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Plot again, or maybe something adjacent to "plot"
Wednesday, February 8th, 2023 11:05 amHappened across this Pat Wrede post; I missed it at the time and comments seem to be closed now, which is a pity because I think she may have inadvertently explained the thing that I keep trying to explain and failing. Specifically this bit:
"When I’m writing Chapter Two, I don’t need to know how my protagonist is going to beat her challenger in the magic duel in Chapter Ten; I only need to know that she will. I don’t need that detail until around Chapter Eight or Nine (and if I haven’t figured it out by then, I’m usually in for a couple of weeks of dithering about how to make it work)."
When I say I don't know how to do plot, I think what I'm really saying is that I keep running into that sort of dithering and I need better tools to get out of it. A few weeks of dithering here and there may be unavoidable in writing; a year and a half of such dithering sucks. And even a few weeks of dithering, over and over and over again, in every story one attempts, gets really old.
I should note here that for me, the dithering is *NOT* about "Which of these appealing ideas should I use?" I easily recognize which ideas are wrong for the story: "No, none of those are the right idea, thank you, yes I will know it when I see it, no I'm not just being difficult, look, thanks, but let's talk about something else, shall we?" is not an unfamiliar pattern when talking to other writers. :-( But it's much more likely that I have no idea at all. I'll know what kind of idea I need, I'll know the "feel" of it and/or what requirements it needs to fulfill, but the actual thing? I got nothing.
To use the headlight analogy, I'll be driving along with landmarks wafting forth out of the the fog, but at some point I hit a stretch where there aren't any landmarks appearing, and in fact I can't even see the road anymore. I know which way is forward because the car's pointed that way, but I've no idea if there are signs or buildings or if the road twists or turns or dips; there's nothing but fog.
I need better ways to pierce the fog, at least for the next ten feet or so, so I can get the car moving again.
Does that make any kind of sense at all to anyone but me?
"When I’m writing Chapter Two, I don’t need to know how my protagonist is going to beat her challenger in the magic duel in Chapter Ten; I only need to know that she will. I don’t need that detail until around Chapter Eight or Nine (and if I haven’t figured it out by then, I’m usually in for a couple of weeks of dithering about how to make it work)."
When I say I don't know how to do plot, I think what I'm really saying is that I keep running into that sort of dithering and I need better tools to get out of it. A few weeks of dithering here and there may be unavoidable in writing; a year and a half of such dithering sucks. And even a few weeks of dithering, over and over and over again, in every story one attempts, gets really old.
I should note here that for me, the dithering is *NOT* about "Which of these appealing ideas should I use?" I easily recognize which ideas are wrong for the story: "No, none of those are the right idea, thank you, yes I will know it when I see it, no I'm not just being difficult, look, thanks, but let's talk about something else, shall we?" is not an unfamiliar pattern when talking to other writers. :-( But it's much more likely that I have no idea at all. I'll know what kind of idea I need, I'll know the "feel" of it and/or what requirements it needs to fulfill, but the actual thing? I got nothing.
To use the headlight analogy, I'll be driving along with landmarks wafting forth out of the the fog, but at some point I hit a stretch where there aren't any landmarks appearing, and in fact I can't even see the road anymore. I know which way is forward because the car's pointed that way, but I've no idea if there are signs or buildings or if the road twists or turns or dips; there's nothing but fog.
I need better ways to pierce the fog, at least for the next ten feet or so, so I can get the car moving again.
Does that make any kind of sense at all to anyone but me?
