Plot the Pain Away

I have a new addiction. Plotting.

Admittedly, I’ve always loved plotting. I love coming up with a story, turning it into a plot, thinking up highlights etc. etc. Problem is, I tend to stop there because I feel that by plotting I’m stalling the writing which is the actual, real work. So I plunge right in to prove that I’m not afraid. And since I have the highlights, there are just the details, such as “hero and heroine fall in love” that need to be completed when actually writing. No problemo, right?

Wrong. I get lost in the plot and I twist it around until everything becomes more and more contrived and I just add words so I’ll end up at the next scene that actually has a point (plus I have word count goals, and unless I churn out those words, I feel I’m stalling). Each time I find that having the first scene and then one “later on” and then some, about two-thirds in and the final scene, probably isn’t enough plotting.

So I’m trying something new. I’m plotting it all out. Every detail. I think the fact that I can do that without much trouble is a sign of me having a solid story to start with. But there’s more to it – things I can see would have been a tangle later on are actually de-tangled before I even start.

One of the best advice I ever got (and I have no idea where, I just know I didn’t come up with it myself), is to use as few story elements as possible. If you have a secondary character in chapter one, don’t introduce a new one in chapter five to fill a plot point. Use the first character. In fact, you shouldn’t have anything in the chapter one that isn’t necessary to resolve the plot. Trim the fat and make the elements you have do double duty. That way, things connect. There are no lose ends. I can’t say how much this simple thing has helped me.

Another brilliant advice is (I think he was the one who said it anyway, but I haven’t been able to verify it) SF-writer Gordon Dickson’s statement that you should make sure that every character wants something in every scene, even if it’s only a glass of water. If you start out the plotting of each scene by simply listing what all the characters want out of it, you’ll soon find that you know how they’ll act. And they’ll all act. There will be no wallpaper characters, because they all have drive.

And thirdly, NoteBook. I’m a sucker for NoteBook. Colors and post-its and pretty fonts make it so much simpler to organize and visualize your plot.

So, I’m a complete slut for anything plotting related right now. Help me feed that addiction, will you? What are your best tips? Any recommended craft books? Links? keep ‘em coming, because like Depeche Mode said back in the day: I just can’t get enough.