1. JaimeL

    JaimeL New Member

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    Stuck on plotting my second novel

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by JaimeL, Feb 8, 2017.

    I finished my first novel about a week ago, about 130,000 words.

    I was delighted to get through it, I was working on it for about 1.5 years and enjoyed writing all of it. I'm lucky in that whatever I write is enjoyable to me (probably because if I'm not enjoying something I'm doing I'll stop regardless! [or at least change how I go about my business]). Finishing this novel was in part down to the phenomenal help I got on this site, I can't believe how helpful you all are.

    My next novel is a sequel of sorts, however it's not a direct sequel, it's almost an entirely new novel in itself. I know the very rough outline (and how the world works), but not any slight details on the plot itself.

    Does anyone have any ideas (or personal experience) for how to push myself in plotting what I have to write next? I do have several plot points scribbled on a notepad, but need to define characters and a fully fleshed out plot.



    As a corollary - I once, only once (on an older account), received awful advice on this site. The advice went something like this -

    "Don't look for an idea yourself, wait for inspiration to hit."

    As a result, my writing was set back about four years. Eventually, eventually, I said to myself "write, or you'll never write", which sounded quite scary and pushed me into forcing a plot with ideas I'd scribbled down that I'd liked (I'm sure most of you have pages/digital notepads like that), and my first novel came of it, which I'm very glad happened - if I hadn't rationalized things for myself, I'd still be at 0 words!
     
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  2. S A Lee

    S A Lee Contributor Contributor

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    I remember a series based on Arabian Nights, and the main character was consulting someone about where to start a tragic story. The advice she got was this.

    "You start at the beginning, work your way to the end, and then stop."

    What kind of story do you want this sequel to tell? What are the events that set it in motion? Who stars in it?

    Answer these questions and I think that the rest should fall into place.
     
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  3. rktho

    rktho Contributor Contributor

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    It would be helpful to see this outline of yours. I myself was considering a prequel on a certain character but only now that I have inspiration am I seriously considering it. The plot is pretty fleshed out in my head now, with the characters and such.
    My story centers around a dragon emperor who was also head of an order of wizards called the Shuzirons. Because history reveres him, he's a pretty important character. His name's Knizor. Only his contributions as a ruler are recorded; he erased knowledge of the Shuzirons he led and the members went into hiding. The prequel would set up how he came to lead the order (it predates him by millennia; he didn't found it) and his reign as emperor, and what life was like when the when the existence of the Shuzirons was open knowledge. It would set up how his brother Phyandarst created an anti-Shuziron order, the Kenjai, and how his order was defeated and went into hiding as well. The Shuzirons are fighting to protect the Elder Swords from being united for their power and the Kenjai are seeking that very power. The prequel would tell what happened when the Kenjai succeeded (or nearly succeeded) in achieving that goal and the devastation it wreaked, necessitating the Shuzirons' erasure from history and the Kenjai's ignominious retreat into anonymity with their four remaining members and the spirit of Phyandarst, who was slain by Knizor.
    Funnily enough, the inspiration for the plot of this novel came from the musical Hamilton.
     
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  4. OJB

    OJB A Mean Old Man Contributor

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    There is fives point you should have figured out before plotting. They are as followed.

    Lead: Your MC. Try to use nouns and verbs when you describe your MC and a single-well-picked adjective.
    Objective: What is his or her goal? It should be a physical goal that serves to satisfy a spiritual goal.
    Conflict: What stands in his or her way?
    Knockout: What would victory look like? What would defeat look like?
    Situation: With as few words as possible, what is your character's life like before the start of the story? A little bit of Background info works here.

    A note on irony: Either the goal or the conflict (or both) should be Ironic in terms of your MC. An example of this would be "A serial killer who tries to save someone's life."

    A note on the Spiritual goal: While you need to know what the spiritual goal is, you don't need to state in the logline. Spiritual goals are mostly for subtext and theme purposes, not so much for plotting.

    -

    I wish you the best of luck.

    -OJB
     
  5. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Start on page one. Put your characters in a soup pot. See what comes out.
     
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  6. Thom

    Thom Active Member

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    Sounds like the best advice comes from within. ;)

    For me, getting a plot for a story may be as simple as pulling a single idea from another story. A subplot that you pull out into the full light of your ideas and change around to fit your needs and wants. I'd say go back to your original story, and pull out one of those 'threads.' It can be something from the past of one of your original characters, that you can then bring forward into it's own full story. A subplot from someone who was a minor character in your first book but who is now stepping up and center. Or it could be a sublot, or main plot idea, that just didn't seem to work with what you were doing before.

    It's all up to you, but always go back to what you told yourself before. Write, or you'll never write. Even if what you choose to do ends up going nowhere but the 'trash,' there may be a thread that comes from it that could breath new life into your next story.
     
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  7. JaimeL

    JaimeL New Member

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    Whoever moved this thread to the correct forum, thank you!

    I really like this kind of mechanical advice and I actually do have a character that I use certain phrases to describe :)

    My story is 'interesting' in that I don't necessarily have one 'main' character... The most important one actually barely features for most of the novel(s).

    I do have a few POV characters, one of the main things I dislike in fiction is plot armour so a lot of seemingly important characters will unexpectedly (but logically) die throughout.

    I began writing a brainstorm last night on a sheet, I've a break now so I'll carry on on a notepad on my phone
     
  8. Adam Kalauz

    Adam Kalauz Member

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    I have always found that running helps me personally.

    I'm not saying that running is the answer, but allow me to expand.

    When I'm running, I want to separate my body from my mind. I listen to music, and I want to set my body to autopilot, because I hate running, and let's be honest, it sucks.
    I found while writing the book that thinking about plot was the best way to do this. I'd start the run with a challenge: how can X happen to Y. What would A do if B happened. How are B and Y connected. Sometimes I'd get lost, or come up with nonsense. Sometimes I'd come back with nothing. Other times, I'd have the 'ah-ha' moment. A few times, I had the "ah-ha-oh-wait-that-doesn't-work-aaaaah" moment, but that's always good too.

    I run for about 35 minutes, and maybe 2-3 times a week. I found this time invaluable to advancing my plot.

    Don't take up running.

    Find an activity you can cut your mind loose with. Knitting, painting, listening to music, whatever's your thing.
    And make yourself really just spend time thinking about your plot in a relaxed way. But make space for 'inspiration to hit'. (The stupid advice you received was stupid, you shouldn't wait, but there is a way to 'make inspiration hit')

    Hope this is useful
     
  9. kenc

    kenc Member

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    I didn't do enough plot development on my first novel. Next time I will put that right.

    I have started to think that perhaps the best way to write a plot is in the form of a tree structure. You start with a main trunk - the main idea - that splits into various story elements, and each of those splits into subplots, etc, etc. I don't know if anyone has tried to develop a plot like this before, but I think it would be an interesting way to go about it.
     

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