20 Master Plots Lesson 1.2 The Force
Jul 3, 2021 8:20:11 GMT -6
Post by ScienceGirl on Jul 3, 2021 8:20:11 GMT -6
Your Plot, the Force, and You
In this section of chapter 1, Tobias quotes a Chinese proverb:
He says this is true, but that it doesn't tell you "which road to take." He discusses a fear that we all have when penning our first draft. What if we put all this time and effort into writing, but we've struck out in the wrong direction and need to start again?
When I wrote the first draft of my romantic suspense novel, it was beyond terrible. I workshopped it on three different forums, including this one, and the criticism could fill the ocean. So then, I rewrote. I finished that draft and hired an editor. She told me it was still terrible! Back to the drawing board, so I rewrote again. Finally, after finding a publisher and releasing Cavernous, I sent it to her, and she loved it! By that point, I'd resigned myself to self-publishing and I'd already bought the cover, and she complimented me on how well it teased the plot. She saw my vision, understood my storyline, and gave me a resounding yes.
That whole process took five years! And, that was five dedicated years. Five years of working on it diligently every single day.
Tobias resolves this by saying, "The longest journey begins with the first step, but it helps to know where the journey will take you."
Pantsers, never fear! He doesn't mean knowing every single detail that's going to happen in your story. He instead means understanding the kind of plot you're planning to eventually achieve, and all the elements that defines it. He likens this to a compass that helps you get back on track when you start wandering.
Plotters, never fear! You can use your templates and outlines and structure to guide your story. We just need to spend some time figuring out what this structure needs to look like, to keep you from putting so much time into carefully outlining a so-called plot that doesn't work.
On Defining Plot
Tobias poses a question to start off this section: What is Randomness? He goes on to say:
He recounts a conversation with a scientist who argued that randomness does not exist, citing the evidence of operational definitions that work for a certain series of circumstances and conditions. There is no absolute definition of randomness, the scientist asserted.
Tobias likens this argument to plot. We have no absolute definition of plot. We only have operational definitions that work in different circumstances and conditions. And yes, there are only certain plots. Yes, they've all been used over and over again. But that's the beauty of plot and the beauty of this book.
The Exact Number of Plots in the World
Tobias poses yet another question:
He gives multiple choices for response.
It turns out that each of these choices are quotes attributed to various folks including Rudyard Kipling, Carlo Gozzi, and Aristotle. Tobias says that they're all right to some degree and cautions against being completely subscribed to his idea that there are twenty. "I doubt," he says, "anyone can completely catalogue the range of human feeling and action in tidy little packages numbered from one to whatever."
Plot can be packaged in many different ways. There's no magic number and no distinct, absolute, correct packaging system. So, when you hear someone say a plot has been done before, you can respond, "Yes! Many times over!" because in the millions of fiction books that exist today, these sixty-nine or twenty or thirty-six or however many plots have been revisited over and over again.
In other words, reusing a plot that's been done before IS OKAY!!! Thank goodness, because coming up with an original plot is far more difficult than an original story. Tobias offers relief in considering the definition from a completely different angle.
'
In this section of chapter 1, Tobias quotes a Chinese proverb:
The longest journey begins with the first step.
When I wrote the first draft of my romantic suspense novel, it was beyond terrible. I workshopped it on three different forums, including this one, and the criticism could fill the ocean. So then, I rewrote. I finished that draft and hired an editor. She told me it was still terrible! Back to the drawing board, so I rewrote again. Finally, after finding a publisher and releasing Cavernous, I sent it to her, and she loved it! By that point, I'd resigned myself to self-publishing and I'd already bought the cover, and she complimented me on how well it teased the plot. She saw my vision, understood my storyline, and gave me a resounding yes.
That whole process took five years! And, that was five dedicated years. Five years of working on it diligently every single day.
Tobias resolves this by saying, "The longest journey begins with the first step, but it helps to know where the journey will take you."
Pantsers, never fear! He doesn't mean knowing every single detail that's going to happen in your story. He instead means understanding the kind of plot you're planning to eventually achieve, and all the elements that defines it. He likens this to a compass that helps you get back on track when you start wandering.
Plotters, never fear! You can use your templates and outlines and structure to guide your story. We just need to spend some time figuring out what this structure needs to look like, to keep you from putting so much time into carefully outlining a so-called plot that doesn't work.
On Defining Plot
Tobias poses a question to start off this section: What is Randomness? He goes on to say:
The chances of something specifically happening at a certain time and place are astronomical, and yet every second of every day is filled with these unlikely events. You drop a dime on the floor. It rolls in a spiral, then twirls to a standstill. What are the odds it could happen exactly the same way again? Millions, maybe trillions, to one. And yet it happened as naturally as if there were no odds against it. Every event in our life happens as if there were no odds against it.
Tobias likens this argument to plot. We have no absolute definition of plot. We only have operational definitions that work in different circumstances and conditions. And yes, there are only certain plots. Yes, they've all been used over and over again. But that's the beauty of plot and the beauty of this book.
Each plot is different, but each has its roots in patterns.
Tobias poses yet another question:
How many plots are there?
A. "Who knows?"
B. "Sixty-nine"
C. "There are only thirty-six plots in the universe."
D. "Two plots, period."
B. "Sixty-nine"
C. "There are only thirty-six plots in the universe."
D. "Two plots, period."
Plot can be packaged in many different ways. There's no magic number and no distinct, absolute, correct packaging system. So, when you hear someone say a plot has been done before, you can respond, "Yes! Many times over!" because in the millions of fiction books that exist today, these sixty-nine or twenty or thirty-six or however many plots have been revisited over and over again.
In other words, reusing a plot that's been done before IS OKAY!!! Thank goodness, because coming up with an original plot is far more difficult than an original story. Tobias offers relief in considering the definition from a completely different angle.
In its most basic sense, a plot is a blueprint of human behavior. Thousands of years of human behavior have developed patterns of action and feeling. These patterns are so basic to being human that they haven't changed in the last five thousand years, and they probably won't change in the next five thousand.
...We call these behaviors "instincts:" the maternal instinct, the instinct to survive, the instinct to defend yourself, and so on. They are primal behaviors...
But, behavior doesn't make plot; it's just the first step toward plot.
...We call these behaviors "instincts:" the maternal instinct, the instinct to survive, the instinct to defend yourself, and so on. They are primal behaviors...
But, behavior doesn't make plot; it's just the first step toward plot.
'
You add them to your profile as you do them around the forum.
