Plot

So I still don't really feel like writing this at this point in time (I mean, come on! It's a Monday for crying out loud.) but I'm going to anyway. I figured that if I screw up royally and say something dumb, it won't matter since there's no one reading this. Once I have finished discussing plot, I shall then reveal valuable CIA and FBI information that I'm actually making up off the top of my head. And no one will ever know...

Anyway. Plot.

First, let's clarify something: every novel has a plot. I know I made some comments when talking about characters about how some authors don't have a plot, but that's what we call hyperbole, to sound all fancy and literary. If you don't know what that means, here is a handy link to dictionary.com. Back to what I was saying, every novel, every story, has a plot, however simplistic it may be. Yes, this does include TWILIGHT. Poetry is a little bit different, but I won't get into that. To be honest, I'm not an expert on poetry so I probably won't ever talk about it here. Not that anyone will notice.

Let's use LORD OF THE RINGS as an example, since I have no shame when it comes to plugging. A very simplified version of the plot is as follows: dark lord Sauron creates Ring, Frodo gets Ring millennia later, Frodo and friends go to destroy Ring, thereby ridding the world of evil, Frodo and friends encounter countless hardships spanning many hundreds of pages, Frodo destroys Ring, everyone is happy. You get the idea. By the way, if any of you nonexistent people reading this have no idea what I was just talking about, you'd better spend some quality time at your local video store. The library would be preferable, but I can't expect too much of you seeing as how you don't even exist.

Do you notice anything about all those plot points I just mentioned? (The correct answer to this question is yes, by the way.) Every single one of those plot points mentions at least one character. *insert dumbfounded looks and head scratching followed by mutterings of "I thought you were talking about plot..."* Just to make sure we're all on the same page, I am talking about plot. The thing is that plot and characters are really inseparable. If you have characters at all, chances are extremely high that they will be involved in the plot. As in, I have no idea how you would have characters and not have them involved in the plot. That just baffles me. And, what's more, since we're talking about fiction here, it's pretty much a given that there will be characters. Even if you're writing about an inanimate object, chances are that you'll do something to personify it. I know, big words.

Now, I'm sure all of you know something about the structure of plot. At least I hope you do. You know, like rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, that type of deal? Yeah, well, I'm not really going to go into that at the moment. I might break it down more in the future, but I'm not making any promises. That's the beauty of such an informal medium. I can be as noncommittal as I want and no one will be able to do anything about it.

You probably also know something about plot-driven (also known as action-driven) stories vs. character-driven. But the difference is, in a few words, that plot-driven stories focus more on the action (see how the other term ties in now?), whereas character-driven stories tend to focus more on the characters and their emotions, reactions, reflections, etc. In a character-driven story, things still happen. In a plot-driven story, there will still be characters. That's because it's almost impossible to have one without the other. I'm probably beginning to sound like a broken record, but I can't stress that enough. The next time you read the most boring book of your life, like one of those books you had to read in English class before you wrote several essays on it in order to extrapolate every unimportant detail, just remember that there is actually a plot there. It may not be very exciting, but it's there.

But that's not what I'm getting at here. I can hear you all groaning now and wondering when this stinking blog post is going to end. You've read this far, you might as well actually get to what I'm trying to say here. The point is this: plot and characters together make up a ginormous portion of what we do as writers. Yes, I just used the word ginormous. Get over it. It's easy to think that an exciting story alone will sell the novel to those reading it. But you can't have a plot without characters. Don't sacrifice one for the other. It'll only hurt your writing.



Quote of the week: "The atmosphere of orthodoxy is always damaging to prose, and above all it is completely ruinous to the novel, the most anarchical forms of literature." --George Orwell

My Rant About Villains

Prepare your imaginary selves for some ranting.

Okay, so I know I said I was going to write about plot, but that will just have to wait. Besides, I said I would write about it when I felt like it. Your first mistake was assuming I would feel like it.

So. Villains. We love them, we hate them, we love to hate them, we hate to love them, and any combination thereof. Imagine your favorite classic Disney villain, just so that we're all on the same page. Personally, I'm torn between Scar, Gaston, and Prince John. If you don't know who these characters are, you need to spend some time refreshing your Disney memory.

Now, the reason I'm using Disney villains is because they're all very much alike and all very much how people typically think of villains. They all have some nefarious scheme in mind that will greatly benefit them while making everyone else completely miserable. They feel that they deserve it and that everyone else can just suck it up because they're lame anyway. Scar feels that he should have been the Lion King (pun alert!) instead of Mufasa, Gaston feels that he should be the one to marry Belle, and Prince John feels that he should be king (also a lion, coincidentally) instead of King Richard. Why? Well, Scar is smarter than Mufasa, Belle is the most beautiful girl in town and therefore the only one worthy of Gaston, and King Richard is off doing the whole Crusade thing and while we're on the subject everyone always liked him better anyway so Prince John deserves at least a little recognition thank you very much.

But my main question is this: do villains always think that they're evil? Maleficent certainly does, since she repeatedly references her own evilness. But now think of a person (a real person, not a Disney character) who you would consider to be a villain. For my example, I'm going to use this really annoying kid that I knew through middle school and high school who liked to spend most of his time antagonizing me. Did he realize just how much he annoyed me? Difficult to say. I told him, but he might not have believed me. Did he genuinely believe that what he was doing was wrong? Probably not. It's not like he was killing kittens or something to that effect. Even though I considered him evil incarnate, did he? Of course not. People don't think of themselves as evil. They may do things that they know are wrong, but they will find some reason to justify their doing it.

The thing that drives me crazy about so much fantasy is that the villain is a stock character. Villains are incredibly important. If you want to write a realistic character for your villain, you need to ignore the stereotype. Villains are humans too. Or lions, if you're dealing with Scar and Prince John. They need to have human (or lion) motivation. When you have a random guy going around with a laser shooting everyone and laughing about how evil he is, he's not very believable. The giant robot who goes around crushing cars and tearing down buildings and shoots laser beams out of his eyes may be badass and over 9,000, but he's not really that interesting. And when all the hero has to do is get in that one perfect shot to the occipital lobe or hit the kill switch before the bad guy gets them, you're kind of hurting on plot.

In my writing, I don't really have any characters I consider villains. Now, that's not necessarily how everyone should write (although I know you all want to be just like me). But for me, the struggle is more interesting when it's between two people instead of between a person and a cardboard cutout. Can you have a character who is a villain without being a cardboard cutout? Of course. But after all the movies and comic books and video games, it sure is difficult.

Introductions

I suppose it's always good to get everyone on the same page.

I'm Lorelee Tate, a writer. At least, Lorelee Tate is my pen name. My real name shall remain unknown at my discretion. Muahaha. I write primarily fantasy novels, set in a world of my own creation. I currently have one finished novel, SON'S VENGEANCE, for which I am seeking publication. Easier said than done, I know. Also, I am a die-hard Tolkien fan, so anyone who disrespects Lord of the Rings is welcome to leave. And just for fair warning, I am a cynic. Without irony, my life would be sadly incomplete.

My purpose in writing this blog, apart from taking valuable time away from paying attention to my poor, deprived cats, is to discuss various aspects of writing while shamelessly plugging authors and musicians I admire. At least I'm being honest here. I may occasionally post some of my writing here, though probably no more than a chapter at a time. Novels are long and I'm already stretching my attention span to its limit just by writing the dang things, let alone remembering to post chapters on a regular basis. Can't deny paranoia, either.

Just to sound as narcissistic as possible, here are some other random facts about me: I play the mandolin (if you don't know what it is, look it up), I can sing the musical Les Misérables from start to finish, Braveheart is one of the greatest movies ever made (okay, so it's not specifically about me, but it's worth saying), and I currently have two of my four cats curled up in this room waiting for attention. I believe I must now oblige them.

Just because I feel like it, I am posting a song by Loreena McKennitt called The Dark Night of the Soul. Yes, The Dark Night of the Soul does sound rather depressing, but Loreena McKennitt is pretty awesome.. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Loreena McKennitt: shame.