I hope you enjoy the following guest post on writing plot! It goes into understanding and working with your creative processes so you don’t end up frustrated before you even begin!
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Cooking and Simmering a Plot
When I was a little girl – many decades ago – it seemed there was always something simmering on the back burner at our house. I’ve often used that analogy with a plot that I’m cooking up. Sometimes I have it on the front burner sizzling with the flame on high. Other times, it is on the back burner simmering until I’m ready.
New writers are a bit fearful of the simmering part of creativity. They are not yet confident enough to truly believe that that idea will indeed simmer there until they are ready for it. They still think they must grab it quickly before it flees forever.
Now there is much to be said for capturing ideas – making notes, keeping notebooks and the like. But that’s not what I’m referring to here. I’m talking about cooperating with your subconscious mind (the creative part of you) in order to bring it up when you’re ready.
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Four Stages of Creative Process
Why is it that some writers say they feel that a story has not been told BY them, but rather, THROUGH them. As though they were an innocent bystander watching the process. That can be a little misleading to a new writer. So let’s look at this another way.
The creative process – so say the experts – has four stages:
Input
Incubation
Inspiration
Verification.
First you learn all you can about a topic, doing research and getting ready to go. Then you let it rest (simmer). Later the story will flow and you edit, polish, revise and sell.
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It’s Still There
If you’re thinking that’s a bit too simplistic, you’re right. There are those of us who bog down just before inspiration. No matter how much information we stuff in and regardless of how long we wait, nothing seems to happen.
Let me encourage you. It didn’t go anywhere. It’s all there in your subconscious mind. You must learn how to tap into it. Cooperate, if you will, with that subconscious part, that creative bent inside you. I call it “trusting the creative process.”
Read Your Novel
If you read a lot of fiction (I certainly trust that you do – it’s imperative to your success), then try this exercise. Get in a quiet place. Somewhere you can relax. Now as you are quiet, close your eyes and pretend you are “reading” your novel. Don’t panic and think you have to hurry and write it down. You aren’t going to get it word for word anyway. What you are going to get are bits and pieces. Scenes. Snippets of dialogue. Character’s voices. Once you learn to do this, you will come to enjoy it immensely. I enjoy doing this while driving on long road trips.
Play With Words
Another way to tap into your creative force is to play with a title. Jot down a main word and expand on it. I did this with my HeartSong novel, Love’s Silken Melody. I liked the thought of the word “silken” in relationship to music and especially a silken voice. And then I related that to love. The key word was silken, and I took pencil and paper and played with the words until I had the title which gave me the strong theme for the novel.
Free-Floating Associations
A similar process is to play with your narrative hook. If that term is unfamiliar to you, it’s the opening sentence, paragraph, or scene designed to be so intriguing that the reader is instantly hooked by it and dragged into the book. Some are blatant; some are very subtle. But they are grabbers. Now sit down either at your computer, or curled up with pencil and paper. Use what setting is right for you. Don’t WORK at this. Trust your subconscious. Let it flow. This is like free-floating, subconscious associations. Write one after the other until the page is full. Sooner or later, you will find yourself being pulled in just as you would want your reader to be pulled in. Also, sooner or later, you will begin to get excited about how this story is going to progress.
Crawl Inside Character
Let me give you one more technique for triggering your subconscious mind to wake up and get moving. Think about one of your characters. It can be the main character or a secondary character. Begin to crawl inside that character’s mind. What does he or she want? Or fear? What would be the worst thing that could ever happen to that person? Make a few notes. Or simply sit quietly and let your imagination take flight.
As you learn more and more ways to move from input, to incubation, to inspiration, you will then begin to arrive more and more at the verification stage. Which simply means the story is rolling right along.
The key is to learn to trust your subconscious. As I commented earlier, that story, that scene, that character is in there. Learn to work with, and cooperate with, and to trust your subconscious mind and the creative process.
And along the way, don’t forget to HAVE FUN!
Are you a fiction lover? Are you a student of fiction? A teacher of fiction? A reader of fiction? Let veteran, published author, Norma Jean Lutz help you enhance your knowledge and appreciation of fiction writing. Author of over 50 published books as well as hundreds of articles and short stories, Norma Jean is a popular workshop and writer conference instructor. She shares tips, concepts, and intricate writing techniques right here: http://www.fiction-aire.com/fictionaire.html.
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I personally found Storyweaver really helpful in writing plot. It takes you through the process in a way that really develops details you might not have thought of otherwise. Plus you don’t have to finish it in a linear way (our brains don’t really work that way). So, I didn’t find it inhibited my creative huices at all.
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