Have You Lost The Plot?

by Sally Quilford

Continuing our theme of getting to the heart of what makes a competition winner, this month I'll be discussing plots and how not to lose them. It's very easy to let a story run away from you, but with these few tips, you can ensure that the story you're telling is clear to the judges.

What story are you telling?

One of the biggest problems among newer writers is that they're not sure what story they want to tell. In a novel, it's possible to have sub-plots, and novelist Kate Long (The Daughter Game, Picador) suggests, "Plan - central narrative timeline, timelines for each of the main characters' lives. Plus getting to know your characters really well will help keep the plot on track."

However, most writing competitions are aimed at short story telling. In that case it's important to stick to the one story. I recently critiqued a story for a newer writer. The idea behind the story was a good one, but the writer kept losing focus as he switched between strands. There isn't room to do that in a short story.

That doesn't mean that you should throw away those extra strands, and I advised my writer friend to turn his tale into two different stories. A good writer never wastes ideas. Rosemarie Rose advises that, "if the story goes off at a tangent, then there's usually a good reason for it. When it happens to me (which is often), I almost always end up with a much better plot idea than the one I started with. And if I feel like it I can always use the original idea at a later date."

Antonia Bloom agrees, "Outline your plot, tell your story. But really tell it, without worrying too much about fitting into the exact plot outline. Plot can always be adjusted at a later stage."

Always go back to your story and ask yourself, "Is it clear what tale I'm telling here?"

Get Rid of Extra Characters

In a novel you can have any number of characters to fill your plot and sub plot. In a short story, it's best to stick to one or two main characters and maybe two more minor characters. Too many names in a story can be confusing, so always ensure that a named character is a character that's fulfilling a purpose.

Imagine this is part of a story about Lucy, who's rushing to the airport to stop her lover from leaving her forever:

Lucy took a taxi to the airport. The taxi driver said his name was Dave, and that he'd just come out of a messy divorce. He had two kids, and he was afraid he wouldn't see them much.

"I might lose my job too," said Dave, glancing over his shoulder. "Because of all the time off I've taken to deal with my problems."

Ask yourself this. Do you really need Dave? If he's going to turn out to be Lucy's new love interest, or impart some wisdom that helps her to decide what to do, then perhaps he's necessary. Maybe Lucy is also taking time off work to deal with her problems and Dave's warning will come in good stead. But if you've just thrown him in there to up the word count, or describe Lucy's trip, you can probably dispense with him altogether. You could even leave out Lucy's taxi ride, and just start the next section making it clear she's at the airport. Your reader will work out for themselves she took some sort of transport to get there.

Non Sequiturs and irrelevant sentences

Always check your story for non-sequiturs. A non sequitur is a sentence that has no relation to the proceeding sentence, and is easy to leave in, especially during the editing process. I've sometimes found sentences in my stories that had nothing to do with my story. I had no idea how they got there, though they were probably the result of some thought process I'd discarded along the way. But sometimes a sentence that relates to the proceeding sentence has no real relevance for the story either. For example, coming back to Lucy, who's still trying to stop her lover from flying off into the sunset:

Lucy checked the Internet for the departure times. Her mother, who worked as a hairdresser, had sent her the link the night before.

We don't need to know how Lucy found the link to the webpage. Again, readers will assume that Lucy found the link somehow. Her mother's profession has no bearing on the story at all.

 Kathleen McGurl describes her own process: "Sometimes I know the whole outline of the story I want to write, and will keep fairly tightly to that. Other times I only have a start - a character, a voice, a theme, and I just begin writing … once a story emerges and I get to the end, I can always go back and remove the irrelevant bits - when I was 'writing my way in' - and strengthen the bits which are crucial to the plot."

Word counts

Whilst some people might see word counts as being stifling to the creative process, they can actually be a godsend to a writer who needs to keep their story tight. If you only have 1000 words in which to tell a story, it can really focus your mind on your plot. Helen Hunt says, "it can really makes you prune down to the fundamentals and can make the story all the better for it." Esther Madden believes a word count, "helps (a writer) to write quickly … you don't have time or room for anything that shouldn't be there. Practising doing that helps when you come to write longer stories too."

Write Freely

Despite everything I've advised above, always write as freely as you can, without worrying too much about going off target. Fran Hunnisett prefers not to write to a plot. "For me plot is the type of path you travel along to reach a destination, not the reason for setting out in the first place. I never start with plot, perhaps because my primary interest in writing is to exploring emotional and moral dilemmas through story."

Do let your creativity wander a little. Who knows what story or stories you might find hiding within? Maybe Lucy will stop that plane leaving, or maybe she'll run off with Dave the taxi driver. You won't know until you've let your plot lead you to a satisfying conclusion.