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Okay, so I've been busily studying plot...
Mar. 5th, 2004 04:44 amWith James Van Pelt in a two week long focus on plot put on by the Online Writing Workshop for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It's fairly crammy work, but I am learning some things about plot, and I was thinking about them in connection with the stories I've written as part of my stable of stories that I'm still building up so I'll have a decent amount floating around the markets.
One thing that struck me was The Law of Unintended Consequences, which is: You don't always know how your actions are going to turn out.
This looks a lot like what I was doing with Bluebird, when I decided that every single character in the story had their own goals and objectives going on, and that All I was doing was writing about where they collided with each other. That no character would neatly puppet along with the plot - that every character was a round one with goals, desires, and ambitions. not every character interacts with every other character, but where the characters meet is where the story moves, even if it doesn't happen onscreen.
I've unconsciously used this law in other stories, too.
In As a Hand Rules Heaven, a woman who holds the royal power of fertility stays her urge to revenge herself against a farming family she entrusted with a child's care - and the unusual fertility of that farmer's land leads the enemy to her secret heir.
In Kether Station, a woman goes to a butterfly preserve on a space station to cool her temper - and her discovery touches off a panicked evacuation of a space station where there are too many people and not enough lifeboats.
In Scaredyfox, a man decides to experiment with a shamanic trance technique as a relaxation method, and his visions lead him to question a technology that cures mental illness.
In The Lycaenidae of Adroa, a woman decides to follow the loose ends of a murder and smuggling conspiracy, and uncovers a secret that could shatter the cornerstone beliefs of her society.
It's interesting.
One thing that struck me was The Law of Unintended Consequences, which is: You don't always know how your actions are going to turn out.
This looks a lot like what I was doing with Bluebird, when I decided that every single character in the story had their own goals and objectives going on, and that All I was doing was writing about where they collided with each other. That no character would neatly puppet along with the plot - that every character was a round one with goals, desires, and ambitions. not every character interacts with every other character, but where the characters meet is where the story moves, even if it doesn't happen onscreen.
I've unconsciously used this law in other stories, too.
In As a Hand Rules Heaven, a woman who holds the royal power of fertility stays her urge to revenge herself against a farming family she entrusted with a child's care - and the unusual fertility of that farmer's land leads the enemy to her secret heir.
In Kether Station, a woman goes to a butterfly preserve on a space station to cool her temper - and her discovery touches off a panicked evacuation of a space station where there are too many people and not enough lifeboats.
In Scaredyfox, a man decides to experiment with a shamanic trance technique as a relaxation method, and his visions lead him to question a technology that cures mental illness.
In The Lycaenidae of Adroa, a woman decides to follow the loose ends of a murder and smuggling conspiracy, and uncovers a secret that could shatter the cornerstone beliefs of her society.
It's interesting.
