E.M. Forster made a well-known differentiation between
how story and plot operate. He stated a story is ‘a narration of events
arranged in their time sequence’ giving the example ‘The king died and then the
queen died.’ His definition of plot is
story plus causality. ‘The king died and then the queen died of grief.’ He even
added ambiguity and opportunities for development by the addition of ‘The queen
died, no one knew why, until it was discovered that it was through grief at the
death of the king.’
In these examples Forster shows the intimate connections between character and
plot. Characters don’t exist in a void - and with the mention of a king
and queen a grand court, with courtiers in all their
finery, springs to mind. It's easy to imagine the drama of the two deaths and the possibilities for conflict. If these events were at the beginning of a story we’d be looking
for our protagonist to emerge and face a series of conflicts before achieving his/her goal.
Action is a component of plot as it moves a story forward and the rising
action, climax and resolution of each scene integrally links the plot’s pivotal
moments with your character’s journey. A story can have as much action, or not,
as a writer wants (action can be as simple as receiving a letter which changes lives), but focussing on action at the expense of
character development can easily result in two-dimensional characters. And
non-stop violent action generally disguises the fact that there is no story.
It is irrelevant which comes first, plot or character
because inspiration isn’t dependent on rules and regulations, but wanting to
know how a character deals with the conflicts they face is what keeps the
reader enthralled. We identify, follow and share the hopes and fears of
characters we engage with, and they can live in our imagination long after the
book is finished.
An interesting exercise is to take a character you’re
developing and see what kind of conflicts they might meet, and how they might
resolve their dilemmas. I've learnt a good tenet to follow is: character plus conflict
equals plot.
Writing
Update
Editing has been slow this week but I’ve enjoyed sunshine
and a break from the ‘head down, where’s the end of the tunnel, gotta keep
going till it’s done and dusted’ mode which is my usual working state.
Sometimes it’s good to just let go for a few days and be busy doing something
else entirely - like remembering the other people in your life! Putting your
writing aside lets you have a different perspective on the whole writing thing;
you come back refreshed and ready to dive in again. Chapter 9 is almost finished,
and then I’m straight into Chapter 10. If I work hard, I will (yes, I can – I do
like that phrase even if it isn’t applicable in every situation) finish by the
end of September.
My social media activities have also been sporadic –
but 24/7, 365 isn’t possible. You do what you can, when you can – which why today’s
update is short and, hopefully, sweet!
Today’s Haiku
FLIRTING
He looks, she laughs, soft
exchanges over coffee –
will it go further?
Useful links.
For anyone starting out with KDP this article has some good information:
http://trainingauthors.com/47-places-to-submit-your-free-kdp-promotion-for-your-kindle-ebook/
And if you're thinking of going the traditional route, here are some pointers:
Reading Recommendations:
http://amzn.to/18SbSaG Gold Dragon Haiku - my first attempt at publishing poetry!
Join me on Twitter at: teagankearney@modhaiku
To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to
those of you who write, good writing.
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