Filling in the Dreaded Plot Hole

  Caution! Plot hole.

As I work through the plans for NaNoWriMo next month I have firmed up my structure enough to see the big hole in the first half. Now I’m working on how to fill it up.

The problem is, I went too quickly from the first major turn, when the main character commits to sticking with the story instead of just keeping things as they were, to the midpoint reversal, when the whole thing goes sideways. I tried the usual forms of denial: relabeling a later point in the story as the midpoint reversal, stretching out the little bit that I did have over multiple chapters, denying the importance of structure . . . all the usual dodges. But now I’ve finally buckled down and started brainstorming more events to fill in that hole.

I knew this would be the hardest part for me to plan. I finished planning the beginning early, and if this part runs a little over I know I can plan the ending in less time than allotted as well. I had a pretty clear vision of where the story starts and how it ends. If I can just get through this section, things will go smoothly from here on out.

This is life, isn’t it? We tend to know where we start from, and we often have at least some idea where we want to get to. It’s the middle where we always get stuck. How do I get from here to a more fulfilling job, to a closer relationship with my lover, to a stronger life for my kids? I’d rather have this struggle here, in a fictional world, where I can wave my wand and make things work out the way I want, than in the real world where people really get hurt.

And that’s what fiction is. We can explore the rough edges of life without real blood or tears. Struggles in this other world help strengthen our souls and our hearts, so that we can face the struggles in our real lives.

So as I figure out what obstacles to throw at my characters, I tell myself I’m smoothing the path for some reader somewhere in some tiny way. That’s why I read, and why I write. Fiction isn’t life, but it’s one way we learn to live our lives. Pretentious? Sure! But I think it’s still true.

MyNoWriMo Step 7: Beginning

  How do I begin?

Following the plan suggested in Janice Hardy’s blog, I’ve planned out the eight chapters that will be Act 1 of my novel: the novel’s beginning. Her ideas helped me make sure I’m hitting all the marks as I lead up to the big, complicated structure that is the middle part of the story. I had done a lot of this work before when I sketched out chapters and scenes, so it went pretty quickly. So I finished early, which is good – I think the middle is going to take me extra time to get organized. Starting now!

Progress so far:

• 3/1/15: Set the goal (a full 50,000-word draft, or half a novel?) – On time
• 3/8/15: Develop my one-sentence pitch line – Early
• 3/22/15: Establish major set pieces/beats – On time
• 4/12/15: Develop a rough synopsis – On time
• 5/3/15: Complete a rough outline or scene sketch – On time
• 5/17/15: Map out each character’s story line – Late 😦
• 5/31/15: Plan the beginning of the novel, from opening scene to first major turn – Early
• 6/14/15: Plan the middle of the novel, including all the twists and complications leading to the ending
• 6/28/15: Plan the ending of the novel, including the climax and the final resolution
• 6/30/15: Get all my logistics in place (word-count log, file formats, backups, and so on)

NaNoWriMo Step 6: Characters

   Character Arcs

Better late, I guess. I’ve gone through and mapped out the story lines for five characters (all the major ones except for the main character, who’s so thoroughly mapped by now she doesn’t need it). It was a useful exercise, since it tightened my story by eliminating a character who didn’t have much to do and was turning into an unconvincing romantic interest. As a result I’ll have to restructure some of the scenes/chapters I’ve laid out, but that will be happening in the next month as I plan the beginning, middle, and end of my novel. I’m expecting to be able to spend more time on these tasks since classes are now done and final grades will be submitted by the end of this week. So although I missed this deadline by a few days I consider myself still on track.

Part of coming to live more and more deeply inside my story was creating a cover for the book. I am SO not a designer, and I have not the slightest belief that, should I be lucky enough to get published, the final cover design will resemble this in any way. Still, having a picture like this to look at helps me see the story as real. It’s the same reason I have spent hours scouring the webz for images of people who look like my characters: I can look at them while I write about them. So anyway, for your enjoyment and delight, I present the first look at what is sure to be nothing at all like the eventual cover of my book:

What do you think? I have to admit that dropping my name on there was a little bit of an emotional moment for me.

Progress so far:

• 3/1/15: Set the goal (a full 50,000-word draft, or half a novel?) – On time
• 3/8/15: Develop my one-sentence pitch line – Early
• 3/22/15: Establish major set pieces/beats – On time
• 4/12/15: Develop a rough synopsis – On time
• 5/3/15: Complete a rough outline or scene sketch – On time
• 5/17/15: Map out each character’s story line – Late 😦
• 5/31/15: Plan the beginning of the novel, from opening scene to first major turn
• 6/14/15: Plan the middle of the novel, including all the twists and complications leading to the ending
• 6/28/15: Plan the ending of the novel, including the climax and the final resolution
• 6/30/15: Get all my logistics in place (word-count log, file formats, backups, and so on)

Man Down!

  I seem to have lost a character…

Well, not lost exactly. Laid off. Perhaps to be resurrected in a future work?

This is why you do character arcs! As I went through all the main characters I gradually realized that one of the key ones just didn’t really have that much to do. He was supposed to be the romantic interest, but as he went through the story he mostly just held back out of a kind of glum fear. Not only was he not really contributing much, but I realized I didn’t actually respect him, so how could my main character fall in love with him? Although he did have a crucial role to play in the climax, it really came out of nowhere. So I started asking myself questions.

• If I were Kay (my main character), who in this cast would I fall for?
• Why does that other character appeal to Kay? Can I strengthen those characteristics she would find attractive?
• Does becoming attracted to Kay (and attractive to her as well) conflict in any way with the role this character was originally supposed to play? Can he reasonably, naturally do both?
• If he were in the situation of the final climax, how would he act? Would it be natural for him to do what my original character was supposed to do?

This then led me to the most important question:

• If I removed my original character, would it leave a hole that I can’t fill?

And my answer was: No.

After I got my breathing and heart rate under control (restructuring my main characters at this point, just a month out from NaNoWriMo, makes my palms sweat), I realized this will all work out just fine. I’m keeping the name of the original character because I like it (the new one was named–wait for it–Tom!) and it actually fits this other character even better than the poor, hapless original.

So we move forward with only one character arc left to map out, and it’s the main bad guy. Well, kind of the main bad guy; the truly main bad guy is a monolith of dread, too one-dimensional to be a real character. The one left to map is the Big Bad’s captain, the one who does the actual dirty work. I’m going to have fun with her.

How about you? Have you had characters slip through your fingers as you plan your work? How did you deal with it?

New Number — 32

  I’ve found my number!

For now, anyway.

After my angst about having just 19 chapters – 19!! Intolerable!! – I went back and split things up differently. Some chapters were mapped out with two separate scenes, each of which advanced the plot in significant ways and ended with a bit of a surprising turn. Others were just one scene, plus some reaction and transition stuff. When I restructured things so that each of these separate scenes was a separate chapter, the number turned out to e 32. I like this number. It’s a pleasant, elegant number. I think I can live with it.

As I said — for now. As things progress, everything can be adjusted! I’m able to move forward, though, feeling like I’m grounded, as I work on my character arcs. Each of the main characters and some of the more influential secondary characters, including antagonists, gets an arc. I will have them mapped out by my Sunday deadline.

Do you have a longer work (novel or nonfiction) that you’re planning? If so, how many chapters do you have? How did you arrive at that number?

Writing by the Numbers

  I do love my numbers.

As we all know by now, I’m kind of a compulsive planner. I like to have things figured out ahead of time; makes me more confident that I know what I’m doing. So when I started sketching out scenes and planning beats for my story, I was looking at a blank file and wondering how to begin. What I did was pick some numbers, and the first number I picked: 20. I decided I would aim for 20 chapters in my novel.

I don’t have any particular reason for aiming at that number. It is a nice round number with a good deal of symmetry, being easily divisible by two, four, five, and ten. And when I started trying to plan my beats and my scenes, it seemed to work well. When I came to chapters that were on the thin side, I was able to find more layers to fill things in. I think this made my story stronger. So, yay, all good.

Now, though, as I do a second pass and tighten things up, I’m finding there are scenes that really are transitions or sequels instead. There’s really no actual conflict. It’s people coming to an important realization or dealing with the ramifications of what just happened. Important things. Things that will smooth out the pacing and bring emotional depth to a story. But they don’t support a whole chapter. So – gasp! – I may be down to just 19 chapters, and counting as I continue working my way through.

I’m surprised by how I feel about this. The number 20 couldn’t have been more arbitrary, so why am I now so attached to it? But I am. A book with 19 chapters feels to me like a V8 engine running on seven cylinders. I mean, 19 is prime, for Pete’s sake! How can I deal with that?

The good news: This might lead me to adding more layers, more complications, more conflict, and therefore more richness to my story. The bad news: I’m not proud to be so hung up on numbers. Oh, well. I keep reciting my Popeye mantra: I am what I am. Or, for a totally fabulous version of this message listen to John Barrowman sing it out. No excuses!

Gender Bending

  Hey, there, Alex!

As I’ve been drawing up my plans, getting ready to try NaNoWriMo in July, I’ve been struggling with one particular character. I know what role this person plays in the story; as a mirror for the main character, as a balance for some of the action in the story, as an important turning point for my main character at a critical point in the book. But I keep going back and forth on this person’s gender.

When I first met Alex, she was a woman. She was elegant and poised and tough, made so by the struggles she’s faced in her life. This toughness was what pulled together the motley collection of people who form the core of the story. She’s not one of the two or three central characters, but she’s in the second ring. Without her it would definitely not be the same story.

Early on in my NaNo prep I tore my story’s structure apart, fitting it together again more tightly. Along the way I dropped a couple of characters whose functions began to seem redundant, folding some of their traits into other, more central characters. In the process the story became tilted more toward women. The majority of the characters were female (not a problem in itself), and all the male characters were suddenly either enemies or nincompoops. I don’t like stories where women are only allowed demeaning roles, and didn’t want to see that in reverse. So Alex became male. His name changed to Frank (for some reason Alex didn’t have the same gravitas, the same degree of near-pompousness I wanted for this character). He became more of a hearty, good-old-boy type, but still with that core of toughness and leadership needed to pull together the motley crew.

The weird thing is – I couldn’t completely believe in Frank. That person over there, doing that plot-related or character-related thing, persisted in being Alex inside my head. I kept reminding myself that I’d made this change, but it just wouldn’t stick. So I gave up. Alex wouldn’t go away, so there she is, pulling her weight in the story.

This meant another restructuring, and my story got stronger yet again. I pulled one of the male characters that had been mostly window-dressing into the heart of the story. Suddenly I had a romantic story arc, which I hadn’t planned on but which added an emotionally important layer. Some of the roles of some of the central characters shifted aside a little to make room, and everything clicked. Poor Alex; her determination proves too rigid in the end, and things don’t turn out well for her. But she held onto her place in the story by her neatly-manicured fingernails. and I’m glad she did.

I think this is what some people mean when they say that their characters come alive and take over the story. It doesn’t feel that way to me; I’m in charge of my story, not the characters. But if these people don’t have a certain level of reality in my mind, so that I really care about what happens to them, then they never will for my readers. The story of Alex’s attempted gender-morphing will always remind me of that.

Have you ever had a character come alive and take over? Was this a good thing for your story?

MyNoWriMo Step 4: Synopsis

  Rough Story Synopsis

I pulled it together: a synopsis of my story in two pages, 10 paragraphs, following the plan in Janice Hardy’s Fiction University blog. In the process I learned a lot more about my story. I kept going back and adding ideas and layers to the rough chapter sketches I made while figuring out my story beats for my last step. I’m sure this will change a lot as I move forward as well – the more I figure out, the more things change. I’m feeling really positive about how well all the parts are fitting together!

I’ve decided to adjust my target dates a little, moving one date up. I think it was just a mistake the way I set it up before, since I allowed myself three weeks to throw together an idea bank and only a week to plan the novel’s beginning. The list below reflects the revised date.

Progress so far:

• 3/1/15: Set the goal (a full 50,000-word draft, or half a novel?) – On time
• 3/8/15: Develop my one-sentence pitch line – Early
• 3/22/15: Establish major set pieces/beats – On time
• 4/12/15: Develop a rough synopsis – On time
• 5/3/15: Complete a rough outline or scene sketch
• 5/17/15: Complete an “idea bank” with the things I want to include in the novel
• 5/31/15: Plan the beginning of the novel, from opening scene to first major turn
• 6/14/15: Plan the middle of the novel, including all the twists and complications leading to the ending
• 6/28/15: Plan the ending of the novel, including the climax and the final resolution
• 6/30/15: Get all my logistics in place (word-count log, file formats, backups, and so on)

Temptation

  My eyes are wandering…

I’m plugging my way through my plan for MyNoWriMo in July, working on my synopsis – but oh man, another system has caught my wandering eye, and I may switch to that. I just learned about the Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method, and it really appeals to me. I’m tempted to stop what I’m doing and start snowflaking. But this wondering makes me doubt myself. Does it mean I’m just pretending I’m going to write, spending all my time planning and planning to plan and not actually doing any real writing? If I hadn’t finished two books already (one of which is published, but it’s nonfiction so it’s a whole different beast), these doubts might overwhelm me. But I have finished those two books, so I will beat those doubts to death with a blunt quill and move on to deciding which system I will use. Heck, I’ve got a lot of time until July (or at least it seems that way from here *laughs hollowly*), so maybe I’ll work both, in parallel, somehow. So – will I snowflake, or will I road map, or both? This inquiring mind wants to know. I’ll keep my breathless audience posted on my decision.

Moving Along

  Shoes, keep going.

Synopses are hard.

I’m working on Step 4 of my pre-MyNoWriMo plan, which is to write a synopsis. I’ve got a paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown of how to do this from Janice Hardy’s Fiction University site, so it should be pretty straightforward, right? Um, not so much.

So far I’ve written the first paragraph three times. I started out with four or five sentences that are essentially back story – things that came before my actual novel begins, setting up how the main character got to where she is when the story starts. Nope, that’s not where I should begin. Then I started with what she’s thinking about and struggling with internally at the start of the story (which, as it turns out, hinges on that back story), so again, nope. The third time is tied more directly to what’s actually happening at the moment. This is closer to where I need to start, but I think it will take several more tries before I get to move on to the second paragraph.

I planned three weeks for this step, so I firmly believe I’ll get it done, and on time. I should be working on the second paragraph any day now! As long as I keep putting one foot in front of the other, I’ll get there.