me(me) too!

[flambeau]

It's nice when an interesting meme actually coincides with me having computer access for the next 24 hours. So, from many many people:

Ask me any one question about my writing, then post this in your LJ, so I can satisfy my curiosity about yours.

(I think everyone else already has posted this in their lj, though.)

Comments

[louiselux]

How do you plot?

[flambeau]

Usually very very loosely, in the back of my head. This is an area where I could really use some improvement, but too much attention to outlining plot tends to interfere with my ability to write in the sense that when I get all the details noted down, or even just outlined in my head, I start to believe that the story is over and done with, time to move on. So mostly I plot by thinking about things but not too hard, and making little notes at the end of the story of everything I put in that needs to come back/be resolved, and which characters should be involved when that happens

[louiselux]

I really like the way you break it down into layers - it's actually very easy to visualise how the 'external' layer might fit over the 'internal' layer. Not that visualising has ever made plotting very easy for me. I'm definitely of your school - don't think about it too hard. I spot the plot out of the corner of my eye and let it come wandering over of its own accord. It's also partly because if I plot too hard I begin to suspect that the plot is silly or not going to work - it starts to frighten me!

Popslash made me try to figure out the parameters of romcom, and learn way more about dialogue as a vehicle for plot and a way of telling two different stories at once.

And those two different stories can also be seen as plot layers, right? So you have the actual dialogue and underneath that there are the things that aren't being said, who says what to who and when, and how they're said.

A lot of the time, this loose approach to plotting is a real drawback;

Have you tried other methods, just out of interest?

[flambeau]

And those two different stories can also be seen as plot layers, right? So you have the actual dialogue and underneath that there are the things that aren't being said, who says what to who and when, and how they're said.

Yes, exactly! :) It developed into a different way for me to "disguise" the emotional plotline and take the scenic route to wherever I was going.

Have you tried other methods, just out of interest?

I've tried the detailed outline thing, but mostly it kills the stories dead. The more I write down and arrange plot elements, the less I end up writing the actual story.

[marycrawford]

I'm going to follow this with my question, if you don't mind and if it's not contrary to the go-by-instinct method - how do you get the plotty storyline and the emotional development storyline to match up? Can you talk a bit more about leakage and things? *g*

(I tend to think about plots this way too, only I haven't managed yet to write a story that has both; I've attempted an adventure plot and an emotional plot, but not the two together. I worry that when I try, they will end up feeling off, like a bad Star Trek episode with an A arc and a completely unrelated B arc.)

[flambeau]

well, I can try. :) I usually have an idea of where both the plot arcs are going to end,and then I just try to keep them balanced on the way there - sometimes by alternating plot and emotion moments and sometimes by getting one scene to serve two purposes. Which is good because it helps avoid the complete disconnect betwee A arc and B arc. *g*

I'm trying to think of a good example here. Before the face of the sun is actually the longest story I've written in nearly 3 years *wince* and I know you've read it, but it's not a very good example of this kind of plotting, since the externally-directed events are pretty much all about serving the purposes of the emotional plot. (That does mean, though, that the two types of narrative elements are very interconnected, as in the scene where Damien heals the militia member, which is really all about the relationship between Gerald and Damien, and their different assumptions about it.) Lovers is a much better example of casefile and relationship moving side by side, but I don't know if you've

[marycrawford]

Before the face of the sun is actually the longest story I've written in nearly 3 years *wince* and I know you've read it

And loved it madly, let's not leave out that part. *g* But I think I see what you mean - it doesn't have a separate, or mostly-separate, external plot so much as one plot happening on several levels. I haven't read Lovers, and certainly wouldn't mind your explaining the plot by way of example if you're willing. :-)

[flambeau]

Well, I'll do it, but it might have to wait for the weekend. :)

[halimede]

a whole different kettle of squid

*swoon* why yes, I am paying attention! ;)

I've got one story that's been stuck about halfway through for two years because I don't quite know how to wrap up one central plot point in a way that acknowledges how emotionally serious it is and will still let me off the hook of writing or at least implying years of therapy.

I'm sure I speak for many people when I say if there's anything I can do to help...

Squid!

[flambeau]

All for you. :)

if there's anything I can do to help...

I've been considering hypnosis. *g*

Re: Squid!

[halimede]

*swings dangly squid in front of torch's nose*

You are feeling sleeeepy.

Re: Squid!

[flambeau]

Aaaaand I can so imagine a popslash story with squid hypnosis in it.

love this fandom.

[nopseud]

And I usually think of it as having two storylines going on at once. One is the actual physical order of events plot, where someone is murdered or whatever and people move between locations and find objects and talk to witnesses. The other is the emotional story, where the interactions between characters change over time, usually in a romantic/sexual way, and this has to be staggered just right in relation to the physical-events plot.

Ooh, that's really interesting, and not a way of looking at a story that I've ever consciously thought about before. Thinking about it now, I guess I do something slightly similar, although without quite the same split. I think I just have one class of things which would be called something like 'threads' which could include both emotional development and external events in one 'thread'.

[flambeau]

Yeah, the division into layers might be a bit odd, but for some reason it helps me keep track of what I'm doing. :)