DAY 4: Plot Happens

Fiction writer Flannery O’Connor wrote, “If nothing happens, it’s not a story.” In
a story, something happens. Sounds pretty simple, right? In your story something
has to happen, and we often refer to this as your plot.
We spent some time talking about character in the previous lessons because
character is absolutely crucial to all novel writing, whether you’re writing a
character-based novel or a plotbased novel. On some levels these distinctions are
meaningless: characters are absolutely central to both types of novels.
It’s less useful to think about plot as what happens in a novel. Instead, it’s more
useful to think about it as what happens to a particular character and how she
responds to it, thus causing other plot points. Flannery O’Connor might have
said, “If nothing happens to someone, it’s not a story.” In a story, something
happens to someone. And depending on your character’s motivations and
desires, his fears and values, just how he responds to this “something” will differ.
For example, a lawyer will respond differently to witnessing a car accident than
a doctor would. The lawyer might be primarily concerned with assessing fault,
while the doctor first checks to see if everyone is okay.
Fiction writer and critic E.M. Forster, in his book Aspects of the Novel, defines
plot’s function with the novel as being causal in nature. That is, one event causes
another, and this is how plot differs from its more chronological cousin story.
The example he gives us is simple: “The king died and then the queen died” is
not a plot. Instead, this is simply a listing of events that happened, perhaps
chronologically, without a cause-and-effect relationship. “The king died and then
the queen died of grief” — now this, says Forster, is a plot. The king dies, for
whatever reason (in our example let’s say the king is goodly and kind, so let’s
imagine the reasons were quite natural, old age, perhaps), and then the queen
becomes grief-stricken. Perhaps she won’t eat or sleep. Perhaps this exacerbates
an underlying condition. The king died, and the queen responded with grief, thus
dying herself. But Forster’s example could have continued: What happens next,
after the queen dies? Perhaps the kingdom is inherited by the royal couple’s
greedy, short, balding son, who feels quite self-conscious about his shiny globe.
He forces all his subjects to shave their heads — but one person resists. What
happens next? Well, depending on the characters’ motivations and personality,
the plot will evolve accordingly. Will the town become shaven ditto heads, or
will one man lead a coiffure mutiny?
Plot is not simply an arbitrary decision made by you, the writer. Instead, the plot
derives from the natural reactions of your characters to the events that unfold
throughout the novel. If the queen hadn’t loved the king, for instance, borrowing
again from E.M. Forster’s example, she may have lived a long life, quickly
taking another husband. Certainly this would have changed the outcome of the
unfolding plot. The more you know your characters before you begin writing
your novel, the more natural the responses will seem to your reader. You’ll have
an easier time writing your scenes, too, if you have a sense of how a character,
based on his or her personality, might react in a given situation.
While there is no magic formula that generates page-turning plots, consider this
quotation from fiction writer Robert Olen Butler: “Fiction is the art form of
human yearning. That is absolutely essential to any work of fictional narrative
art — a character who yearns. And that is not the same as a character who
simply has problems…. The yearning is also the thing that generates what we
call plot, because the elements of the plot come from thwarted or blocked or
challenged attempts to fulfill the yearning.”
Simply put: Yearning generates plot.
Your characters must want something — must yearn for something — and if you
wish to sustain your novel’s plot, you, the writer, must not give it to him. You
should ask yourself these questions:
• What does my character want most in the world?
• What obstacles, events, or people will stand in the way of my character
getting what he wants?
Gatsby, more than money, parties, and fancy shirts, wants Daisy. What’s
standing in his way? Well, Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan, for one. It is this
profound longing that propels the major plot points in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby
both acts and reacts to his yearning and his thwarted desires.
Assignment
First, for a warm-up: From the chart on page 66, choose a
character from list A, and a quality from list B, and write a onehundred–
word character sketch. Next, choose a situation from list
C. Brainstorm the ways in which such a character, when faced
with this particular situation, might naturally react to or against it.
The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate that plot isn’t
simply what happens, but rather how a character responds to a
given situation. Write a short scene. (You may find that you like
your character in this exercise, and if so, feel free to write up a
longer character bio to include in your binder.)
LIST A LIST B LIST C
A celebrity chef Sinister Gets in a car accident
An Elvis impersonator Alcoholic Wins the lottery
A failed Wall Street broker Sexist Accidentally kills a man
A social climber Anxious Enters hot-dog-eating contest
A lottery winner Narcoleptic Finds self in bank holdup
A Civil War reenactor Egomaniacal Finds baby on doorstep
A movie extra Hyperself-conscious Goes to high school reunion
A Political Activist Germaphobe Sets a house on fire
Because this is the first scene you’re writing in this process, it’s good to remind
yourself that all scenes have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Can you
recognize each of these parts in your scenes?
Now, I’d like you to spend some time with at least five characters you wrote bios
for on Day 2. For each character, write a paragraph answering the following
questions: What does my character want most in the world? What obstacles,
events, or people will stand in the way of my character getting what he wants?
This may take you some time because you’ll need to reread the bios and
refamiliarize yourself with the personality traits, history, and life experiences of
each one.
Once you have finished, you’ll have a greater sense of what motivates your
characters and what, in turn, will propel your novel forward. But you’re not done
writing for the day! Before you take off your writer’s cap, I want you to compose
a 250-word synopsis for your current novel idea. Who will be your major
protagonists? What major events might take place? Does the synopsis seem
interesting enough to sustain a novel-length work? Don’t worry if your story
idea morphs throughout the next few weeks. Your final synopsis may resemble
nothing of this one; however, the goal for now is to come up with a cohesive,
holistic vision of what your book may look like.