Welcome to the first post in my five part series on plots!
(Wow did that sound incredibly stiff and formal, pardon me.)
I’ve written most of these early in anticipation of
NaNoWriMo this month. And I’ve already given you a Segway. So,
without further ado, I give you:
An introduction.
That’s right; I’m introducing a series I’ve already introduced.
Ahem.
Here’s the deal: I’ve got four things I’d like to highlight
later, given by these vague titles:
“Clichés and All”
“Twists and Turns”
“The Weaving of Arcs”
“Bringing it All Together”
Before I talk about those things (whatever they may be), I’d
like to just talk about plots. Plots, to me, are the hooker. Others like
characters, but I always judge by the plot. Without a plot, the mash of
characters means nothing. They’re together to be… together. No story goal,
nothing. (Yes, I realize slice-of-life stories are different, I’m writing one
myself, but those aren’t my focus).
A plot is like a tapestry. It has hundreds of threads all
woven together to make a masterpiece that will be admired forever. Each
individual thread is different, unique. Without it, the tapestry looks wrong;
it’s missing something vital.
Poorly-written plots are easy to spot. They fall apart dues
to gaping holes in them. They’re templates of other books and the conflict is
weak to non-existent.
I won’t spend much time on what makes plots bad through the
duration of the series (rather, I’ll spend time on what makes them good), so I want to take a moment in
this post for a quick list:
1. Lack of conflict. This is the most obvious of all
problems in plots. When the conflict is low or weak or not there at all, I’ve
no reason to keep reading. Oh, and character relationship tension doesn’t count
as conflict until I actually care about the characters.
2. Plot holes. These tend to be more varied and harder to
assign a solution. However, plot holes have one thing in common: laziness. The
writer was lazy. They didn’t think it worth the time to work out said plot
hole.
The hole can take any form, from Dues ex Machina talents, to
paradoxes to timelines not matching in.
3. Clichés. Based on the titles of the other posts, this
will come up later [next week]. Not all clichés are bad. However, the more
there are, the worse it gets. In addition, not all clichés are created equal.
Some clichés for example:
- The “Chosen One”
main character (only they can save
the world)
- Prophecies
(well, select ones are)
- Rebels (why are
so few peasants content with their
leaders?)
- Discontent
royalty (does no one realize how royalty actually works?)
Plots are wonderful, beautiful things. They bring your Ally
to the Heroin’s aid; create twist after twist after villainous twist. These
simple devices turn the admirer into the love interest, the jealous kid into
the dastardly naysayer of evil.
They can be weak, they can be strong.
And it’s up to you.
Good points, I do agree wholeheartedly with the clichés, well written. :)
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