision on and get to Bob.  Once I find it.  My desktop (laptop) is a little hectic right now.

And I’m just realizing that one of the reasons I shifted to Parts is that this plot wouldn’t work with Acts.  It’s not a Turning Point Plot.  That is, the FBI arriving at the museum is not an action that everybody acknowledges is game changer.  It just quietly changes the game.

Sometimes figuring this stuff out makes my head hurt.  Which is when Bob says, “Just write.”  Sigh.

I’d write more but Bob is waiting for the next Part.  And probably grinding his teeth.  So to save Bob’s dental work, I will not digress into Turning Points.  Because I don’t know where they are in this book.  And this time I kinda don’t care.

Really.  Argh.

Questionable: What’s the Difference Between Plot and Structure?

Lakshmi asked:
“Are plot and story structure the same? Is plot mostly driven by goals? Are twists necessary? How do you define plot?”

So I’m going to reorder your questions from simple to complicated.

“How do you define plot?”

Plot is the events of the story.

“”Are plot and story structure the same?”

No. Story structure is the framework, plot is the content. (more…)