Plot Interview Questions

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measure_in_love

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Hello!

So I know a lot of people do "character sketch interview questions". I was wondering if anyone does anything similar with plot interview questions? I have about 16,500 words in my third and (hopefully) final rewrite. I have a lot of ideas for this novel, and I'm just trying to make it flow in one cohesive story. Any suggestions?


~measure
 

ishtar'sgate

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I see you're a Kate Morton fan. Me too. I've read the Secret Keeper, the House at Riverton and the Forgotten Garden but still have the Distant Hours on my to-read list.

Anyway, back to your question. I'm not sure where you're at in your novel. Do you mean you are 16,500 words into your rewriting of a novel-length piece? Or are you a revise-as-you-go sort of writer and you're 16,500 words into writing the novel itself so still have room for lots of ideas to be introduced?

I'm a panster and usually find it helpful to jot down my ideas on recipe cards that I can lay out in front of me. Once I know which ideas I want to be sure make it into the story, I arrange my recipe cards in an order I think will keep it flowing in the direction I want the story to go. Each idea must make sense of the whole and build and strengthen it, not be just some random idea that doesn't connect to the rest. At times that means letting go of some of those ideas because when I get to the point where I'd include them they won't really add anything so must be left out.

Hope that makes sense.
 

Debbie V

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One method for revision is to make a note of what occurs in each scene, main action and story purpose. If the two don't go together, there is a problem. If the story purpose is missing, I cut the scene or revise to give it a reason to exist. If two or more scenes have the same purpose, I may cut or combine.

To clarify: every scene has to move the story forward. A scene can do so by developing character, establishing conflict, providing obstacles, developing a setting (often when the setting is a character or otherwise integral to the story), or anything else that the story needs. I'm very specific about the story purpose for each scene. Most scenes should serve the story in more than one way.

Scene one of my middle grade establishes the relationship between my main character and his best friend. It sets the story in time and place. It shows the future goals for both characters.
 

Layla Nahar

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Two questions to start off with are - what is the story problem - what is it that your MC has to deal with and solve, or fail to solve by the end of the story? The other is 'what is the story's/your MCs visible goal?' 'Visible goal' means something that you can capture on film (or if it's way out, could CGI - but it must be a very concrete action, from signing a lease, to destroying an ancient talisman before the bad guy can use it to take over the world...
 

AshleyEpidemic

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When I'm plotting and setting up my chapter structure I go through this. I create a who, what, where, when, why (I leave the how for when I'm writing). This tells me the basic goal and what's to be accomplished in the chapter. I look at each of these to figure out how the story is moving forward. If I combine all the chapters, I should see how the story logically moves through the rise and falls.

Also for each chapter i indicate the location, protagonist and antagonist, the conflict, and the ultimate result of the chapter. If I can't answer anything from any part of this, I question if the scene/chapter is really needed or rework it so that it can meet my criteria.
 

summontherats

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One method for revision is to make a note of what occurs in each scene, main action and story purpose. If the two don't go together, there is a problem. If the story purpose is missing, I cut the scene or revise to give it a reason to exist. If two or more scenes have the same purpose, I may cut or combine.

To clarify: every scene has to move the story forward. A scene can do so by developing character, establishing conflict, providing obstacles, developing a setting (often when the setting is a character or otherwise integral to the story), or anything else that the story needs. I'm very specific about the story purpose for each scene. Most scenes should serve the story in more than one way.

This is great. I've seen this advice in writing books, too!

Here's something else interesting: My second beta was intensely systematic. He left comments directly in the file to flag when big questions were raised and when they were answered. He kept track of the most important plot points this way, even if they took most of the book to be resolved. It was a great way of seeing when things were introduced and when (or whether) I addressed them sufficiently. And once you know the exact pages where something starts and ends, you can look at everything in between and say "OK, this thing is important. How did I treat this thing between points A and B? How did I build toward the answer?"

At the core of it, that's just another way to look at plot arcs. But I like how organized it was.
 

measure_in_love

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Thanks for all the responses!

To clarify a few things, I'm in the middle of my final "rewrite". I'm calling it the final rewrite because it has the tone and feel that I want. However, by no means is it the last draft. What I'm realizing is while I set up the conflict with the antagonist/villain, and hero/MC, setting, world building, etc, I gave the piece to a beta, and they let me know that there isn't any clear goal that my character has to deal with. They mentioned that it was a fun read, good description, but there was no clear goal. Which I realize is obviously a problem. What I have set up is that it's good versus evil. My MC has to "save" (well change, it one be done just like that) a magical world and has a magical tool to get him there. His only goal/motive right now is to keep it away from the villain.

As for the advice how you get to point a - point b is extremely helpful. I actually was reading Scene and Structure and that advice was in there too. Any tips about extending conflict from the original idea of good vs. evil/ MC protecting this magical item?
 

Layla Nahar

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Any tips about extending conflict from the original idea of good vs. evil/ MC protecting this magical item?

Keep in mind the 'visible goal'. Look at other stories & put their visible goal in one sentence. After that I suggested the 'open nested questions list' - that is, you write down questions your story raises and then you put the answer in the form of another questions - so,

Why does Ted the Wicked know what the chest contains?
--Did he torture the information out of someone?
--Does he have powers that let him see different timelines?
etc

The reason to think of *more than three* is because the first ideas that come first will be the most obvious solutions and three is an easy number to come up with. Allow yourself to include some ridiculous possibilities, and say, force yourself to make a list of seven. At some point your brain is likely to pop up something useful. This is because the part of your brain that likes order will be taken up with filling that nice obvious requirement, allowing the more abstract 'playful' part of your brain to indulge in possibility.

For each of the sub-questions, or answer-questions, you can go on to make lists of 'answer-questions' to those. It's one way to free up your thinking.
 
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