how to develop characters? how to move the plot along….hmm something like that. have fun ‎

Thanks for the suggestion, Saira! I decided to go with the bolded section. I’ll do something on developing characters in another article. Maybe the next one? Anyway, today’s post is all about moving the plot along and how you do that.

I’m sure every writer has faced this dilemma a number of times when writing. You get an SNI (shiny new idea) or not so shiny new idea and start writing. But eventually, you run out of steam or your story stalls and you think, “Where the heck do I go from here?” You know where you want to end up but you have no idea how to get there. I’m not claiming to be an expert (far from it) but over the years (which aren’t too many) I’ve read about and used a number of methods which have proven successful for myself and others.

The Motive: This is really the core of your story. The motive of your main characters pushes everything along. It’s the reason why Harry Potter is determined to defeat Voldermort, why Buffy slays vampires and why Gossip  Girl writes her gossip. If your characters don’t have a motive, you, dear writer, have no story. What you do have are a bunch of people floating around in your mind doing random stuff that may or may not make sense. So ask yourself, why is Agatha trying to find the golden goblet? Why is Mindy trying to ruin Veronica’s reputation? If you can answer these questions (or whatever ‘why’ questions pertain to your story) you are on your way to making sure your story doesn’t stall!

The Stakes: This ties in with ‘The Motive’. Actually, it’s a very big contributing factor to it. The stakes are what your character(s) have to lose. For instance, if Mindy doesn’t ruin Veronica’s reputation she won’t get the guy and won’t be prom queen. If Agatha doesn’t find the golden goblet the world will burst into flames, claiming her life as well as everyone else’s. Everyone has something to lose. Everyone.

Conflict: This is a crucial way to keep your plot moving. Every good story needs conflict. It pushes the stakes, motivates the characters and its what you resolve at the end of the story. Conflict keeps your reader reading and your pages turning. Seriously. What would Harry Potter be without the conflict. Harry versus Draco. Harry versus Ron. Harry versus Snape. Harry versus the World. Harry Potter would not be as cool or interesting if he didn’t have so many problems. And problems equal conflict.

So, how do you make these things work for you? How do you work them into your story?  The proven suggestion is to outline, outline, outline. You can outline in your head or outline on paper – but having a working idea of what you want to happen, why it’s supposed to happened, to who its going to happen and when its going to happen is a good idea. I’ve come across a few of suggestions – it’s up to you to see which will work best for you.

The List: This is the loosest way to go, as far as I can figure and allows the most creative leeway later on in the writing process. Simply list the major events of your story. Once you’ve listed them, go back and add meat. This means emotions, motivation, who is there when the event happens, etc.

Scene Chart: This is what I’ve started to do and is a variation of the above – only much, much more specific. It works for me, but might not work for everyone. List all the scenes that will happen in your story – all of them. Then, go back and answer why they need to happen. If you can’t answer why, scrap the scene and move on. When you go into the writing stage, add the meat. It’s liberating and constraining at the same time – for me, the scene chart makes sure that I stick to the plot and the story doesn’t become a monster (as mine are wont to do) but I also know exactly where I’m going and why. If the story changes I just go back to the scene chart, and rework it. Excel is a really good tool for this.

The Snowflake Method: This is what I first used when I started working on my novel and its really helpful all around. The Snowflake method makes you flush out characters, events, etc. It forces you to understand your characters, their motivations, how the plot molds them and how they mold the plot. If you’re just starting out and the idea of writing a novel is freaking you out – the Snowflake Method might be the way to go. Stick it in google and Randy Ingermanson’s ‘The Snowflake Method’ should come up.

So I hope I’ve given you some tools to help you keep that plot moving! As always, comments are appreciated – and any suggestions you may have for future posts are welcome.

And this is where the beta reader comes in. Fanfiction.net says that a beta reader is “a person who reads a work of fiction with a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public.” Cool. Awesome. Great. But, do you need one and why?

Well, first of all, everyone needs a beta reader. Reduced to their most basic function, a beta reader is a fresh set of eyes to look at your work. They can pick up things that you’ve missed since you’ve probably memorized your work by the time you’ve reached the beta stage. That means that you’ll miss simple stuff that you think you’ve got covered. So, point one: betas are good for catching stupid stuff that you know, but can’t see.

You have no idea (or maybe you do!) how many stories I’ve come across on both sites that have the potential to be a really good read (maybe not original, but at least they’d read smoothly) but threw the chance out the window because they refused to get a beta reader. In original fiction a beta reader will show you that you missed this grammar error, this sentence is wierd, and hey, guess what?, this entire paragraph is not necessary.

In fanfiction, a beta readers role has the added task of  making sure you stay in canon (assuming you’re not writing alternate universe – to be covered in another post). If you’re writing Lord of the Rings, they make sure your characters use language properly, are represented in character and that the world makes sense. If it’s alternate universe, they make sure the story as a whole is believable and not drivel you pulled out of your ass.

If you have a beta, make sure they’re doing their job. Really. I’ve come across authors who’s stories could use a lot of work and when I say so they respond, “Well I’ve got a beta and s/he is amazing!” No. No.

It seems that there are a lot of (and I’m really sorry if this comes off rather bitchy) complete and total idiots out there who will read anything! And these idiot readers will happily add you to their group! How, you ask? Well, they take a look at your story (which either is in desperate need of a beta or in even more desperate need of a better one) and they praise it. They put you on a pedestal that’s so darn shiny and high you just can’t believe it. And you don’t want to ever be put down! If you’re getting reviews that fall into the following categories:

• one liners
• use leet speak (ie 0MG so so c00l!! ur so l337)
• tell you on and on that you’re story is so cool and awesome and they are just gonna wet their pants with joy
• do not tell you why they like your story just that they do
• a flame
• constructive criticism

it probably means that you need some work done. Believe it or not, folks, people don’t flame just because it’s fun (though this is a substantial part of the reason). They flame because they found something fundamentally wrong with your storty. This could be a glaring plot hole, atrocious grammar, non-canon elements. But really, you’re not getting flamed just because they like posting mean things to random people. As wrong as it sounds, you were targeted for a reason. And if you were targeted, it wouldn’t be succumbing to their ignorance to get a beta reader. You would be doing yourself a favor because you’d be improving your writing.

Bottom line: Beta’s are important. Very important. If you don’t have one, get one. If you’re a fanfiction writer, guess what? Fanfiction.net has an entire service dedicated to finding beta readers just for you. If you’re an original fiction writer Absolute Write Water Cooler (google it, people) has many, many beta readers that are able and willing to help you improve as a writer.

So, every Friday (because those are the days that I’ll have the most time) I’ll post something about writing – usually about something that I’ve come across in during my readings. This means, I’ll tell you what I think you shouldn’t be doing and why. Here we go.

Introduction/Prologue/Whatever you want to call it: First of all, if you’re introduction isn’t significantly different or separate from your first chapter, don’t separate it; it makes the beginning choppy. For example:

Anika stared at her surroundings in fear. She had never seen a place like this. The trees were immense and glowed silver in the light. She winced when she stumbled over a root, barely escaping a fall. Her head ached and she hadn’t been able to stem the bleeding.

Stay awake, she thought to herself. Stay. Awake!

But it wasn’t long before she found a seat on a large, protruding root. Soon after, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

Chapter One

When she woke up, night had fallen and a light rain had started to fall.

Now, what was the point separating the introduction from the first chapter. Chapter one was a direct continuance of the introduction and the break only served to make the reading choppy. Instead, if you need a break between the two, use a line break. Clean and simple.

Commas are your friend…sometimes: Commas really help out when writing. They prevent you from sounding long winded and stupid. Learn them. Love them. Use them. But not too much! If you don’t know whether or not to use commas follow this simple rule: Write first, comma later. Read the chapter once you’re done  out loud to yourself, and if you need a comma, use it.

Voice: I cannot stress enough how important the voice of your story is. The character whose point of view the story is told should come through in the narration.  If the character is a thirty year old teacher, I want to be able to tell that she is an adult, a professional and not a snotty teenager. Really. It’s important.

“You guys!” she yelled into the dark. “Stop it! This is so not funny! I’m really scared!” She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. This was so ridiculous. She was alone, cold and could be concussed. And no one cared? They were just going to leave her by herself? Like this? What was she gonna do?

How old do you think Anika is? Fourteen? Fifteen? Maybe seventeen? No. She’s thirty years old. But you can’t tell at all by the voice that comes through the writing. She sounds like a terrified teenager whose friends routinely prank her. How many thirty year old women do you know who have friends that prank them by knocking them unconscious and dragging them to the woods?  The language that you use in your story needs to reflect that of the character – if she’s sophisticated, kind, intelligent – all of that needs to come through when you’re telling your story.

Consistency: Also, keep the voice constant. Don’t start with the voice of a tween and suddenly decide to switch to the voice of an adult. Your characters should be so vivid and well thought out that they have a personality and that personality should continuously come through the writing. If you’re changing voices sporadically it means that your character lacks some depth and you don’t know who they are yet. Understanding your character, their traits, desires, motivation, etc is very important to having a fluid, engaging and believable story (in relation to the fandom of course). In addition to that, keep the tense the same. If you’re using past tense, stick with it. The same goes for present, future, first person, third person, limited and omniscient. Don’t do this:

Anika’s legs trembled violently. I do not know what I’m going to do. She swallows thickly and closed her eyes.

Okay, what the hell just happened? I went from third person past tense, to first person present tense to third person present tense. Pick a tense and point of view and stick to it. It maintains fluidity and consistency in your story. Okay? Thanks.

Canon: The world created by J.R.R. Tolkien is fantastic, amazing and sacred. Unfortunately, a lot of writers don’t understand that when you intend to use creative material that does not belong to you you are expected to respect it. At least a little bit.  The term fanfiction implies fiction written by fans. It does not translate to ‘I can do whatever the hell I want with your story.’ If you choose to write in a certain fandom you are expected to be familiar with the material. Don’t read a few fanfictions, call yourself an expert and then be super shocked/surprised/enraged when loyalists rip your ‘baby’ to pieces. Do your research, google, library, forums – your resources are limitless. Don’t be lazy.

Thank you all for reading! If you have any suggestions about what you want to read about next, please let me know! Feel free to comment.

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When you decide to start a story, clearly you’ve already got a plot in mind. You already know what you’re characters are going to be like, how you want the story to progress and you understand why everything is happening. But guess what? The rest of us lowly readers who have no idea what is going on in that writer’s mind of yours don’t. We don’t know that Xandra is twenty one years old and can’t stand cocky guys. We don’t know that her life makes her fed up and that’s why she preformed a spell to change her life. And we didn’t know that in order to do all of this fate and the powers that be decided to trasnport her to Middle Earth! We need you to show us that! I hate reading a story where you get about four paragraphs insight into a character before the first major plot twist. It’s like, ‘WOAH, WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM?!?!?!’ I’m, not saying wait until chapter three to get the story moving (that would just be annoying) but atleast give us a few more substantial paragraphs before hitting us with a sledge hammer of a plot twist. FYI, getting transported to a different world – that counts as a plot twist.