IDEAS AND APPLICATION TO STORY PLOTS
a chapter in Storycraft by: GF Willmetts

Imagination is creating ideas
Creativity is putting ideas into practice.

INTRODUCTION

A.E. Van Vogt once said that you should never keep back good story ideas for a rainy day. If you continually use your best ideas then more quality ideas will come in to fill the gap afterwards. In other words, if you only use your poorest or second-best ideas in your first forays into writing and selling stories you’ll never get a reputation for being creative or innovative. You have to take risks from the start and not hold anything back.

In other words, for writing stories, there is no such thing as a rainy day. Where there is one good idea there will always be others vying for attention. If you hold back on them, then you can seriously slow down your development as a writer.

You need faith and positive attitude in your ability to come up with ideas if you want to be successful. It should be possible for most people to have at least one ‘good’ story idea. If you want to develop as a writer then you have to have these ideas on tap. This chapter on storycraft will go to the root of all stories and explain something about idea mechanics and its management. Some of the techniques explored will probably help practicing writers when you have an off-day and need a kick-start. No one gets neglected here.

NO COPYRIGHT ON IDEAS!!!

If you’re worried about someone stealing your ideas, look up the Artists And Writers’ Yearbook (if you live in anywhere but the UK, there is probably an equivalent writers’ book in your library) and read up on copyright. The best protection of your ideas is to turn them into stories. Most people don’t read ideas, they read stories. Copyright protects stories if they are read and acknowledged by people other than yourself. It’s the best way to stake your claim on your material.

Editors see so much material that they’d sooner accept a good story than rip anyone off. They are more concerned with finding stories in their slush pile that can be accepted than ‘borrow’ off anyone previously rejected. If they’re writers themselves, and this is from my own experience, then they have enough to do with their own stories than borrow or steal your efforts. Many professional writers refuse to look at anyone else’s stories or ideas lest they are subconsciously influenced or risk being sued later. Convincing someone else to write stories based on your ideas makes them a co-creator and deserving of an equal share and credit to the work. If you don’t like sharing, then write them yourself.

If any writer/editor is unscrupulous enough to rip anyone off, are they likely to choose something that hasn’t had originally a good sales record? [There is one author/once-editor who did plagiarise early in his career and I’m likely to upset most of his fans by mentioning his name. He did a trilogy of watered-down versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ ‘Mars’ books. I think the outcry would be far louder these days if anyone else took such a route.] There is always a risk of someone coming up with similar ideas but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have ripped your ideas off, just a certain amount of parallel thinking. If, say, clones are the flavour of the month, expect to see all such areas of the theme explored.

It’s far more important that you ensure that your idea development and storycraft are strong enough so it can be accepted with as little revision as possible. Hopefully, these chapters on storycraft will go some way in at least recognising or developing these skills to make your stories stand out.

WHAT ARE IDEAS?

As we all have to start somewhere, let’s start by sorting out how to turn your ideas into a starting point for crafting a story. Ideas play an important part in all our lives. For stories, ideas are the very essence of your material and deserve more than a few moments development.

So what are ideas? Where do they come from? Can we control their flow? And can someone answer that goddamn non-writers question: How do we come up with them in the first place?

The idea is the initial thought, visualisation or essence of imagination. You see a situation and create a solution to the problem. It is the essence of creativity. It is also a brain muscle that improves with continual exercise. For some, ideas come very easy. For others, it can be a very difficult process requiring a lot of effort. It all depends on the individual mindset and your determination to succeed. In both cases, there is always room for improvement. Everyone spends a long time mulling over a problem when an original answer foxes them as well.

WHY AUTHORS DON’T TALK ABOUT THE IDEA PROCESS

Writers tend to be a little afraid of talking about this subject. Many insist that ideas are just there, waiting to be used. Not so much that they might be giving away any trade secrets, but afraid that by analysing their methods that it will break up their mystique for getting work done. Considering that writing is often their main financial support this is probably an understandable attitude. Who wants to crack the golden egg? However, as you will see from reading this chapter, I’m dwelling less on any particular style but on approaches that apply to all authors.

WRITER’S BLOCK

Being too analytical can be a bit disturbing but a little understanding might help a lot if you suffer the author’s disease commonly called ‘writer’s block’. All that really means is you’ve run out of ideas for a while, become distracted, lost your focus or simply need more time to resolve the problem than you thought it would take.

The main cure is stop writing or thinking about the problem for a while and do something else for a change. Depending on your stamina, you could find something that will stir your thoughts up into a turmoil that will get the ideas flowing again. Some of the neo-writers find me a powerful motivator to get back into the swing of things mainly because I tend to question what they’re doing. Then again, I can probably convince you to jump in a volcano if you thought it was a good way to clean under your armpits. It’s the very act of questioning that is the key although the cure varies from person to person. There’s an element of recognising what inspires you and what can break such moods. If you get really depressed in such situations, then have something to hand that will make you smile or lift your spirits. I find the world crazy enough without me getting depressed over it. Some of the best solutions come from an unfettered unconscious mind, so sleep on the idea for a few nights and see what comes up in the morning.

If you thought or wondered why such discussion as what stops ideas hasn’t any connection here or why it should be mentioned at the beginning of the chapter then stay after class. They are heavily entwined. Announcing it here might also keep the more seasoned writers reading for the same reason. Everyone experiences some sort of struggle with sorting their ideas at some time or other.

WE ALL HAVE IDEAS

We all have ideas at some time in our lives. It can range from what you’re planning to eat for dinner to how to decorate your home. The process is visualising what you intend and then implementing it, often after devising a campaign plan. If something comes along as you’re implementing the plan, then a provision for revision or adjustment to incorporate the new idea is useful, providing of course, it doesn’t mean you have to start all over again. It helps to stay focused on the job until it’s completed as well.

The main difference between ideas that you apply to your life style and writing stories is only by degree - and that doesn’t mean going to university either!! If anything, stories are only an abstraction of what you would do practically in real life. Well, maybe not. We can’t all be heroic or brave in real life, but on the printed page, we are all paper tigers. Stories tend to be more theory than practical work.

LIFE INTO PLOT

The allegory to writing a story should be recognised in the above process. You visualise an idea or problem and solution, create a plot and craft it into a story that makes sense to your readers. If another good idea comes along in the writing process then it can be added or incorporated into revising the draft. You should also try hard not to re-write the entire story from scratch simply because you’ve come up with something better. If you have some better idea, then consider it as the starting point for the next story than the one you’re currently working on. That’s an act of idea management and self-control discipline.

If the connection between the last two paragraphs makes sense, then there is immense potential to turn anyone reading here into potential writers.

Far too often though, neo-writers never really get started. They have drawers full of half-completed stories left behind as they get bewitched by the next ‘great’ idea. It isn’t so much that they have been idle with completing the story to hand, just that they are swayed to move onto the next story far too early. To some extent this is understandable. After all, your internal ideas engine will be working hard generating ideas for one story and create something else for a change.

FORGET SCHOOL CLASS-ROOM STORY TECHNIQUE

Writing or plotting a story isn’t really like how you were probably taught at school. You walked into English class, handed some paper and told to write a story before the end of lesson. English teachers are far more interested in grading your grammar and spelling - at least in my day - than good story sense in planning and preparation. If a decent story comes out of it, then that’s a bonus. They don’t spend much time on technique other than perhaps getting you to read great works of fiction and hope something rubs off. [If any English teacher reading this does differently, then I humbly apologise but you are probably the exception.]

Outside of class, you simply cannot start on page one and expect to reach a conclusion without some idea of what you’re doing or where the story is going. What probably distinguishes any of you reading this who proclaim to completing stories this way at school is the same reason that you’ve embarked on writing stories now. You’ve already had the makings and latent knack of a writer working for you. It is still only the makings. It’s rare that you will instinctively carry a long plot in your heads, let alone be true to it to the end. Stories need to be plotted out on paper to visualise the entire picture than rely on blind chance and a lot of re-writes and time getting it right. It allows plenty of opportunity to analyse, research and ensure the plot is the best you can do at the time. Oddly enough, this practice will also cut down the re-draft times too.

Enthusiasm to work through to the story’s conclusion without some guide keeping you on track is always likely to wane at some point. It takes a certain amount of obsession with the task at hand and bloody-mindedness to stay that focused. Deciding that the story needs some revisions because you’ve discovered some drastic mistakes or fresh information needs a guide or plot blueprint to work out logic errors to correct it.

Those writers who profess otherwise invariably carry plots in their heads also tend to be very experienced and are even more single-minded when working. Most neo-writers start off with the best intentions but find they can’t finish their stories by not doing these things. Their drawers are full of incomplete stories where they have run out of enthusiasm or lost interest. That’s no way to write or sell a story. Do you recognise yourself in any of the above scenarios?

A story is a refinement of ideas, polished to be the best it can be in the time available. It shouldn’t necessarily be treated as a writer’s adventure of discovery. It should be seen as a means of grabbing the reader and ensuring that they want to turn the page to see what happens next. This differentiates someone with ideas from a storyteller.

TELL A STORY

Stories depend on a good plot, so why not develop one first? Work out, in any order you fancy: the beginning, middle and especially a good ending. Don’t you feel cheated when you read stories that don’t have a good ending? Doesn’t have to be a happy ending but certainly one that should be capable of making you think or feel rewarded for the experience of reading the book. This has also been a reason for many professional writers to get started in the first place.

Compare it to telling a joke story to someone. You recount the build-up and then break the gag with the punchline. It’s also frequently messed up by getting the words muddled, telling the punchline early or forgetting it. With practice, you get better and either shorten or stretch the build-up as you discover what makes it work.

If you can do that then you won’t have too much difficulty in writing a plot blueprint. If you haven’t tried it, then get some practice. If gag writing isn’t your forte, then you can always crib from something like the Reader’s Digest’s jokes and present it in your own way. This all helps develop your plot telling sense and developing a story. More importantly, by self-analysis of what you think is important, will help shape your story presentation. If you can be really self-critical, you’ll recognise your weaknesses and work on ways to sort them out.

Another exercise that is always worth doing is working out the plot while watching TV, a film or reading a book. Even if you fail to recognise the villains before they’re announced, you will learn how other writers’ construct their plots. It heightens critical judgement in evaluating whether other authors achieved their aim. All useful lessons. As a writer, you really never ever stop learning. Everything comes under your scrutiny. It makes you more alert than the casual viewer and probably get more out of experiences than they would.

PLOT CATEGORIES

Let’s now get down to the nitty-gritty and start on what turns ideas into a plot. To do this, we have to begin at the beginning.

Story ideas fall into two distinctive categories: Primary and Secondary. Both have some bearing on your plot blueprint. The real trick is recognising which is which and not mistake the trees for the forest. Primary is the basic ideas or bare bones of the plot. Secondary is more the window-dressing details that are used to flesh out the plot. Both require the extensive use of your imagination.

Often as not, the story idea isn’t always seen in either of these categories. It’s just appears as an idea or plot detail. In these cases, it’s important to look at what you’ve outlined and see what makes it tick. Is there a point you want to make about something? What kind of story is it? [An examination of different plot scenarios will be dealt with in the next chapter.] What will it achieve?

Examinations of this sort clarifies what your story is about and makes the final draft palatable for the reader. You need to grasp an understanding of what you are creating if it is to be shaped properly. More real hard work is done at this stage than any other in storycraft. Knowing what makes the story ticks determines the initial or primary idea.

PRIMARY IDEAS

There is a lot of confusion over Primary Ideas. It is assumed that it is the theme or intent that constitutes the Primary Idea. What you are basically doing is putting your beliefs into the plot rather than the idea itself. In that respect, your beliefs could be considered as Secondary Ideas as they are used to flesh out plot detail.

If, for example, you have a desire to illustrate that the sanctity of life is important, it doesn’t constitute a plot. It is a belief, not a plot idea. A writer can turn any belief on its head by giving the contrary view and illustrate both good and bad points within a story but it has to come from a good idea. It is within any writer’s power to sway the direction of any view by demonstrating its effect than just make a statement on the subject.

With so many Science Fiction stories dealing with probabilities, and this is being presented to an SF audience, we’ll focus on this genre. If you’re reading here with half an eye on other genres then it’s just a matter of applying what you know to that type of story. A romance would deal with some unrequited love. A war story would be a demonstration of bravery or abhorrence. Science Fiction has a far wider scope but also encases these genres as well. SF usually starts off with asking yourself a question about a situation and the answers formulated become the basis of the plot. Unlike regular genres, we have the universe and the ends of time at our fingerprints. It’s no wonder SF writers can be spoilt for choice.

INITIAL PLOTS

Probabilities depend a lot on asking questions. What if Einstein or whoever figured out the Unified Field Theory, how would that affect Man’s progress to the stars? What if time travel was possible, when would I go? What if Man encountered aliens - would they be benevolent, malevolent or uninterested in us and why? What will Man evolve into next?

[Before you query or ask about the Unified Field Theory, it should be pointed out that without some development here, faster-than-light travel might not be possible and ruin a lot of SF stories. This eliminates the centuries it would take in transit between star systems. It doesn’t mean having to explain how the universe works, provide a scientific theory or explain the currently impossible. All it implies is a major breakthrough will be necessary before we can seek alien life outside our own solar system with our own starships. Such information shapes human society and the technology you create.]

Those two words, ‘What if’, come up a lot. With SF, everyone tends to come up with a dozen possible answers for each of just these four questions. Oddly enough, they have actually been covered many times by many authors who rarely crossed each other’s answers. The solutions are legion even if they can be distinguished by falling into recognisable categories. Each writer is capable of giving a different take or answer. It is your imagination and researching that ensures your solution is different to any other writer’s answer to a similar question. There are a limited number of plots but an unlimited number of solution variations. It isn’t enough to imagine something but to ensure that it provides something that other authors haven’t considered.

I chose these four questions as being amongst the most common in SF. Often as not, they are bridging questions presenting some back history to a reality before getting down to the Primary Idea that you have thought up. They’re also great starting points to set your mind wandering when you’re in need of an idea. There are certainly many more questions for the asking to anyone with an enquiring mind. Often as not, they frame your view on reality and how you would like it to be played if you were in charge. Such mind games make you god of your reality.

Part of the appeal of Science Fiction comes from being an intellectual exercise or game between writer and reader. No other genre can press home a problem in conventional reality by alegoring in a different reality. The fan bases that support everything from ‘Star Trek’ to ‘The X-Files’ clearly shows the progression of this effect when like-minded people get together on a subject they adore. It’s just a shame that all their fan-fiction is spent in such realities than developing their own realities and stories.

Not everyone has what it takes to be an SF writer in the same way that not every writer can write romances or children’s stories. This doesn’t mean it can’t be learnt by hard graft but having a questioning mind has got to be an advantage writing SF. If you are naturally drawn to SF, then chances are you’ll be at home with this kind of thinking. If you aren’t, it does raise an interesting question as to why you are reading this section?

I HAVE A QUESTION

Forming a question is actually a lot easier than finding answers. Some story writers start off with some sort of scene or image they see and then fathom out a story to surround it. This is marvellous for the visual sense but makes life a lot more difficult sorting out what your story is supposed to be about. In many respects, this is very much coming up with the secondary ideas first and then having to shape the primary ideas around it. Stories of this nature can appear contrived in reaching their objective.

Saying that, this visual sense really comes into its own when describing a scene to the reader from within the confines of the story. All it really means is the writer is probably accessing this part of the story developing process far too early in the stages of creation.

Questions in the SF vane don’t necessarily have to be scientifically based. Science comes into it more when you start deviating from our own reality’s physics and have to look at the consequences of your choices. As such, science plays a far more important role in solving the questions or the essence of the background. It is probably needed far more with the Secondary Ideas than with the Primary Plot.

All questions start from only four choices: What? Why? When? Where? Of these, only one is really primary.

‘Where’ is a setting.

‘When’ is a time setting.

‘Why’ or ‘Why Does’ requires answers to puzzling problems and often thought of as Secondary rather than Primary Idea.

‘What If’ tends to be the stronger way to start a question. If in doubt, start all your primary questions with those two words before answering the previous three choices.

SO MANY ANSWERS!

Having provided yourself with a question, don’t expect the obvious. Sometimes, it can be too easy to have what appears to be one good answer and don’t bother looking ar any other choices. If you really want to know what imagination is all about, then it’s important to list all the possible choices, both good and bad, you can come up with. There is always the possibility that one of the other ones might show better potential. Sometimes, it’s even possible to combine or use all of these answers in the final story.

Saying all the above doesn’t really answer the novice writer’s question: I have all my answers but how do I select the best ones to use? How do I tell what’s good, bad or silly ideas. If you can’t distinguish between them, what you need is...

LATERAL THINKING AND GENERAL SEMANTICS

Lateral thinking is not lying on a bed having a think, although that’s not entirely a bad idea for thinking. It is the exploration of all possibilities. In storywriting, it’s ideas that can actually work within a setting without losing credibility in the logic stream. Unless your reality or characters are capable of impossible acts, it allows you to focus on the credible.

Many years ago, I dug up Edward de Bono’s book ‘Lateral Thinking’ as he coined the term. Running through some of the test exercises, it dawned on me that I was already applying lateral thinking. More recently, in an introduction to an old SF anthology I was reading, Brian Aldiss acknowledged General Semantics as a source of lateral thinking.

My background in General Semantics goes back to my childhood so I was already well grounded in the technique. No doubt an attraction to it was because of its application to my own idea engine. [If there are enough requests, I’ll run a brief but more expanded tutorage on this subject another time. Alfred Korzybski’s original book ‘Science And Sanity’ spends too much time on mathematical theory than direct application.] It was no surprise that I was applying this to my own writing techniques.

If you only think in terms of something is or isn’t then your thinking is limited. All right, some decisions are limited to a Yes/No response. Do I get up in the morning? Do I stay in bed today? Such choices have certain limits. If you’re someone who can’t make up their minds, then you’d probably tick the ‘Don’t know’ box regardless in any survey. As a writer, you need to show a more positive attitude in knowing your own mind and look at a wider latitude of choices for answers.

Apart from the Yes/No option, you also need to look at the other options like:-

But.

Alternatively.

Also.

And.

If.

They might make you look like a ditherer, but instincts do develop to guide you towards a better choice than something that can only be a flight of fancy. Every solution is divisible into more choices. You become a considered thinker in all your decisions.

If you think you’re good at answering multiple choice questions then this should sound familiar. In General Semantics, this is called ‘multi-ordinal decision’ making. In short, it’s just looking at all the choices before selecting a reasonable or ‘good’ choice. Think of it as sitting down for breakfast and wondering if you should have toast, cereal or a drink. A lateral thinker would also add an extra choice and have all three or none at all. All are possible rather than two or three choices. Add to the equation and discover it’s Friday, and you could have kippers for breakfast instead? With SF, you can afford to think outside of conventional choices as long as they work within the logical context of your reality.

In story writing terms, list all the alternative possibilities as probable answers to your initial question. They can be as sensible or as crazy as you like at this stage. Even if something seems ridiculous, it might lead you to other possibilities that are not. Again, this is an act of letting your imagination explore the options available.

Don’t expect to have all the answers in your head. Researching the topics that your Primary Idea involves can often surface other possibilities as well. Keeping an open mind is as important as anything at this stage. Don’t be too alarmed if all your choices don’t come at once. Mulling over a problem for days or weeks isn’t an unlikely event either. If a problem is complex than the extra thinking will strengthen the plot sufficiently to make it better than the bog-standard hackers choice.

Even if you’re still happy with your first choice, look at it with an eye to see if there are any choices within that decision that might have been overlooked that could be modified or improved. In this manner, you are applying the technique in-depth on a single answer.

Don’t expect this process to be completed instantly. For short stories, I’ve often spent anything from a week to a couple months wandering around a problem. Sometimes, the answers are more obvious. Sometimes, it’s forgetting to look at the obvious from a different angle. If there is any doubt that you haven’t done enough work on the problem, don’t be afraid to spend time pondering and thinking. Walking away and doing something else often allows your unconscious mind to come up with further ideas. It’s the equivalent of sleeping on a problem and having a solution when you wake up. Your unconscious mind can draw from your memories and bring out random connections far better than your inhibited conscious mind. Don’t depend on memory and always write such thoughts down. A good writer will always carry a notebook and pen for these occasions.

There is no reason why plot ideas for different stories can’t be developed at the same time. This allows fresh approaches to each when the mood catches you. Over a period, it soon becomes apparent which story is grabbing the most interest to know which one to complete first. The desire to complete something at this stage should be almost over-whelming as your mind feeds into this reality and want to live and bring it to life.

AVOID DEUX EX MACHINA

Deux ex machina or ‘the hand of God’ is a cop-out solution. In short, a lot of writers use this sort of solution when they have put their characters into an impossible situation and the only way to rescue them is to pull an implausible stroke. It’s something a writer without a plot blueprint will do. Sometimes, it’s a matter of convenience plotting or luck where some bystander comes to the rescue at the right time. That can be understandable, because things like that also happen in real life. Even having a convenient branch of a fallen tree coming down a raging river for the characters to hold on to and stop from drowning is acceptable sometimes. These sorts of things are improbable but not impossible.

When you use something that wasn’t previously established within the reality framework then you’ve allowed sloppy thinking to enter your plot blueprint. It cheats the reader from following your thinking process. It also means going back and having to spend time and scenes establishing such information earlier in the story. It sticks out like a sore thumb and loses readers!!

Where deux ex machina is often badly used is giving a character the right tool or weapon before the problem even arises. How many times have you seen Q issue James Bond the right weapons in the films and know they have the ideal tools for the job?

This is not ingenuity or use of imagination but rather another demonstration of sloppy thinking. Imagination is using whatever is at hand or something that was probably introduced for another legitimate reason in a way the reader didn’t expect. You might have supplied this object with the real reason in mind, but your decision-making would have weighed up alternative uses and sneaked it under the reader’s notice. This is more a matter of convenience plotting than deux ex machina.

If you choose this particular route, then don’t use such objects once and throw them away. Incorporate them into the story so they can be used again. A lot of writers made sure their characters smoked to ensure they has a fire lighter in their pockets. Having an all-purpose gadget in the pocket is a sure way to indicate the writer really has no idea what to do.

TV and films are prone to using deux ex machina because it moves the story along at a rapid rate. In many respects, it’s dumbing down so everyone can get what is going on in less than a couple hours. That doesn’t mean to say it’s always done that way. ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ demonstrates an interesting solution to getting into a spaceship when you don’t have a space helmet. ‘The Abyss’ presents a great solution to having only one diving suit between two people with a limited air supply. The options are presented to the viewer but don’t leave any option but the ones chosen.

Books lack these limitations and afford time to present better thought out plots. Where the majority of Science Fiction is concerned, you know damn well that there are people reading your stories who are probably as intelligent if not smarter than yourself. [This is not degrading anyone who is reading this and thinks they are less intelligence. It just means writers have to cover a wide intellecual range.] SF readers are after a story that will stimulate their imagination not a demonstration that you’ve got yourself into a fix and can’t solve it. Ingenuity with ideas is the preferred choice. If all else fails, you can always give your characters an act of courage to survive but just avoid using a fancy ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail-Card’ gadget to do it with.

DIVIDING THE CORN FROM THE CHAFF

By now, you should have a variety of answers that offers alternative solutions to your primary question. If you haven’t had any real thoughts as to what to do, this is a marvellous way to see what opportunities this thinking has given you. If you’re really adventurous, you might end up exploring something that wouldn’t have appeared on your list had you just jumped at the first thing that came into your head.

Saying that, you still need to think about which answer to select. All your answers might show possibilities of story potential. Which do you choose? A lot of this depends on the individual and your personal mind-set. Any instinct is either natural or will have to be developed. Let’s assume that this is a skill under development.

To classify commonsense or ‘good’ judgement are subjective terms that can vary from individual to individual with varying standards. As such, the solution below can only be used as a guide when instinct alone needs more than a push in sorting out alternatives into some semblance of order.

Group fairly similar answers together and take the best from them all to make fewer choices. A lot of the time, this removes the bad points that would otherwise work against them. Sometimes, the benefit is in seeing a combined answer that covers all the options of the same answer. Disregard variations that on reflection seem too fanciful or not likely to work with any credibility.

This should reduce your choices from what could be over a dozen to three or four. Don’t be alarmed if you have more, but re-examine them at their basic level to ensure that they aren’t alike. Even at this stage, don’t be afraid to add possibilities in direct contrast or opposite to these choices as a comparison. All such actions forces you to look for possible flaws and give insight into making your best judgement.

THE POWER OF POSITIVE THOUGHT

How do you make a ‘best judgement’? That’s a good one. Even I have to profess to not being able to supply any solid answer here. How do you tell ‘right’ from ‘wrong’? There has to be an aptitude that borders ethical consideration.

If I apply lateral logic, I would say examine each answer and go for the most interesting potential story. Generally, pick an answer that is the most interesting or stimulating potential in your judgement. It might still be the answer that brought up the idea in the first place. It might not as well. Be flexible with your examination. Which answer gives you the most excitement to explore?

Still stuck? Although plotting will be dealt with in the next chapter, look at any element that will provide the most conflict or dramatics from the answer. This is the prime ingredient of any plot. Having a story that shows potential for development has the best bet in maintaining your interest when fleshing it out. If it fails to excite you for the length of time it takes to complete the story then you’re onto a potential loser. I mean, how can you expect your readers to want to read something you’ve lost enthusiasm or not putting your best efforts in making it work?

If you’re indecisive over a couple diverse plot ideas as to which to choose, the obvious answer is that your instincts say that both have potential, so why not do both? All you have to do is decide which one to do first and concentrate your energy there first.

Another aspect of General Semantics that is rather useful is the way it promotes the art of positive thinking. If anything, I tend to have rather too much of it in my system but it is rather useful in looking at everything constructively than with any negative thoughts. It makes you less a pessimist and more an optimist. Saying that, it also makes raising negative responses too easy when discussing someone else’s plot but only because poor elements tend to stick out. Applying this principal, there’s no reason why you can’t treat your plot as if it’s someone else’s when looking for flaws that need to be resolved. In these instances, this balances positive to negative, ensuring everything has been taken into account and no smart-alec will have a go at you for poor thinking.

TALK YOURSELF INTO A PLOT

Verbalise your thoughts. I find the most useful time developing plot ideas is taking a walk and talking to myself about them. Taking an idea from the non-verbal to a talking stage gives a lot more insight into what you’re doing. Hearing yourself speaking them has a tendency to spot what makes little sense and absurd from something you feel happy about. Later in the story development, the same technique can be used to develop character voices and test scenes. It sounds like an act of lunacy and I would hesitate to do this in front of other people but it is an effective development technique. The benefits come from giving a verbal or written depth to your ideas that can’t come from simply thinking about them.

Don’t expect to choose or convert an answer into a plot, let alone a story, over night. Spend time thinking over each plot idea and noting its good and bad points. Bad points tend to largely fall into the category of having seen something like it before. Generally, as soon as you feel that or likely to lead into a cliché-ridden plot, it is wiser to consider changing what causes the cliché and turn it on its head. Following established patterns doesn’t show imagination at this stage. You want and need to surprise your readers.

With practice, instincts will largely take over and it will be obvious which plot should be worked out into finer detail. Doing the above practice initially hones your instincts to telling the difference between the bad, indifferent and good. If none of your plot ideas qualify as ‘good’, a subjective term at best, then review the depth of your answers. A shallow answer, that is one not investigated thoroughly enough, always needs more work.

DON’T FEEL INFALLIBLE

This doesn’t always mean you will solve every problem prior to writing your first draft. Sometimes there will be many minor points that won’t necessarily become apparent until you live and breath with your characters and cope with the problem and have different solutions. With a plot blueprint covering the major points, there will be fewer pauses in your writing to figure them out. Your creative juices will be concentrated on writing than the wider creative process.

If your enthusiasm is over-flowing and you are forever going over the possibilities that it can take you in both terms of plot and characters, then you’ve found the ideas that can be developed into a plot blueprint.

WHAT IF I’VE MADE A MISTAKE?

Whatever your choice, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It’s the only way to learn not to make them again. It is important thing to understand where you’ve gone wrong so you don’t continually repeat the error. If you’ve started a story and then discover it isn’t working out as planned, it is wiser to attempt completion than abandon it, trying to resolve the problem even if it’s unsalable. Such actions will sharpen up your ability to sort out plot tangles and pay more attention in future. Learning from your mistakes in this fashion is better than a hundred lines or brow-beating.

RESEARCH

An enquiring mind tends to make the best type for SF. The ability to provide a series of logical answers to such questions will usually bring something out that has the makings of a plot. It is still all part of the Primary Idea being progressed in development. Don’t expect to create ideas without involving some sort of background research. You might not always have the information or knowledge in your head to make it work. If modern or even futuristic science is involved, then find out what scientific thought or scientists are doing in this field at the moment or where they see the future for their research. It does wonders for clarifying and shape what can and can’t be done and always opens up further development possibilities. After a while, it becomes habit forming to have a better than layman’s knowledge of at least one new subject a year.

Examples of applied science can be found in all the best examples of SF literature even if it’s proven wrong at a later date and invalidates the story. Even the great Isaac Asimov was not immune to this problem. In his short story, ‘The Dying Night’, found in his anthology ‘Asimov’s Mysteries’, the plot revolves around the 1956 information that Mercury doesn’t spin on its axis. This was disproved 19 years later in 1965. These days, it would be far easier to make such a planet exist in a different star system. Asimov kept it in print as a reminder that we can all be fallible and can only use the physical science evidence we have at any particular time.

PLAYING WITH SCIENCE

Play with science as much as you like, but to be really plausible don’t mess too much with altering cosmology or things that are basic to the universe or you’ll have every reader questioning your knowledge and lack of basic research. Most scientific meddling tends to fall into special case situations or additions to existing science. If you can balance the implausible with the plausible then it is possible to bewitch the reader with your reality. Imagination should be seen as taking an interesting slant on what is already there and showing what it can do than work from raw cloth that can be easily shredded.

FOCUS

Hopefully, by this stage, all your spare thoughts should begin to be obsessed with plot and its reality. In practice, you will get into a habit of turning on such energies at the time you need to work on it or risk becoming insufferable to family and friends. Letting your brain relax between times improves not deters the work.

This intense focus tends to keep your attention on the story at hand. The only real drawback is feeling a tad knackered after a story is completed. That is, unless your reality has come so alive to you, that there is an urge to write more stories within its pattern. This in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing as many of the SF Grand Masters discovered as it saves creating a fresh cloth backdrop for each story.

Saying that, don’t become too obsessed with creating any reality in depth beyond the story you’re writing. Although reality generation will be covered in a later chapter, it is important to stay focused on what affects the plot than too many peripheral elements. This is because they can become too much of a distraction from completing the story. If the reality is that stimulating, there is no reason why you can’t write other stories within the pattern later and use them as the springboard if they interest you so much. If you lay down too much peripheral information, it might cut down the alternatives that can be applied and side-track the reader.

LET’S DEVELOP A PLOT

So far, we’ve been discussing plot theory from an ideas perspective. Before we move onto Secondary Ideas, let’s do a practical application and see how much of the above makes sense to you now.

It is relatively easy to read something on any subject, including this chapter, and forget about it the minute you put it down. The real test comes from understanding what you’ve read. Knowledge alone is not enough. From a researcher’s point of view, it is what you make of this knowledge that is all important.

What we’re going to do here is create an SF plot from a basic space travel idea and review some of the options available. This particular idea occurred to me after considering the first interstellar flight above.

No matter how fast we go, centuries will pass on Earth. In other words, the first experimental faster-than-light space mission isn’t likely to have anyone come home this century. Well, not unless you’re planning to violate Einsteinian physics and have them arrive back before they leave! But let’s not get too carried away here, especially as I think that’s already been done.

This automatically creates a question to start off an SF plot. There are plot ideas that are close to our current reality and those that aren’t. Starting off with something close to our own reality, especially where some current scientific principle is being violated or altered presents less research. If you want to change a basic scientific law then be prepared to work out all the consequences in detail to see what else it affects.

Anyway, back to the plot. It isn’t so much whom you send, but what it takes to get their co-operation on a trip which essentially looks suicidal socially. I mean, they are leaving family and friends forever. It’s likely to have broken hearts on either side unless you send confirmed isolationists, trained orphan professionals or whoever. There’s so many directions for character types that anyone can have a field day with variations. More questions. What and who do I need?

Let’s sub-divide on the basis of motivation. Would they be adventurous or suicidal inclined volunteers? I can’t see such a starship being given to the latter. Knowing what we know of certain Government policies, would the astronauts even be told they wouldn’t be coming back? What would they be told? How would they not know? Now, as this is a hypothetical plot and it’s mine, I can see some possibilities that deserve a deeper look from the last idea. Would such astronauts know the truth or do you lie to get them to volunteer? As they are likely to have some astrophysics background then the root has to be around convincing them a lie is true.

Notice, every step is a question and a look at the answers provided to guide your thoughts in a particular direction. Don’t just copy my direction. The worse mistake is copying or not getting your brain to work on where this branch of reasoning will take you. [It’s probably one of the reasons why I have difficulty with creative writing classes but that’s a different subject.] There’s no reason why each and every one of you will have their own ideas from the above primary questions.

The Primary Idea focus isn’t so much on the trip but what gets the astronauts volunteering in the first place and what happens if they find out prematurely and consequent actions. That makes it a ‘human’ as opposed to a technological story. Why do a story about an exotic world when there’s plenty of material to play with just getting them there in the first place?!!

From this initial idea, there are another two branches of thought in regarding your astronaut choices. Are the astronauts lied to or does any of them know the truth? If you want to be really complicated, the third option is to present a scenario that incorporates both ideas together. Namely, some know it all and others don’t? Better be careful playing that one as it looks like how the USS Discovery crew of Arthur Clarke’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ was worked. That’s one less branch to worry about. Doesn’t mean you can’t necessarily use this choice, but awareness of what other authors have done means avoiding looking like a copycat and do a different spin on the idea. For my purpose, I’m going to ignore this particular branch idea. It looks far more interesting if none of them know the truth. I can’t see one astronaut keeping quiet all the way. As I’ve got an idea for the ending already, this option seems more interesting. Working backwards from a good possible solution is another element of idea flexibility.

The information suggests that I only need to focus on spaceship life. There is no necessity to show Earth because events can be inferred from what goes on on-board as to where the real action lies. If you based the story on the decisions made on Earth it would largely be full of board meetings. As such, all the characters can do is speculate as to what is going on. Any real story is going to be where the real action is taking place. That’s not to say I’m discounting anyone’s ideas from taking the contrary view just pointing out where the dramatics are taking place. Those who stay home can only speculate as to what goes on. For a story, you can show what you think goes on. Which do you think offers the best opportunity for the story? Another decision resolved.

The primary question suggests the entire plot can be based around a single dilemma. There doesn’t appear to be any necessity to even show them arriving anywhere. Cutting down your options helps considerably when drawing up a plot some times, especially for a short story. Having too much going on tends to distract from what you want to say about the problem. In a novel, it is possible to have other side plots that are used to build up to the same conclusion than leading off in unnecessary paths. In a short story, it’s never wise to over-complicate the problem as it smoke screens and your orignal idea is lost.

The branch of logic indicates that our astronauts discover something isn’t right about their mission as a starting point. Who discovers this will obviously be the lead character? What are they going to do about it? Why should they do anything about it? More questions. Here though, we more frequently come up with: What? Who? Why? When? Where? How? Put answers to these questions and you further progress the plot idea development. There are always questions and multiple choice answers. Filling in answers for these questions starts shaping the plot blueprint. If you answer ‘When?’ with ‘The Future’ - then spend some time considering what kind of future you’re conceiving. Our current reality shapes us, so the same would apply to the technology and characters on the starship.

A certain amount of broadstroking is required here. The centre of the plot revolves around the decision when they discover they’ve been duped. A few decades ago, the plot might conceivably have revolved around the choice to continue with the mission or try to go home. Readers do like a bit more going on than that these days. Why not cover the reasons why they should do neither and how it can be done. It’s always wise to throw a spanner in the works that will further the dilemma. What if to return home they would have to drop part of their cargo or use it as fuel? Although the weight of an object is irrelevant in space, flight fuel is based on the mass of the starship. A little research here will fill in the necessary details to see if this is viable. If not, then another reason is needed to justify the cargo loss as I see it as a crucial element. It would be a good excuse to return without a loss of face. Meteorite damage to our cargo gave us no choice but to return. Find a plausible reason to lose the cargo.

Questions here would open up as to just what their cargo actually was? If it’s foodstuffs they could be on a sticky wicket if they ran out on the way back. What if it was more precious than foodstuffs? When I got this far with my plot idea outline, I discovered I could either do a standard plot or a potential tragedy. Which is the more dramatic in your opinion? Although I’m giving my ending here, you should each be able to come up with your own version.

What could be more precious than foodstuffs or supplies to be used at their destination? A lot also depends on what kind of people sent them in the first place. Why couldn’t the cargo be their families in hibernation? It would solve the problem of leaving family and friends behind. Would they anticipate the astronauts finding out and ensure a reason to continue? Would they inhibit them about doing anything about ditching this cargo? How far would it go before they would have to know the truth? It’s times like this that going through all the options of what the cargo could be comes into its own. From my list, this idea really struck me as suitable start for my plot. Everything can revolve around this premise.

There is a lot of speculation as to whether the families knew they were being sent freight as much as the astronauts not knowing. The astronauts not knowing are less likely to worry about anyone other than themselves or have a desire to release them prematurely. Details like how they wouldn’t know their own cargo falls under Secondary Ideas. Recorded messages or hypnotic suggestion could be used to get them to ignore it or the fact they were family men. The important thing is they do not really know what they’re carrying when they decide to lose the cargo. Not knowing brings the stronger plot as they find out.

Do the readers know or should they be drawn along with the astronauts? The latter suggests the stronger effect but the evidence could ensure that the readers begin to anticipate it first. Hints could be placed that would allow the more astute reader to figure it out before the astronauts. It depends on how sneaky you want to be. Laying out clues and then presenting a different answer with the same information is an application of idea development as well. The groundwork for this is normally carried out at this stage of the plotting.

Making decisions all down the line is from the necessity of what is good for the story. This doesn’t mean you can’t feel good about the story or the direction it will take but it strengthens the need for dramatics. Instincts have to lead more than occasionally. At this stage, being mercenary about decisions helps the focus. It is important to capture the reader’s attention and keep him or her there by the scruff of the neck until they reach the end. If you can’t do that then you’ve lost your readers. Storycraft of this nature will only get better by mental exercise and practice. In many respects, writing several short stories learn such techniques over a shorter period than a full-blown novel that takes several months to write. A story is only really the length it takes to complete it than an actual page count.

Working out the plot ideas at this point presents the choice options. Don’t be afraid to keep a selection of choices for each pivotal decision in the plot. There is no reason why the plot blueprint can’t be modified as you write the story up, especially as you become more familiar with the characters who might develop a life of their own. Its main purpose is to keep you on track and concentrate your energies on the actual writing and some of the Secondary Idea details.

At this stage, I need to think how the story is to end to allow me to pace the plot up to this point. As I see it, the conclusion depends on whether they lose the cargo or discover what the contents are. If you want a tragic ending, then have them jettison the cargo and then realise they’ve killed their families. The ‘Deep Shit!’ scenario. If you want some inhibition that prevents the cargo being jettisoned within the spaceship hardware or computers, then you have to consider what options are available and how the information is given to the astronauts. The basic ‘Happy Ending’. There is also a ‘Shallow Shit!’ ending where they jettison the cargo and only the reader knows what they’ve done. It depends on where and what direction you would want to take such a story. What has the most dramatics? What will stir the emotions of your readers the most?

I came up with this plot while working on this chapter and I’ve yet to decide if I’m going to turn it into a full-blown story. A lot depends on whether or not I return to it during the course of these chapters and make my mind up which decisions to apply. The fact that I can spin out this plot or another in a short interval of time is largely because of the application of the above technique of exploring the permutations. Ask questions and come up with answers. It can be pretty effective if you’re having an off-day creatively and can catch the slack until you’re back up to speed to feel inspired. Even if you decide not to use a particular story plot, by working through the permutations your head will learn from it for the next story. If you’re going through a phase of multiple plots, then such information can be logged and returned to when you turn it into a story and add different embellishments.

There does come a time when rather than just create plots that some short stories should materialise from them. With the ground work done, there should be a desire to want to complete it. If the plot can’t hold your attention or your desire to embellish it, then it’s not ready for the second stage. As I can’t stop a chapter in mid-stream, we’ll go onto this second stage now.

SECONDARY IDEAS

Details are still idea decision making time. These will keep that ideas generator in your head working on the current problem than straying onto anything new. Secondary Ideas cover all the inner plot details. This ranges from reality takes to characterisation and divide between before and after writing the story.

The basic plot doesn’t require any knowledge of the characters other than their main actions. It should be taken for granted that one character will have a solution and others will be either agreeing, disagreeing or have alternative ideas before something is done. Anything else, like another character having a different but wrong solution can be regarded as a sub-plot, probably based on an alternative solution that looked viable but didn’t work. Applying something like that means few of your ideas are wasted. How the information is kept from them tends to fall between Primary and Secondary Ideas. The same questions of : What? Who? Why? When? Where? still apply. This all adds texture to the story and adds the depth that hooks the reader into your reality. It is the idea work in this area that differentiates between good and superb storytellers and where effort sometimes flounders.

Many Secondary Ideas appear as the story is written. Mannerisms for the characters occur as you dialogue them. There are a lot of details you can’t plan before you start writing the story. The one advantage of sorting out the main plot blueprint first is that you can focus your attention on the Secondary Ideas and the storycraft rather than trying to work out how the story will end. It focuses the effort where a different level of idea application is required.

LOCAL COLOUR

In the course of writing the story, some details will need to be filled as they become apparent. Such local colour doesn’t always have to be sorted out in fine detail but still require a certain amount of applied imagination. As such, these should be regarded as being ‘Throwaway Gags’. Material for the reader who will dwell on every idea and word. The rapid reader is likely to pick on such detail as well but might miss subtle nuisances unless made obvious. Your writing will fall somewhere between both extremes. They add colour to the story by hinting there’s more to the reality than what you’re presenting to them. Think of it as being something similar to the Japanese girl in the advert in the opening of the ‘Blade Runner’ movie. A background detail that indicates advertising is really big without it getting in the way of the plot. This motif was used throughout the film as a low-key subtext when combined with the fact everyone was going around ignoring them.

What should be most apparent is that your ideas don’t stop with the plot. You are forever using them throughout the story to make it work better. With all your thoughts centred on answering such questions your focus should be such that you won’t be worrying too much about other stories until the first draft of your story is complete.

Applied to the starship story plot, Secondary Ideas would be used in establishing the characters and details about the starship. Throwaway gags would include reference to Earth’s problems when they left. As they don’t really enter the main plot equation, there can be a lot more inference than exact detail. At this stage of plot development, the bare bones is needed and any particular idea that appeals that can be applied. If you want to make a stance on any particular belief, this is the appropriate place to add in the fine-tuning and have it voiced through the actions of one of the characters.

The second draft of your plot blueprint should now look more fleshed out. This does not mean you have written endless pages. Often it can just be a series of notes. If you are a habitual detailer, then your extended plot doesn’t need to be wasted as sections or all of it can shaped into scenes. These can then be expanded further into the story. [Further exploration of this technique will be explored in the next chapter. The pointer here is to indicate I’m not neglecting writers who excessively detail at this stage.]

THE NAME GAME

One of the things that infuriates a lot of writers is the creation of their characters' names. It’s one of the biggest stumbling blocks in a world that is literally full of both real and fictional names. Namely, just how do you create one that is either unique or memorable.

For some, names tend to come as the characters are formulated. For some, the ideas engine finds it easy to provide handles to hook personalities. In such cases, the names are rarely altered from any initial ideas about what you called them. This process often reminds me of Anne McCaffrey’s dragons who declare they know what they are called when born.

Where do you start if name generation is one of your potential blind spots? You can visit my favourite place of research: the library. More specifically, the reference library as they usually have several books of surnames and Christian names. If you love travelling, be sure to pick up baby name books when abroad if you want foreign names. As all such books give an idea what such names are supposed to mean, it opens up possibilities to match names to personalities. It’s like differentiating geniuses from geeks. I know this is basically unfair stereotyping but it also reflects life as well. Even so, there is no reason why you can’t name a character against type. Anything done long enough becomes its own cliché. Reading newspapers, books, TV, films, you’d can’t help falling over names that show some potential. With practice, recombining Christian and surnames, any name is possible.

This method should be carefully checked against existing people. No one is going to worry about common names like, say, a ‘John Smith’ or a ‘Mary Lane’. If, however, the name is singularly unique with someone already called it then decisions have to be made to differentiate between reality and imagination. You either change the spelling slightly to distinguish from the original or change it completely. It is for a similar reason you should avoid using friends’ names or personalities in your stories. There have been a number of cases where the original name owner has treated this as a personal affront and taken legal action which can upset publishers who might have otherwise accepted the story. For this reason, avoid celebrity or living public named people. Even using real life institutions or religions should be under some advisement and based on what they really do or know than slur without foundation as it can risk an expensive libel.

Borrow particular personality traits but be wary of copying wholesale personalities. Apart from anything else, it displays a singularly lack of imagination in creating someone out of your head. [This subject of character generation will be returned to in a future chapter. Any questions that need to be covered there should be addressed to the editorial site.]

TIME TO TAKE A BREAK

Once you’ve got your plot blueprint sorted out, take a break from it for a week or two and then look at it again. A fresh mind will spot problems from a different perspective than one who has been working on it constantly without a break. It’s another equivalent to sleeping on a problem and seeing if anything better has come up in the mean time.

If you don’t fancy being idle for that week and believe it won’t interfere too much, there’s no reason why you can’t work out another plot in these periods. What I would suggest is ensure that any other plot is as far removed from the current one. Direct contrasts will strengthen the work on both because there is no conflict in the direction of ideas. Personally, I find it easier to switch from stories to articles, reviews or catch up on my mail, but it depends entirely on your personal mindset and what else you have to do.

Rest periods should also be applied when writing the story. Every storycraft book advises that up to a couple hours a day should be spent writing. It often leaves writers feeling guilty when they miss the occasional day. As long as this isn’t habit forming, no effort should be made to catch up later. Sometimes, some scenes will be faster to write than others and time will balance itself out. There is always the possibility of ‘Writer’s Block’ or plain tiredness when it is wiser to step away from your story for a break than give up. This time should be used to gather your thoughts with a fresher insight than giving up out of frustration because you don’t know what to do next. In any pursuit it is possible to be over-tired, so why should story writing be any different?

Writing a story is generally not a competition for completion unless you’re under a very strict deadline. If you have a day job, then your daily or nightly hour or two of typing will become more meaningful and accomplish more. Often as not, any spare time in your normal activities can be used for deep thinking or reviewing what you are going to do when you get to your keyboard. In this way, all your effort at the keyboard is centred on typing up your thoughts for the day than spend an hour looking into space trying to figure out what to write.

TEST YOURSELF

During the course of writing your story, you should always be testing your ideas to ensure they are as strong as when you first thought of them. If they continually stand up to the test of time and new research or information, then it should strengthen your resolve. Invariably, information related to subjects involved in your story will draw their attention if they come up in the press or TV and should be regarded as additional sources.

Are the characters interesting enough? Are they individualistic enough that you can tell them apart by actions, mannerisms or vocal inflection without naming them? Does the plot hold together? Are the problem solutions strong or flimsy? If not, then what should you do to improve matters? Again this is a matter of focusing your efforts and strengthening your work in progress.

Don’t go so extreme at doing this that you find yourself displeased with the story progress. Treat it as a means to polish and tidy up loose ends or gather fresh insight than to be overtly and destructively self-critical. To do otherwise will ensure the story is never completed.

WORKING THE IDEAS GENERATOR

The ideas generator should rarely turn off when you’re working. If anything, it’s probably working all the time and involved your ‘normal’ life but applied in a practical way. Don’t knock your ability! Like all muscles, this talent only gets better the more you use it in whatever you do. It is probbaly habitual that it is applying solutions that will make your day-time job easier to cope with or more efficient. If the solutions look practical as well then the side benefit is possible promotion or getting a job finished earlier to have more thinking time. If not that, then people will turn to you because you will always have ideas that make things practical to do. A rather nice side benefit of having an active practical creative imagination.

NOTEBOOK AND PEN

When it’s applied to story ideas, don’t depend on memory alone and always carry a notebook and pen to jot them down wherever you go. Don’t depend on believing that if the idea is good enough you won’t forget it. It’s quite possible to have several good ideas a day, even when writing a story, and forget the lot. Note them down for another time. There will always be periods when you will be flush with ideas one moment and days without another and looking up a notebook is always refreshing.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF BLUEPRINT PLOTTING

Being able to look at the story as a plot provides the means to juggle things around if there’s anything that you think isn’t working. Plots are supposed to be a guide to the final story and are often used as a means to break it all down into scenes that have to be covered. In that respect, the word processor has a lot more going for it than the typewriter.

Keep one copy of the overall plot. Duplicate and expand another copy as breakdown for the story scenes. If you feel you can write your initial draft out of sequence then you can focus on scenes that you’re initially happy with and get them written first. This gives the advantage of providing a feel for your reality. It also provides an opportunity for familiarity with the characters so that when the more difficult scenes are written up, there will be some insight into how they are going to work. This also increases the effort enabling you to strengthen what you might regard as weak scenes by spending more time over them. It also avoids the necessity of starting with the first scene or chapter where a lot more effort is required in catching the reader.

This is rather different from the traditional linear way of starting from the beginning and working your way to the end. It does allow pick and choose initially so each scene gets the attention is deserves. Once the draft is written, the polishing goes back to a linear fashion to ensure that it all links together as a cohesive whole. This requires some confidence in your own writing ability but can be rather interesting to attempt. Even if you have preferences for one way or the other, switching between them will develop writing skills. [For the record, my story ‘Shell Game’ elsewhere on this site was written using this technique mainly because I needed to know how the suspects were likely to act at the end so I could work backwards to how they were at the beginning. In fact, I worked sides to middle before the final polish. As I worked on each scene individually, a lot more effort was spent in ensuring the importance of each act.]

Using a blueprint plot allows possibilities. If something new occurs that should be incorporated or a different insight to the overall picture then it can be examined when the story is being written. It allows manipulation to see where and how the consequences of such actions will affect the overall story and where adjustments have to be made. THE BLUEPRINT PLOT IS YOUR GUIDE TO INTENTIONS, IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE MADE IN CEMENT. If you can justify to yourself such changes are worthwhile then don’t be afraid to change them.

WHY YOU STARTED WRITING THE STORY IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!

Never forget your original intentions as to why your story developed the way it did. If something really radical comes up, then consider it as the means to start a different story rather than mess up the current one. I’ll keep repeating this particular mantra: Never forget that if you lose interest in a story you’re writing, then you can’t expect the reader to maintain his or her interest either. It is important to stay obsessed or focused with the story until it's completed. Better one complete story than several that never got finished. Do you still want to be a half-story writer?

If you can ask questions and can come up with multi-choice answers then you are flexing your imaginative to all possibilities. If your head aches with all this work, then look on the bright side: You probably haven’t been working your imagination as well as you thought. Once your storywriting habits develop, so will the quality of your ideas and stories. It all becomes easier with practice. With experience, you are also likely to come up with variations to suit your own writing practices.

BLUEPRINT PLOT BLUES

Given all of the above, is there any downside to plotting from Primary to Secondary Ideas to Blueprint? It would be naive to think there wasn’t any. Such in-depth work is likely to make you a tad obsessive while working on the plot, let alone the story. This can be compensated by ensuring you don’t forget the more mundane activities in your life like your family, friends and regular job although it tends to mess up social activities. Treat them as periods for mental relaxation and that coming back from them will make your story stronger rather than weaker.

It is possible to forget yourself and become too eager to write your story before being sufficiently prepared. This will largely be resolved by experience. Count the number of times you have to alter the plot as you write the story. As these become less you shorten the actual time to complete your first draft . If you cut your work time down by a third or less, then there will be more time to complete all those other stories that you’ve been waiting to complete. That has to be an incentive to use this method.

If you feel that a break in concentration will lose the focus on the story, then spend time researching and making notes on any factual areas required. Things like this would normally be done before starting but other things are always likely to come to light. It’s more frustrating to have to stop because you don’t know the answer to something crucial in mid-stream! There is always plenty of work required to ensure all the information you need for your story is at your fingertips. [As you will no doubt guess, there will be a future chapter on applied research later in this series.]

WHAT ABOUT EMOTIONAL RESPONSE?

No doubt some of you reading the above will view this approach as being a rather cold-blooded clinical way to write a story. How can such an approach be applied to having ideas that ‘come from the heart’ or are inspired?

Plotting ‘from the heart’ is more an emotional response to the plot design as it develops. Understanding what causes particular triggers to motivate you should also ensure that a similar reaction will be shared by your readers. They mostly fall under Secondary Ideas. Spelberg did this a lot in his early films. Jim Cameron applies it as a roller-coaster of continually raising the stakes. Stephen King does it all the time in his horror novels by deliberately going out to scare you.

I chose two film-makers as examples of it working and one horror writer. Oddly enough, in SF stories depend more on a rationale approach, although someone will probably correct me or present examples to the contrary. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t such stories in SF, just more on how the reader will feel after reading the story. Observe how others apply it to their work if you want the same reaction in your work. Understanding the required ‘beats’ of emotional reaction might ensure that it’s incorporated correctly into the plot.

Writers who tend to have less than a linear approach to ideas tend to throw a different quirk into their plots. For those who have to work on their ideas, the following should always be checked. An inspired idea should always be checked against outside influences in case it unwittingly mirrors someone else’s ideas. What is your reaction to nuclear fall-out? Is the damage to the ozone layer going to get worse? Are aliens stealing our damaged planetary probes?

If it’s a response to a particular situation, one should also assess the chances of someone being inspired the same way and then focus your alternatives on ways others might have overlooked that appeals to you. Examining the alternative answers should at least give a fighting chance to write something different and essentially show elements of originality.

THE NATURAL - THE INTERNAL IDEAS ENGINE

Chances are that a small percentage of people reading this chapter are already practicing a variation of these techniques. If anything, you can’t help creating ideas all the time and wonder why anyone would have such difficulties. Given a notepad and pen and nothing short of nuclear disaster or death will distract putting down ideas. Your mind is never idle, even if the world around you is.

For such people, and I have to include myself in this list, we have an internal ideas engine that doesn’t turn off. It is an innate natural recombinant of random thoughts that your unconscious mind is forever chucking out that the conscious mind interprets. It might get tired occasionally and need to rest, but rarely does it turn off for long. Creativity is in the blood. The blood sings creativity. It never switches off.

The ideas engine can manifest itself creatively in either the arts or writing, forever recombining random elements into some recognisable pattern. Considering that some autistic children/people also exhibit some elements of this ability indicates it is probably an innate genetic quality even if it can be developed and trained in other people.

It doesn’t necessarily exhibit itself in all members of a family. Ability cultivation depends on the genetic random dice and the desire or environment to flourish. In the wrong environment, such abilities can be suppressed much to their owner’s distress. Fortunately, released from such restraints allows the gift to manifest itself with a vengeance. The more restrained or held back the gift, the more it will push out later.

Now this chapter isn’t really here as a means to recognise if members of your family or even you, yourself, fall under this classification. Naturals won’t really care because idea generation and creativity is second nature and taken for granted. We’d rather do such work than anything else in the world and are a tad obsessive once started. It is almost a compulsive talent. Turning this imaginative ability into creative stories read by other people is the only way such a gift can be really appreciated. If you feel that your storycraft is lacking, then further chapters should guide further development required into creativity.

The biggest problem a Natural has is keeping centred on one particular idea long enough to complete a story. By applying Primary and Secondary Idea recognition, the ideas engine should be better focused for the job at hand and yield ideas only on that subject. The important lesson is in focusing the obsession on one story at a time. There will be less inclination to become enraptured by the next big idea until the last one reaches completion. If this wasn’t possible, I doubt if we’d see as much literature as we do. Then again, a Natural tends not to have much problem juggling several plots at the same time without missing a breath.

The Natural’s creative flair tends to automatically look at things rather quirky in what outsiders call a ‘cynical outlook’. This awareness is somewhat heightened when they recognise other people pulling the same emotional strings. It probably explains journalists’ cynical attitude even when they fall outside the realms of creativity. Then again, if a questioning cynical outlook doesn’t accept everything as told, should it be regarded as a bad thing? Most of the time, cynical attitudes develop in all of us eventually. It doesn’t have to be genetic. Recognising and being able to use the cynical attitude merely adds a further tool to any writer’s resume.

The second biggest problem is in resting and reassessing to ensure storycraft is written at peak performance than when tired. The worst danger of obsessive behaviour is in letting it get into other aspects of your life. Is it any wonder that so many Natural writers have had drink and other compulsive habit problems? Such talents, unfortunately, do come at a price for some Naturals.

AND THE REST OF YOU?

If you’re not a Natural, then the above should work just as effectively providing you’re honest with yourself and your choices. There won’t be any flair for knowing compulsively which idea stands out the best but developing a feeling or attitude comes with practice. Judgement calls have to be practiced to see if they were the right ones. They have to be developed with whatever you do with your life.

As these chapters on storycraft are supposed to aid and maybe make you better writers, let’s try some practical exercises.

DEVELOPING YOUR IDEAS ENGINE

Part of the way to develop your own personal ideas engine is to analyse and question things about yourself and the world. Don’t rely on other people’s opinions, but research the subject matter and make up your own mind. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to turn you into a media bore. Unless you’re going to write articles on these subject, these exercises should be reserved as private thoughts. Saying that, if you ever get caught out and have to discuss or argue a subject, you shouldn’t be stuck having an opinion and be capable of articulating well on them. You will also be less prone to making snap judgements.

CONSIDER YOUR OPINIONS

Having a considered opinion about everything is an asset for anyone. Having an informed opinion, ie knowing what you’re talking about, is even better for a writer. Don’t just take anyone’s opinion on anything, but check the facts and figures and make up your own mind as to the information’s validity. Understanding how anything works, be it scientific or social, gives a greater understanding of the world. It means that when you have to use your knowledge in a story that it will also be an informed opinion and at least the facts will make sense and look more authoritative.

Reaction or observation to the world about you, be it in TV, film, books, magazines or anything will stimulate your imagination. Invariably because you will have ideas as to how things would be done if you were in charge. You might even feel you would do a better job. How many times have you read of interviewed authors saying one of the reasons they started writing was the belief that they could do better? This is a combination of bloody-mindedness, incentive and probable talent surfacing. Many of these writers also state that it’s a lot harder than they first thought, too. Success comes from practice and more practice. Writers can only get better at their craft providing they don’t give up on their first or latest rejection slip. The good writer is already hammering away at the next story while waiting for a publisher/editor’s letter.

Extrapolate from what you know. Again, an informed opinion is useful here. Take a question and ask yourself the consequences if it was taken to an extreme level. Suppose everyone, all right, say 90% of the population, decided they were going to go vegan. What would be the effects on the world? Don’t start with how healthy we’re all going to be. Go to the, er, roots. Consider what the farmers are going to have to do with their livestock when they need all their land to grow crops? We could well see the end of a lot of farm animals. From an SF perspective, we would also probably say: OK, the animals are already gone. What do we do next? We would also be asking: How did that happen in the first place? Why was it allowed to happen? Always look for causes as well as endings as they help embellish the reality. There are stories to be had from any direction.

Ask questions continually about the world and universe. It is also important to have some answers - but not necessarily solutions - that can be thrown at the problem and valuate how well they would work. It is the same principle as giving a large number of chimpanzees typewriters and one day, given the time, they will probably reproduce the works of Shakespeare. One of your solutions might inspire a scientist with the right savvy to be inspired or utilise your answer in some way.

I SOLVE PROBLEMS

Be a problem-solver. This is the biggest asset in Science Fiction storycraft. The difference between a standard and SF writer is that the latter has to take a wider view of situations. With galactic empires and universes, the field is far bigger.

Research. Always research. If you can’t find at least one new subject to add to your background each year then you’re losing interest in writing or stagnating. You will always be seeking information for answers. This doesn’t necessarily mean becoming an expert on everything but your knowledge should be better than that of a layman. Pay particular attention to subjects you are not particularly good at in a similar fashion. Recognising your weaknesses should ensure avoiding faux pas in at least getting the facts right by looking up information that guessing.

NOTEKEEPING

Keep notes of things that are of interest and note the books they came from. There will always be a time when you need to look them up again. Keep an eye on the date the books were released and check if things have been changed since they were published. It tends to be important to be up-to-date with information or expert opinion as it keeps any subject explored in a story more topical. I find trying to answer TV quiz shows questions faster than the contestants a good way to test how much I’ve retained on a variety of subjects.

Be prepared to change or re-evaluate your opinions as the world changes about you. To stay stationary on anything will get you hit by inflexible dogma. A dangerous commodity for any writer. This doesn’t mean you can’t hold a particular position on any subject that you feel strongly about, it just prevents following it blindly.

AWARENESS

Be aware of what other authors have done in the same area or subject. This doesn’t give you a licence to copy but as you read their books, there should be an awareness of what was good and bad and avoiding duplicating their work. There have been some notable examples of this technique. Asimov’s ‘Robot’ stories came about largely because he was disgusted that other authors were treating them as maniacal machines than provide logical reasons for their actions. Anne McCaffrey’s ‘Dragonrider’ novels came about largely because dragons had always been depicted as being bad monsters than any potential benefits they could provide. Even my own ‘Psi-Kicks’ short stories, here in Hologram Tales, started off because I felt psionic abilities wasn’t being depicted correctly in what I’ve read and did my own particular slant. Doing that, I ended up coming up with what I think are some nifty ideas about statistics and evolution, but that’s a different story.

Imagining a situation should and is often easier for a writer than a non-writer. The real trick is in providing the necessary attention so the reader also focuses only on what you want him to imagine. This is really where storycraft really comes into its own. Lose the confidence of the reader and they’ll put the book back on the shelf. You, as the writer, are opening a different world to the reader. If they are captivated by your ideas then that is half the battle.

BREAKING THE RULES

There will always be times when rules are made to be broken. It is always possible to see a strong plot from the start that you won’t want to change. Understanding the mechanics of idea manipulation should ensure that you are completely happy with the plot before spending a lot of time expanding it into a prose story. Looking at the other possibilities can also be used to embellish the main plot theme. If you are going through a hard time with ideas, then being able to apply a mechanical approach will see you through until your flair returns.

Adapt the ideas techniques above to how you view your own mindset than follow it blindly. If you lean nothing else here, the important thing is in understanding what you have read than the actual content. This chapter is only on the mechanics of applied ideas to story-telling. It can’t take responsibility to how you apply it to your stories. In that respect, every writer is truly on their own.

GF WILLMETTS

SUMMARY

Primary or Initial Ideas - the basic questions that create the main story plot.

Secondary Ideas - the fine details attached to the main plot.

Lateral Thinking - for every question examine all the possible choices for answers.

Focus your attention on one story at a time until it's completed.

Do multiple stories simultaneously only when you know all will be completed.

To develop your storycraft: Start with short stories and work your way up to novelette and novels. This get the bugs out of your system before attempting a project that will take over a year to write.

Be prepared for the next chapter where we open the lid and go in-depth on plotting technique.

As the plot illustrated above may be turned into a story I reserve the right for the exact events discussed and depicted above. This does not affect any ideas that might have come from its discussion providing you come up with your own solution.

The use of the above techniques is free for use. The cribbing of the text is not.

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