no point necessary - egoism just is

Tonight I went to my first writers' group at our local library. I had no idea what to do, expect, bring .. wear.. so I did what any self-respecting, curious and 'most likely to be defined as unbalanced' person would do - I googled "what should I take to a writers' group?" I wouldn't mind reading all the questions I've typed into google's search engine.. would be like a travelling circus diary of my life ;p

I took some notes on a piece of paper I siphoned from Twintensity and thought I would post them here - because I, a. will lose this piece of paper and b. I feel inspired!

The plot thickens....

Tonights session was about plots.  

Some nice things were said about plots. They are the journey of the story. They are meant to test our virtues and highlight our flaws. 'We' being the characters in the story.

You start with your character - You begin with their traits. Their greatest virtue and greatest flaw.
Then do the same with their goals, motivation and conflicts. The story is about what the character wants, their motivation. You then add the conflict - external and internal conflicts that get in the way of the character reaching their goal. Often the conflicts aggravate each other.

Your main plot thread can be romance (non gender specific person meets another non gender specific person and they do stuff that doesnt offend anybody), crime/thriller (solving the problem) or adventure. Apparently there are hundreds more.. or maybe 80 I cant remember. I do remember in Film & Television in high school we learnt about the 7 storylines ... there are literally only 7 storylines in existence.. and the millions of movies, books, plays etc are all bastardisations of these...

The incidences you write about must thicken the plot thread. Sub plots help or hinder the main characters. If the sub plot doesnt serve a purpose .. leave it out. George R.R Martin comes to mind. I love a Song of Ice and Fire, but there are so many sub-plots, that I am sure I will read the series at least 2 more times in this life.

Learn to love writing Synopses  if you want to be published. These aren't the blurbs on the back of books; these are the pieces of paper that will convince an Editor to read or at least want to read your book. No secrets - just all out there in its' most naked form. Kinda like having to write a 1000 word mini essay on the Rwandan Genocide.

I think the consensus was that the synopsis is about 500 words. And in table format? I like tables. And white space. :) Its also our homework for the next session. We are going to write the synopsis for our dream book :) Mine would be a historical fiction written in a fantasy world. Yeah.. I'll give it a go :)

A few other things are written on this page, meant to jog my memory but now I think my undiagnosed ADD is getting in the way ;p I'll write verbatim...

• Incident points are not the plot - Pick 3 and flesh them out
• "candy bar scenes"
• Storyboard cards - editing
• Backstory - knowing the character. Why they do certain things. Make the character full, a round dynamic without doing an info dump in the novel.
• narrative arc - Harry Potter, Song of Ice and Fire. "World building"

Twintensity keeps talking about Stephen King's book on writing. It sounds interesting.. but by most accounts, probably fizzles out by the end. I never did finish Geralds Game. He starts his planning of his books with an idea of 'What if?' As Twintensity said... "What if a woman and child were trapped in a house with a rabid dog outside?" I really like that. It reminds me of something I read about the Snowflake Theory(?) .. Process? Template? You start with the conflict scene or the most dramatic scene in the story, and work your way out from there - you plan the characters, the 'scenes', the story.

Wait. Method. Snowflake method. :)

An honourable mention must go to the hidden gem tonight. I was enthralled by a prologue written by one of the members. I would read her story. Everyone has a story - you just have to read people to find it.