How Do You Keep Track of Subplots When You Write?

by Amy Sue Nathan

At the beginning of last week we found a mother cat and three kittens on the patio in front of the house.  One of the dogs discovered them, I can only surmise, when she decided to jump up on back legs to look outside through the dining room window because she was finished looking out the other seven thousand windows in the house.  Then it was the middle of the night when she decided to check on the cats and wake me up to tell me there were, indeed, still squatting on our property.  Of course I was awake from then on, as he/we watched the kittens play in the dark amidst the withering flowers and plants succumbing to the fact that I stopped watering last week.  The next day he and mama cat had a staring match through the window.  I then decided those tiny, wobbly kittens must be hungry and although feeding them would endear me to them for life, I was sure, I used my favorite plastic platter and spread a can of tuna near the rim so the kittens could reach it easily.  That would have been great if the mama cat would have then let them have any.  Which she did not.  When I saw the tiny kitties licking an empty plate, well, what was I supposed to do?  More tuna.  More plates.  I pushed the plates to the two spots where the kittens were hiding and then when I hid, they ate the tuna.

And we haven’t seen them since.

I had rigged the dining room curtain so the dog could not wiggle through where the two sides meet. I left the outside lights off so the cats would be harder to see.  But they were gone.  I thought mama cat would come back.  My daughter and I decided on a place to feed them where the dog wouldn’t see them.  I researched feral cats and called the local humane society.  Heck, we even named all four of them.  There was no way I was taking in 4 cats but we decided if one came back — well then our hand might be forced.  No need for all the planning.  The cats are gone.  There are many cats in our neighborhood for some reason – we’ll often see a cat lying on our walkway as we drive off in the morning or walking across the front lawn.  But for 24 hours these cats were our tenants and just as we’d written their story.  They were gone but not forgotten.

You know, like a dropped subplot.

Dropped characters who have no graceful or dramatic exits and dropped subplots with no imaginable or actual ending are probably my biggest pet peeve in reading and writing.  Everything in literature needn’t be tied up neatly with a bow, but I think there should be a reasonable explanation or an understanding of a character’s departure.  If there’s a subplot we don’t need to read “the end” but we do need to know (or think we know) where something is headed.

A writer friend of my uses spreadsheets to do this.  I’m not quite as organized.  OK, I am no way nearly as organized.  I have scribblings on paper that say “Don’t forget about so-and-so” which is the writerly string on my finger.  Throughout my WIP I try to weave different storylines that have beginnings, middles and endings that do not coincide with the beginning, middle and end of the novel.  Some of those secondary endings leave the reason without question and some point to possibilities and allow the reader to surmise, wonder and think.  I rely on my betas at this point to help discover nuances missed and threads that have detangled.  Since I know what happens, what doesn’t and what I want out of the story I’m often too close to it all.

I have shelved authors who drop subplots.  It disappointments me so much that I don’t read them again.  No second chances with me – there’s too much out there to read.

I can only imagine it was that way with the cats.  A big wide world to explore and without the lure of more than a can of tuna (it was albacore!) they were not sticking around for more. But like a book with elusive subplots – I do keep looking out the window hoping they’ll come back.

How do you keep track of threads and subplots in your writing? Is it scientific? Secret? Simple? Do tell! 

Amy Sue Nathan is the editor of STET! and the Backspace monthly newsletter.  This morning she noticed a bunny in the backyard and still trying to figure out how that relates to writing.  Because it must. 

The Patience and Perseverance of Author Jessica Keener

by Jessica Keener

I confess. I’ve waited decades for this:

Fiction

Debut

Pushcart Prize nominee and Redbook fiction prize winner Jessica Keener's NIGHT SWIM, in which a gifted sixteen-year-old singer, aggrieved by her mother's pill-popping ways and sudden death, hurtles toward her own sexual awakening and consequences, in a Mad Men-like world of upper middle class Boston suburbia in the '70s, to Lou Aronica at The Fiction Studio Imprint, for publication in January 2012.

Debut? Doesn’t that word imply “new” and “young” and just getting started? I’m none of those things. Over the past two decades, I’ve vacillated between feeling ridiculous about how long I've kept on working to get a novel published and feeling proud that I didn’t give up.

But this giving up didn’t happen on its own. In recent years, I credit Backspace as the place that got me out of my isolation as a writer. It's where I came to find out the story behind the story, and where I came to gather vital info about publishing and writing that was hard to get anywhere else. I wasn't a party goer in those days. I didn’t live in NYC. I wasn’t a joiner of groups.

Backspace changed all that for me. Connecting with other writers-published and unpublished- both online and at the yearly Backspace conference in New York (where I was a panelist several times) has made all the difference to my world and life as a writer. This kind of writers’ forum helped me to keep on.

But, I admit. I’m not quite over my embarrassment. Nothing should take this long, right? Oh, hell! Jews hung out in the desert for 40 years. What’s a few decades? Longevity has its place!

I should point out that Night Swim is NOT my first novel. It's technically #2.

Like so many of us, I wrote another novel that I loved and nurtured but failed to publish despite several agents’ earnest attempts. Maybe I will revisit it someday and revive it.

Night Swim also made the usual rounds about 4 plus years ago. Unfortunately, my wonderful agent at the time didn't place it. --Yet another round of close calls and disappointments, I once again put my novel in my file cabinet. I often do that with fiction. Short stories sometimes take me years to finish. I returned to my non-fiction freelance writing gigs for solace. Magazine articles are short, the rewards are immediate and include $$. (Disclosure: I also co-published a business memoir with a traditional publisher, was repped by a big agency, and got a decent advance.)

Meanwhile, I still believed in Night Swim. After several months, I took it out again, retitled it and carved out excerpts to see if I could publish some of those. In fact, I did--I placed four excerpts in lit mags pretty quickly, and one rec'd a Chekhov Prize for Excellence in Fiction (from the editors of Wilderness House Literary Review). I got a Tee Shirt for that! These smaller successes kept my faith simmering. Four different editors responded favorably to the subject. Maybe I wasn't totally deluded.

A few more years passed. I wrote novel #3, currently in revision. I've got a proposal for a non-fiction book on board, and I just completed a collection of short stories. All the while, I continued my freelance work to fill this void of the unpublished novel.

This year, I again pulled Night Swim from my drawer, reread it, added something I think it needed, and decided to see what I could do with it. I got amazing responses from some hand-picked agents. But, but, but--

Writers (agents and publishers) know that the publishing industry is in massive transformation right now. In my gut, I began to seriously wonder. Did I really want to go the traditional route of finding another agent, making rounds to publishers who had previously said no, and repeating my old pattern? Did I really want to wait a few more years? (Damn it. No. I’m 56! My dad had died recently. It was time to grab the hands of life and make something happen.)

This is when a writer recommended me to a new imprint--Fiction Studio Books. It's an invite-only endeavor founded by publishing veteran, Lou Aronica (former Publisher of Avon and Deputy Publisher of Bantam). He asked to read Night Swim. Two weeks later, I got an email. He loved it and wanted to publish it. Seriously? I was so used to my old pals Rejection and Disappointment. I hesitated.

What about this new way of publishing--with digital emphasis and more control for the writer? Was I ready to let go of my fantasy of a big sale with a big publisher?

I guess not. I waited another 4 months. I literally had to pulverize internal expectations and fantasies that were not helping me move forward. With these new opportunities to publish, I realized I was getting in my own, stubborn way. And, I was tired of listening to myself complain.

What was I waiting for? I had an offer. It was in my lap! Of course, I had to complicate things and pull out old worries. Would Fiction Studio Books still want me? I finally got back in touch with Lou and he immediately welcomed me to his collective. He understood my reservations and that was it.

I don't know what happened to me but I am now totally thrilled and excited--all those inner blocks crushed. I love the feeling of having creative control and love that I can make this journey my own with Lou's help, and the writing community and friends I've made these past 4, 5, 6 years.

But, it's been forever. I wrote that first novel in 1986 and spent many more years revising it, putting it away, finally letting it go, and starting what was to become Night Swim!

Am I insane?

Possibly.

Slow?

I prefer the term: late bloomer.

The short of it is: if writing is your passion, find your faith, value the process, and keep on. I’ll end with this advice from Richard Larson, a Vermont farmer. (If you think writing a novel is hard, go talk to an independent farmer.)

"Life is about finding the sweet spot where you are."

Not Always Writing What You Know

by P.D. Martin

There's an old adage that's often talked about when you start writing: Write what you know. It's great advice, however, things don't always go to plan.

My first book, Body Count is based on a dream (well, really nightmare) I had many years ago. In that dream, I was investigating the deaths of some friends. I was me, but I was also some kind of law-enforcement officer. When I decided to turn the nightmare into a book, the first decision I had to make was about my protagonist. Would she be a cop? Crime-scene tech? What I was really interested in was criminal psychology; and so I decided to follow my gut and make my heroine a profiler.


My next step was research, which revealed that profiling wasn't used nearly as much here in Australia as it is in other countries. It also seemed that the FBI was leading the way when it came to using profiling as a law-enforcement tool.


So, now I had an FBI profiler (and ex-cop), but I've never been a cop or a profiler. My only link to this world was that I studied psychology and criminology at university. And to top it off, I was setting my book in the US, but I live in Australia.


So much for write what you know! At least my main character is an Aussie.
In many instances research can bridge the gap, including talking to people who are working in the field. It's an invaluable step when you're NOT "writing what you know". The location can be tricky too, even with the wonders of Google Earth and Google's street view. While these are amazing tools, it's not the same as actually being there.


I've been to America several times, but unfortunately I haven't been able to visit every location I've written about. Body Count was set mostly in Washington DC and Quantico, with a few scenes in Arizona. I managed to get to both DC and Quantico, but not Arizona.
The directions feature of Google Maps is also a great way to add in a sense of place - you can talk about your characters driving down particular streets and highways. Of course, the risk is that while Google Maps says to take certain roads from point A to point B, the locals might say something like: "You'd never take the I-10 at that time of day. Are you crazy?"


Google's features are certainly fantastic tools for novelists setting their books overseas, and it also helps that I've got a few friends who've married Americans. So when I need to check an expression or a suburb in LA that 'fits' with my character, I've got people to call on.


I love visiting the States, and during my last trip I had great fun scouting out different locations for abductions, body dump sites, etc. That trip was to L.A., where my third, fourth and fifth books are set. And I also took extensive photos and video footage of one of my locations for book 5, Kiss of Death. I even posted some of the pics and video footage on my website for readers, as part of my 'case file' for Kiss of Death. One of the videos is below - it shows where my victim was attacked and the trail she would have been running down. Please excuse my commentary!

So, while there are disadvantages of NOT "writing what you know" I think it's still possible to make it work. And on the plus side for me, any time I visit the US it's tax-deductible!

P.D. Martin – Phillipa Deanne Martin – is a Melbourne-based author with a background in psychology. She has written five novels featuring Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson — Body Count, The Murderers’ Club, Fan Mail, The Killing Hands and Kiss of Death. Her most recent novel, Kiss of Death, is set in the world of LA’s real-life vampires and you can view a trailer at www.youtube.com/pdmartinauthor. She’s also released an ebook titled Coming Home, which can be downloaded from Amazon or Smashwords.

Puffs of Inspiration

“I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time.” – Mark Twain

by Stacy Post

A few weeks ago, I did something out of the ordinary.  I visited a cigar shop.  Yup.  Talk about feeling like a fish out of water.  I had no idea what to expect.

You see, in one of my novels, I have a character that is seen frequently with a cigar in the corner of his mouth.  In order to make his habit more detailed, I had to get down to the root issue: I know very little about smoking a cigar.  Sure, there have been occasions where cigars have been around: birthdays, graduations, parties, etc.  But it’s most decidedly a man thing, one done away from the ladies.

Ladies often complain about the smell or the taste of cigars on a loved one’s breath or lips.  I know our clothes smelled of cigar smoke after spending a little time in the cigar shop.  The person I’m reminded of most is a neighborhood dog walker who smokes and grunts at people as he strolls down our street.  He’s a grumpy old fart who just wants the world to get out of his way.

In the name of research, my husband and I ventured to the local cigar shop.  (I drug him along to give me at least an iota of credibility.)  Much to my surprise, the shop owner was very patient with my questions.  He took us past the front room, through the smoking room to the humidor room.  He showed us many cigars and here’s what I’ve learned so far:

• Cigars have different flavors
• Cigars are unfiltered

• Cigars are measured by their ring size (their fatness)

• The length of a cigar and the ring size will determine the time it takes to smoke it

• To light a cigar, one must roll it to get an even burn
• A puff a minute is a good pace for keeping a cigar lit
  
• Cigars need to be stored in a humid environment

• Developing a palate is important to enjoying a cigar

• Some cigars are infused with liquor such as whiskey or cognac

Now when I look back to the scenes I wrote with cigar man, I realize that he wouldn’t have smoked a fat Stogie in ten minutes.  More than likely, I’ll need to change the cigar to a cigarillo, or alter the length of time to at least thirty minutes.   He also wouldn’t smoke it, grind it out like a cigarette and relight it later.  First of all, cigars are pricey.  Secondly, smoking a cigar is an oral pleasure, not a quick nicotine fix.

So if a character offers a cigar to another person, that means he/she wants to spend a decent amount of time with that person.  That could be used to delay a character in a hurry or to slow down a scene where the dialogue is very important.  What if one character wanted to feel superior to another?  An expensive or forbidden cigar might just be a way to show and not tell.  Need to add an unpleasant scent to make your heroine uncomfortable?  Park a cigar smoker next to her.  Good stuff, indeed!

Now folks, I’m not condoning cigar smoking.  I’m merely trying to enhance the unique details of my story so they are authentic and realistic.  Sometimes the research takes me places I’d never go on my own.  But that’s the fun of it, isn’t it?

What have you done lately in the name of research?

Stacy Post, a native Hoosier and librarian, resides in the flatlands with her husband and three children. A Pushcart Prize nominee for short fiction, her stories have appeared in One Forty Fiction, Referential Magazine, Rose & Thorn Journal, WOW! Women on Writing and Every Day Fiction.  Her poetry has appeared in Iodine Poetry Journal, Referential Magazine, Every Day Poets, Haiku Headlines and Skylark.  She can be found online at: A Writer’s Point of View, www.stacypost.blogspot.com

Do You Spend Summer in the Slow Lane?

Every summer I switch over into the slow lane of writing.  I think about it much more than I do it.  I am working on revisions, but at a pace slower than usual.  I’ve also tapered off on the reading of blogs and novels and magazines.  No more two books a week for me.  I'm lucky if I read two per month.  I am doing a lot of planning, scouting of opportunities and deliberate thinking. I’m making a lot of lists.

I’m a gatherer by nature, so I am also collecting ideas, sentences and starts. I'm compiling ideas for author interviews and blog posts.  I bought cute sticky notes to make the whole thing more fun, but I'm not sure that's working.  

I don't like the slow pace yet I can't seem to break it.  The kids are out of school and while they don't interrupt me, their mere presence in the house sends shock waves through the concentration I use for writing.  Plus, they think it's really weird when I read out loud to myself.   

I have myself convinced that this break is just part of the process, a necessary evil – if you will – where I move in circles instead of forward.

I’m not spending days at the beach or in front of the TV.  I’m not shopping or lunching or traveling, although I am trying to spend more time with friends and I’m accepting any invitation I get to do anything. I’m not nesting – although I have cleaned-out a few closets in the past month.

I'm sure that like every other year, the kids will get back into their routines come August and I'll get back to mine. 

Has summer derailed your writing or kicked you into gear?

Amy Sue Nathan is the editor of STET, @bksp_org on Twitter and the Backspace monthly newsletter. 

She is patiently waiting for summer weather and sunshine to arrive in Chicago.

Why Should I Join Backspace?

Dear STET! readers,


As I Tweet and Facebook and blog about Backspace, I'm reminded that while we have over one thousand members, there are many writers who think Backspace is "just" a conference or "just" a blog or that @bksp_org on Twitter is the only way to get great Backspace insights.  Not so!


The Backspace forums provide a focused exchange of information among serious writers of all levels and genres.  


To find out why you should join, read on!


Hope to see you on the forum!

~ Amy Sue Nathan  

Why should I join Backspace?

by Christopher Graham

I was asked this question at our Agent-Author Seminar in November, 2009. It was an easy question to answer, or so I thought. We were sitting in the bar, the seminar was complete, and we’d found a table with some of our guests. The conversation was fun, lively, and everyone at the table had that obvious air of relief indicative of an exhausting and educational two-day event. Twenty-four hours later we’d all be home, assimilating back into the real world...decompressing.

But, like the characters in a good book, that question stuck with me over the months that followed. I didn’t realize it at first. As these things often go, thought of it only when finishing the following sentence (to myself, of course!): When she asked me that question I should have said…

I was tired. Decompressing. I was really enjoying that beer. Instead of returning the obvious lob with an overhand slam, I smiled, offered up something lame about our conference videos and how the discussion forums are akin to a virtual writers conference...and that was about it.

I missed a golden opportunity to promote what I feel is one of the absolute best organizations in the publishing world, even if we are only orbiting the outskirts of it.

The next time that question's posed, I’ll be more prepared.

I’ll discuss the finer points of our discussion forums, what I’ve come to call our “Virtual Writers Conference.” Here you can network with other writers and aspiring authors and discuss the many challenges you face with other people who face them too. Sure, there’s healthy commiseration, and cheerleading, but there’s also serious discussion involving many of the finer points of the craft, and the industry as a whole. Our members range from the ranks of the hardworking not-quite-published writer, to the just-waiting-for-my-first-book-to-debut author, to bestselling authors in many genres covering many different subjects.

Consider this: Almost 50 of our original 110 members have been published, some many times over. We’re up to over 1,400 members and growing, and many of our subscribers are agented, published, and always willing to help, provide some advice, answer a question, or two, or just a congratulations every time someone shares their good news.

There’s a critique section, short story contest, monthly challenges, and a place to blow off a little steam and chat about, well, just about anything. We call it Idle Chatter, but there's nothing idle about it. There’s no advertising, no annoying posts from people who aren’t serious about their craft, no attempt to sell you something you don’t want to buy. None of that. Just serious writers, serious (and sometimes fun) discussion, in a (virtual) room full of people who are all working very hard toward their publishing goals.

Not enough?

There’s the Conference Video Library. Exclusive to all Backspace subscribers, the video library is where you head when you’re tired of reading, but don’t want to stop learning. When you can’t make it to one of our critically-acclaimed conferences, but you still crave a taste of that conference experience. Or, maybe you just want to sit back, relax, and hear from some of the industry’s most respected names. From top literary agents and editors, to bestselling authors and industry insiders, the Conference Video Library contains over 50 hours of full-length video from our conferences

Speaking of our conferences and seminars, how about discounts, savings, and contests all geared toward making our conferences and seminars affordable for everyone? 

How should I have answered that question back in November? Just like this:

Joining Backspace gives you access to a community of serious (and seriously successful!) writers sans the many distractions that most writers forums suffer from, plus it delivers hours of full-length conference videos updated every 6 months, and discounts to our conferences and seminars that can add up to three times the annual subscription fee.

Well, I probably won’t use the word sans, but I think I’ll keep the rest.

Oh, and did I mention the cost to subscribe is only $40/year?

Money well spent, but don’t take my world for it. Check out our Spotlight Interview in Writer's Digest. Backspace has also been nominated to the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers list 6 years in a row.

Hmmm, maybe I should’ve thought to mention that, too?

Fortunately, there’s always next time!

*****

Christopher Graham is a former reporter and independent bookstore owner. He’s currently the co-founder and technical administrator of Backspace, LLC (www.bksp.org) and co-hosts the annual Backspace Writers Conferences and Agent-Author Seminars. He also performs freelance technical work for the International Thriller Writers Association’s website. In addition to writing dozens of freelance articles for a variety of weekly newspapers on the Jersey Shore, his short fiction has appeared in The Blue Print Review.

The 3 C's of Writing The First Page of Your Novel

by Katia Lief

(a.k.a. Kate Pepper)

Context, character and conflict -- I call them "the three c’s." They are the essential fictional elements a writer should braid together on the first page of a story or novel in the quest for a sparkling beginning. If you save all the good stuff for page fifty, but you haven’t held your readers’ attention, no one will ever find out what a great writer you are because they will have already put your work aside.

Your very first readers will be the most jaded: the agents and editors whose help you need to reach the reading public. Generally, agents and editors are so overwhelmed by submissions that they’ll skim just a few pages to find out whether the work is competent and, better yet, magical; more accurately, they’ll have their young assistants make that evaluation. On a practical level, you must engage your first readers or your work will have a form-letter rejection slapped on it and sent back to you. On a creative level, you don’t want your story or novel to begin so slowly or clumsily that it’s plain boring. Writing a good first page is a discipline, but it isn’t as hard as you might think.

Begin by delving right into the story’s action. One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is over-writing their beginnings. There is an inclination to wax poetic about weather or to delve into the thoughts of a character we don’t yet know or care about. If you need to do some pre-writing to get yourself started, go for it, but then set it aside in your personal file of "Gems to Save for Later." Now, choose an opening moment that will ignite the story in your reader’s mind. Something should be in the process of happening on that first page; it doesn’t need to be momentous, but it should engage your reader’s curiosity.

Context

Quickly give us a sense of where we are -- in an urban penthouse; on a farm in summertime; in a space ship; on an ocean liner; looking at a storefront on Madison Avenue; in an office. Identifying the setting will orient your reader; otherwise, he may have to re-read just to put the story into accurate perspective. The moment he has to regroup, you have pretty much burst the bubble of his suspended disbelief and possibly lost his attention all together. If you know your character -- let’s call her Marcella -- is going to pour herself a cup of coffee, then make sure to place her in a setting where there would be a coffee pot. But don’t just inform us of the context, or setting; integrate it into the action. Action doesn’t need to be dramatic, just the sense that something is happening or about to happen. To echo an old chestnut: action is story, and story is character.

Character  

Your character experiences your story’s context; it informs her, and she informs it. If it’s cold, she puts on a sweater and turns up the heat; if it’s hot, she strips to her underwear and opens all the windows (or turns on the air conditioning). If she’s in an office and her feet ache, she still keeps on those toe-pinching high heels; or maybe she stows a pair of fluffy pink slippers under her desk. In the particular, idiosyncratic world of her mind, she experiences her world uniquely. Context and character fuse and play off each other. It’s all in the details, so choose carefully. Think about what you want to show readers as you introduce them to your fictional world. Marcella’s in her office, she’s pouring herself a cup of coffee, her feet are killing her and she’s thinking about those fluffy slippers under her desk. Good, but nothing’s really happening and you’re halfway down your first page. Someone once said that every character must want something, even if it’s a glass of water. Know what your character wants, and set her quest, however minor, into motion.

Conflict

What’s at stake? What does Marcella care about? What does she want? Maybe she’s been up all night with a dying pet and has come into the office to meet an important deadline. She pours a cup of coffee and can smell that it’s burned before it scalds her tongue. She screams at her coffee-brewing secretary, who quits. If we can smell the burned coffee and feel the scald on her tongue, then we’ll also feel her exhaustion and frustration. Despite her loss of control, we’re sympathetic, because her beloved pet is dying at home, alone, while she had to come into work. And now, without the help of her secretary, she’ll be at the office hours longer than planned. The vet’s office closes at six o’clock, but her boss has made it clear that she’ll lose her job if she doesn’t meet her deadline . . . you get the idea. By now, you’re at the bottom of page one and your readers are going to feel compelled to turn the page to find out what happens.

By quickly establishing context, character and conflict, you have set in motion some of the essential fictional elements that will resonate throughout your story or novel. Marcella’s off on her quest, you have conquered another first page and won the hearts and minds of readers who will probably go easier on you next time. But the trick is this: in the future, you won’t need their mercy, because through practice and discipline you have come that much closer to mastery of your craft.

*****

Katia Lief’s thrillers YOU ARE NEXT and NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME will be published in the fall of 2010 by Avon/HarperCollins, and will also appear in the U.K., Germany and the Netherlands.  She is the pseudonymous author, as Kate Pepper, of five previous thrillers. She teaches fiction writing at The New School in Manhattan and lives with her family in Brooklyn.  www.katialief.com


This post originally appeared on STET! on September 24, 2010, but since I've run into so many writers starting and re-starting their novels, this seemed like a good choice reminder for a summer day.  Enjoy, and thanks again to Katia!

The Power of Thwart

by Mark Terry

I've been thinking about plotting and the most valuable lesson I learned about plotting came from a conversation I had with my brother eight or nine years ago while standing waist-high in Brevort Lake in Northern Michigan while we were keeping an eye on our kids. We were talking about "The Lord of the Rings," both the movies and the books, and my brother said, "I was reading the book to Dylan and I realized just how often the characters are thwarted."

And having watched the movies about 50 times and read the books a few times, upon really paying attention to how Tolkien plots, you can learn most of what you need to know about plotting, whether you're writing fantasy, thrillers, mysteries, romances, or so-called mainstream fiction, whatever that is.

Example. After leaving Rivendell, the Fellowship plans to head toward Mordor over the mountain Caradhras. This plan is thwarted when they discover that Saruman is carefully watching that pass and has his "spies," the birds, looking for them. Gandalf then heads up and over the mountains. This time Saruman thwarts this attempt by causing a winter storm that nearly kills everybody on the mountainside. With great reluctance because he knows the dangers there, Gandalf leads them to the Mines of Moria, where they will take tunnels and caverns and tunnels underneath the mountains. Only they are initially thwarted when they don't know how to get past the magic entrance.

Having figured that out ("Speak friend and enter"), they really, REALLY want to get out, find the local pub and knock back a few before dropping the ring in a FedEx envelope and mailing it to Sauron, because the mines have been turned into a crypt, all the dwarves slaughtered by goblin orcs. They rush for the entrance only to have a tentacled monster attack them and destroy the entrance, trapping them inside. Thwarted yet again. Further in the mines they get lost. Further still they arouse the interest of the orcs. They battle a cave troll (Great line: "They've got a cave troll!") and orcs and narrowly escape (and Frodo nearly dies) only to be cornered by goblins in a great amphitheater.

Yikes, thwarted again! Only the orcs suddenly flee and they're faced with an even worse enemy, the Balrog, a demon of shadow and flame. Thwarted! Fleeing the Balrog, they nearly topple to their deaths on the bridge of Khazad-dum--thwarted--but make the crossing only, horrors! Gandalf battles the Balrog and falls to his death.

The point here is to notice how often Tolkien does this during the entire length of the books, and how Peter Jackson exploits it in the films. If you have the director's cut versions of the films and you pay attention to the extra scenes, you'll notice that in general they were more cases of the heroes being thwarted--Aragorn's apparent failure to recruit the Army of the Dead, the avalanche of skulls, escaping to realize they were too late to take on the Corsairs...

My earlier unpublished novels had a lot of flaws, but none of them were more serious than my taking it too easy on my hero. A crime was committed and they followed clues to solve the case. There weren't enough red herrings. My characters didn't get pinned into corners that apparently they couldn't get out from. In effect, they weren't thwarted enough. I've learned my lesson.

Take any successful commercial novel or film of just about any genre, and you’ll see how this is part of the plotting. Armageddon is a particularly good example of the Power of the Thwart, which could more easily be described as: Anything That Can Go Wrong Does.

It doesn't have to be this dramatic either. In a mainstream novel, the heroine can have a child with Down syndrome, a sleazy boss who wants sexual favors in exchange for career advancement, an ex-husband who keeps asking for money and showing up during her dinner dates with the man she thinks she loves...

Just don't make it too easy on your characters.

Best,

Mark Terry

Mark Terry is an award-winning author of 13 books including the popular Derek Stillwater thriller series. A full-time freelance writer, editor, author and ghostwriter, Terry lives in Michigan with his wife and sons, and when not writing, teaches karate, bikes, runs, lifts weights and occasionally plays the guitar. His latest novel featuring Homeland Security troubleshooter is THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS. Of his writing, The Lansing State Journal wrote, “Terry writes like Lee Child on steroids.”

Visit his websites at www.markterrybooks.com and www.markterrywriter.com.