For months now I have been stuck in a story I am writing for fun thinking that fun writing might jump start my more serious writing. I think I have discovered the reason I do not do fiction writing...plots. I cannot figure them out.
Even the for fun writing (a sort of serial story line) has been rewritten several times, plot ideas created and discarded, and nothing to show for it. And I realized my writing strengths have always been along the lines of taking technical information and writing it in layman's terms. No plots. I do not have to figure out what that character is, what they look like, etc. Past fun writing has been fairly simple because I was not interested in deep thought or complex plots....just your basic shoot'em up and kiss the hero. Well maybe a bit more complicated than that, but not by much. However, I wanted to move past that point. Improve my ability to write deeper. Ha! What was I thinking.
It has taken nearly a year for me to figure out I don't do plotting. So armed with Google, I went looking for plots. Now you can find some free sites that will give you some basic plots. Trouble is I'm past that point. I need special detailed plots or enough of a plot that I can work from it. Since the for fun stories have more of a murder mystery flavor, I try to find the details that will lead our characters to solving the mystery. I hate it. I googled more only to find that while there are sites out there that will give you detailed plotting information, you have to pay. Since this is for fun, nope, not an option. So are of you out there plotter extraordinarie??? And willing to send me in a good direction?
I can see your quandry. We need to feel committed, know where we want to end up with our story when we begin, and not just wander aimlessly through it. I've always envied the writer who puts out one novel or more novels a year. How do they do that? And those who have children at home... (head scratching). A plot starts out as a skeleton, it takes time to fill it in, write subplots, and develop characters. We don't know everything before we start writing, and sometimes we are surprised where our plot goes (or changes), what our characters do, and why. Even the simplest plots can be done well. Just stick with it. This sounds preachy--but I love plotting. It is one of the most fun adventures in life!
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem Terri. I guess that's why I write nonfiction. I have some ideas for fiction stories or at least historical fiction..but alas...no plot. Good luck to you.
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