The Secrets to Figuring Out Your Plot

HAPPY NEW YEAR, LIFERS! I hope you had a safe and wonderful holiday season! But now, it's back to the grindstone. Time to get back to work on your writing. And we have a lot of awesomeness planned this year here at SLOW! Except for today, by which I mean I had nothing planned because... Well, I can be lazy sometimes. But that's okay because we have so many wonderful followers that all I had to do was ask if anyone had a question about writing or publishing. And lo and behold, you did!

I received a very interesting question, check it:

Such a great question! But a question with many, many answers and still the ones you get might not be the right answer for you. But I shall endeavor to give my opinion on the matter.

1. Know what you need to have. - There are exceptions to every rule, but for the sake of not getting too confusing, I'm going to stick with what I've always known as what a plot is. There's a beginning, middle, and end. Stuff happens to the characters, bad and good. And that's about it, really.

What? You need more explanation than that?! Okay, I can see how that might have been a little vague. Right, well, go download a pdf of Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! beat sheet. It's supposed to be mainly for screenplays but it's just as great for story telling in general. And while you're there, check out all the beat sheets for popular movies like the one for Jurassic Park and that will probably explain what the terms in the beat sheet mean.

(Just to clarify, that whole thing about Save the Cat! was not a paid advertisement, lol. I just think, like a lot of other writers, that that book is pretty fantastic!)

2. Talk it out! - Sometimes we just need to let our writer brain do what it needs to do. It's amazing what having someone in front of you, having someone who can react and ask questions, can do for the inner writer.

Email or chat up a writer buddy, call up a friend, pull your partner or roommate or mother aside for a brainstorming session. Whoever you have that is willing to listen to you ramble about your imaginary world, talk to them. This technique was mentioned often in a Twitter conversation I stalked, I mean, read between Gail Simone and some other comic book pros. A couple of them seemed to used it exclusively for figuring out the plot.

"But how do I explain it if I don't know what I'm explaining?" you my ask. Well, start with what you do know. "There's this guy and he's this thing and this other thing. He lives in this place. And then - " Pretend you're telling someone about a movie you just saw or a book you just read. And if you get to a spot where you don't know what will happen next, let your audience speak. What do they think should happen next? If what they say makes sense, great! If you don't quite like it, go with the exact opposite maybe and see where that road takes you.

3. Get inspired - It never hurts to know your genre very, very well. So read books in your genre. Watch movies and TV shows similar to what you're writing. I'm not saying copy from them, of course. Just look at what those who came before you have done. What did you like about those stories? What didn't you like about those stories?

There are tons of ways to get inspired, to let your writer brain do what it needs to do. Listen to music. Or go somewhere completely quiet. Go for a walk. Look for inspirational images. Sometimes, just a lyric or a picture can inspire an entire scene.

4. Use what you already have - So, you already have your setting. Well, how will that setting affect your characters? You already have your characters? How could your characters' flaws influence the story? I mean, your characters do have flaws, right? Riiiight??? I truly believe that a character's flaws are more important to the story than their good points most of the time. But that's a post for a different day.

And your characters spawn other characters. Your main character must have a mother, father, maybe siblings and friends who, in turn, might have their own affect on the plot.

5. Write it all down. - Write down any little kernel of an idea you have. Always have a pen and paper with you because you never know when inspiration will strike. It's a simple thing, but very helpful.

So, those are my ideas on how to figure out your plot. I really hope this is helpful, but remember: everyone does it differently! If this doesn't ring true for you, keep looking for more tips and KEEP WRITING!

Do you have any tips or tricks for figuring out your plot? Share in the comments! Unless you want to hog them all to yourself... In that case, phooey on you! ;)

Revision Tools from Alex's Nano Rebellion

Hey guys! Hope writing's going well, especially if you're doing NaNoWriMo. :)

For my NaNo project this year, I'm trying something new. Instead of writing 50k words in a first draft, I'm cutting and rewriting 50k words in the manuscript I've been revising.

It's been challenging to get through the first week, but revising under time pressure has taught me a lot about my own editing process, so I'm sharing what I've learned thus far. Whether you're rebelling and revising with me, revising as you write, or looking for ideas for December's edits, hopefully there's something in here that can help you out.

When I use a feeling by name, I double-check that I'm not telling in that sentence. 

One of the really awkward things about revising is reading over all the stuff you thought was super hot, and then cringing when you spot all the telling you're doing. Naming emotions tends to get me into trouble. Unless you're doing an awesome take on feelings like Kelsey and personifying emotions *obligatory Fear fangirl moment* or inside a character's head, dialoguing, or something to that effect, then chances are these emo-nouns are telling where there needs to be showing.

And when you start looking for them, it's kind of intimidating. Because they're EVERYWHERE.

oh god not you again

Most of the adverbs that I cut are things like "angrily" or "quizzically" or "vehemently"-- all of which aren't that needed if I'm making my dialogue convey the rage, confusion, or urgency it should. Sometimes it's fine (my rule of thumb is that in dialogue anything goes), but I don't want things like "His fear was becoming suffocating." or "Love wasn't something he had time for." making it to the next draft. That's the telling that I want to get rid off.

Minor characters are where it's at.

One of my CPs and I regularly geek out over how awesome minor characters are. Why? These are people you added to your story to accomplish a certain function, but in true writerly sleight of hand you can't let the reader know that. So, you do the only thing you can do, which is to make them utterly amazing and hilarious.

While my main pair is busy with their own problems:

My minor characters are also busy:

"I'm sorry, are you having an emotional conflict? I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am."

What's great about minor characters is the amount of freedom you have. Maybe you just need one around as a benchmark for how much your protagonist has changed, but don't let that stop you from making them awesome. My favorite dude in this manuscript is my main character's father-- I love snarky, angry people, and this guy is such a guilty pleasure to write that whatever scene he comes into he pretty much steals the limelight (and all the olives out of the fridge). 

Taking another look at diversity.

The story I'm revising is a contemporary taking place in the present. I want to be sure that my manuscript accurately reflects the people you'd find if you went there-- whether it's the race demographic or LGBT characters. And yeah, I'm a white, straight girl trying to write characters that aren't those things. I'm really nervous about messing up. I'm completely prepared for someone to tell me that I'm doing everything wrong, and that I am exactly zero, none, no good.

my feels

But more than I'm anxiety-attacking about offending every person ever, I know I can write human beings. I can write angry people (see hilarious angry father a few paragraphs ago). I can write serious, pragmatic, but secretly goofy people, and I can also write happy people hiding a deep sadness. I can research my heart out. And maybe (probably) I won't get it exactly perfect, but I'd rather try than stop myself because I'm too afraid I'll fail.

Revisions are my time to tighten up character identities and push myself. If you're also writing diverse characters, needing/wanting ideas or help, and not yet checking out the cool stuff that Diversity in YA is doing, get on that! They are awesome. :)

Beat management-- aka, no one shakes their head that much in real life. 

I love my dialogue tags, but a lifetime of watching TV shows has made beats an integral part of my writing. I swear, most of the things that I am cutting out of this manuscript are "She nods." or "He blinks." Don't get me wrong, I love beats. But relying too much on the quick, two-word ones sometimes makes your poor characters end up like this:

"But you need to know it's me doing the speaking, so here you go."

I feel like I'm writing the reaction gifs of my characters sometimes, and sometimes that needs to get pared down or re-modded. I really like having my characters do things while they're talking, so I can use the beats to have them accomplishing different tasks-- like putting a straw into a juice carton or climbing up trapdoors-- instead of always nodding along or staring incredulously.

Research is fun. Also, addictive. Also, the internet is scary. 

I've never been to the city where my manuscript is set, but I have Google Maps'd that place and gotten an idea of the local layout. I've researched weather conditions, local landmarks, and cool places for the characters to explore. Have I gone on streetview along neighborhoods to get an idea of what it looks like to walk through it? Yeah. Have I picked out a real house I think would be totally perfect for my main character? Yes. 

Is it creepy and insane that we have the technology for me to do this?

Cut the superfluous stuff and get to the magical cookies. 

Susan Dennard has a great post on this-- pretty much, if you're not excited to write a scene, your readers aren't going to be excited to read it either. It's like you're constantly at war for being the most awesome thing on your reader's mind. 

Kill every darling. 

Slay them. If it sounds cute, it gets cut. I keep my cuts in a separate document (which is how I'm keeping track of my word count for NaNo), so it's not like any darlings are killed forever. But more often then not, when I read through things in my cuts doc I can see why they were too weak to stay in the draft. If it can't hold its own in the manuscript, if my liking it is the only reason it's in here, then it has no place in the final version. It's tough love, but it's making the story better. 

Any darlings left must be at least this fabulous.

And that's my report from revision land. How are your NaNoWriMo projects going, guys? Or if you're revising like me, share your favorite tricks for gettin' it done. :)

When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.

You can find her on Twitter @: http://twitter.com/alexyuschik

Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.blogspot.com 

A Quick Tip on Creating Authentic Characters

Hi, lovelies!

I'm bouncing onto the blog today to talk a bit about character creation and a trick I've found useful in making my characters unique. I've never actually blogged about characters before, and a big part of that is because I don't have a specific formula for that like I do outlining or revising. I don't even have a method for choosing character names. It's all very loosey-goosey up there in my head, a lot of "Does that sound right?" and "Does that feel right?"

But there is one little trick that I've adopted recently to make them unique, and I want to share it with you today. 

I don't know about you guys, but sometimes it's hard to come up with flaws, strengths, and interests that haven't been done before (or haven't been overdone!). We've all seen the strong-willed, female lead that loves sports or the shy, kind of nerdy male love interest that plays video games. And there's a reason for that. In fact, we've probably encountered a lot of people like that in real life, movies, TV shows, etc. So our brains start attaching certain traits with certain interests and it gets difficult to think outside of the box, right?

Here's where the tip comes in, I promise. 

I'm a pretty visual person, so there are two different things I do when I want to come up with a new interest/trait for a character in question:

Tarot cards. I know this sounds weird, but hear me out. If you've ever looked at a deck of tarot cards, there are a ton of really cool, unique images on them. So when I started my latest WIP, I was looking for a unique hobby for my love interest, who isn't really an emotional guy. I picked one of those cards out of the deck and found that it had an image of a field, flowers, and trees all over it. That's when it dawned on me: How cool would it be to have this kind of burly dude be really into horticulture? Maybe he's in 4H club? And the ideas grew from there. (There's also a book called Tarot for Writers, which is fun and insanely helpful in figuring out how to use the images on cards to make memorable characters.)

Pinterest and Instagram. Sometimes I browse through random people's Pinterest pages, especially hobby or craft pages, to find something unique that my character could be into. I also browse Instagram's "most popular page" to see if there's anything cool in there. Sometimes I find a setting that would be an awesome backdrop for a story, or a picture of a girl that looks like someone I would want to write about, etc. I recently got some inspiration from a girl I follow on Instagram: She's fifteen, and she runs her own Etsy business, making little odds and ends like hair bows, mugs, and knitted sweaters. I thought that would be a kind of cool person/hobby to write about. In general, I've found these to be pretty great places to pull up random inspiration.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Happy writing, everyone!

Andrea Hannah is a YA writer represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider. She writes stories about criminals, crazy people, and creatures that may or may not exist. When she's not writing, Andrea teaches special education, runs, spends time with her family, and tries to figure out a way to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (still unsuccessful). Oh, and she tweets a bajillion times a day, mostly about inappropriate things. 

You can find her on Twitter @: http://twitter.com/andeehannah

Drop her an email @: andreahannahbooks@gmail.com
And visit her website @: http://www.andreahannah.com/

Writerly Wednesday & A Writing Prompt: Creating Characters

Some writers are amazing at setting. Some have a knack for twisty-turny plots. Me? I love writing unique characters. And of course I have my own steps I like to go through when developing characters. So, let's do an awesome list post because I like those. In no particular order, here are 3 ways to really get to know your characters.

1. Make their playlist - It's no secret that writers like to make playlists for their books, and a lot of times, those playlists include songs that the writers thinks one or more of the characters would listen to. But we can take this a step further. Everyone has certain music they listen to when they are in a certain mood. Do you know what your character likes to listen to when they drive? How about when they're cleaning their room or exercising? Or when they've just had a huge fight with their boyfriend/girlfriend? Put those songs on your playlist, too. You never know what that could inspire.

2. Know their favorites - All of them! Food, song, color, TV show, movie, cuss word, cereal, Powerpuff Girl, etc...

3. Know their childhood - I don't mean "they grew up in the suburbs as the daughter of a divorced workaholic father." I mean "how did they get that small scar on their elbow when they were seven?" or "what was their favorite type of candy when they were ten?" All those little things you remember about your own childhood helped to shape you and they did the same for your characters. Also, once again, you never know what those things will inspire.

And here's where the writing prompt happens! Take a character, could be one you've written already, one you're working on now, or a brand spankin' new one, and tell me something about their childhood. Could be a scene or it could just be a scene in which they remember something.

For example, here's a small excerpt of something I'm working on now that came to me as I thought about what my character liked to do as a child (pardon the TOWNNAME thing, I'm horrible at names and haven't come up with one yet, lol...):

The town of TOWNNAME, Kansas, is flat. Flat in every way you could think of. The landscape is flat. The colors are boring. It's like the architects of every building didn't realize there were other materials besides brick. Hell, even the people are flat. Flat personalities, flat jobs, flat ideas. And if a person stays in this town too long, they start to become flat, too. It's like when I used to press flowers and leaves in big books. You take something that's three dimensional, that has tons of character, and you stick it in a book then close it. You let it sit somewhere for a long time and sheet after flat sheet combine to make this one heavy mass that crushes that once full-of-life flower.

So, what things do you do to get into your characters' heads? And please post your prompt or link to it in the comments!