...or another way of looking at it:
I’m worried that my life is like a weak plot!
Yesterday I read over some notes on the theory of plotting but this led me to an unsettling
realisation. I have the same problem in my life as I do in my writing!
I looked at the pace of a story and compared it to meeting
new people at a party:
PLOTTING: Is the beginning of the story boring because you’re giving
lots of background detail to set up the story?
MY LIFE: I suspect I tell new acquaintances lots of background information
about myself and fail to see them glazing over.
PLOTTING: Does the middle of the story contain sufficient peeks and
lulls in the conflict to maintain interest?
MY LIFE: I’m hopeless at maintaining small talk and often dry up and
look round the room for something to say.
PLOTTING: Don’t tell too much of your story too soon.
MY LIFE: The alternative is that I continue gabbling on about myself
until someone comes and rescues my newly-made acquaintance.
PLOTTING: Is your conclusion a satisfying one?
MY LIFE: I hate saying goodbye to people at parties. It’s awkward. Do
they expect kisses, handshakes, arrangements in the diary for get-togethers? I
have been known to creep out so I can avoid these social uncertainties.
As for the nitty-gritty of the story plot, it compares quite
unfavourably to the way I run my life:
PLOTTING: Don’t get bogged down with secondary character’s lives. They’ll
provide excellent material for that sequel.
MY LIFE: I am rather nosy and spend more time than I should listening
in to conversations [all in the name of character research] of people I don’t
really know and I am far too fascinated by gossip for my own good. [Gossip is
bad. I think I've mentioned before that in Hebrew gossip is called Lashon Ha-Ra and it’s considered a sin.]
MY LIFE: In that case, my world is less than alive. I’ll do anything
to avoid conflict, anything! [Mr A disagrees with this statement and I admit
that I do stand up for my rights but I hate living in a house where every
discussion becomes a disagreement.]
PLOTTING: The protagonist should be primarily involved in causing the
plot to unfold and should be involved in nearly every event thereby having some
effect on the plot.
MY LIFE: Whoops! I rarely feel that I’m in charge of what happens in
my life but merely respond to events that are thrown at me.
PLOTTING: One primary purpose of plot is to force the protagonist to
change by overcoming internal conflict.
MY LIFE: So that’s why I can’t make personal improvements! If I shy
away from conflicts then I’ll never be forced to change in order to overcome
them!
Do you run your life in the same way that you plot your
stories?
That is such a brilliant and original way at looking at plotting. And you've summed it up so well - I'll look at plotting (which I'm not good at) completely differently now. Like you, I have all those problems at parties too (especially the middle bits). Thank you - good food for thought.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I'm afraid I do! Suddenly I see where a lot of problems in writing are coming from! :) Thanks for this very insightful post!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great comparison. You did a good job but it's all rather complicated for me. I'd love to meet you at a party and plotting be danged.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great insight into your thoughts on yourself and life, funny I alwasy see you as positive, incharge and happy to talk about many subjects..... ! Big hugs and enjoy your writing, plotting and life! xx
ReplyDeleteI don't consciously plot either my life or my stories but lurch from one near disaster to the next (life) or follow the bread crumbs (story)
ReplyDeleteExcellent analogy.
I find this a really interesting subject, Rosalind. I tend to go with the flow, as much as possible, in my daily life, and dislike planning. Many of my books have been written with much the same frame of mind. Having said that, I've hit problems later on so have readdressed that.
ReplyDeleteYour life sounds a bit like mine especially avoiding conflict. Although I've never written a book I found your post really funny.
ReplyDeleteThis is great and very reassuring, probably?!
ReplyDeleteMy WIP is currently fragmented and, I fear, quite incoherent in places ... A LOT like my life!
All generally fun though.
That was a great post - it made me chuckle. And I recognised myself in a few of them (the good and the bad).
ReplyDeleteThis post really made me laugh. My life is just like yours - especially the parties. Hmm, now I begin to see why I'm such a hopeless plotter.
ReplyDeleteWe sound very similar, except I solve the party problem by never going to any :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteI love this!! I laughed out loud reading "Whoops! I rarely feel in charge..."
ReplyDeleteI hope I never have to deal with what I put my characters through, but so true that without conflict we don't grow. (Maybe I don't want to grow that much) :)
You have made me laugh with this post Ros...I don't plot either my novels or my life. Whoops!
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful post. I love that you compared your life to plotting!
ReplyDeleteDo you run your life in the same way that you plot your stories?
Gosh, me no!
We all do similar things and yet comparing the two is such an original concept! Maybe we should just put our hand on our hip, stick our leg out like Angelina Jolie, and say absolutely nothing! Then they'll either be forced to do all of the talking, or run away! Julie
ReplyDeleteI tend to avoid conflict too. Of course, that itself has sometimes turned into a conflict.
ReplyDeleteHaha! I love this - what a unique way to look at plotting. I think I probably do plot like I run my life: charging in, then drawing back and trying to sort it out, then having to take a new turn!
ReplyDeleteOh yes! I'm guilty of all this. In fact, your post gave me a headache and made me laugh at the same time. I tend to get plot induced headaches. And life induced headaches. This must be some sort of indicator....
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Oh my! I think you and I may actually be the same person. This sounds like me from beginning to end ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! Like you, I am terrible at small talk with people I don't know. I love the comparisons you've made.
ReplyDeleteSorry I've not had a chance to comment on each of your comments. It's been a very busy week as you may have noticed by the new post I've just put up, but I have read them all and they've made me smile. I feel especially pleased to see that I'm not the only one who fails to plot my life adequately!
ReplyDelete