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    The Foundation of Plot: A Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) Book
    The Foundation of Plot: A Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) Book
    The Foundation of Plot: A Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) Book
    Ebook110 pages1 hour

    The Foundation of Plot: A Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) Book

    By Elena Hartwell

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    About this ebook

    Structure underlies every story, but without a strong foundation, even well-written sentences can fail to result in a marketable manuscript. The Foundation of Plot defines the components of a story arc, details the differences between plot and story, and covers common errors writers make. It also includes exercises which apply concepts to works in
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherElena Hartwell
    Release dateJul 19, 2022
    ISBN9798986020617
    The Foundation of Plot: A Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) Book
    Author

    Elena Hartwell

    Elena Hartwell has spent years supporting writers and constructing stories. Her award-winning and bestselling works include the Eddie Shoes mysteries and All We Buried (written under Elena Taylor). Her plays have been seen around the US and UK, garnering critical acclaim and stellar reviews. As a developmental editor, she has worked with hundreds of writers, most recently as senior editor and director of programming for the boutique editing house, Allegory Editing. She regularly teaches writing workshops and enjoys helping others achieve their writing dreams

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      Book preview

      The Foundation of Plot - Elena Hartwell

      The Foundation of Plot

      The Foundation of Plot

      The Foundation of Plot

      A Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) Book

      Elena Hartwell

      publisher logo

      Elena Hartwell

      Copyright © 2022 by Elena Hartwell

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      ISBN: 979-8-9860206-0-0

      First Printing, 2022

      To the We Write Through writers workshop participants.

      Seeing all of you on Zoom every Wednesday got me through lockdown.

      I will be forever grateful for your time, attention, and good humor.

      But even more, your friendship.

      We are all in this together.

      Other Titles

      Writing as Elena Hartwell

      The Eddie Shoes mysteries

      One Dead, Two to Go

      Two Heads are Deader Than One

      Three Strikes, You're Dead

      Writing as Elena Taylor

      All We Buried

      Contents

      Dedication

      Other Titles

      Introduction

      1 A Few Basics

      2 The Beginning

      3 The Middle

      4 The End

      5 Stepping Through the Common Elements of Structure

      6 Building a Scene, Building a Chapter

      7 Failure to Finish a First Draft and Other Common Problems

      8 Final Thoughts

      About The Author

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      Attention to structure does not mean writing a formulaic manuscript. It means the creation of a strong foundation for whatever form a work takes.

      After teaching writing for decades, I have a pretty good handle on what makes writers tick. Some writers embrace structure as a means to an end—a way to build a story from the outline up. Others write free-form, trusting the process to get them to a structured story … eventually.

      Both of those processes can work, as does every method in between, because writers must find their own path. But regardless of process, ultimately—often after multiple drafts—a successful project relies on a strong foundation.

      Understanding foundation will help writers improve their craft, but before going into that, let’s talk about the application of the critical eye and the creative child. Wearing those hats—at the correct times—can aid writers with any project.

      The critical eye is imperative, but not always at the beginning of a project. The critical eye helps to rewrite and shape and edit the work. It’s how to cut much-loved material when it doesn’t improve the manuscript or add to the plot. It’s a way to analyze the art and apply the craft aspect of the writing process to produce a polished, query-ready manuscript.

      The creative child, on the other hand, has little role during the final polish of a manuscript. That would be like a law student employing a five-year-old to take their bar exam. But the creative child is a great mode to work in at the beginning of a project and at various points along the way to explore without internal criticism or fear.

      The creative child doesn’t ask if anyone will like a manuscript. Or if it has value. Or if it’s any good. The creative child lets the imagination run wild, dreaming up characters, scenarios, and descriptions of the setting. Or, in writing memoir or narrative nonfiction, the creative child plays with the memories or the resource material without limitations on which scenes or incidents to include, allowing the writer to build a more innovative manuscript.

      At the start of the writing process, it can be helpful to let the creative child make big, bold choices. That boldness can get to the heart of the narrative. There’s plenty of time later to engage the critical eye and finalize what should go in and what should stay out.

      Building the foundation of a plot comes from a combination of the unhampered exploration of the creative child and the clinical precision of the critical eye. As writers, we can be playful with our creations, but we must also be merciless in cutting or rewriting what doesn’t work.

      In my work as a developmental editor, I often see writers stumble over structure in their works in progress. Sometimes an otherwise excellent manuscript—clear, concise language, an interesting premise, fascinating characters—fails because the material wanders or unfolds in a way that’s less dramatic than it could be.

      Whether a writer establishes their foundation in an outline or first draft or after several drafts doesn’t matter; what does matter is eventually identifying and solidifying that foundation before starting to query.

      The ideas in The Foundation of Plot, as well as the rest of the guidebooks in the Wait, Wait Don’t Query (Yet!) series, can be used with short stories, novellas, novels, memoir, and narrative nonfiction. I often use the term book for ease of reading, but the theories in this guide apply to stories of any length. All stories—whether fictional or based on true events—have an underlying foundation. The better a writer understands that concept, the stronger the work can be.

      There are outliers—successful books that defy the ideas in this guide. Some are much-loved books and best sellers. But consider both the evolution of books and the marketplace. There are bookcases full of wonderful, classic books that simply wouldn’t be published today. They are too long, too wordy, and too full of tangents. Books—and other mediums for storytelling—evolve, whereas this guide focuses on the contemporary publishing industry.

      The suggestions in this guide are also designed to help writers create the most marketable manuscript. A writer could ignore every suggestion in this guide and still write a polished, potentially compelling manuscript, but it might hurt that manuscript’s chances for agent representation and publication with a legitimate publisher, or it might decrease the chances for solid reviews of a self-published book.

      Lastly, use this guide as just that—a guide. Apply what resonates for any given work in progress and ignore what doesn’t. But before sending queries to agents—or even drafts to beta readers—spend some time investigating plot foundation. Many concepts can be implemented before queries to agents or making the choice to self-publish.

      So … wait, wait, don’t query yet—consider these concepts first.

      Exercise 1: Letting Go of Perfection

      It’s often easier for a writer to tap into the critical eye than the creative child, but a writer is best served by the ability to shift between the two. To start out, let’s get away from the critical voice that often impacts the ability to write messy drafts, which are an important part of the writing process. This exercise can be useful anytime, though it may come in especially handy when a writer feels blocked.

      This is a five-minute timed writing. The goal is to write without engaging the critical eye. The goal here is quantity, not quality. This is a chance to explore character and/or plot without a sense of having to get it right.

      Step One: Set a timer for five minutes.

      Step Two: Respond to either of the following prompts for five minutes. No matter what, don’t stop writing. It’s okay to go back and forth between the two prompts, but don’t stop writing.

      Prompt One: (Character Name) is driven by …

      Prompt Two: The most important event in the plot is when …

      Step Three: Once the timer sounds, go back and read the material—not for the quality, but for the information.

      What new information came out about the character and/or plot? How did it feel writing this way? Was it fun? Scary? Boring? If it was fun, great! Stick with that feeling. The first draft should be fun; the creative child is on an adventure.

      If it felt neutral or scary, it’s likely the creative child doesn’t feel safe. I would recommend doing this exercise until it feels better. It might be a way to start the writing routine every time. Quiet the critical eye and enjoy the process.

      For those of us who find our

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