I am a die-hard believer in plotting. For the way my mind works there is no other way to write. But what to do when plotting doesn’t work?
I’ve tried writing by the seat of my pants and always end up plotting a few scenes in advance, the major turning points of the story, and/or pre-writing before I actually get to the dialogue and, you know, the actual writing of the scene (pre-writing is writing out the goal, conflict, and turning point of a scene and a paragraph of what is to happen).
But I’ve suddenly come to a standstill in my plotting. One of my protagonists (I write romance, so I’ve got two) is about to hit his black moment. Everything he’s been taught by his father is going to be undermined by his father’s own actions. Everything this character believed about his parent was a lie. Essentially, the grown beneath his life is about to disappear. So, how is he going to react?
I’ve got no bloody idea!
I know the character. He’s a spy who believes very strongly in King and Country. He believes very strongly in responsibility—always taking on more—and helping people. But I don’t know how he will react to learning his father engaged in treasonous behavior and did so for his own personal gain.
I once read a quote (I forget who said it) about how easy it is to get your characters into a situation they can’t get out of—the problem is that you can’t get them out of it either! That’s where I am.
So, what to do about it?
For some people a brisk walk down the street will get their brain working and the problem will magically appear. For others, as Jodi Taylor would say, they’d need “a drink and a think”. For me, I think better on paper (or “paper”).
I have to get myself into the mind of the character, consider where they’ve come from, where they want to get to, and everything they believe, which may very well be what’s stopping them. It’s really that belief and having the knot of it pulled apart that creates great black moments.
So, I will sit here and write it all out. I need to consider what sort of man my protagonist is—is he the sort to run away and hide? Will he argue that what’s he’s been told isn’t true? Will he seek out further, corroborating information?
Once I know what he might do, I have to think of my story and how what he does may move the story in the direction I need it to go or whether I need to reconsider how I envisioned how the story should go (i.e., my plotting). The entire end of the book—my heroine’s internal goal and the romance—hinges on what my hero does in this moment. And right now, I’m staring at a blank page.
I might just have to write this one by the seat of my pants and the prospect is terrifying for a die-hard plotter.