Tag: Write-Plotting

Other Cool Blogs: Liana Brooks (8/1/2019) – Subplots

Erin Penn

Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash

For flashes, things are short and sweet. Only one story arc, one plot is needed.

For better short stories, a character development change and a plot makes a full narrative.

For novellas and novels, a sub-plot or two is needed on top of the narrative plot and the character development plot.

As you know, one of my favorite authors is Liana Brooks. Recently she has been reading author backlists. It’s something I do too. I don’t recommend it for everyone, but seeing the first attempts to explore an idea or writing genre can be instructive on how to make your own writing better. If nothing else, it helps you realize that “best-seller” spent 20 years learning the craft – which can really help if you are comparing where you are right now to someone with twice times your experience. You don’t expect a new hire to do what someone with 20 years experience will do; don’t beat yourself up with these comparisons.

But, I digress. What Ms. Brooks discovered is the earlier manuscripts didn’t have subplots, but the later products did. Experience led to stronger stories … which need subplots because they support the slower part of the story.

Need the thriller tension to slide back a couple notches, then have the parent-child family dynamic come out – a “side-quest” with the parent needing something from their adult child. Something from the side-quest may feed into the thriller later, like a car running out of gas because it had been used for the parent’s errand, or it may carry over to future books in the series, such as the parent bringing danger to our protagonists doorstep, or the subplot may just be something extra that could be cut if you book exceeds word count or pad things out is your word count is a little shy of genre expectations. The important things is to weave more into the story than just bare bones point-A-to-point-B plotting.

The full posting is here: – “It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledge That All The Great Novels Have Subplots” – Liana Brooks – August 1, 2019 – https://www.lianabrooks.com/it-is-a-truth-universally-acknowledge-that-all-the-great-novels-have-subplots-repost/

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words 5/25/2011

Erin Penn

Photo by Albie Patacsil on Unsplash

IFM vs. Railroad

What is the difference between “It’s Fucking Magic” and Railroad?

After reading Kalayna Price’s “The Ugly ‘Because'” (Magical Words 05/25/11):

I did a deep dive in my head. I HIGHLY recommend reading the post (again, the link is above) and the related comments. This topic travels through plotting, to character agency, and worldbuilding.

Everything created by authors is whole imaginary cloth. Yet, not.

Sometimes IFM (It’s Fucking Magic) is the correct reply for worldbuilding questions. “Vampires don’t work that way.” and “Faster than light travel needs some scientific base, which string theory or gravity might cover.” — IFM dude.

But if the reader is going, “Vampires don’t work that way according to how you defined your world, why is this one different?” – if the answer is, “I needed a good vampire to contrast against the bad vampires, so I railroaded the characters to doing what I wanted.” Yeah, no. That is bad writing.

“Because I say so.”

Laying down tracks and tying characters to them so they cannot deviate from the story from start to end is going to create a very boring story. 

Yes, the characters are made up. And yes, really, everything in the end is “because I said so”. But the world and characters you created must act within the parameters of the world, and not just the railroad tracks of the story. Characters are not IFM when they decide to break up with their fated mate, just because the darling makeup scene needs to occur in two chapters.

Because. Not a good reason when an adult tells you are five, and still not when you write a story at fifty. If you write a “because” story, your reader is going to ask “why”.

Editing Rant: Roller Coaster

Erin Penn

Photo by Elle Edwards on Unsplash

Wow, the slush read I just finished had an amazing opening, and then total crash and burn. I’m going to have to reject it.

So boss (Falstaff Publishing), opened up submissions to slush. What that means is we have a TON of submissions from unknown authors seeking their first publication credit and not everyone is ready for prime time. Actually, very, very, VERY few are ready for prime time, and I have hundreds to read.

Plus side, I’m going to have Editing Rants for years to come.

Minus is turning people down for stuff that is good, just needs serious but doable work. The one I read is the poster child of this dilemma. Working with the author, the manuscript can be fixed. It would take awhile but could be fixed. Problem is I got space for only three in the publication schedule and two hundred entries. “Needs serious work” isn’t going to make it. But I don’t want the author to quit writing. They are good. They are capable of being even better.

I can’t “fix” two hundred manuscripts. That is what the Editing Rants are about – getting writers to be even better without me developmentally editing 20,000,000 words. I love my job, but I don’t have time for that.

Back to this particular editing rant.

The first chapter was amazing. Jumped me right into the action, immersed over my head. Then … chapter two.

Switch point-of-view (POV) character who ALSO is waking up.

Yep, the first chapter was amazing even with the POV just waking up. The action started immediately and within two seconds the reader is right there with the character. In chapter two, with the second character, all the story background gets dumped as the character goes about the normal day. One lonnnnng infodump.

So what I want to talk about is the roller coaster ride of plotting.

Roller coasters are built to have a giant drop at the very beginning. They start with a rush. Maybe have a slow, frightening build to the promised drop – click, click, click as the carts climb higher and higher. Then BANG. Off to the races.

Later, there are slower parts to build tension again, and twists and turns, but the opening is a huge rush to put the rider into the roller coaster experience, removing people from their ordinary lives and investing them in the ride.

Genre fiction – science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, mystery, even romance – the start of the story is to introduce the rider to the ride and remove them from their ordinary lives. It should never slow down to a complete stop. Information sharing should be short and sweet, followed by a quick snap turn left and right into dialogue or action.

Build your plot like a roller coaster and remember to start the ride with immersion.

Editing Rant: Artificial Crisis

Erin Penn

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Second “artificial crisis” – in as many manuscripts being read. Already in the middle of a major crisis, the author adds an artificial mystery or tear-jerking addition that adds NOTHING to the plot. Ugh.

Artificial crisis are things like a “mystery”, where the character knows what is happening but isn’t sharing it with the reader. Folks, a fake-mystery isn’t even an unreliable narrator but an obstructionist narrator. If the story’s narrator story isn’t sharing the story with the reader, why is the reader going to bother reading the book?

A tear-jerk addition is like when the puppy gets sick … and while at the vet, the main character doesn’t answer the phone and the romantic interest thinks they no longer care and doesn’t met them. Now, it can be a great story when the puppy gets sick … but if the main plot is a ticking clock of the criminals about to transfer dozen of illegal immigrant (domestic slavery), an artificial crisis is unnecessary, especially one that takes away from the present emotional investment.

Subplot, yes, all day long. But do not destroy the emotional ride of the main story. Crisis should impact the story and complement it, not distract from it.

Make any crisis natural to the story. Torture your characters. BUT!!! the crisis should never feel like “the author needed to create tension at this story beat according to the format they are following so they stuck this conflict in.”

No, no, no.