Firstly, today, I want to quickly apologise for my lack of activity this past week. Keeping up with work and the manuscript revisions left nothing in the energy reserve tank for blogging activities, either posting or visiting, so apologies. Anyway, today is about my lovely guest poster Ali Bacon. It’s a great post on plot and I’m happy to hand you over to the very capable hands of Ali.
Ali Bacon is an exiled Scot living in the West Country. About ten years ago she added writing to her list of interests since when it has edged out nearly all the others, including, rashly, paid work. When she isn’t writing (or blogging or tweeting) she plays golf, goes ballroom dancing and picks books from her teetering TBR pile, most of which end up being reviewed in one place or another. She has somehow managed to complete two novels, both contemporary fiction, and the second has just been published as an e-book.
Nailing The Plot – Ali Bacon.
I am most definitely not a crime writer, but when people say they ‘only’ read crime as if it’s somehow less worthwhile than more literary genres, I think it’s grossly unfair, because in my opinion crime writers do par excellence what I find hardest of all –nailing the plot.
In my early writing days, I thought I could ‘do’ writing because I could string words together and had an ear for dialogue. And I had an idea for a novel – great – what more did I need? My writing teacher at the time did hint that there might be more to it. I knew that some of my events were going to be flashbacks. Ah, said the lovely teacher, you mean the past as a subplot. Subplot? I thought – isn’t a plot enough? At least I can laugh about this now! Of course as soon as I got pas the first few thousand words I could see I had a problem. One idea (or an idea and a half) is nothing like enough to make the twisty rope of stories that is a proper novel, whether it’s crime, romance or anything else.
Of course with a thriller there are usually lots of characters with their own narrative strands which the writer can engineer to eek out the action and keep the reader in suspense. But even in a novel that focuses on a single character, that character will have a variety of relationships, spheres of activity or even mental states that make up separate plots. For instance I originally wrote my latest novel in two voices and points of view – my heroine Ailsa and her mother Lorraine. When I decided only Ailsa should hold the narrative, I didn’t dump the plotline, because the mother/daughter relationship was still crucial to the story, it just had to be told in a different way.
The other things I’ve learned along the way is the importance of surprising the reader and also keeping him/her waiting. Readers are fickle creatures – they want to think they know what’s going to happen, but if that’s all that happens they’ll be disappointed. A novel that trundles on to its obvious conclusion is not a lot of fun. And you’ll be hard pushed to create a satisfying climax (as opposed to the deus ex machina or ‘it was all a dream’ scenario) without a few plotlines to draw on. Because what makes a story come to life is how each strand impacts on the others until the denouement (literally ‘untying’) when the awful (or wonderful) truth of it all is laid bare.
Now that I’ve started noticing plot, I don’t see that there is anything ’less literary’ about having a good one. Think of Fingersmith, for goodness sake! Most literary novels have great plots, it’s just that there are other aspects of the writing that vie for attention. The plot may not be what a lazy reader like me remembers, but it’s almost certainly what keeps me reading. Novels labelled as ‘too literary’ are usually those where the plot is less compelling.
You’ll be pleased to know that the first novel did eventually gain enough flesh to stand on its own two feet, but I tackled the book that became A Kettle of Fish with a different mindset. When I got to the end of the first draft I gave it to some of my writing group to read. When Jane, an experienced crime writer, handed it back with the words – ‘Alison, it’s time you wrote a crime novel’, I knew I had nailed the plot. And I couldn’t ask for a greater compliment!
A Kettle of Fish is a rollercoaster family drama set in Scotland and published by Thornberry Publishing out now on Amazon Kindle
You can find Ali on her Website and Blog and on Twitter.
Alex J. Cavanaugh says
Life is a plot with many subplots – makes sense a book should have those elements as well.
Rebecca Bradley says
Absolutely. For me, it can get quite confusing keeping all the strands together though!
Margot Kinberg says
Rebecca – Thanks for hosting Ali. And I know all too well exactly what you mean about being swamped with work, revisions and so on.
Ali – First, you’ve made an excellent argument that there need be no hierarchy when it comes to what people call literary fiction and crime fiction. You’re right too that plot is central to a good crime fiction story. Of course that’s not to say that characters and atmosphere aren’t important; they are. And I’ve read well-written crime novels where the focus is less on the plot. But they are few and far between and in general I agree about the vital importance of plot development.
Rebecca Bradley says
Thanks Margot. It’s a constant juggling game. I have a few days off this week and I’m trying to make the most of it!
Ann Best says
I like: surprise the reader and keep him/her waiting. Great advice! I LOVE crime fiction, and have downloaded a sample of A Kettle of Fish (love the title). If I can’t stop reading, I’ll buy it (next month since this month my “book money” is depleted). Thank you, Rebecca, for hosting Ali as otherwise I would have found her. (I have an email subscription to your postings.) As for “literary” versus “Crime fiction,” a good story is a good story, whatever the genre.
Rebecca Bradley says
Ali has been a pleasure to host Ann. It was a great post. I do hope you enjoy your sample.
You are spot on about a good story. Some people just like to make themselves feel better by trying to bring others down, I think.
debutnovelist says
Hi Margot Alex and Ann and thanks for your comments. I agree that with any good novel (including crime) there will be a lot more to it than just the plot, but I just feel that in crime it’s a bit of a sine qua non, and so crime writers are usually good at it! Probably my favourite crime novels have really good characters and an interesting setting too. Ann – it wil be a good test to see if you want to keep reading – fingers crossed!
Ali B
Rebecca Bradley says
Thank you for a great post Ali. It seems to have gone down really well!
Sheryl Browne says
Praise indeed, Ali! Well done you! 🙂 xx
Rebecca Bradley says
Thanks for visiting Sheryl. Ali’s post has gone down really well and has proved quite popular. 🙂
Jane Isaac says
Great post, Ali. Thanks for sharing:)
Rebecca Bradley says
Thanks for visiting Jane. 🙂
joylene says
I’m smiling, Ali, remembering back when I first start, thinking, how hard can it be? I feel sorry for all those authors I bugged, assuming they’d save me years of work and just tell me right off the secret to writing. Haha. Of course, they didn’t, but they did say it was all in the process. I think we’re supposed to learn by the seat of our pants, to some degree. It sure heightens the determination.
Hi Rebecca. I’m #192 on Alex’s list.
Rebecca Bradley says
Hi Joylene. Thanks for visiting. I’ve stopped by your blog and put you on my follow list 🙂
debutnovelist says
Joylene – Hi how right you are. As with most things in life, learning only comes by having a go. DH calls this the ‘wet-suit effect’. Back in the day he helped me make a wet suit from a pattern and tried to explain how to cut the seams. Having done dressmaking before I merrily cut away then found it very hard to get the thing to stick together. He says you have to make a wetsuite once wrongly to make it right the next time. This explains why my writing takes so long – well partly anyway! Best of luck with yours.
Julie Flanders says
Great post! Kettle of Fish looks like a great book and one to add to my TBR list. I love the title alone!
Great to meet you, Ali, and thanks for sharing, Rebecca!
Rebecca Bradley says
Thanks for stopping by Julie. Ali’s post has proved to be quite popular. 🙂
lexacain says
Rebecca – How much fun to have a guest poster. I always rack my brain about what I’m gonna write about. Maybe I should get a guest poster!
Ali – Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and knowledge with us. I’m not a crime writer either, but plot/subplot apply to all of us. Thanks for the great post!
Rebecca Bradley says
Lexa, I think guest posters are a great idea. It has it’s benefits for both the guest and the host, bringing a wider audience to both and fresh discussions on blogs. It’s worth considering if you can.