Adams Media - Plot Development for Novels

The Everything Writing Series

Plot Development for Novels

Tips and Techniques to Get Your Story Back on Track

Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.

Avon, Massachusetts

Contents

Introduction

For more than 10 years, millions of readers have trusted the bestselling Everything series for expert advice and important information on writing topics ranging from plot and scenes to characters and dialogue. Packed with the most recent, up-to-date data, these Everything writing books help you get over your writers block, develop the story that you want, and create a book that you can publish.

The Everything Writing Series books are concise guides, focusing on only the essential information you need to write the book that youve always dreamed of. Whether youre looking for an overview of storyboarding, advice on starting a first draft, or suggestions for revising, theres an Everything writing book for you.

Plot Development for Novels concentrates on how you can create the perfect plot for your book idea. Starting with the broader elements of a novel then diving into specific ways to build your plot and shape your scenes, Plot Development for Novels is a great quick reference to make sure your story becomes as exciting and thrilling as it can be.

If youd like to learn more about plot writing, check out The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel , available in print (978-1-4405-0957-5) and eBook (978-1-4405-1063-2) formats.

Elements of a Novel: An Overview

Novels can be 250 or 600 pages long; they can be stories of love, adventure, or horror. They can span a day or a century. A core of elements distinguishes novels from memoirs and from nonfiction. These elements include plot, character, setting, narrative voice, and theme.

The Origins of the Novel

People have been making up stories for centuries. In the early 1600s, what many consider literatures first modern novel was published with Miguel De Cervantess Don Quixote . Its hero, Alonso Quijano, is an Everyman who reinvents himself as knight errant Don Quixote de la Mancha and sets off to redress all manner of wrongs. Battered by reality, finally (after 900-plus pages) he gives up, returns to being Alonso Quijano, and dies. Most modern novelists give their readers more upbeat endings, but they are still giving readers the quest, the heros journey, and the obstacles along the way.

The format of Don Quixote and of other early novels like Gullivers Travels , Tom Jones , and Moll Flanders is a picaresque. That format is used only rarely today.

Question What is a picaresque? A picaresque is the episodic tale of a knavish protagonists often humorous experiences as he travels from place to place along a journey.

Another popular early form, used occasionally today, is the epistolary novel. In what some claim is the first English novel, Samuel Richardsons Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (1740), the entire story is presented through letters the protagonist Pamela writes to her parents. Bridget Joness Diary is a modern epistolary novel written entirely in diary entries. The popular The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, another modern bestseller, is told entirely through letters.

Over time, the style of novels has changed. For instance, todays novels are narrated from the viewpoints of characters rather than from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator. In addition, modern novels are typically broken up into a series of dramatic scenes.

But despite how much novels have changed, each is still composed of five basic elements:

1. Plot
2. Character
3. Setting
4. Narrative voice
5. Theme

Each element is essential, and they work together to support the novel. In different genres, one of these elements takes a stronger position than the others. For instance, if you are writing a thriller, plot will tend to move to the forefront. On the other hand, if you are writing a romance novel, character may take a more dominant role.

Lets look, in a bit more depth, at each of these elements of a novel.

Plot

A plot, as E. M. Forster pointed out in his landmark book Aspects of a Novel , is not merely a sequence of events: The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died and then the queen died of grief is a plot. Plot is a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. In other words, a plot is a series of interconnected, not random events. Forster went on, If it is in a story we say and then? If it is in a plot we say why?

In every plot, there are three key elements:

1. A goal
2. Obstacles to be overcome
3. An outcome

Different genres of fiction have their own plot elements, as well. For example, in a mystery novel the plot moves the main character from puzzle (like Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? ) to solution, taking him (and the reader) from confusion to knowledge. The main question driving the plot is usually something such as: Will the sleuth identify the killer before he can kill again?

Fact Plot is what characters do to adapt to whatever situation they are in. Just like real people, characters react when something happens that alters their status quo.

Compare this to the basic elements of plot in a romance novel. In a romance, the plot drives two characters apart and then brings them together, taking them from unhappiness to happiness. The main question driving the plot of a romance novel is usually something such as: Will Bill and Mary find true love together before its too late?

The Main Plot

The main plot is the story that forms the backbone of a novel. It starts at the beginning of the book and is finished by the end.

In a fantasy novel, it could be the story of a characters quest to recover some sacred object. In a thriller novel, it could be the story of how a character infiltrates al Qaeda and prevents a massive terrorist attack. In a literary novel, it could be the story of how a character runs away from an abusive home and finds the strength to return and face her abuser. Regardless of the type of novel, the main plot concerns the protagonists struggle to reach a goal.

Subplots

Subplots are the smaller series of interconnected events that run through a novel, often interwoven with the main plot. These may be plots that belong to secondary characters, or simply smaller stories unfolding at the same time as the larger one.

For example, while tracking down a killer, your protagonists apartment might get infested with bedbugs so shes forced to move in with her sister whom she detests. Tracking down the killer remains the main plot, but the battle of the bedbugs and sibling rivalry are subplots that provide comic relief.

Subplots work best when theyre connected to the main plot. So, for example, a subplot that involved the sisters finally resolving past issues would be particularly effective if that resolution helps the protagonist gain some insight into the identity of the murderer.

Character

Your story unfolds through the characters in your novel. Who can forget the tyrannical and increasingly erratic Captain Ahab, captain of the Pequod in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick , and his obsession with killing one special white whale, the one that took his leg? Or the beautiful Sophie Zawistowska, a Roman Catholic immigrant who is haunted by a decision she had to make in order to survive Auschwitz in William Styrons Sophies Choice ? Or Stephanie Plum, the Jersey girl, lingerie buyer turned bail bondsman, who tracks down criminals but never quite snares her man in Janet Evanovichs blockbuster mystery series that began with One for the Money ?

Every novel needs a full cast of characters protagonists like these, plus other main characters, supporting characters, minor characters, and walk-ons to tell their story. More important characters require more planning; they get described more vividly and should leave a distinct impression on the reader from the first moment they appear on the page.

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