Plotting and Perspiration

Thomas Edison summed up the role of hard work in creativity and invention when he said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

I wish I could say that writers just start typing and the story writes itself, but 9 times out of 10, that’s not how it works. No, a story requires thought and planning. Along the way, you might discover some genius and the words may start to flow more freely – but not until you've rolled up your sleeves and gotten down to work.

I think back to one of my first art projects. My twin brother and I were in the same kindergarten class, and the teacher asked everyone to create and color a picture about the ocean and give it a title. Our “artwork” would then be judged and the winners’ work put on display.

Right away, I pulled out my crayons and started coloring. When I finished, I had a purple octopus, fish of many colors and probably some attempts at ocean seaweed. I got in line behind my brother and waited while he talked to our teacher.

His was not nearly as colorful as mine. In fact, it looked like a meager attempt to recreate a bunch of blue and yellow flounders from The Little Mermaid. I was thinking to myself how mine was totally better than his.

The teacher asked my brother, “What’s yours called?”

“The School of Fish,” he said simply.

I was only four at the time, but I remember my jaw dropped. What looked moments before like a lackluster picture now took on a shade of simple genius. About that time, my four-year-old mind registered that it hadn’t even thought about a title.

The teacher turned to me. “What about yours?”

“The School of Fish,” I blurted. She looked skeptically at my drawing and said kindly, “How about ‘The Hungry Octopus’?”

Yeah, so much for that blue ribbon. And sure enough, my brother won it.

His drawing was no better than my own – maybe worse – but he had taken the time to think before he started scribbling. And his planning paid off.

And sure enough, he found some brilliance along the way.

I’m not saying that you have to plot out your story on hundreds of neat little notecards and then put them in order (although I’ve heard this technique works for some writers). For my books, I keep a running chapter outline in Word. Sure, it’s a work in progress, and certainly, as I type, I give my story the flexibility to “write itself” when I find something’s not working.

But the required element is planning and perspiration.

Booker T. Washington said, “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”

Yes, my friends, that includes plotting out your story and taking the time to plan.

Hungry for More: Sequels, Series & Suspense

You’re on the edge of your seat. You’re dying to know how the story ends. And then it ends. And you’re still so involved that the first thing you do is go on Amazon.com and search for the sequel.

This was just my experience. I recently finished the first book in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy. I had heard good reviews about the series and saw the trailer for the movie coming out in March, so I decided to buy the first book.

From page one, I was hooked. First, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen first person used so effectively. Second… Well, let’s talk about what elements of The Hunger Games – and other well-scripted stories – leave readers scrambling to find the sequel.

Make us care

The author has to make us care about the characters. Collins starts on page one. Her heroine has to hunt food illegally just to keep her family alive – after her father was killed in a mine explosion. On top of that, the evil Capitol harvests two young adults each year to fight in the annual Hunger Games. Think of the Roman coliseum concept but on steroids, and you’ll get the idea. When her younger sister is selected to participate, Collins’ heroine Katniss volunteers herself to be tribute instead, knowing full well that fighting in the games means almost certain death.

Hands down, Collins has made us care.

Create a cause

Successful TV shows are much like good sequels in that they make you want to come back. One that had me hooked last season was Terra Nova, a sci-fi drama that follows a family who risks everything to stay together.

The saga starts in 2149 when having more than two children is considered a crime. Jim Shannon’s family manages to hide their third child for a time, but eventually, the authorities discover their secret and imprison Jim. Meanwhile, Shannon’s wife, a trauma surgeon, and their other two children have been selected to join a lottery of people and travel back to a prehistoric world through a “fracture” in time. She stages a daring plan to break Jim out of prison, smuggle their third child onto the 10^th pilgrimage, keep the family together, and start a new life.

You want a cause? From episode one, you’ll find yourself rooting for this family to survive and help create a new world.

Leave unanswered questions

Readers expect plot resolution, so when something is left unsettled, they start asking questions. Perhaps the most basic and yet effective question to make the audience ask is, “What’s going to happen next?”  

Unanswered questions not only propel the story’s plotline, but also provide the driving force for a sequel.

For example, look at the Anne of Green Gables novels by L. M. Montgomery. There are eight books in the series, and the first book closes with Anne thinking about the future and beyond what she can see. The second to last sentence reads, “And there was always the bend in the road!”

What question does that raise? Naturally, what’s beyond the bend in the road?

Another great example is how C.S. Lewis ends his first book in The Chronicles of Narnia: “And that is the very end of the adventures of the wardrobe. But if the Professor was right, it was only the beginning of the adventures of Narnia.”

Even if the last sentence doesn’t raise a question, an unfinished plot detail may demand further exploration. Maybe the villain gets away, or the love triangle remains unresolved.

I won’t tell you how book one of The Hunger Games ends, but I will say that I just received the two remaining books in the trilogy a few days ago. The second book kept me up most of Friday and part of Saturday night. And I’m not going to touch the third one until I get caught up on my sleep.

What good reads have kept you up at night? And what endings have left you unsatisfied and looking for more?