1. ianrose

    ianrose New Member

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    Fixing Weak Plot

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by ianrose, Mar 30, 2017.

    I had an idea for a play, and I acted upon it. I've developed characters and a setting, but my plot/main character is really flimsy. Basically, she somehow gets her whole family to hate her as she's becoming a worse and worse person. She almost lets her sister die (let her drive home drunk), freaks out on her boyfriend (her reasoning: he was spending more time with his dying mother than her), boyfriend broke up with her finally due to the fact that she lied about kissing her best friend, she curses out her mother, and tells her best friend that he's "weak" after his sister's tragic death. She also makes everyone's life a living hell, just being rude.

    Anyways, this all leads up to a final scene where she realizes everyone hates her, contemplates suicide, BUT there's a big reveal where her best friend actually kills her.

    I honestly feel like the main character's sudden nasty change in personality is flimsy, and that her best friend has weak motivation for killing her. I'm just asking for thoughts on this, and where I should go from here.

    thanks!
     
  2. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Have you thought why the MC becomes a vile unlikable person?
    There must be an event or something that affected her in such a way
    that she came to the conclusion that it would be ok to abandon a
    rational way of life, to one of callousness. So try and figure out the
    point where her mind snaps, because people (well the average) don't
    just go from being decent, and 180 into a jerk the next day.

    It could be a bunch of little things, that accumulate and fester in her
    mind, until eventually she snaps. It is not a flimsy plot if we see
    her in a slow decay into being bad. Just having it happen out of
    left field is going to confuse things, because there was no context
    as to why.

    For the friend killing her, it would have to be a reasonable action.
    While it would be nice to simply say she was an ass to him and
    he couldn't take it anymore, you might want to try something else
    like she assaults him or something with a bit more motivation.
     
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  3. Dr.Meow

    Dr.Meow Contributor Contributor

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    Could be addiction that causes her to start going crazy. Something that speaks to the heroin epidemic that's spreading like wildfire would be good. Anything, even remotely small that raises awareness to it helps people understand the danger. Have it start with MC getting pain pills prescribed from a doctor for something, then the addiction to them starts, but heroin is a lot cheaper than pills (this is how it starts IRL). Rural and lower income areas have it spread faster, but no one is aware because they are rural places, and the news does not report it. Here where I am it can be pretty bad, and in some places you can go walking and see needles strewn all over the ground, it's disturbing.

    Also, if that's the case and the friend kills her, it could be that they kill her personally, but instead allow her to die from overdose after being extremely angry with her. This seems pretty plausible actually.

    I know this seems rather dark, but the story you're writing here is already dark, so... Just an idea.
     
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  4. ianrose

    ianrose New Member

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    I would try to have MC slowly decay into a bad person, but this is most likely going to be a one or two act play and I'm not sure if I would have the time for that. Her motivation for turning nasty is my main issue still, and the assault is a good idea. Maybe I'll incorporate more physical violence, as I've been centering on mental/emotional so far.
     
  5. ianrose

    ianrose New Member

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    I like the idea of a heroin addict. Honestly, I'm trying to keep this story as human as possible and an addiction can add a new level of depth.
    The whole reason of me writing this story was because I thought of MC's death scene, where she realizes what all she's doing wrong and her thoughts surround her in an emotional monologue. I could alter her death a little bit with the best friend doing a monologue instead as she dies.

    I could possibly write in something about her best friend struggling with a drug addiction as well, as they've both just come out of high school/or are about to. Thanks for the idea!
     
  6. Stormburn

    Stormburn Contributor Contributor

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    I really like your story idea. I don't think your plot is weak, it's just not fully developed. I would start reading/watching for ideas. Also, just write something with the character in it. For me, as I write a character will reveal themselves to me. It may not be related to the story or plot, but, I gain an insight in to who this person is. The pages themselves I never use, but, the character introduced to me in those pages makes me excited about writing them in the main story.
    Godspeed!
     
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  7. ianrose

    ianrose New Member

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    Wow, I do small writings with my other projects, I don't know why I didn't apply that to this play :-D; Thank's for the tip
     
  8. Dr.Meow

    Dr.Meow Contributor Contributor

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    Or you can still have her do it as she realizes what's happening to her, and no one really knows what happens in the unconscious state after OD. It could just be the last bits of her thoughts. That would be exploring it at a new angle as well.

    Glad I could help, but whatever you end up doing I hope it turns out great!
     
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  9. ianrose

    ianrose New Member

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    That might be better, as I'm going for a more emotional and hard-hitting finale with this.
    Thanks, I hope it does too!
     
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  10. Stormburn

    Stormburn Contributor Contributor

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    You may be able to achieve your ending by giving up on it.
    Here is what happen to me when writing the draft to my fantasy story:
    I had it in the plot line where a drow would join my adventurers (the MC and her best friend) and would betray them in a later chapter. But, as I started writing the draft, I realized my drow character would actually become viciously loyal to the MC; especially since one of the reason for her to leave her home was losing her baby and the MC is pregnant. So, just wrote the draft as the character lead me and gave up on the 'big betrayal'. Well, the MC's best friend became involved with a guy who is real dirt bag while the drow became involved with pretty decent guy. In the end, the dirt-bag betrays the friends. The MC kills him, but, not before she loses her baby and the pretty decent guy is dead. The best friend is looking at everyone say, "You can't blame me". The drow says,"I can" and stabs her.
    So, in the end, by staying with my character I stayed with my plot. Writing is true magic at times.
    Godspeed!
     
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  11. ianrose

    ianrose New Member

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    This is a good idea, and also a really good plot. Sounds like an exciting read :)
    I've always been very stubborn with my plot lines so I'm not quite sure if I could go with the flow on this one. But I can always try!
     

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