Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Temper Tantrum Tuesday: Tightly Woven Plots

I love a novel with lots and lots of plot threads that seem unrelated then come together at the end. So I decided to write one. It was fun writing it, but the revision is a different animal altogether.

The problem is I’ve got one major plot thread that is probably 99% consistent throughout the book and I’ve got to go through and revise the remaining 1%, which would be easy in a straightforward novel. But with all these different plotlines running like a spider web through the book when I change one thing it means I have to check that it doesn’t disturb the other ones. Doing this makes me really admire the writers who did this before word processors.

2 comments:

Stephanie Barr said...

Man do I know what you're talking about. Not from experience - I'm not a plot person - but Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo is just such a plot work of art, nearly uncountable threads seemingly moving along unrelated to each other, even though several started at the same place and, in the end, everything is pulled together amazingly.

I have no idea how he kept it all straight LONG HAND.

Good luck.

Darrell B. Nelson said...

A marathon writing session later and I've got the one plot line straightened out. It's either a work of art or complete crap.
I'll be posting an excerpt of it tomorrow for writing Wednesday, let me know what you think.