Plot - the 4 Mover/Shakers of a good one!

I'm a writer of stories. I put people in situations, place a number of obstacles (life-threatening or otherwise) in their paths, and then travel with them on the journey of overcoming them (or not).
Besides the description of places and people and things to set the scene for my characters, the most important thing to get my story moving is plot. What happens to whom; where and how; when and with what...

When I consider plot, I look at a number of elements:
1. Credibility: As much as I like to shock and surprise, whatever happens to my characters must be credible. If my story is about a cat.... the cat cannot go up to someone and punch them. Cats just wouldn't do that. I know that sounds really stupid but I'm exaggerating the point here in order to get it across. So, keep it credible. Imagine yourself in your characters shoes and ask the question 'Would they do/think/say that?'

2. Tension: Whilst I'm a huge fan of scary stuff, and creepy things, I quickly get bored of what I call 'gratuitous tension'. This is where the writer includes bog standard, nail-biting stuff that simply isn't credible (there's that word again), simply in an attempt to keep anxiety levels peaked. Example: Girl on her own in a house, bad storm outside, its dark. Hears howling wolves. Goes outside to check it out.... Now, who in their right mind would do that? I've immediately lost respect for her; she's an idiot!

3. Pace: My aim on each page is to get you to read it and turn it. I want you to be desperate to know where the story goes and what happens. Years ago, books were filled with flowery descriptions of hills and dales for three pages just to get you to picture the scene your character was sitting in on her picnic blanket. Today, in the digital age we live in, everything is more immediate. We want a lot of stuff to happen and not all in the last few pages.

4. Hook: I aim to put one at the end of each chapter. Its the question that fills your heart with dread at the thought of what might happen to the hero/heroine. Its the sentence that raises doubts as to the direction the character is taking. One of my favourite authors, Peter James, is a master at the cliffhanger hook.

Make no mistake, I do not consider myself a literary genius. I have read people who write well; who pen classics and become famous for them. So, you've picked up one of my books and you're reading it.... what's going to hold you? As much as I'd love it to be the fluid individuality of my prose, that is highly unlikely to be what grips you.

I'm counting on it being the story...

A Scene is a Story

I enjoy a good movie just as much as anyone, but in addition to the entertainment value, I love seeing how they tell a story in each scene. A scene doesn't need to pick up exactly where a previous one left off. Nor does it have to give every detail - only those details relevant to the particular storyline. Our minds fill in the gaps in milliseconds anyway. It is all the scenes put together that tells the entire story, and each scene moves the whole story along in some small way (or big one).

It takes some concentration and imagination to get this right and for myself I can say, its a work in progress. Every time I do it, I get better at it (I think!).

With Sedgwick Green, I completed my beat sheet, and a broad outline of all 60 scenes (bare bones of the story). But I found that as I've started to write, the story has evolved and become more complex so I keep fine-tuning and then writing more, and then stepping back and fine-tuning again. I want to get each scene to move the story forward in a 'wow' way so my readers cannot put the book down.
The addition of a hook at the end of each scene (or most), I think I can add in on the rewrite when I have all the plot twists and turns worked out. Ideally they need to pull the reader forward to something that could affect the character in the future, or a consequence of an action - theirs or someone else's.

This way of writing is new to me, and I have yet to find my rhythm. At the moment its a discipline that I do everyday. I imagine that as the bits of the story come full circle in my head, it will flow easier. During the rewrite (after the first draft is complete), I'll fill in the areas where I need to conduct research or drill down into something more deeply.

Vision Boarding your Book

I've met many people at different stages of writing endeavours. They could be writing a book, or a collection of poetry; they could have a regular weekly column that they need subject matter for, or like a friend of mine,  writing on topics that interest her for no one other than herself. Whatever we write about or whatever the reason we write, we all need ideas. So when I'm sitting in front of my laptop with my mind a fresh, clean slate, where does the inspiration come from?

I go through phases of carrying around a small notebook to make notes of interesting things when I see them. But its such a performance for me to rummage around in my handbag (the size of  a wheelie bin), to find the notebook and pen. Without glasses I can't see to write  so I generally have to find them, put them on, and all the while balance the wheelie bin on one shoulder, adopting a Kwasimodo pose. Not practical! I had this romantic notion of myself seated at a side-walk cafe (in summer of course, on a sunny day...in London? I hear you ask!), but it rarely works out like that, I found. Usually I'm hurrying somewhere amongst a thousand strong throng of people, and stopping to retrieve said notebook is tantamount to stopping dead in your tracks during the running of the bulls in Pamplona! Unwise at the very least....

Then I found Pinterest, and whilst I didn't cotton on to this at the very beginning, the thought started to take form in my head. What if I created a board where I could dump all the images that fascinated me, or sparked something within for my writing in one place? A picture is worth a thousand words.... so they say. When I was in the middle of a scene in my book and I needed inspiration, I could just tap into my Pinterest board and get the ideas flowing again. So that's what I've started to do. I've set up a board and I've called it 'What If'.
When I'm sitting anywhere pinning stuff, if something jumps out as 'could be part of my book' or 'resonates with the theme or genre that I'm working on', it gets pinned to my What If board.

I do this whilst the idea of the book is seeding itself in my head; I do it when I'm writing the outline, and whilst I'm putting the meat on the bones, thereafter. I use it at any and all stages, and regularly add images to my board.
At first I don't know where all the bits fit in, I just know that they are part of the story.
It helps me to see my story in vibrant colour, and to immerse myself in it completely.

Try it; what have you got to lose.....

Gabi

Outline and Plot

I'm one of those writers who can't just wing it. I've read about a few authors - Stephen King is one - who closet themselves behind closed doors, and bash out the first draft of a book in four weeks without looking up.