Plots, Part 1
So, I've covered Titles and Summaries so far. This next rant/blog/educational tool will cover something a little bit more abstract than those previous topics. Plot.
I consider plot to be the bones of the story. It is the skeleton on which the rest of the story is built upon. It is extrememly important. Without plot, your story is a useless pile of adjectives, nouns, and verbs arranged in various ways.
What determines a good plot is more abstract than what determines a good summary or title. You will lose some of the people who clicked on your story based on plot. Perhaps the summary implied the story was something different. Maybe they thought they were reading a slash fic and turned out to be a frienship fic or vice versa. Whatever, you can't really help that. Besides, at least they instead of staying to flame you...
Regardless, there are some things that are inexcusable.
The Tired Plot
This is the plot that has been done over and over and over again. It tends to take place in high school. There are the obligatory cliques: the cheerleaders, the jocks, the cool people (only in the better ones), the goths/punks/emos (basically the dark outcast ones). One of the characters is from the lower caste--clique, my bad. The other is from the jocks/smart people (sometimes the same). The tension from the story centers around the difference in social status. The people from the upperclass don't want one of their own to mingle with and go out of their way to make life difficult for the lovers. If this is a slash fic, there's the whole gay thing (but that's a different story...).
Ex. Character A is a football jock. He and his teammates regularly tease a group of social outcasts. Character B is part of that group. CB is considered a nerd (CB can be male or female. CA tends to be male. I have yet to read a fic about a female jock and nerd/goth/whatever guy. Besides, it's new so it wouldn't be as tired, but don't worry, I'm sure that someone out there has killed it). CA is failing a class and is paired with CB for a class project. Neither one is happy. However, they both end up falling for each other. There is some sort of confrontation between the popular kids and CB. It ends badly or well.
Sound a tad familiar, that's because I've described the basic plot of a lot of high school AUs. Now there are people---actually no. I was gonig to say that there are poeple who could pull this off, but there aren't. Not with this plot. Not even I, who delights in taking chick flick-esque plots and turning them into deep stories, could take this plot and make it work.
What's wrong? Well, for starters, the whole idea of cliques is extremely cliched, even if they exist. Then there's the fact that these relationships frankly aren't ever going to work. CB and CA have no common friends. They have no where to hang out without one of them feeling excluded. (The plot is based on the tension between the two social groups). This is not the grounds for a good relationship. Both parties need to have friends and social interactions outside of their relationship with their significant other.
It's very Romeo and Juliet-esque. This is not a good thing. Let's all remember that both Juliet and Romeo died. That's not a great love story. We don't know how their relationship would work out, as they never got a chance.
The Gay Plot
This is almost a subplot of the Tired Plot. This actually can work extremely well, as a side plot. A minor side plot. How does this one work? All the tension, all the drama, comes from the gay part. CA is "straight." Something, a comment, this guy, failed straight relationships, makes him start to question his sexuality. He worries about being gay. CB is probably already gay and comfortable. He and CA are friends/aquaintances. CA will probably start a fight by saying something anti-gay so his macho friends don't think he's gay/to prove he's straight. CB takes offense, they have a fight/argument. Eventually CA realizes that he's gay. The story either ends or goes on to the getting together of the couple and the struggle with the anti-gay society.
This plot isn't necessarily bad. It can be good if the writer is excellent. However, both these plots are boring. They've been done over and over and over again. Yes, I can understand why budding writers might want to start with these. These are easy plots.
However, I swear to God, that I will suffer through extremely irritating grammatic, stylistic, and other flaws, if the story has a decent plot. Seriously, I will read through poorly written stories just because the author has a take on certain plot or situation that I've never seen before. I like those better than the stories with competent writing and basic plots. I believe that the authors with the original plots only need to improve their writing, which is a helluva a lot easier than improving one's imaginative.
For example, let's look at my stories: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3532997/1/Playing_with_Fire , http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3835380/1/Stuttering_Toward_Ecstasy, and http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4680553/1/Christmas_Party_At_The_Elrics.
The plot of http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3532997/1/Playing_with_Fire , is driven by Ed's pyromania and moving to a new town. Ed's pyromania causes problems due to how he's medicated and the effects of said medication. I haven't written this yet but, another struggle is that of Envy to figure out what exactly Ed has and how to seduce him. Ed eventually has to go off his medication, which also causes problems.
I avoided the whole gay-realization thing by giving Ed an ex-boyfriend. Though Envy does have to realize that he's not bi, and that most girls think he's a girl.
In http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3835380/1/Stuttering_Toward_Ecstasy, the tension is caused by the fact that Ed stutters and doesn't realize he's gay (he's almost there...). This is compounded by how hard envy is trying not to screw things up. There are also several side-plots involving Winry, Ling, Russell, and Sloth.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4680553/1/Christmas_Party_At_The_Elrics's plot derives from the relationships of the characters. Ed has the recently ended relationship with Winry to consider and the one he's starting with Envy. Envy is haunted by the thing with Kimblee. Russell and Sloth are working something out. Greed and Winry have a thing.
So, please, do everyone a favor and stop writing all those tired and worn out plots. If there is only one or two conflicts driving your stories, it's a bad sign, especially if those conflicts could go away. A really, and I mean really, simple solution to this is to pay some attention to the lives of your characters' friends. There's going to be some stuff there. CB and CA aren't going to have wonderful drama-free friends. No. Their friends are going to have romantic problems, school problems, parent problems, ect. Have a cousin visit, kill off an aging relative (this provides a funeral scene), create extremely embarrassing parents (so much better than borderline abusive ones or bland loving ones).
Nothing requires you to write one of these bland plotted things first before moving on to more complex stuff.
Though the worst things about tired plots, is that it takes a while to figure out that they are tired plots, especially if the writing is good.
I consider plot to be the bones of the story. It is the skeleton on which the rest of the story is built upon. It is extrememly important. Without plot, your story is a useless pile of adjectives, nouns, and verbs arranged in various ways.
What determines a good plot is more abstract than what determines a good summary or title. You will lose some of the people who clicked on your story based on plot. Perhaps the summary implied the story was something different. Maybe they thought they were reading a slash fic and turned out to be a frienship fic or vice versa. Whatever, you can't really help that. Besides, at least they instead of staying to flame you...
Regardless, there are some things that are inexcusable.
The Tired Plot
This is the plot that has been done over and over and over again. It tends to take place in high school. There are the obligatory cliques: the cheerleaders, the jocks, the cool people (only in the better ones), the goths/punks/emos (basically the dark outcast ones). One of the characters is from the lower caste--clique, my bad. The other is from the jocks/smart people (sometimes the same). The tension from the story centers around the difference in social status. The people from the upperclass don't want one of their own to mingle with and go out of their way to make life difficult for the lovers. If this is a slash fic, there's the whole gay thing (but that's a different story...).
Ex. Character A is a football jock. He and his teammates regularly tease a group of social outcasts. Character B is part of that group. CB is considered a nerd (CB can be male or female. CA tends to be male. I have yet to read a fic about a female jock and nerd/goth/whatever guy. Besides, it's new so it wouldn't be as tired, but don't worry, I'm sure that someone out there has killed it). CA is failing a class and is paired with CB for a class project. Neither one is happy. However, they both end up falling for each other. There is some sort of confrontation between the popular kids and CB. It ends badly or well.
Sound a tad familiar, that's because I've described the basic plot of a lot of high school AUs. Now there are people---actually no. I was gonig to say that there are poeple who could pull this off, but there aren't. Not with this plot. Not even I, who delights in taking chick flick-esque plots and turning them into deep stories, could take this plot and make it work.
What's wrong? Well, for starters, the whole idea of cliques is extremely cliched, even if they exist. Then there's the fact that these relationships frankly aren't ever going to work. CB and CA have no common friends. They have no where to hang out without one of them feeling excluded. (The plot is based on the tension between the two social groups). This is not the grounds for a good relationship. Both parties need to have friends and social interactions outside of their relationship with their significant other.
It's very Romeo and Juliet-esque. This is not a good thing. Let's all remember that both Juliet and Romeo died. That's not a great love story. We don't know how their relationship would work out, as they never got a chance.
The Gay Plot
This is almost a subplot of the Tired Plot. This actually can work extremely well, as a side plot. A minor side plot. How does this one work? All the tension, all the drama, comes from the gay part. CA is "straight." Something, a comment, this guy, failed straight relationships, makes him start to question his sexuality. He worries about being gay. CB is probably already gay and comfortable. He and CA are friends/aquaintances. CA will probably start a fight by saying something anti-gay so his macho friends don't think he's gay/to prove he's straight. CB takes offense, they have a fight/argument. Eventually CA realizes that he's gay. The story either ends or goes on to the getting together of the couple and the struggle with the anti-gay society.
This plot isn't necessarily bad. It can be good if the writer is excellent. However, both these plots are boring. They've been done over and over and over again. Yes, I can understand why budding writers might want to start with these. These are easy plots.
However, I swear to God, that I will suffer through extremely irritating grammatic, stylistic, and other flaws, if the story has a decent plot. Seriously, I will read through poorly written stories just because the author has a take on certain plot or situation that I've never seen before. I like those better than the stories with competent writing and basic plots. I believe that the authors with the original plots only need to improve their writing, which is a helluva a lot easier than improving one's imaginative.
For example, let's look at my stories: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3532997/1/Playing_with_Fire , http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3835380/1/Stuttering_Toward_Ecstasy, and http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4680553/1/Christmas_Party_At_The_Elrics.
The plot of http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3532997/1/Playing_with_Fire , is driven by Ed's pyromania and moving to a new town. Ed's pyromania causes problems due to how he's medicated and the effects of said medication. I haven't written this yet but, another struggle is that of Envy to figure out what exactly Ed has and how to seduce him. Ed eventually has to go off his medication, which also causes problems.
I avoided the whole gay-realization thing by giving Ed an ex-boyfriend. Though Envy does have to realize that he's not bi, and that most girls think he's a girl.
In http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3835380/1/Stuttering_Toward_Ecstasy, the tension is caused by the fact that Ed stutters and doesn't realize he's gay (he's almost there...). This is compounded by how hard envy is trying not to screw things up. There are also several side-plots involving Winry, Ling, Russell, and Sloth.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4680553/1/Christmas_Party_At_The_Elrics's plot derives from the relationships of the characters. Ed has the recently ended relationship with Winry to consider and the one he's starting with Envy. Envy is haunted by the thing with Kimblee. Russell and Sloth are working something out. Greed and Winry have a thing.
So, please, do everyone a favor and stop writing all those tired and worn out plots. If there is only one or two conflicts driving your stories, it's a bad sign, especially if those conflicts could go away. A really, and I mean really, simple solution to this is to pay some attention to the lives of your characters' friends. There's going to be some stuff there. CB and CA aren't going to have wonderful drama-free friends. No. Their friends are going to have romantic problems, school problems, parent problems, ect. Have a cousin visit, kill off an aging relative (this provides a funeral scene), create extremely embarrassing parents (so much better than borderline abusive ones or bland loving ones).
Nothing requires you to write one of these bland plotted things first before moving on to more complex stuff.
Though the worst things about tired plots, is that it takes a while to figure out that they are tired plots, especially if the writing is good.