Plot Layers
Lately I’ve been thinking about what really makes a plot complex and interesting as opposed to generic and boring. I wondered if it were something you could actually uncover. Something you could put your finger on. When I brainstormed more, I thought it was the concept alone that gauges the uniqueness of a story.
Then I realized that the concept is made up of layers. Remember how Shrek is made up of layers? So are stories! Layers that can be broken into categories and those are what really give the novel depth. Thinking of the story in terms of onion layers helped me plot and write things I found to be special. And when I applied the same idea to published works, TV or movie plots, I was pleased to feel that I had found a useful recipe for success. Now I’m sharing it with you!
Start with Setting: Where your story takes place in the world or in time is the first layer to your story that can set it apart from other ideas. The more specific the setting, the better—so instead of America as the setting, your story could take place in the dense, moist forests of the pacific northwest.
Build with Conflict: Adding several conflicts to your plot produces another layer of complexity. If there’s no conflict, there’s no story. By using both internal and external conflicts, you ensure that the characters and the world around them change over time. Furthermore, conflicts help heighten the stakes.
Finish with Twists: Good stories have fun settings and conflicts, but the best ones have a twist. Something unique that really set it apart. And not Scooby Doo type twists, I mean well thought out misdirection. Sure, this could be a twist in the plot itself, but a spin on characters or motifs tend to be more interesting.
When reworking a current plot, or planning a new one, I’ve found this layering concept to be very helpful. I hope that when you get back to planning or writing that this helps you construct your idea to its fullest potential. Happy writing!
Reaper’s Rhythm Author Interview
I was lucky enough to be included on Clare M Davidson’s blog 
tour for her new book, Reaper’s Rhythm. To find out about Clare’s process and more about her novel, read this awesome interview:
Clare: Hi Rachel, thanks for having me over for a q & a session.
Rachel: No, thank you! Why don’t you start off by telling us about where you got the idea for Reaper?
Clare: I was on holiday in Crete in August 2011 and I’d just finished reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Theif by Rick Riordan. I enjoyed it, but felt that some of the scenes felt like random encounters. Exactly why did they run into Medusa? The film went some way to remedying that, by make the characters quest for the pearls, rather than having a character give them to the characters (as happens in the book).
Anyway, I decided to write a mid-grade book where every scene/encounter had a point. Because I’d just read urban fantasy, I decided to write urban fantasy. The result was a story called The Wizard Trap, which – to be brutally honest – was pretty terrible. Except at the time I was too close to it to see that and sent it out on critique.
While waiting for it to come back (it never did from that reader, unsurprisingly), I decided I needed a writing challenge. I set myself the task of writing a darker, more grown up version. That story became Reaper’s Rhythm. Same world setting (mostly), similar characters, completely different plot.
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00100]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rachelhorwitz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/KindleCoverSmall.jpg?resize=187%2C300)
Rachel: How long did it take to write this book?
Clare: That depends on if you count the time it took me to write TWT or not! If you don’t, it took me three months to write the first draft of Reaper’s Rhythm (from September to December 2012). Then I spent December to May drafting and editing it. Roughly eight months in total.
Rachel: Are their other books in the series?
Clare: I’m currently writing book two. There will be at least three books in the Hidden series, possibly four.
Rachel: What’s your main character’s drive throughout this book?
Clare: Kim is determined to prove her older sister, Charley, didn’t commit suicide. She simply can’t comprehend how everyone can believe Charley killed herself, when she was happy, popular and going places.
Rachel: Have you written other novels?
Clare: Written, or published? I’ve written lots of others, but I’ve only released one other novel – Trinity.
Rachel: What is your normal process for writing? Brainstorming, outlines, betas?
Clare: I’m a bit of a pantser. Increasingly I’m doing more plotting, whether that’s a brief bullet point outline (major plot points only), or outlining up to half a dozen scenes ahead of my current point in a WIP.
I often have plot discussions with my husband and one of my friends, who’s a role player and games master.
I don’t have many beta readers/critique partners, because I don’t have much time to reciprocate. Ruth Ellen Parlour (my editor for Trinity), critiqued Reaper’s Rhythm for me, which was incredibly helpful.
Rachel: Where can people buy / read Reaper?
Clare: You can buy the paperback or the Kindle version on Amazon. In the UK, you can also order it online from major bookstores such as Waterstone’s and WHSmiths. If you ask in store, they should be able to get it in for you.
Rachel: Thanks so much for being here! Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?
Clare: Sure. I thought I’d do something a bit different to my normal author bio. Instead, here’s five random facts:
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I helped to break three world records last summer – most people in a three-legged race, most people in an egg and spoon race and most people in a piggyback race.
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I’m terrified of heights.
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I’ve just bought myself a weaving loom.
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The first book I ever wrote was a YA contemporary mystery/thriller.
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My favourite chocolate is praline.
Diversity Guest Post
Adrianne Russell is my wonderful guest poster for today. She has written an incredible post about diversity in young adult books (or well, the lack there of) that she wanted to share on my blog as well. I couldn’t agree more with her feelings on this subject and I truly hope we see more diversity going forward. If more writers write it, the industry would be more open to representing/selling it. Enough fo me, read her thoughts and leave a comment below!
I’ve been reading since I was three years old and I can’t remember a time when diversity wasn’t an issue in children’s literature. Week after week, I’d peruse the Scholastic book orders searching for brown faces. Other than Michael Jackson biographies or the occasional Dynamite magazine cover featuring Kim Fields or the cast of The Cosby Show, the pickings were slim. It didn’t keep me from being a voracious reader but I have to wonder how I internalized the lack of representation and if it’s still affecting me today.
I’ve written about the lack of diversity in young adult covers and the negative message that sends. I’ve raged about recent studies that demonstrate how books are utterly failing to represent their readers both in content and authorship. I’ve face-palmed myself nearly to death over authors being asked to “straight-wash” LGBTQ characters. It’s enough to drive you insane.
I don’t know what it’s like anywhere else but in the United States, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation permeate everything. Our collective fixation is almost pathological. We obsess over those issues yet when it comes time to have meaningful discussion about them we either run and hide or throw out knee-jerk responses or platitudes of the “gays are an abomination” or “we have a black President so racism is dead” variety. We know we need to do better yet we’re so afraid of the work it takes to improve that hardly any progress is made.
Feeling so much rage, anxiety, and frustration about this is effing exhausting. Some days I just want to quit the planet. But I can’t stop thinking or talking about it. Not just because I’m a writer and a black person but because this crap is wrong and is endemic of just how far out of whack society is in general and the publishing industry in particular.
Case in point: Publishers won’t buy stories about people of color because people don’t read those books so agents won’t represent stories about people of color because publishers won’t sell them so readers can’t buy stories about people of color because they aren’t being published but publishers won’t buy…etc.
See how ridiculously crazypants that argument is? If we’re not buying anything, it’s that crappy rationalization.
It’s annoying on so many levels. If I write a story featuring white characters, I feel like I’m actually doing my bit for diversity because that’s not representative of my native culture. But because white folks are so over-represented, it’s like I’m contributing to the problem. If I write multicultural characters who aren’t struggling with some aspect of their ethnicity or gay characters who aren’t harassed about their sexuality then it’s not believable. If I make no mention of the characters’ features at all it’s problematic because supposedly readers’ brains will explode if they don’t know what the characters look like. *strangled scream*
I wouldn’t have to consider any of this nonsense if the stories being presented were more diverse across the board. Industry gate-keepers (publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, bloggers, et al) must push past their comfort zones and make meaningful efforts to reflect the real world in the books they publish, buy, sell, and promote. Readers must continue to express their displeasure with being patronizingly told what their wants and needs are.
Most importantly, writers must continue to create the stories that move them. “Write what you know” is a myth. We’re not afraid to write about global catastrophes, aliens, or shape-shifting werebeasts, so why should writing outside our cultural or sexual experiences scare us? If we research well, write authentically and honestly, and know that we’ll make mistakes, it will be fine.
As writers, we’re constantly told not to chase trends. So why would anyone purposely configure their stories to fit into the ridiculously narrow molds of a publishing industry that requires everything be filtered through a straight, all-white lens?
Not gonna. And you shouldn’t either.
We control the story. We can change how it ends. We have that power. We just need to claim it.
Naming Post Over at TADA
My new post at There And Draft Again is up! This time I wrote about names in the fantasy genre. They can really be so confusing and complex at times that I broke it down into the categories I feel are necessary to consider when naming your characters and how to keep it simple.
Run on over and take a look!
Pitch Wars Mentee 2014
Awards
