Plots - Part 5 Bringing it All Together”

Two weeks ago, I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger regarding Addy’s story. Then, last week, I danced around the issue of that climax just to give you a bit more time to wrestle with her decision.

She stands now in the position to save her family and friends or bring down her enemy.

The months leading up to this position are filled with ample chances for her to leave. The twisting of her character arc, however, seems to make it clear that she wishes to stay and fulfill her duty.

But now?

What does Addy do now?

I’ll tell you.

Addy makes the choice that will make the reader cry the most.

Ouch, that sounds harsh. It’s true, however. If the plot of Addy’s story is to finish in such a way that satisfies the reader, it’s going to have to be the way of crying.

This is not to say everything must end in horrid tragedy (although this tends to help), but it is to say that the reader must feel the most emotion. Therefore, Addy’s choice depends on two things:

-The story

-Her character

Is it in Addy’s character to abandon her family? No. From what we’ve seen she would choose to cling to them. After all, she lost her father. I doubt she can stand to lose her mother and Tom as well.

Is it in her story to abandon her family? Well, that depends. It seems that the plot is leading her to abandon them and chase after the villain. We don’t want her to, we beg her not to. Save you family, let the bad guy get away. You can chase him down later, Addy.

Do you see it?

Addy’s choice may be a difficult one in her eyes and in the eyes of the reader, but the eyes of the author see it most keenly.

Addy must choose to chase the villain.

It’s the path that will make the reader feel the most emotions and it’s the path that makes the most sense with the plot. In order to make it fit with her character, her emotional pain at choosing against saving her family will be enough.

Now what happens?

Well, Addy chases down the villain. She wins in the climax. All is right with the world.

Next comes another choice. It isn’t Addy’s, however. It’s yours. The writer’s. What is going to happen to those Addy loves? Will they be dead?

That’s a bit of a cliché.

But you can’t let your readers down. They want to feel those raw emotions, despite their vehement denials. If your book ends with Addy and Tom and her mother happily ever after, then the reader will feel cheated.

Since this is my plot, I have to choose.

Thus, I make the hard choice: Tom dies.

Her mother lives, along with anyone else who happened to be captured that Addy cares about. Addy arrives just a moment too late. In time to hold him in her arms as he breathes his last. If we’re lucky, he’ll steal a kiss on his way out.

There.

It is finished.

Well, not quite. There are loose ends to wrap up. In addition, the reader deserves a glimpse at Addy’s life after this rather traumatic adventure.

What will she do now? She’s had training as an assassin; will she continue down that path? Or will she choose to restore order to her father’s kingdom, with her mother’s help?

All decisions that need to be made.

So this is my final lesson in plots:

You are the writer of the story. No one else can write it for you, even thought it’d be nice if they could. You have to write it. It’s your choice. Every hard choice has to be made.

It’s up to you.

That’s it.

I’m done. No more posts about plot, for now. Based on my schedule, there will be one in mid-January that might reference the idea of plots a little, but nothing before or after that until the end of my written down ideas for posts.

Speaking of future posts, a little teaser for the month of December:

-We’ll discuss calendars and holidays,

-I’ll talk about too much worldbuilding,

-And there will be a special two-part post the days before and after Christmas, since it’s on a Friday.

Finally, November ended on Monday. And with the end of November comes the end of NaNoWriMo.

If you participated, how did you do? Even if you didn’t complete it, how far did you get? Leave a comment and share; I’d love to celebrate it with you, no matter how many words you managed!

So ends a rather lengthy series on plots! What do you think about plots? Do you enjoy twisting them together and making them fresh and exciting? Leave a comment and share!