I’ve decided to start a new series here on the blog about my quest to learn to plot. This is the first post in that series I intend to post as it’s relevant to what’s happening with my writing life. I know you all will be waiting with baited breath, won’t you? 😉
Recently, my husband purchased BREAK INTO FICTION by Mary Buckham and Dianna Love. No, not for him for me, of course. I mentioned this to my critique partner and she had the brilliant idea of going through the book and filling in the templates together. Sort of like a mini-workshop. I’m all for it!
We started at the beginning, filling out the character templates for chapter one and set a deadline when to have them done. One template for each main character. I started with my hero and heroine. There are twenty questions and I was stumped after the first one. So I filled in as much as I could. I’m really not very good at this form thing but I’m trying.
I sent her my forms and she sent me hers. Since she’s more of a plotter than I am, she had hers all filled in. I swear, she makes it look easy. 🙂 All her character templates had a clear story arc for each character, while mine fell flat.
She didn’t judge, though. 😀
Instead she sent me back a list of questions regarding what I’d sent, which got me thinking more in-depth about my two main characters. I copy and pasted those out of email and into a blank Word document. Instead of forcing myself to use the templates, I did a freewriting session. I learned so much about my hero from this! I explored some ideas I thought I wanted to incorporate. My heroine still needs some work. I don’t know much about her yet so I need to do some freewriting for her. I sent my freewriting session back to her and she, in turn, sent me MORE questions to think about. It’s really a wonderful process and I feel like I’m starting to get a grasp on my characters.
I haven’t had a chance to get the freewriting session into the template, but it’s on my list of things to do. I sort of got derailed by another project the other night when I intended to work on them.
At any rate, I’m learning a new process and I like it. It may take me longer to start a book (instead of just jumping right in and writing with no plot, no idea who my characters are, etc), but hopefully in the end
Michelle: what a great support system you have with your writing/critique partner. Also a very good exercise to complete. I find bits and pieces to my main character popping into my thoughts, but really have sat down with hime more than a couple times to figure him out. I believe I know where he is going to end up (hey…it’s still my book idea), but already I’ve seen a couple characters move in a different direction. Thanks for the read today. I’ll have to check out that book and do some more work.
Dean, thanks for stopping by! I’ve found freewriting really helps to get to know my characters. Good luck with yours!
Hey, Michelle! I’m having so much fun working through the Break Into Fiction templates with you. But it probably looks like I’m having an easy time of it because you only saw the finished product. You didn’t see all the time I spent sitting on the couch staring blankly at the worksheet and fidgeting with my pen while I tried to work out the character’s internal arcs. 🙂
Even as a plotter, I don’t look at the worksheet and know the answer…I end up asking myself a bunch of questions until one of them actually sparks some inspiration:
What’s my heroine’s biggest flaw?
What’s the trauma that screwed her up?
Why hasn’t she been able to find true love already?
Since her issue is trust, what would it take for her to decide that the hero is trustworthy (what would he have to do)?
Which of her personality traits trips her up the most?
What does the hero like least about my heroine?
I don’t know if my subconscious likes being interrogated, but it’s the only method that’s worked for me so far. 🙂
I think the Break Into Fiction templates are teaching us to hone in on the crucial elements of story, so that we don’t have plot holes.
But I also think you’re still going to be a pantser and I’m still going to be a plotter at the end of the process, because our brains work the way they work. You’ll probably still find your answers with freewriting and I’ll probably still find mine via interrogation tactics. 😀
I love working with you! *hugs*
-Maddy
I bought this book and I’m ashamed to say it’s collecting dust on my shelf. You’ve inspired me to pull it out and give it a shot.
Panster here, one who could use a belt to tighten things up! I’m going to check into the Break into Fiction templates. The question answer thing is something I do at the beginning and again when I get stuck. Amazing what you learn about those telling you the story. Good blog. I’m waiting for the next chapter. 😆
Hi, Joelene! Thanks for stopping by! I hope the BREAK INTO FICTION book helps you. 🙂 Good luck!
Chris, that’s awesome. I hope it helps you! 🙂
Hi, Maddy! Thank you for coming by with your porcess. It’s great to see how other writers work it out. I also enjoy getting immediate feedback from someone else doing the templates. It’s really helped.
Hello Michelle and a shout out to Mandy who alerted me to your great blog and what you’re both doing with the Break Into Fiction templates — gold stars for both of you challenging yourself to find ways to make pulling a story together!! Dianna and I found in working with writers across the country that plotters loved have a clearer roadmap to their stories via the templates before they started writing and pantsters found that they had a revision tool to analyze a first draft project to see if it held together. No one right way to use the concepts. First time through the templates can be challenging but then so is sitting in front of an editor or agent when they ask you those OMG questions you never thought about 😈 So have fun with your process and I’m looking forward to hearing your stories pulled together!!! 😛 😆 😛 Cheers ~~ Mary Buckham