One of the reasons I'm struggling a bit with my new writing project is that I usually start with a plot, then find characters to fit into the story. This has drawbacks, the biggest being that as I create my characters, they sometimes become so real to me that they start saying things I don't want to hear:
"Yeah, I know you plan for this to happen, then that to happen--but I just wouldn't do those things."
You're just a character, do what I tell you.
"Fine. That'll be my voice in the back of your mind--and you ain't heard nagging yet."
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| Don't even get me started on Beth Hamlin. |
Stupid characters. But they're usually right, and I've been known to make changes accordingly. Just the same, I start out with a plot, and the major plot points usually stay the same, as does the ending.
This time out I started with great characters: a group of firefighters on a fictional department somewhere in the Midwest. I had a great setting, background on all of the above, and even some scenes already playing in my mind.
But no plot.
I did have a general arc going on in the background, but mostly the story was about the day to day lives of my characters, and the challenges they faced on the job. It was episodic, like a series of short stories put together, or a TV show about firefighters, of which there are many. My favorite remains "Emergency!", which is indeed put together that way. Season long plot arcs would have been laughed at, back then.
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| Can I find new story ideas from personal experience? Yes. Yes, I can. |
But I want a plot. I'm a plot guy.
And here's the thing: I have identified a plot idea, but it's deadly serious, tragic, and very "ripped from the headlines". If you know my writing, you know I generally keep to light escapism, and my characters are all set to have a lot of fun in their life and death careers.
I'm not asking for a solution, mind you (although if you want to offer one, hey!) I'm only complaining because talking out loud helps me resolve these dilemmas. It seems to be working: Even as I write this I realize the Big Bad event I've contemplated would set things up for future books in a series, if that should happen.
And those future plot ideas I have come up with; all I need is an opening.
(Remember: Every time you buy a book, a writer's career could blow up. Not literally. Well, maybe in my case.)
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark
R Hunter"
Think spy balloons.
ReplyDeleteOh, don't think I haven't!
DeleteI know exactly what you mean about those characters, I've now got a dog causing chaos in my story, and he was really just meant to sit there and look cute! Bloody retrievers.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? I've got very different dogs in two of my recent stories, and they both do whatever they darned well want to.
DeleteFar be it from me to tell another author how to write. I will tell you that I let my characters dictate what they did and what they said. I did not have a "plot" per se as I had already seen the story in my mind. Good luck on your endeavors. Oh, of course, I Tweeted.
ReplyDeleteThanks! My characters certainly do take off on tangents from time to time, but I've learned that if I don't have a basic rough outline with an ending in sight, I just never get to the end of the story. It led to a whole box full of half-finished trunk novels.
DeleteI have a fun storybook that I get out every few years and play with. Love my characters. Love my "hook" - it honestly is original. Sadly, it has no real plot. that is a major problem, unless I turn it into a sitcom screenplay
ReplyDeleteI was going great guns on it once upon a time - had about six months of major work lost due to human error (not my own) - and never did regain the rhythm to plug away seriously on it...
I have a whole box full of half-finished trunk novels. Great stories, I just never found an end to them--that's why I always have a rough outline before I get started. Of course ... you could start working on that sitcom.
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