Finding the plot by Keren David

One of my jobs involves running a plotting seminar with students, all of whom are writing books. It’s meant to go like this. Everyone writes down the bare bones of their plot, in less than 20 points. We share them beforehand. Then at the seminar we go through them one by one, looking for questions and plot hopes and sharing concerns and questions.

I have to admit to my doubts about this exercise. After all, not everyone plans or knows their plot before writing their book. Some of us prefer more freedom, the chance to develop voice and character in the writing, to make up or discover stories as we go along. The idea of a set plot feels all wrong -  something that will smother us, and take out all the excitement of discovery as we write.

Whenever I’ve run this seminar before I’ve always had six or so students. It’s been difficult to give each one the attention they deserve. But this time only two students could attend. So we had a lot more time to talk about  each of their books. And what a useful exercise it turned out to be -  for me, at least, and I hope for them.

One of them had found it impossible to boil her plot down into fewer than 20 points. Instead she had an unfinished chapter plan for 26 chapters…and a sketchy idea of the chapters to come. She reminded me of my own first effort to write a synopsis. It was seven pages long.

The problem is, for those of us who write character led stories which just happen to have plots which twist and turn, is that plot feels secondary to character, and although important, almost incidental. We care about the moments when something shifts in a character’s psyche, and they realise something about themselves. Our focus is on the internal development of that character, and the story they have to tell. The plot is almost incidental. It is the backdrop against which our characters learn and grow.

But the problem with that is that story can get swamped in reflection and back story. In my student’s case, I went through her chapter plan looking for moments of action that pushed the story forward. I looked for areas of backstory that could be converted into happening then and there. And then together we looked at ways to refine that forward-moving, active story-telling plot, to fill any holes and to make sketchy villains more coherent and well-rounded.

It was fun, I hope it was helpful and it made me think about what plot is and isn’t. In some ways it’s the most artificial bit of the process, because life rarely shapes itself into stories with a beginning, middle and end. It’s the thread that runs through all the other bits -  the description, the dialogue, the characterisation.

My approach to starting writing books has been to approach them as I did news stories when I was a reporter. Here’s the lead -  something that might make a story (girls wins millions on the lottery, say, or boy witnesses murder) . Then meet/create the characters. Then ask them to tell you their story.

But next time, I might just try it the other way around. Work out the story. Think about it a lot. And then build the characters and add in everything else. Sure, I am not a natural planner. But it might, just, be a helpful way of doing it.