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You've done the research, you have the bare bones of a
plot, and your characters are jumping around in your head, wanting to be set
free. It's time to sit down and write. Right? Wrong. Now
it's time to prepare to write. Doing your prep work well now will
determine how extensively you must revise later. The
right preparation gives you a skeleton from which to work, a pathway that
keeps your story from meandering and losing focus. Synopsis and
Character Bios
Start
with a synopsis. Mine usually end up being about twelve pages long, and
though I use it as a writing tool, I also make it do double duty by using it
as part of a selling proposal. At this point, some authors plot out a story
scene by scene, but I prefer to work from a detailed synopsis that shows me
where I'm going and forces me to work through problems in the plot in
advance. To write the synopsis, ask yourself a series of goal-related questions
about your main characters, working backwards from the end. What is your
character's ultimate goal? How does he/she achieve it? Plot out each step your character makes,
and ask the same questions about the goals of the characters in conflict with
your protagonist. The
next step is crucial to creating flesh and blood characters. Write character
biographies. I only do biographies for the main characters. I use a character
chart, broken into four parts: 1) Physiology (date of birth, body type, hair
and eye color, scars, etc.); 2) History (how her parents met, how she was
brought up, her relationships with her family); 3) Sociology (education,
friends, sexual experiences); and 4) Psychology (beliefs, religion, fears,
loves, personality type). You
could spend months working on bios that reveal your heroine's favorite foods
and colors, and still not know a single intimate thing about her. In
developing characters, think about their motivations, the things that make
them who they are. As
Jack Bickham says so well, everyone has a self-concept that he will go to
great lengths to preserve and defend. A self-concept is the way a person
describes himself: "I'm beautiful," "I'm a survivor,"
"I'm kind to everyone," "I'm a loser." Your story begins
when that self-concept is challenged. Unless you know the psychology and
motivations of your characters, you cannot possibly know what would most
endanger their self-concept, and without that knowledge, your story's
conflict will always be external and superficial. Though
the synopsis and character bios are necessary and important, there is one
further step that can make the difference between a good read and a wonderful
one. That is the emotional outline. The Emotional
Outline
An emotional
outline consists of the emotional changes your characters experience
throughout the course of the book. Divide
your story into pivotal scenes. These scenes can consist of anything: in a
heartland book, it could be: the husking bee, the dance, the fair, or any
other scene that elicits a change in the characters. In my first book, A
Candle in the Dark, my emotional outline was divided into
journey points: Leaving New York, Arriving Chagres, Gorgona, and Jimene's
house. Once
you've chosen pivotal scenes, plot out what your characters are feeling,
their responses, during that part of the story. This is a point-of-view
exercise as well, because you focus solely on what one character is
feeling and experiencing during any point in time, especially in relationship
to the other characters. This should be a purely emotional study, and should
include that character's perceptions, however right—or wrong—they are. Some
of the questions to ask yourself when working on this outline are: How is the
heroine reacting to the hero? How does she feel about him at this point? What
does he do to change her mind? Does that frighten her? Why? What does she do
to protect herself? How does that create a threat to her emotions later? These
outlines don't have to be long—mine are usually only about three to four
pages per character—but they should be complete. Emotional outlines will not
only help you plot out your book and work through weak or unmotivated plot
points, it will give you something to refer to when you're stuck halfway
through and can't remember how something is supposed to affect or change
someone. A
synopsis, character bios, and an emotional outline will give you a firm base
for writing the book. If you do them well, these tools will help identify
structural problems or weak character motivations before you begin writing. Unfortunately,
I can't promise that these tools will eliminate revision entirely, but they
will certainly reduce it, and, if nothing else, give you a stronger sense of where
you're going, which for some of us, is the most important thing of all. Revision
What
is revision? Think
of your plot as a skeleton. The muscles are your characters, their emotions
and goals are the blood and organs. When everything goes right, the body is
healthy. But suppose the back goes out of alignment, or the heart stops. Revision
is the chiropractor/doctor/surgeon of writing. It pops your plot back into
alignment, readjusts your characters,
and cuts away superfluous or misleading emotions. There
is a difference between revision, editing and polishing—the words are not
interchangeable. Revision means making significant changes to the
plot, settings, characters or conflict. It means identifying and solving the
"big picture" problems and making sure the story theme is on track. Editing
is making changes in how the story is told, analyzing technique and
sentence structure, moving paragraphs or pages around for the greatest
impact. It means tightening verbiage and making sure your writing communicates
what you're trying to say. Polishing
is putting the final touches on a manuscript, looking at word choice and
punctuation, and preparing the manuscript for submission. They're
all necessary, but for now let's concentrate on the big picture: revision. There
are several ways to go about revising a manuscript, but before you even
start, you must identify the things that need to be revised. Plot Charting
A few
years ago, Kristin Hannah handed me Dwight Swain's Techniques of a
Selling Writer, and told me to read it. It was the wisest thing I
ever did. Swain, along with Jack Bickham, who articles I'd devoured in Writer's
Digest, gave me the structure for not only analyzing the
problems in a novel, but finding them. I
call it plot charting. For each chapter of my novel, I have a sheet of paper
on which I blueprint the chapter, scene by scene, sequel by sequel. To really
understand scene and sequel, read Bickham or Swain, but here's a summary: Each
scene must have three parts: Goal (what does the character want?), Conflict
(What keeps he/she from getting it?), and Disaster (What happens as a result
of the conflict that makes everything worse?) Each
sequel in the book must have these three parts: Emotion (What is the
character's immediate reaction to a scene?), Quandary (The character's search
for solutions), and Decision (What is the character's new plan, new goal?).
For each scene or sequel in the chapter, determine whether each part is
there, and describe what it is. Please
remember that this exercise is for your eyes only, and it only works if you
are honest with yourself. It is simply a way to map out your book to find
trouble spots. If there's no goal in a scene, say it. If there's no new
decision at the end of a sequel, tell yourself that too. You are not solving
problems yet; this is merely a way to identify them first. Once
you've mapped out the novel, look at each aspect with a critical eye. Goal:
A character should have a major story goal, and it must be important to him beyond
a surface level. In order to achieve it, he must take many small steps and go
through many smaller goals. At any given point in your story, a character's
goal should be evident, even if it's something minor—perhaps as simple as the
heroine's need to keep away from the hero. But the character must know what
it is, and must believe it will ultimately help him achieve his final goal—as
he understands it to be at that moment. Here
are some of the symptoms of problem goals and motivations: 1) Violent mood swings: This shows
that you haven't determined goals and motivations well enough to know how the
character is supposed to feel. Refer to your emotional outline. Is your
character on course? Is she reacting to new situations, or to your mood? 2) Characters overreacting: If you
find your characters breaking into tears for no apparent reason, it could
mean that your scenes are not supporting your goals. For example, if the
heroine breaks into tears because the hero refuses to buy her a candy bar
(and she's not five years old), there better be a good reason for it. What
does the candy signify? Have you built up the motivation and the scene so the
symbolism is not lost on us? Would there be a better situation for her to
react to to make your point? 3) Conflicting emotions or
inconsistent behavior: Again, if this is happening, your motivations haven't
been developed enough. If you don't know what your
character's motivations and goals are in every scene, your reader won't
either, and you'll end up with a fuzzy and meandering plot peopled with
characters too inexplicable to care about. Conflict: The conflict that drives your book should
be a meaningful one—ideally a conflict between two belief systems (in a
romance, his and hers). Your internal and external conflicts should support
and enhance each other. Each
scene should intensify the conflict—it either moves the character closer to
or farther away his goal. Watch
for these trouble signs of poor conflict: 1)
Convenient characters or events: Characters popping up for no other reason
than to provide a problem or solution for the heroine. Everything that
happens in your book should be a product of your characters' goals. 2) Coincidence: Make sure every
element of your plot is motivated. For example, if your heroine runs into the
hero every time she goes someplace, he'd better be deliberately following her
because he wants something she has, or it's coincidental. Even minor
characters should have goals if they play a part in advancing the plot. 3) Weak, unsolved
misunderstandings: We've all heard a lot about this particular problem. The
general rule of thumb is: if an explanation would solve the problem, don't
use the misunderstanding. Conflicts should come from characters' goals, not
author manipulation. Disaster: The disaster should always lead to a
bigger, greater conflict. If a scene ends with a character the same distance
from the goal as when it began, it's an unnecessary scene. Sequels: Remember that the way a character thinks
characterizes him. The decisions he comes to may not necessarily be rational
decisions, but they must follow the character's line of reasoning in a
logical way. The decision your heroine makes may not be the same decision
your hero makes given the same information, but it must be in character for
each of them. Study the elements of your sequel: emotion, quandary, decision,
to make sure that each is in character, and that the final decision once
again intensifies the conflict. Finally,
look at the manuscript as a whole. Does the progression of your scene/sequels
make logical sense? Does each scene have a bearing on the final goal? Does
each contribute to the central idea? Play with the order of your scenes and
sequels. Reverse them for impact or remove a sequel to heighten tension. You
may end up radically changing the order of your scenes to achieve greater
impact, or cutting chapters that don't add to the story's movement. Play
with viewpoint. Ask yourself if a scene might be better from another point of
view. Generally speaking, the point-of-view character in a scene should be
the person most affected by what is happening. Revision
is your chance to objectively analyze your book step by step. It is a
learning tool. I think you'll find that the more often you do this, the stronger
will be your ability to analyze plot and motivation. With practice, you'll
find yourself analyzing problems before and while you write—instead of
afterwards. |
Copyright 1996 Megan Chance
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Copyright 2001 Megan Chance