Plots and Plotting

by Diana Kimpton

  The woolly characters in my Alien Sheep are just such a group. Although they are identical in appearance and numbered rather than named, I made each one have his own characteristic. Two is obsessed with autograph hunting, Three has no sense of humour and Six is a worrier. My personal favourite is Eight, who believes everything he is told, and bursts into tears every time he learns that a story isn’t true. Once I had created this mix of characters, the dialogue for the flock flowed naturally because I could easily imagine what each of them would say in any situation.

  Future Proof is a thriller rather than a comedy, but it doesn’t have to be miserable. The contrast between Seb’s easy-going attitude to life and Jane’s serious upbringing will offer good opportunities to add some humour if I want to. In addition, some of the minor characters they meet could be designed to raise a smile from our readers.

  21

  Special issues with series

  I’ve put this section here because it’s often at this stage of the plotting process that you start to wonder if your story has the potential to become a series. That’s definitely happening to me with Future Proof because I’m not sure I can make Seb and Jane save mankind in one normal length book without making the plot too simplistic and trite. A series of three books would give me the space to give the story more depth.

  The pros and cons of series

  Writing a series makes marketing easier because, once you’ve hooked your readers with one book, they are likely to want to read the others. This works so well that publishers sometimes sell the first book really cheaply in order to bring readers in.

  Another advantage is that you can use the same basic idea, characters and setting for the whole series. Unfortunately this is a disadvantage too, because writing about the same characters over and over again can be boring. And once the first book is published, you’ll be tied into the decisions you made for that one so you’ll have less freedom when you plot the later ones. So, before you commit yourself to writing a series, make sure you are sufficiently excited by the central idea to want to write several books about it.

  Freestanding series

  In this type of series, each book is completely freestanding with a plot that’s independent of the others. As the series progresses, the main characters either remain much the same or change only slightly, and any serial storyline that runs from book to book is so minor that the books can be read in any order without causing problems to the reader. Series about detectives, spies or superheroes usually fit into this category. So do my Pony-Mad Princess books.

  Because this type of series is open-ended, you can test the market with one or more books and add new ones for as long as you wish. With The Pony-Mad Princess, I started with six books and added new ones in response to demand from readers. I’ve now written thirteen and I would find it hard to add another because I’ve used up so many storylines already.

  To develop a free-standing series, you need to think of a setting with plenty of potential for different storylines. It helps to choose a place where a variety of scenarios are likely to arise naturally. A desert island with a population of two offers very few storylines, but police stations have much more potential, as do hospitals, vets, hotels, schools and any other place that has contact with the public. They allow you to have new people coming in for each book, bringing new stories with them.

  Into that setting, you need to put at least one strong main character who will feature in every story. It’s a good idea to have some other slightly less important regulars as well to provide someone for your main character to talk to: Superman has Lois Lane and many detectives have an assistant. But resist having too many as the more you have, the more complicated the plotting becomes and the harder it is for your readers to remember who’s who.

  Once you’ve developed the basic concept, check that the series has enough potential by writing brief outlines for three or more books. They don’t have to be very long – you only need to jot down the central storyline in one or two paragraphs. If you can do this and you are still excited by the idea, the series is worth developing further. If you can’t think of enough ideas or you feel terminally bored, you need to move on to a different project.

  Freestanding series without regular characters

  There are exceptions to every rule so there are some freestanding series that don’t have the same main characters in every book: it’s the setting that links them together. Two examples that spring to mind are The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis and the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. But both of those series do have strong characters who turn up often enough to become well-known to readers.

  Series that tell a story

  The second type of series has a major overarching storyline that develops a bit more in each book and culminates in the last one. To work well, each individual book needs to contain a complete well-paced plot of its own which develops the main storyline and contains at least one sub-plot or story strand that is told completely in that book. So, at the end of each book, the reader finds a satisfactory end to that episode as well as the desire to read the next book to find out what happens next.

  These series don’t go on forever – they contain a finite number of books – and they are best read in the correct order. Trilogies like Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials fall into this category. So will Future Proof if I decide to turn it into a series.

  The techniques for developing this type of series are the same as for single novels, but the storyline and characterization need to be very strong in order to hold your readers’ attention. It’s sensible to work out the overarching plot for the whole series before you start working on the details for each individual book. This is particularly important if you are following the usual practice of publishing the books one at a time, because you can’t go back and change a story that’s already been published in order to sort out a plot problem in a later one.

  In less skilfully written series, the individual books don’t contain complete stories – they are just sections of the main story that end on a cliffhanger designed to sell the next book without offering the reader any completion at all. This type of series is really just a long book cut into pieces. It risks leaving readers feeling cheated which, in turn, increases the chances of bad reviews. But don’t panic if you’ve just realized your current project fits into that last category. You can increase your chances of pleasing your readers by doing some careful plotting to give each individual book a satisfactory ending.

  Keeping the reader up to date

  When magazines print serials, they start each episode with a “story so far” section. TV serials often use a montage of shots during the credits to get over the same information. Neither method works well in book series: they look clunky and they can turn the reader off. But you still need to give new readers the information they need to understand what’s happening while not boring those who have already read the previous books.

  The skill here is to sort out which information is essential and work it into the story as naturally as possible. It’s best to feed it in a little at a time rather than put it all in one big chunk (or infodump) near the beginning. Exactly how you decide to do that is part of the writing process rather than plotting, but I’m mentioning it here so you can bear it in mind while you are planning your books.

  Putting series planning into action

  As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, I am considering turning the plot of Future Proof into a three-book series. Three is a good number as it allows us to use the classic rule of three technique – try once and fail, try again and fail, try again and succeed. But Seb and Jane need to achieve enough in each book to keep the reader hopeful that they will succeed eventually. So the endings of books 1 and 2 wouldn’t be total failures. They would be like those situations where you are climbing a hill and reach what you think is the top, only to discover that there is more climbing ahead that you couldn’t see before. Walkers and climbers som
etimes refer to this as reaching a false summit, and that’s what I need to provide for my readers.

  Once Seb and Jane realize the importance of the diary, they’re going to want help and that’s likely to involve trying to get in touch with others who want to rebel against the elite. So one false summit could be finally reaching the people they hope are going to help them only to discover that they are fake, dead, imaginary or nearly as bad as the elite themselves. Something also needs to happen then to heighten Jane and Seb’s resolve, help them overcome their disappointment and make them (and the readers) determined to continue their search for help.

  For the moment, I’m going to continue working on the whole plot and leave the decision about whether it will be a single book or a series until I see how it turns out. Then, if I decide on a trilogy, I can go through my step outline, find the best places for the false summits and build them up to be satisfactory endings for the first two books.

  22

  Viewpoint

  There are many ways to write a story. Putting Future Proof to one side for a moment, here’s a piece I’ve written about evacuees in World War II.

  The arrival of the train caused a flurry of activity on the crowded platform. Teachers scurried around through the billowing smoke, trying to organize the children onto the right carriages. Most didn’t want to go – they clung to their mothers and cried. But one or two went on board so willingly that the teachers wondered how bad home must be for them to be so eager to leave it behind.

  In the midst of this activity, the Spike children stood together, holding hands while their mother wiped their noses, checked their gas masks and tried to imprint their faces on her brain forever. She couldn’t afford photographs. These memories would be all she had to remember them until the war was over. Daisy, the eldest, knew that too but the others were too young to understand how long they might be apart. Edward was sure he’d be home for Christmas and Elsie had no concept of time at all.

  I’ve written those two paragraphs as if I’m watching what is happening without being involved in it. I mention what Mum is thinking and what Daisy knew, but I’m not looking at the scene through their eyes. Creative writing teachers call this author’s view, God’s eye view, omniscient viewpoint or, if they are really keen on jargon, third person omniscient viewpoint. This is much less popular than it used to be and can be heavy going for the reader if you use it for an entire novel. However, you may find it useful for some parts of your story.

  Now here’s the same scene again written in a different way.

  Daisy held tight to Edward and Elsie as the train puffed into the station, breathing smoke like a dragon. She’d never been in such a crowd before or seen her teachers in such a state. She’d also never seen so many women and children crying. Was this what war was all about – families being ripped apart? Dad had already gone and now it was their turn.

  She ducked her head as Mum tried to wipe her nose. She didn’t need it. She was too old for that sort of mothering, and she wasn’t crying – not outwardly anyway. She could feel a pit of loneliness growing inside her, but she tried not to let it show. She had to be strong like Mum, because she was going to have to take Mum’s place in their new home. And if she got upset now, so would Elsie and that would mean her little sister travelling the whole way in wet knickers.

  This time I’m watching the scene through Daisy’s eyes. I’m inside her head so I see only what she sees and I know only what she knows. So I talk about how Daisy feels, but I don’t mention anything that’s going on in Mum’s head. I'm writing in the third person because I refer to Daisy as she, and creative writing teachers call this viewpoint third person close or third person immediate.

  Here’s my third and final attempt at the scene in the station.

  I hold tight to Edward and Elsie as the train puffs into the station, breathing smoke like a dragon. I’ve never been in such a crowd before and nearly all the women and children are crying. Even my teachers look upset. Is this what war is all about – families being ripped apart? Dad left last week and now it’s our turn to go.

  I duck my head as Mum tries to wipe my nose. I hate it when she does that. I’m too big for that sort of mothering. But I’ll miss her when we’ve gone. I can feel a pit of loneliness growing deep inside me, but I blink back my tears and stand up straight. I have to be strong like Mum because I’ve got to take Mum’s place in our new home. And if I get upset now, so will Elsie and I don’t want my little sister to travel the whole way in wet knickers.

  In that example, I’m still inside Daisy’s head so I can see what she sees and know what she knows. But this time I’m pretending I really am Daisy so I’m writing in the first person, referring to her as I and talking about my nose and our new home. If I’d written this in the past tense, it would have been almost exactly the same as the previous third person example, except for the changes of pronoun (I held tight, I ducked my head, etc.). But I switched to the present tense because that’s a popular choice with first person viewpoint, especially in young adult novels. Using the present tense has the advantage of allowing the viewpoint character to be surprised by events in a way that is hard to achieve when they are recounting events that have already happened to them.

  As you can see, the scene has more immediacy when it’s written in third person close or first person – from the inside looking out. That helps you identify more strongly with Daisy and care about what’s happening to her. We always want to make our readers care, so these two viewpoints are the best choices for most novels.

  Viewpoint problems

  There are two snags with both first person and third person close.

  You can’t tell the reader anything that happens while the viewpoint character isn’t there.

  You can’t reveal what any other character is thinking, although you can mention behaviour that hints at what’s going through their minds.

  If you want to continue the story of the evacuees through Daisy Spike’s eyes, you have to travel on the train with her. You can’t show what happens when Mum goes home or reveal what Mum was thinking about the lack of photographs. If Daisy’s London home is destroyed in a bombing raid, the reader won’t know about it until Daisy does.

  Similarly, if you’re writing a thriller in the third person and an attacker is stalking your viewpoint character on a dark night, you can only tell the reader about him if your character knows he’s there too. If she doesn’t, the eventual attack will be a total surprise for the readers as well as the victim.

  But some stories work better if the reader knows more than the main character. Maybe you want to build tension by letting your reader see a danger ahead that your hero doesn’t know is there or by letting your heroine believe her lover is dead while the readers know that he’s not. The only way to do this is to switch to a different character’s viewpoint or to use author view for some scenes.

  Using multiple viewpoints

  Multi-viewpoint story telling can work well. You can write each viewpoint in the third person, mix first person for one character with third person for others or even use first person for more than one character. But changing viewpoint too often can confuse your readers and make it harder for them to care about what’s happening. To avoid these problems, it’s best to minimize the number of characters whose eyes you look through and not switch between them too often.

  Wherever possible, only change viewpoint when there is a natural break in the story. Changing mid-conversation, mid-fight or mid-scene can muddle your readers and make them step back from the storyline while they sort out who is doing what. If you find yourself switching viewpoint in the middle of the action, look carefully at what’s happening in the plot and try to come up with an alternative way of handling the scene that doesn’t require it. But if you decide there really is no alternative, help your readers by making it as clear as possible that the viewpoint has changed.

  Viewpoint issues in children’s books

  Using more than one viewpoint makes
your readers work harder because they have to keep track of who is telling the story at any given point in time. This can cause problems for children who have only just learned to read. They are already putting so much effort into deciphering the words that it’s easy for them to lose track of what’s happening. That’s why I always stick to one viewpoint when I’m writing for that group.

  However, multiple viewpoints can work very successfully with older children. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J K Rowling uses author’s view (omniscient viewpoint) for much of chapter one and the start of chapter two, but she switches to Harry’s viewpoint as soon as he wakes up in the cupboard under the stairs. She sticks to this for most of the rest of the book, but there are scenes from other points of view when the reader needs to know more than Harry. And, judging by the success of the book, that works well for her readers.

  How viewpoint affects plotting

  It’s important to be aware of the viewpoint issue while you are plotting because which one you choose will determine which events you can show and which will have to be reported.

  Let’s look again at the first few steps in the plot for Future Proof.

  Seb is demolishing an empty house when he finds an old diary hidden under the floorboards. It’s in French so he can’t read it.