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Need Help With Plot![W:25]

Moderator's Warning:
This thread is for plot ideas, not for fighting about stuff, so let's stay on topic.

It was just a joke, but sure, fair enough, I won't repeat it. I will unsubscribe from this thread and won't come back.
 
Can you delineate the themes you will be embracing? Plots can be built around themes.

i.e. Thematically, there could be a psychic connection between the siblings, giving cause for the younger sibling to join with the father searching the house?

What type of horror story is it, psychic, supernatural connections, a ghost story, a monster story, an alien presence, a slasher horror story, etal and combinations thereof? Additional factors that will effect plotting?

Are you seeking to set up a franchising of characters, including the house as a local historical character? Are the current characters distantly related to the previous inhabitants of the house, knowingly or not? Are the characters of the story the real villains, possibly returning to the scene of the crime, or cursed descendants of previous inhabitants?

Is the tone of the story to be heroic, comedic, plain disbelief, denial, embracement, campy, irrationality vs logic, whatever? Where does religion fit in, or not? Fire and brimstone, smoke and mirrors or something else? A conspiracy of sorts? Or again a combination of all or parts of the above?

Who is telling the story? Is it the father first person? The surviving son reflecting back long after the fact? The mother who lost her family to the unknown, seeking revenge as the relentless huntress? A characterization or a caricaturization?

Is the story to be a narrative, or episodic, or another methodology?

What will be the sub themes, sub plots, and so on?

Who will be the supporting characters, and their roles in the story telling?

Will it be merely one story, or multiple stories combined?

What will be the timing sequence of the telling? Will it be straight forward linear? Elliptical? In reverse? Is the story occurring during a time of other conflicts, or peaceful times? Will the house still be standing at the time of the telling? Or facing imminent destruction? Has this all happened before on singular or multiple occasions?

What is the reason for telling the story now, and who is the listener to the telling, a known or an unknown? What catalyzes the telling? Is it the intent for the end of the story to be epiphanic, a surprise, or a natural evolution? Is it a love story, or a story of love unrequited? Will the story be in your face, or subtle as possible, not an apparent horror story? Do you want multiple realizations and endings?

I want to know all this before making specific plot suggestions, for appropriate suggestions. Plots can follow themes and meet other needs of the story. Are you charting out the story line or are you a fan of "natural writing?"

My personal preference is to chart out a plot, to tighten the storyline, rid the extraneous, and monitor the pacing. I prefer Hemingway's less is more, tho he often didn't know when shut up and maintain simplicity.
 
Gee, you can't take a joke?
I always do, but I dont want this to end up as a snipe thread. I'd like to get everyone's input regardless of political persuasion so there shouldnt be any mention of politics here- Im not writing a political book anyway.

My personal preference is to chart out a plot, to tighten the storyline, rid the extraneous, and monitor the pacing. I prefer Hemingway's less is more, tho he often didn't know when shut up and maintain simplicity.

My writing is like Stephen King's or GRRM's, which is I make it up as I go along.

Thanks for the input everybody, it is appreciated and Ive got new ideas to work with.
 
I always do, but I dont want this to end up as a snipe thread. I'd like to get everyone's input regardless of political persuasion so there shouldnt be any mention of politics here- Im not writing a political book anyway.



My writing is like Stephen King's or GRRM's, which is I make it up as I go along.

Thanks for the input everybody, it is appreciated and Ive got new ideas to work with.

Natural writing, it works for some. Stephen King lies, he lives by his charts, and the charts include the repeat characters from all his Castle Rock novels, he needs to keep them straight and on path. Difficult to do without charts. Tabitha keeps his charts up to date and clean for him, and she once said, "doing so was an excuse for drinking wine, a lot of wine." Tabitha, an author in her own right, is his wife.
 
Natural writing, it works for some. Stephen King lies, he lives by his charts, and the charts include the repeat characters from all his Castle Rock novels, he needs to keep them straight and on path. Difficult to do without charts. Tabitha keeps his charts up to date and clean for him, and she once said, "doing so was an excuse for drinking wine, a lot of wine." Tabitha, an author in her own right, is his wife.

Character charts are not the same as plotting blow by blow accounts on every chapter. I write on a yellow pad to keep track of my characters and do an occasional flow chart to make sure the plot stays consistent.
 
Well.....I don't know squat about writing, but, here are some things I would avoid

1. Girl being chased by bad guy and trips on nothing but her own shadow....tries to crawl away in slow motion.

2. Scary noise in a darkened room/cave...solution? "Lets investigate...I know half our friends have been torn to pieces, but, its okay...I have a flashlight".

3. Space alien hiding in the old mansion? Instead of leaving the damn place, lets play Mcguyver and make a crude bomb with gasoline, jelly donuts, and grandma's knitting yard....oh, you only get one match, and you have t light it in 40 mph winds.

Those are just kinda some of my pet peeves.
 
Character charts are not the same as plotting blow by blow accounts on every chapter. I write on a yellow pad to keep track of my characters and do an occasional flow chart to make sure the plot stays consistent.

He also uses flow charts. Nothing wrong with using them. As you point out it helps with consistency of plot development. Charts don't need to be "blow by blow," merely an outline that best suits the author's needs. Whatever the craft, we all need tools. For a writer a chart can be a valuable tool. Should the writer transcend from craft to art, the tools did their job.

Critics claimed James Joyce's "stream of consciousness" was natural writing at its peak. However, Joyce was the ultimate meticulous craftsman who carefully planned out and then analyzed every sentence he wrote, rewriting often to achieve his goal, the appearance of "stream of consciousness." Joyce understood, as expressed in some of his letters, we "do not always think with words, sometimes with recalled sounds, at times with images."

A fellow I know swears by natural writing. He makes his living writing film and TV scripts. Toward the end of each work session, he goes back and charts out his progress, then makes corrections as the charts dictate. Whatever methodology works for each of us is good.

I am a very structured guitarist, thinking carefully about scales, keys, progressions, and so forth. Occasionally, I reach those moments when I stop thinking about what must come next and just play. I see the difference when I glance at the faces of the audience. The structure was still there, but sublimated to the making of music. Perhaps, moments of art?

Charles Mingus would wander the streets, unbathed, unshaved, in his pajamas and a robe, for days. People thought he was drunk or on drugs. He wasn't. With the concern of his loving wife, during a court ordered psychiatric evaluation, Mingus told a psychiatrist, "the music plagues my mind, I follow the music." The psychiatrist ruled that Charlie wasn't insane, nor a substance abuser, he was a genius who thought differently than the rest of us and was composing as he wandered. He was no danger to anyone, or himself. Thereafter police, when they picked up Charlie in the street, would drive him home to his wife, instead of the local precincts to dry out.
 
Well.....I don't know squat about writing, but, here are some things I would avoid

1. Girl being chased by bad guy and trips on nothing but her own shadow....tries to crawl away in slow motion.

2. Scary noise in a darkened room/cave...solution? "Lets investigate...I know half our friends have been torn to pieces, but, its okay...I have a flashlight".

3. Space alien hiding in the old mansion? Instead of leaving the damn place, lets play Mcguyver and make a crude bomb with gasoline, jelly donuts, and grandma's knitting yard....oh, you only get one match, and you have t light it in 40 mph winds.

Those are just kinda some of my pet peeves.

I feel the exact same way, which is why Im figuring out a way to make the family stay together. I'm thinking about making the town as dangerous as the house in order to spur them along as one unit.
 
And I'm done with the manuscript (Go me!). 70K words. And surprise- it's not a haunted house or a town- it's on an island! ;)

Here is the cover:

MbZ1shQ.jpg

Still working on the blurb...

In Lakshadweep, a serene group of islands southwest of India, a newly constructed artificial island has been opened. Its name is Lemuria, a world class private resort for the rich and famous to indulge in their most wanton of excesses.

Desperate to save his crumbling marriage and bring his dysfunctional family back together, Nick Dirkse takes them on what promises to be the ultimate vacation in an unspoiled tropical paradise.

But this new island also hides a terrible secret, a nightmare so real and terrifying it will test the outer limits of Nick's courage and resolve if he is to somehow save the ones he loves.

I actually got the idea of writing this while watching Jurassic World lol
 
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