The Mystery of the Plot or the Plot of a Mystery--Take Your Pick

posted by Leann Sweeney

With pressure from my editor to turn in a new book much sooner than I ever have before, I have been plotting in the last week as I await the latest verdict on my rewritten manuscript. I have been distracted by my cat Agatha's battle with illness, but now that we have reasons for her failure to bounce back from infection--she has heart disease--I am saddened but a little more focused.

I once had the feeling that no one came up with a story the way that I did, that other writers are better organized or smarter or just good at it. But as I began to attend writer's conferences in the '90s, I learned of the great debate among writers: to outline or not to outline. And I believe that every time I have spoken for groups or on panels, that question comes up. Do you have an outline? For me, the answer is yes. But that wasn't the case with my first book. I always call that the book that wrote itself. It seemed so easy back then.

If I thought about a plot, I honestly have to say, I could come up with maybe two sentences at most. That's usually my "What if...?" question. For example, with the first cat book, that question was "What if a cat was allergic to a person and not vice versa?" But I draw a blank if I try to think much past the first mystery questions. There's nothing there. But I have found that if I begin to write, that suddenly the ideas begin to flow. This isn't the type of outline that you learn in grade school with Roman numerals. It's a narration of a story that comes from ... well, I have no idea. Okay, I have one idea. Human beings are storytellers. I just happen to be able to tell a story better if I write it down rather than if I just spit it out.

When I took a class from Elizabeth George in the late '90s, I was amazed when she talked about her plotting method, which as it turns out, is exactly like mine. I write a very long narrative synopsis that often has events out of order and doesn't make much sense to anyone but me, and then I begin to write the book itself. After about fifty pages I return to that synopsis and begin to revise it according to what I have learned about the characters and the story in those first fifty or hundred pages. It works for me and apparently it works for E. George. And I'm willing to bet this is how plenty of writers work.

The best part about this method is that I have a road map. When I get in trouble, I always go back to my original synopsis and re-read it. The answers are always there. The original ideas are so sound that it truly amazes me. Characters--especially new ones--do want to take a writer to places they shouldn't go. There's some fun in that, and it probably does help me develop that particular character better, but for the most part, it's a waste of time. When that happens, I always end up writing myself into a corner. 

Plotting isn't difficult for me, but what always comes up in the plotting is that piece of the story that I know absolutely nothing about. I usually research when I get to that part of the manuscript, but this, too, is time consuming. So for my new idea that will require a quick turnaround, the book I am plotting now, I am doing the research upfront. Or trying to. That doesn't mean I won't come to a screeching halt during the writing and say, "Expletive deleted! I don't know squat about that! Yikes!" But I am hoping that this particular mystery plot will be much better detailed ahead of time than any I have done before. I do not have the luxury of thinking through plot points before I go to sleep or when I'm in the shower or as I am driving to appointments--all the things I take a lot of time doing. Nope. This book  requires speed writing, something I am not familiar with. Ah, another challenge. It is about the journey, isn't it?

Comments

[LZ]

OMG. I am so happy to read this. I thought I was completely off base when I was listening to some other writer who did detailed outlines, figuring out where all the red herrings were going, or every moment when each clue would come out, and then begin writing. Like you, I gelled a couple pages of a synopsis together, "met" my detective, and had just started writing. I had stalled at just under 10,000 words when I went to listen to this other mystery author. Now reading you... I feel the urge to just get back into the writing of *my* story, and allow what falls to the page be me. THANK YOU

[Jeannie Rigod]

This was extremely usedful to me as I am in the process of plotting a story myself.

[Joanna Campbell Slan]

Leann, I'm in the midst of Book #4 in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series. I start with a "what if," and an idea. I worked out the beginning during a conversation with Joe Konrath. He challenged a group of us at dinner to come up with a super first line. Mine is "I was rummaging around in the trash Dumpster searching for my lost paycheck, when I reached down and grabbed Cindy Gambrowski’s severed leg." After that, things started rolling along rather nicely. I've made my outline, and tonight I'm back at it because I'm having so much fun!

[June Shaw]

Great ideas! Leann, thanks for sharing with us the process you use for plotting.

[Sheila Connolly]

I think detailed plotting is much overrated. You miss all the fun stuff, like when something unexpected comes out of your protagonist's mouth and the story takes a 90-degree turn. I'll go as far as writing an initial narrative to myself (in pencil, and it's the only hand-written thing I do), but when I go back to look at it, I've usually changed big chunks. Then I do it again (lather, rinse, repeat...).

Let your imagination loose!

[Diana Jenkins]

I don't do any outlining for short things like magazine stories, but for novels I do. I like to see where I'm going - internal journey, external journey, relationships. Things change once I start writing, but at least I'm not completely floundering around!