...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?
