Stealing Plots

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you all had a fantastic week and are looking forward to the long weekend. Perhaps you want to use that time to craft new book ideas. Well, you've come to the right place! Today, I'm going over how you can steal plots from real life to craft novels. Intrigued? Then grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

If you remember the posts I did on plot ideas (part one and part two), you'll know I'm a huge advocate of using things you see/read/hear to inspire you. Well, let's look at life for some inspiration and see exactly how that works.

Situation one: You're sitting, watching the news, and a story comes on about terrorists on a train and three heroes who leap in and save the day (anyone remember this?). That's an awesome story, right? Those men have been talked about often since that day.

Situation two: Friend one calls you, sobbing. Her husband was part of the Ashley Madison scandal, and your friend has discovered he's had multiple affairs. Her life is ruined, and she tells you all the warning signs she saw but ignored as you try to make her feel better.

Let's break down and re-work both situations for awesome plot ideas, shall we?

Situation one: What if the terrorists were vampires and the heroes were slayers? Or, what if they were all women instead of men? What would've happened if it were some kind of plot to get rid of a different terrorist who was planning to bomb the train, and the men sent to stop it were thwarted by the "heroes" who thought they were doing something good?

Situation two: What if the husband wasn't cheating, but he'd been doing some kind of recon mission for the CIA or some secret organization? All the "warning" signs weren't what they seemed, but the wife has no way of knowing because she doesn't know he's a spy/assassin. That's a whole different story.

It's not the situation that matters; it's the details you want to store away in your brain for the book you can write with these ideas that are important.

What caused those men to react? What were they thinking? What did they see?

What were those "warning" signs your friend is talking about? How did her husband act? What excuses did he use to get out of the house and meet up with those women?

All these questions can be answered by watching interviews or asking questions. Be the sleuth. Be creative. Bend the world to fit the story you want to read, and write it.

Whether you're a paranormal, contemporary, fantasy, dystopian, contemporary, murder mystery, or other genre author, you can make your story and characters feel more real to your reader when you use real-life situations as the basis.

So, this weekend, my challenge to you is to take something you see on television or hear on the news and turn it into a plot for a novel in your genre.

Post them below! Let's see how creative you can be!

Well, that's all for today, folks. Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

20 Ways to Plot Ideas - Part Two of Two

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope your Mondays weren't too bad. I know mine was super duper busy. Melody is in round three of edits and I'm into chapter four of Coralie. I hope you're all as excited as I am about that! Lots coming! But, today, we're continuing the discussion on how to come up with plot ideas. Here are the final ten! Grab your pens and notebooks and write these down!

If you missed day one, here's a link for you: 20 Ways to Plot Ideas - Part One of Two

11. Start With a Title
You can come up with so much from just a title! Think about it: Runner (what does that bring to mind?), The Fae of Ferion, Clockwork Cricket (maybe Cricket is a humanoid), A Piece of Peace. The possibilities are endless!

12. Create a Character
Develop a character using this outline: Character Bios. Then see where that character takes you. Don't forget that the Enneagram Personality Type List can help you decide how that character will act and react. Maybe the character you create will be a supporting cast member. That's okay, too! Change your bratty little brother into a bratty little sister and let them lead the protagonist. Run with it.

13. Make a List
Close your eyes and visualize something from your past. Use the memory to begin a list of things. Write down a couple of words for each scenario. Example: 1. Puppy (the one we found that was half starved) 2. Snow (the time we were homebound) 3. Accident (the time I drove my car into a tree) These all contain the thread of a story. Perhaps it can be woven into the blanket of a novel.

14. Trending
Read the paper or a magazine that deals with a specific subject. If you can read an issue of Popular Science and not get a billion ideas for a plot, you're not paying attention. See what's emerging in the world and write about it. Find something interesting and ask yourself these things: Who cares? What will the trend bring in the next ten years? How can it change the world if everyone takes to it? What if everyone fights it? Who will be impacted? And let your mind go nuts.

15. Prologue Writing
Lights, camera, action! Write a scene filled with action. Pretend it's a short story and use it to build a plot around. Make sure it causes your reader's heart to beat fast. Make them want to turn the page.

16. Write a Sentence
Come up with a fantastic first line for a story and go bananas. Write the entire prologue based on that sentence. Once you have that line, you can back up and flesh your character out or run forward and let him/her lead you where they may.

17. Playing the "What if?" Game
This is a fun game to get your brain working. I came up with an idea for a zombie novel by asking, "What if?" It's easy: Everything you see, question it. Say, "What if that squirrel could talk?" or, "What if people could turn invisible?" You'll find yourself with more plot ideas than you can shake a stick at (this is how The Bird came to be).

18. Do Research
Take a topic you love and plug it into the search engine of your choice. Read everything you come across and take notes or just hold it in your head. Once you've got a good grasp of your subject matter, start writing. All that research will give you a ton of reference to draw from (this is how Yassa came to be).

19. Just Write
Write about anything. It can be the chair you're sitting in, your dog, or the grass in your yard; but get something down on paper. You'll be surprised at how far it can take you. Your dog may be from a shelter, which is run by a corporation, which has a CEO that's a little kinky, and so on. See where I just took that one? It's all about letting your fingers fly.

20. A Dynamite Ending
Come up with the end first. Perhaps your character wins a race. What did he/she do to get there? What stood in the way? Maybe the character is disabled in some way but that didn't happen until he/she was in their thirties and the win is a miracle stemming from hard work and determination. If you have an ending with impact, you'll have little trouble backing up and creating the rest of the story.

I hope you all have wonderful plot ideas in your heads now; or, at the very least, intend to do a few of these exercises.

Thanks for joining me for these two days. Come on back tomorrow for more writing tips!

Which of these do you see working for you?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

20 Ways to Plot Ideas - Part One of Two

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are sitting with your muses for the writing days ahead. Today, I'm gonna tell you ten ways you can get great plot ideas. I hit on this a bit before when I gave you a little bit on How to find an Idea.This will be a lot more in depth. Don't worry, ten more will come tomorrow! So grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

1. Fire in Your Belly
I've breached this first one in the past. It's all about what fires you up. What issues get you all riled up? Pick one and apply some pressure. If you care, your reader will care. But be sure and turn it into a story that people can identify with. No one likes a long lecture.

2. Listen to Music
Sometimes music is just the thing to get your creative juices flowing. Listen to the words and close your eyes. Picture scenes in your head and write a few down.

3. Visualize Scenes
Before you begin writing for the day, take a few moments and watch a little movie in your head. Think of an issue, character, or situation you'd like to hit upon. Free write for at least an hour. Don't think about plot, structure, or punctuation/grammar. Put it away and don't look at it again for a few days. After that, go back and give it a read through. See what makes you smile. Cut it out and use it.

4. Pick up a Newspaper
See what's going on in the world at large. Twist it around and use it as a plot. Those six people who got arrested for cooking meth in their house? They must have a background! Who better to write on a compelling story like that than you?

5. Fetishes/Obsessions
Think about what people are into. Is it a weird predisposition to wear other peoples' shoes? How about a desire to collect things (hoarding)? What could they collect? If you're a fantasy author, this could be pixies they keep in jars; and the MC could be willing to do anything to get that next, rare one.

6. Thought Web
Back when I was talking about Blog Topics and Where they Come From, I discussed thought webs. This technique works for novels, too! Choose a word and go nuts!

7. Jobs
Start with a job and work your way around what the person in that profession must be dealing with. Maybe the stress leads down a path of self-destruction, maybe it leads down the road of homicide. Perhaps that job has made everyone crazy because of a bug in the ventilation system. Your imagination is the only thing holding you back with this path to plot.

8. Change the Genre
Alice in Wonderland and Snow White have been redone so many times! Why? There's a great plot there that's begging for a makeover! Grab a book and think about how it can be changed to suit a new genre. Make The Princess and the Pea a Sci-Fi story, change the names, outcome, and situation. At the very least, it'll give you direction.

9. I really want to write...
Take twenty minutes out of your day and grab a sheet of loose-leaf. Start with "I really want to write about..." and fill in the rest with what your heart desires to put on paper. Let it take its own direction. Don't force it.

10. Borrow
Do you have a favorite novel? Borrow the plot line. Change everything but the plot. Give characters the personalities you always wanted them to have and write about it. Remember, there are few original plots. It's what happens from point A to point B that's different.

I hope this gets you writing if you were in a slump.

What do you do to get plot ideas?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Healing Plot Wounds

Happy FRIDAY, good people of the blogosphere! What a week! Here comes the the weekend, though. I hope you all have wonderful plans. Today, we're gonna talk about some common plot wounds and how you can heal them. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Problem 1: Your flashback is all mucked up.
Make sure you need it. Remember, a flashback will disrupt the flow of the story and pull the reader into the past for some reveal. It should never be an information dump, but a high-energy scene. If you keep your flashbacks short, all the better. Try working the information into dialogue instead. That way, the story keeps moving forward, but your readers get the information you've deemed necessary.

Problem 2: Your scene has no two-punch.
You know that height of the scene where exciting things happen? Find it in your story and highlight it. See how much you can dump before it happens so there's less drag getting there. You'll likely find a lot of the wordy things before the action can be removed and it still work. Then, give it a two-punch. You know, that little something extra. Some emotion or reaction as the action occurs.

Problem 3: You're holding back your characters because they're off plot.
Suddenly, your characters are trying to go left but you force them to turn right. That wasn't what you had in mind and no-way no-how are you letting them go there. This will hinder your story. Try opening a new document and let the character go the way you think they would. Have a conversation, run a scene in your movie-projector mind, or type a quick scene out where your character faces something out of the ordinary. Don't force them to react a certain way. Let the character decide. Then, return to your story and let them play it out the way they want to. It works. As a bonus, the outcome might surprise you. I didn't intend the twist in The Bird, the characters did that on their own.

Problem 4: Mind-system shutdown.
Overload. Your mind shuts off, your imagination takes a break, or a head cloud invades. How do you turn it back on? Writers don't have switches on the side of their heads. If this happens, try one of these tricks: Act out a scene. Don't imagine it, get your booty out of your chair and act it out. Take a walk and have a conversation with your protagonist. No, I'm not kidding. Sometimes, this is just what you need to understand their vision and/or motive. Maybe those crazies on the street, walking along, mumbling to themselves, are actually writers trying to get back in touch, eh? Write down what your novel means to you. What's the underlying message?

These are just a few of the problems we all run in to. I hope the suggestions above help in some small way.

What do you do when problems smack you between the eyes?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Slimming Down

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! I can't believe I missed my hump-day post, but working too much is never something I complain about. Today, we're talking about slimming down an overweight novel. These are just a few things you can do to cut out the drag. Remember, a good editor will tell you when it isn't working and give you suggestions on how to fix it. Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going, shall we?

When you're writing a novel, you generally have three acts. The first is to introduce the doorway and the challenge/opposition. By the time you get to the third, you're ready to bring things to a head and give your novel an ending. What a lot of writers struggle with is the journey, the middle, the part where you are heading toward the end. Sometimes, it ends up with no excitement. On Tuesday, I gave you ways to add to your skinny tale. Now we're gonna talk about ways to slim it down if it's too heavy.

1. Cut out the boring. If you find the story lacking tension, take some of the scenes out. These can be reaction scenes, dialogue, or scenes lacking conflict. If your editor might lose interest, cut it down or cut it out.
2. Take away a subplot. You can absorb a subplot into the main plot to strengthen it, or combine two subplots into one to make things more interesting for the reader.
3. Kill someone off. That's right, kill them. Maybe they're stealing the spotlight from the main character or maybe you just decide their motives aren't for the purpose of good. As an alternative, you can combine two secondary characters and make them into one strong character.

If you craft act two well, you have the opening for a killer ending. You can put your protagonist through hell only to have them be rewarded for their struggles. Or, you can always have your protagonist fail. Some of those endings make a so-so book one that's remembered.

What exercises do you use to trim the fat?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Beating Middle of the Book Blahs

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today we're talking about middle of the book blahs and how to overcome them. So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going, shall we?

Again, this is another section of the class offered over on IBGW.

We've all been there. That point where the character is dragging along on their journey toward triumph or failure of their ultimate goal. It's the dreaded middle of the book. After the doorway and before the culmination and reveal of all that's interesting. But how do you overcome the blahs? How do you keep your story from plodding along like a draught horse rather than bringing excitement like the thoroughbreds running in the Kentucky Derby?

A few things you can do:

1. Add a subplot. This should be done rarely and with care. Your subplot can be brought to a head just before your main plot, but don't let it take over and don't do it too often. A well-known subplot for many readers is the one in the Hunger Games series. I know I reference it often, but it uses many literary devices (and does it well).
2. Introduce a new character. From out of the wild, here they come, that new character you may have mentioned before but decides to take on a new role. Or, you may not have mentioned this character. Perhaps they only show up in the middle of the book to bring another facet to the action. They need to make the protagonist's life a little bit harder.
3. Find the glue between the antagonist and the protagonist and make it stronger. Make it matter. Show the reader why these two are in direct opposition by a little reveal of the past.

Now, those are just a couple of suggestions. The options are endless because it's your imagination. Dig deeply and don't allow your reader to go to sleep.

Join me tomorrow and we'll go over how to trim the fat from the middle of a book.

What devices do you use to add drama to the middle of your novel?

On another note, if you'd like a new book to read, Taken Before her very Eyes by Wade Faubert, the one I reviewed back in February is free through midnight tonight! See the review here.

Get it on Amazon US.
Get it on Amazon UK.

Enjoy!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How to Find an Idea

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Well, the weekend is behind us, and we're moving into one heck of a work week. Mine is really full of work coming at me from INDIE Books Gone Wild. Formatting for print is among the top of those to-dos for this week. What fun! But I'd like to take a moment today and talk with you all about creating that next great book. Where do you come up with an idea? Following are some great exercises you can do to get those creative juices flowing. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

By the way, this is part of the class I give over on IBGW for writers. If you're interested, check out the page and then fill out the form. It's a ton of fun and you even get a set of books no writer should be without.

Exercises:

1. You've all heard me go on and on about writing a story based on what you're passionate about. Well, that's exercise one. You can look into the social opinions of others and form your own. This can lead to a great idea for a story. Look at The Hunger Games. What's she writing about, really? Government control of a people and breaking free from tyranny. You can see the author's strong opinions about this issue within the story. She probably thought about a world that could exist at some point and then went on to another exercise, asking what if.
2. Exercise two is all about taking a known situation and asking what if. Read the paper, watch television, or observe people in action all around you and ask that question. Make a list and let it rest for a couple of days. When you return, you'll see it teeming with ideas.
3. Listen to music. Hear the lyrics and think about what the singer is saying. Enter Sandman by Metallica could bring out a great novel, right? Write down some ideas about the situations in the songs. Just make sure your music is related to the genre you prefer to write.
4. For the next one, create a character. Loosely base them on someone you know and then add a splash of yourself to them. After that, you can turn them any way you see fit. Sometimes, a dynamic and original character is all you need. Close your eyes and write down the particulars of the first person that pops into your head. Flesh them out. Give them a journey.
5. Mind map. You remember when I talked about creating blog posts from a mind map? You start with one topic and branch things off from there. By the time you get to the fourth or fifth spoke, you'll have a ton of ideas.

And there's a few ways you can come up with story/plot ideas when you're stuck. I do a couple of these exercises about once a week. Because of that, I have a folder on my laptop with one or two chapters of some really cool ideas. Will all of them ever be published? I doubt it. But some of them will. Either way, my idea is there in word form and I can reference it at any time.

What exercises do you partake in?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo