Write Great Fiction--Plot & Structure (37 page)

Play with the various systems of plotting until you find one you like. Keep experimenting throughout your writing career.

There are a number of familiar patterns in plot (such as the quest, revenge, love, etc.). You can borrow these and make them your own, or combine them.

REVISION

Write a first draft as quickly as you comfortably can. Then set it aside and let it cool.

Read it through as a reader, making very few marks or revisions. Use small notations for later reference.

Now analyze the story. Is this one I want to tell? Is there another, better story trying to get out?

Move on to analyze structure, Lead character, opposition, adhesive, scenes, minor characters.

Brood over what you've done, make some notes, then right your second draft. Refine that draft.

Finish with a polish, looking particularly at scene openings and endings and dialogue.

Continue to add to your writer's tool chest for the rest of your career. A writer's education should never stop.

Step 1: Write Down the Following Information About Your Novel:

• The name of your lead character.
  
• What your lead does for a living.
  
• The first doorway of no return.
  
• Who or what opposition is.
  
• Why they are opposed, and what's at stake for each.
  
• Where the main conflict will take place.
  
• The story question.
  
• How you want the story to “feel” to the reader (e.g., creepy, brooding, inspirational, etc.)
  

STEP 2: Freewrite for Thirty Minutes

Don't worry so much about order or wording at this point. Just freewrite, keeping all the above elements in mind. Don't stop and edit yourself. Just pour material out onto the page.

STEP 3: Edit

Go back over your material and pick out the parts you really like. Now put them into some sort of order. Take your time with this. You may want to do more freewriting or simply refine what you've got. It's your call. But have fun with it.

Here is one simple template to use. It's by no means the only way to go, but it
will
give you three workable paragraphs for your book description:

Paragraph 1:
Begin the first paragraph with your lead character's name and her current situation:

______ is a ______ who ______.

Write one or two more sentences, describing something of the character's background and current world.

Paragraph 2:
Start this paragraph with the word
Suddenly
or
But when.
Fill in the major turning point, the doorway, that is going to thrust the Lead into Act II. Describe in two or three sentences what happens in Act II.

Paragraph 3:
Begin the last paragraph with the word
Now
and make it an action sentence (as in David Morrell's
Long Lost
: “Now Brad must struggle with a harrowing mystery.”). Or begin with the word
Will
, and write a couple of questions: “Will Mollie be able to claim her inheritance? Or will she be stopped by a deadly force that she can't identify? And will these events come crashing down on the Montague family itself?”

Inspirational Kicker

Just for your own benefit, add a final kicker that is pure marketing:
The Montagues
is a stunning debut novel by one of America's bright new talents, sure to capture your heart and leave you yearning for more.

STEP 4: Polish

Now you can polish what you're left with, giving it a final sparkle. This work will prove to be invaluable to you as you begin the writing or outlining process. Aim for 250–500 words as a final product.

James Scott Bell is the best-selling author of
Breach of Promise
,
Deadlock
,
A Greater Glory
, and several other thrillers. He is a winner of the Christy Award for Excellence in inspirational fiction, and is currently a fiction columnist for
Writer's Digest
magazine. A former trial lawyer, Jim now writes and speaks full time. His Web site is
www.jamesscottbell.com
.

Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure
© 2004 by James Scott Bell. Manufactured in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer's Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bell, James Scott.

Write great fiction: plot & structure: techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish / by James Scott Bell.

ISBN-13: 978-1-58297-294-7

ISBN-10: 1-58297-294-X

eISBN-13: 978-1-58297-684-6 (EPUB)