Author Skype with Matthew J. Kirby

Thanks to everyone who came out for our final Laie Young Writers Club meeting for the year, including author Matthew J. Kirby, who joined us by skype. Mr. Kirby is the author of The Clockwork Three and Icefall, plus several upcoming titles like The Lost Kingdom, Infinity Ring Book 5: Cave of Wonders, and a new series called Quantum League. He wins the LYW Author Medal of Honor for pulling over and finding an internet cafe when he realized that we'd made a mistake about what time zone he was in! We are eternally grateful.

Here are some of the thoughts Matt Kirby shared with us:

• His favorite part of being a writer is the writing process, but his favorite part of being an author is traveling.
• Plot is very important, but you don't need to use a formulaic plot structure. A story needs form, not formula.
• The beginning of a story creates a contract with the reader. If you promise the reader something, you have to deliver.
• The way to get emotional power into a story is to get yourself into a place where you can feel what the characters are feeling. If you can't feel it, how can you write it?
• The most important thing you can do to be a successful writer is to write. So many people would like to be writers, but they're not really working on anything. Get in the habit of writing something every day.  

After a fun and motivational visit with Mr. Kirby, we had chocolate cake and said good-bye to one of our founding members, Amber Carlson, who will be leaving for college next fall.

The Laie Young Writers Club will be signing off for the summer, but we'll be back again next fall. Until then...

Keep writing!

Falling Action

No, we're not having a lesson about action scenes where characters take falls. We're talking about a very important part of basic plot structure:

The falling action in a story is everything that happens between the climax and the return to a stable, resting state. A good falling action gives the reader a sense that the story is over, and also hints at what life will be like for the characters in the future.

Whether you're revising a story you've written or outlining something new, take stock of your falling action. Make a list of your plot lines, both major and minor. How do you want each one to resolve? Do you want things to have changed for the better, changed for the worse, or stayed the same? Remember, it's good to have a mix. Once you've decided how each plot line resolves, be sure you convey those changes to the reader in the falling action.

A good way to do this is by using ending beats, which we will talk more about next week. For now, an ending beat is a snapshot of the new life as usual. To really finish off a major plot line, use at least three ending beats. Minor plot lines probably only need one.

Last of all, make sure the falling action in your story is short but sufficient. Go on too long, and you're writing into the sequel. The new life as usual only needs to be hinted at, not experienced in scene for pages and pages. As with all writing, the goal is to guide the reader's imagination. Find a balance between dictating everything and leaving too much open.

Happy writing!

Plot Holes, and how to patch them

No matter what you do, every story you write will encounter a few plot holes. Your story's tires will bump over inconsistencies and impossibilities as it moves from beginning to end, and the more complex your plot is, the more likely your story will have to negotiate gaping, yawning pitfalls of logic.

So how do you deal with it?

That depends on what kind of plot holes you've got. Simple inconsistencies in descriptive detail are the easiest to fix. Does a character have blue eyes in one chapter and brown eyes in the next? Pick brown or blue and revise.

When a plot hole has to do with character motivations, that can be more difficult to patch up. Say your plot requires Bobby to murder dear old Uncle George in chapter three, but you never mention why Bobby would do such a thing. Depending on the outcome you want for your story, here are a few options:

1. Ignore the plot hole: This works best for minor things the reader is not likely to notice. If Uncle George's murder is a tiny sub-plot, maybe we don't need to go into Bobby's reasons. On the other hand, if the murder is the main story, you'd better not ignore the motive.
2. Patch the plot hole: If a plot hole is too big to ignore, add something to the story, like a piece of character history. Maybe Uncle George accidentally ran over Bobby's puppy when Bobby was a boy, and now Bobby wants revenge. But watch out! Make sure your patch fits with the rest of the story. And make sure your patch for one plot hole doesn't create other plot holes.
3. Dig up the plot and make a new one: If you can't find a good patch for a big plot hole, you may need to re-do the whole plot. Maybe it isn't Bobby who murders Uncle George after all. Maybe Uncle George doesn't get murdered. Think of new ways to plot your story and see if you can find one with fewer plot holes.
4. Point out the plot hole: If you just can't figure out why Bobby murdered Uncle George, have the whole family aghast. No one can figure out why Bobby would do such a thing. It's a mystery. That way the reader knows you're making this plot choice on purpose. It's not just a lazy mistake.
5. Distract the reader from the plot hole: Okay, so maybe we don't know why Bobby murdered Uncle George, but as cousin Emily investigates she uncovers Uncle George's secret life as a circus clown, which is so intriguing we forget to wonder why he got murdered. Once again, as with ignoring a plot hole, this only works for holes in minor plot lines.

A last piece of advice. Do not become obsessed with eliminating plot holes. Story is more important than plot, and if you can't tell the story you want to tell without a few little plot holes your reader will probably forgive you. On the other hand, a plot with minimal plot holes is a joy to ride. Do your best to keep the story running smoothly.

Happy Writing!

It's a PLOT!

Aloha young writers! Our lesson this week is on plot: what is it and how to create one.

First, I'd like to describe what I mean by plot by contrasting it with story. Although we sometimes use these words interchangeably, they aren't the same thing.

Story describes change. It focuses on character experience, on outcome. For example, in a "Cinderella story" some poor, downtrodden individual gets a lucky break and then all dreams come true. A typical love story consists of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl in the end. Or maybe girl meets boy, girl discovers boy is some kind of strange sparkly vampire, girl likes him anyways (go figure).

Plot, on the other hand, is in the details. How exactly does the narrative go from point A to point B? Stories can be recycled again and again by the infinite possibilities of plot. Who is our Cinderella? What is this person's dream? How does the lucky break come about? These questions are answered by the plot.

One of our club members said, "So story is like muscle and plot is like the bones." This is especially true in understanding how both need to be strong. You can have a perfectly plotted but weak story. It will just lie there and languish. On the other hand, without a sturdy plot, you've got a story blob.

If you have to sacrifice one for the other, then go with story. Bones are great, but you can do without them. Think about what an octopus does with muscle alone.

So, back to plot. You, the author, are a story travel agent. A story walks into your head and says, "I want to go from Seattle to New Orleans." Now it is your job to create an itinerary. Drive to the airport, hop on a plane? Go by bus? Go by train? Stop in Denver, Salt Lake, Dallas, or Oklahoma City? The how, when, and where of the journey is the plot.

There are two main ways to create a plot. You as the story travel agent may say to the story, "Get in, I'll take you there!" and you hop in the car in Seattle and drive in a general south-east direction. Eventually you'll hit the Gulf Coast... hopefully... and then you can drive around a bit until you get to New Orleans. You and your story can have a thrilling adventure.You never know what you may discover along the way. You may end up in Galveston instead and your story could decide that Galveston is where it really wanted to be all along.

On the other hand, you can get out the maps, schedules, and brochures, and carefully plan a route. See Yellowstone park on the way. Pick out every road, hotel, diner, and rest-stop. This way, you know exactly where your story will go and what it will take to get there.

Most writers find a balance between these two methods. I usually have a general destination in mind, with major plot points planned along the way, but I love to take my story on scenic routes. If I see a roadside state park, I'll turn off the highway, get out of the car, peel off my shoes and socks, and go wading in the nearest stream. I like to stop in the desert in the middle of the night, get out, and stare at the stars. These moments of exploration and wonder are what I write for, moments of unexpected revelation, when the story can tell me what it's really about.

Now, to finish up, a few words on basic plot structure:

A plot begins with an exposition. This establishes the starting point of the story. What state is the character in at the beginning of the journey? At some point there's an inciting action, which prompts the character to begin a process of change. After that comes the rising action, where the character meets mounting resistance to the needed change. Things get worse and worse until it appears that all is lost, and then something happens to turn it all around, and clear the way for the character to achieve change. This turn-around point is the climax. After that comes resolution, as the character actually steps into the new order of things, and the denouement, where the character's new resting state is established, or at least hinted at.

Happy plotting! Keep writing!

Resolving Conflicts

There are two basic ways to resolve a conflict in your story:

1. Character gets what character wants. Hooray! Happy ending.

2. Character doesn't get what character wants. Aw, darn. Sad ending.

Most stories end with number one, but there are a few that end with number two. If you use number one, your readers will be happy, but not surprised. If you use number two, you raise the chances that English teachers will make students read your book.

There is a third alternative.

A complex resolution is usually more satisfying to the reader than a simple win-or-lose outcome. In a complex ending, a character may get what he wants, but then discovers that there are some serious drawbacks, or a very high cost. Or (and this is my favorite), a character may not get what he wants, but then realizes that he has gained something even better.

So, try and resolve your conflicts in a more complex way. Surprise us. Make us think.

Novel-length stories contain multiple conflicts. Your main character should have internal and external conflicts, there should be sub-plots, and minor characters should have their own internal and/or external conflicts. As you weave your story together, see if you can't make these various conflicts work to either intensify or to resolve each other. A scene gains more punch as multiple conflicts are either heightened or resolved in that single scene.

For instance, in the original Star Wars film, as Luke homes in on the fatal exhaust port, he resolves an inner conflict and decides to trust The Force. He switches off his targeting computer. At the same time, Han Solo resolves his internal conflict, am I a mercenary scum or a loyal friend, and decides to help the rebels, thus giving Luke a clear shot. Luke fires, the shot goes in, and the external conflict with the Death Star is resolved in a blinding display of special effects. Both Luke's and Han's internal conflicts come together to facilitate the resolution of the external conflict.

Now let's take Lord of the Rings. Frodo finally reaches the Crack o' Doom, but once he gets there he realizes he doesn't really want to chuck in the One Ring. His internal struggle against the Ring's power seems to have resolved, resulting in a TOTAL LOSS. Middle Earth is doomed. But then along comes the external conflict with Gollum. Gollum attacks Frodo, bites off the ring, and Gollum gets what Gollum wants, but then Gollum accidentally falls into the volcano with the Ring (oops), which resolves Frodo's internal conflict by releasing Frodo from the Ring's evil grip. External conflict resolves internal conflict.

So, in conclusion, resolve your conflicts in a complex way, and interweave the resolution of multiple conflicts to build a complex story.

Keep writing!

When to be Original

No one likes to see the same old same old, especially when it comes to entertainment. We're all searching for something new and exciting. And when we create stories, we want them to be fresh and original.

But on the other hand, you don't want to be so way out there that no one can connect with your story.

This really smart professor guy named Joseph Campbell studied myths and legends all over the world and discovered that a lot of great stories have pretty much the same plot. He wrote about it in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (click to read the Wikipedia article). Modern storytellers, like George Lucas paid attention, and have made a lot of money creating their own versions of this basic myth. It works because it taps into universal human experience. It feels right.

We'll talk about what exactly this most epic plot is in another lesson.

So if George Lucas used the same storytelling elements that have been used since cavemen swapped tales over the campfire, how come Star Wars seemed like something we'd never seen before?

It was all in the setting. And the light sabers. Yeah, those are cool.

The constant pattern of human life, of all life in fact, is that we are all born, we grow, we live, and then we die. The same story over and over. What makes each life unique is the time and place in which we are born, the people we associate with, the minor details of our life events.

So one way to make your story seem different from every other story, even if you choose to tell a story that's been told a million times, is to have that story play out in a new setting. A setting you invent, or one you research, or one you've lived in yourself.

It's not good to mess with basic plot structure, especially for the beginning writer. Learn as much as you can about the kinds of stories that work and master those forms before you try and get inventive. But you can always, always put your stories in settings that are fresh and original.

Most writers start out imitating their favorite kinds of stories, and then eventually move into their own. Don't worry too much about being original. There's no one else like you in the whole world, and if you write what's truly inside you, your story will be something wonderful that no one has ever seen before.