Plot
NIKKI BIELINSKI
Plots are always rather elusive for me. Characters, context, fantastical inventions, supernatural interventions can fill notebooks on my shelves and scraps of paper under my desk. Unfortunately, a wad of paper the size of a book, does not a book maketh. I sometimes pick apart stories and make spreadsheets of plots, subplots and character development. All very interesting, time-consuming and keeps me away from my own writing. Super. Not the point though is it? So I read Terry Pratchett books and try and find the connections between the connections. It’s like a three-dimensional spiderweb with Tiffany Aching in the middle. I think I need to travel to the fourth dimension though to get a clear, hindsight perspective that would allow the connections to spark off each other, culminating in a wow factor.
I’ll let you know…
I am sorry to say that I too find plotting very difficult. Critique groups have said – on occasion – that my writing is O.K. and characters lively, but when I try a longer story I know that the plot has So Far been my downfall. However I haven’t given up hope that I can improve!