Plot Generator

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

It seems to me that if you have a story the plot will take care of itself. But if you dont, what I use is the LOCK method:

1.Interesting LEAD
2.Important OBJECTIVE
3.COMPLICATIONS
4.KICK ASS ending.

 

[shereads]

What I need are some good endings!

"He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."

The world could use a few more Atticus Finches.

 

[shereads]

Some good ideas for endings (for Stella):

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/thearticles/lastlines

This one always punches me in the stomach - but in a nice way:

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

 

[JackLuis]

Some good ideas for endings (for Stella):

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/thearticles/lastlines

This one always punches me in the stomach - but in a nice way:

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/funny3/

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Hum, no-- I can always get a fabulous ending paragraph-- what I have trouble with, and I hate to put it this way... is climaxes.

Plot endings.

What was the maguffin, and who ends up with it, and who dies and how and why? And why does it matter?

Those things, without which a novel is merely a fluttering projectile targeted towards a trashbin.

 

[shereads]

Hum, no-- I can always get a fabulous ending paragraph-- what I have trouble with, and I hate to put it this way... is climaxes.

Plot endings.

That's easy. Lassie brings help, they rescue Timmy from the mine shaft.

 

[Stella_Omega]

That's easy. Lassie brings help, they rescue Timmy from the mine shaft.

Oh well, that's a relief!

 

[jeninflorida]

Thank you for a great idea! I have a use book store not that far from our house

The hardest part of novel writing for me is generating a plot. I've tried lots of different methods, sometimes even resorting to tarot cards when i get stuck.

Kicking around on the web, I came across a site that gave this advice on a never-fail method for coming up with plots for romance books:

Go to a used bookstore and find some romance books that are at least 10 years old, buy them, and rip off the plots from these. This isn't plagiarism, the author of this idea says, because when you rewrite the story in your own words, the plot will change enough that it will be unrecognizeable and in fact will now be original. Characters will change, motivations will change, even the ending might change.

He says that this is the way our brains work creatively anyhow, only normally we're not aware of it. The only difference in his method is that you're aware that you're ripping someone off rather than doing it unconsciously.

He points out that there are only like 7 basic romance plots anyhow, and everything else is a variation on these seven plots. (No, he didn't say what they were.)

I haven't tried it, mainly because I can't stand reading romance (yes, I can't stand reading the kind of thing I write) but I'm kind of tempted.

What do you think? Is this a legit idea or unutterably scummy?

--Zoot

 

[NoJo]

That's easy. Lassie brings help, they rescue Timmy from the mine shaft.

But Timmy *wanted* to die...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

STELLA

Get a copy of Robert Bloch's PSYCHO and read it, to get a sense of how to craft a climax.

You recall the scene from the movie where Lila is racing around the old house searching for MOM...and finds her!

Or, as my pal Bruno says, the climax is where "you stick your hand up her skirt and find out what you REALLY got!"

 

[evanslily]

I hate endings. Endings of chapters are bad enough, but endings of stories are even worse...

Plots, hmm. I found these classic romance plots on http://www.inkalicious.com/cheatsheets.php

CLASSIC ROMANCE PLOTS

(from Patricia Ryan's "Pat's Premises: Popular Plots, Conflicts and Elements in Romance Novels," Romance Writers' Report, 17(4), April 1997)

Enforced Intimacy

Marriage of convenience
Hero as protector
Arranged or forced marriage
Pretend marriage or relationship
Stranded together on an island
Snowbound
Matchmaker contrives to throw lovers together
Must share office or home
Love Conquers All

The healing power of love
Redemption through love
One Lover Rehabilitates or Cures the Other

Amnesia
Physical disabilities
Emotional problems
Disfigurement
Mental illness
Alcoholism

Emotional Baggage or Internal Forces Keep Lovers Apart

Inability to trust, especially opposite sex
Fear of commitment
"I am a rock;" emotional detachment
Some past incident, e.g., abuse, has left emotional scars
Lover blames other for some hurt to self or loved one
Lover harbors a secret that threatens love
Lover must find self or solve problem before committing
One lover has lied to other about something important
Lover can't forgive other for some flaw
Fear of abandonment
Sense of unworthiness
Feeling that one doesn't belong or fit

The Lovers' Differences Keep Them Apart

Lovers from different social, religious or ethnic worlds
A difference of opinion on critical matter
Bad boy, good girl; or vice versa
Lovers have opposing loyalties
Lovers are business competitors
Lovers personalities are too different
A large age difference
Unrequited love

The Lovers' Similarities Keep Them Apart

Lovers engage in a battle of wills
Lovers share goal, but only once can achieve it

Babies and Children

Secret baby
Arranged pregnancy
Accidental pregnancy
Reunited with child given up for adoption
Child play matchmaker or otherwise brings lovers together
Child lost or threatened
Heroine plays nanny

Comedy of Errors

Heroine pretends to be male
Mistaken identity
Misunderstandings
Masquerade
Twins

Evolving Relationships

Platonic friends fall in love
Ex-sweethearts are reunited
Divorced spouses rediscover their love

Mythic or Fairy Tale Elements

Kidnapping (Persephone)
Taming of the savage male (Beauty and the Beast)
Transformation (Pygmalion)
Rags to Riches (Cinderella)
Awakening, emotional rebirth (Sleeping Beauty)

So okay, pretty sappy stuff. But all these basic plots crop up time and time again.

 

[sr71plt]

Isn't it in how you retell a classic storyline? (Part of connecting with a reader is in their connection of what they are reading with something else they've experienced. It's fine if it's another story approaching the same theme a bit differently.)

 

[shereads]

But Timmy *wanted* to die...

Then he's forced by circumstance to shoot poor Lassie. It's a classic coming-of-age story.

 

[shereads]

Amnesia
Physical disabilities
Emotional problems
Disfigurement
Mental illness
Alcoholism

I'd like to see all of those combined in one romance, along with Snowbound and Arranged Marriage.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'd like to see all of those combined in one romance, along with Snowbound and Arranged Marriage.

You're not planning to be actually... helpful here, are you.

 

[shereads]

You're not planning to be actually... helpful here, are you.

Sure. What do you need?

 

[Stella_Omega]

Sure. What do you need?

Hmm. Pm coming, if I can Marshall my thoughts

meanwhile, being silly is always helpful, honest!

 

[NoJo]

Here are a couple of useful plot generators:

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/bagofweed/weed.jpg
http://www.originalabsinthe.com/images/absinthe-hills.jpg

 

[evanslily]

Originally Posted by evanslily

Amnesia
Physical disabilities
Emotional problems
Disfigurement
Mental illness
Alcoholism


I'd like to see all of those combined in one romance, along with Snowbound and Arranged Marriage.

Sounds like a challenge to me. Could be a variation on a theme of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. But dammit, I haven't got time to write it right now...