The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master

Planning a Plot Planner

Posted on 11 Mar 2013 by beckylevine

I know, really? THAT organized. Well, no…more like a way to get past (around?) my fears about this kind of organization.

I have been lucky enough to know Martha Alderson, author of The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master, for many years. Lucky enough to have lived in the same town, to have shared a critique group with her, to have attended several workshops and plot-planning sessions with her. And I can tell you this–if you haven’t already figured it out for yourself: Martha knows her stuff. I have been amazed over and over, as I show Martha the work I’ve done on a story plot so far, only to watch her get a questioning look on her face, point her finger at a very specific spot, and say, “But what about X?” Bingo! Martha’s ability to spot the gaps, to zero in on what is missing or what goes off in the wrong direction, is fantastic.

But here comes my confession. The Plot Planner intimidates me. I’m not quite sure why–I have worked happily, many times, with the other big structural piece of Martha’s program–The Scene Tracker. Possibly, that clicks with my brain more because it’s linear: scene by scene by scene. I’m linear, in many ways. As a reader, no; I can jump around and make connections and tell you where an event was seeded, where the layers come in, how it builds to its own particular crisis–just try me. But as a writer…scene by scene by scene makes me happy. I’ve always felt a little bad that the Plot Planner and my brain didn’t synch up better.

Until I was reading through The Plot Whisperer book the other night and came across these words: …if [when you see a plot planner,] you scowl and fold your arms across your chest, sense yourself turning pale, or feel as if your eyes are popping out of your head, you are probably a right-brained, character-driven writer.”

Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever actually folded my arms across my chest. Okay, well, maybe. But I do panic a bit at trying to figure out which scenes go where, how I can write neatly enough on a little sticky note to get my scene point across in just a few words, how I don’t end up with all my notes indicating passive, contemplative moments below the line. Once again, Martha gets it. I’ve talked a lot on this blog about how much I love plot, adore structure, crave the little buckets into which to pour the words. BUT…I’m pretty sure that’s because plot does not come naturally to me, and because–consequently–I’ve spent too much time rambling around all that happy character stuff without getting anywhere. I don’t like not getting anywhere. As a reader, I’ve gotten more needy of plot, but for decades, you could hand me a pretty storyless book and I’d lose myself contentedly in all the character stuff. It’s why I can read a mystery novel for the third time and still not remember whodunnit. Russian novels? Read them for almost a decade, because…character. My favorite scene in The Secret Garden? Mary’s massive tantrum at Colin. Character. *Insert a few measures of Barbra Streisand’s People*

Anyway, what am I going to do about this? Well, I’m already doing it. A week or so ago, on Facebook, Catherine Meyer and Cheri Williams were posting photos of their plot-planning session. A session they did TOGETHER! My brain said…WOW! Plot-planning with friends! With other writers who know your ~~pain~~ story. With other writers who– when you lag–will give you a hug, a piece of chocolate, a few good brainstorming questions, and then kick you in the butt to keep going. ALL. HAPPY. DAY.

I ran it by my critique group. Unanimous YEAH. We’ve got a date set up. We know we might not get through our entire stories in that day, but we’re committed to working focused and long, and to scheduling another session if we need to get through to The End. We know things will change from what we write onto our Plot Planner: early plots are flexible and fluctuating (aha! Perhaps another root of my fear?). But we’re getting together, and we’re getting started.

And I’m not quite so intimidated.

Blog Contest, Uncategorized

THE PLOT WHISPERER Blog Tour: Lacey Picks the Winners. Kind of.

Posted on 21 Oct 2011 by beckylevine

This post is dedicated to Trixie, Debbi Michiko Florence’s dog. I’ve met Trixie, and she’s a sweetie. She’s also amazing–I’m always impressed at how clever she is when she helps Debbi pick a winner in one of their giveaways. You can see Debbi and Trixie together, at Jama Kim Rattigan’s celebration of National Dog Day. You can also watch Trixie here, as she picks ME to win a copy of Gabrielle Zevin’s All These Things I’ve Done.

I was curious. Would my cat, Lacey, be at all interested in helping out the way Trixie does? I was pretty sure she wouldn’t actually carry the winner’s names over to me, but I thought maybe she would bat around the paper with the winner’s name. Or at least sniff at it. She does a lot of sniffing.

I decided to try an experiment, following Debbi & Trixie’s steps as closely as possible, with the entries for Martha Alderson’s new writing book, The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master. I have to admit, I was a little tremulous–Lacey would have to clearly pick out two pieces of paper, without knocking them all under the bookshelf or something, where I’d never get to them and never know who had won.

Really, I needn’t have worried.

First, I put all the names on a piece of paper, folded those, and set them in a circle. I was working on the idea that maybe we’d go with the first two names Lacey batted out of the circle.

My son went to check if the cat was ready. You can see she was raring to go.

To get the full sarcasm of that last statement, go back and look at Trixie on Debbi’s blog, waiting so eagerly for Debbi to let her pick, then do the comparison. Yeah.

Basically, it was Kitty-Drawing fail. Lacey was so uninterested that she jump right out of the circle, over the pieces of the paper. You got it. Without picking one. So quickly that we were unable to get a photo.

Plan B.

First I needed to get the pieces of paper into a smaller space. A reachable-by-paw-while-being-held space.

I had reached the obvious conclusion that Lacey, unlike Trixie, needed a little help. (Note: No kitties were harmed in the making of this blog, only a small amount of kitty pride.) So, together, neither of us knowing which name was written on which piece of paper, we chose two winners.

Lacey and I (and my son, the photographer) say congratulations to:

Jennifer Fosberry and Suzanne Morrone, send me an email at beckylevine at ymail dot com, with your snail-mail addresses, and I’ll get your copies of The Plot Whisperer out to you. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask Lacey to drive them to the post office!

Everybody else, you’ve got lots more chances to win. Martha has posted the schedule for the rest of her blog tour here, and there are more giveaways to come! And, Debbi, if Trixie has any tips for Lacey on doing this drawing-thing right, feel free to share.

Blog Contest, Plot

Martha Alderson: The Plot Whisperer Blog Tour, Day 3

Posted on 19 Oct 2011 by beckylevine

I count myself lucky in many ways. A big one of those ways is all the amazing people that my writing has brought into my life. And one of those people is Martha Alderson.

You probably know her better as The Plot Whisperer.

Martha and I met over ten years ago, in the first critique group I joined when I moved up to the Bay Area. If you’d asked either of us back then if we thought we’d write books about writing, I think we would have laughed pretty hard. I don’t know, though–one of the things I love the most about Martha is that she always dreams…and dreams big. So the fact that she has just published her second book on writing–or to be more specific–on plot, should be no surprise. And if you’ve followed her tweets at @plotwhisperer, you’re not surprised either. In fact, you probably can’t wait to read the book!

Well, you’ve come to the right place. (Okay, you’ve come to one of the right places. Tomorrow, the blog tour stops at Not an Editor, where Mary Baader Kaley is also having a giveaway. And check out Martha’s blog for a complete list of her blog tour stops and other chances to win a copy.) I’ve got TWO copies of The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master to give away. I usually run my contests for a while, but I’m keeping this one short so you’ll have time to enter all the other contests, too. I’ll draw the winners Thursday night and announce them Friday morning. Make sure to stop back!

Let me tell you a little bit about Martha. Yes, she dreams, but she does more than that. She continuously shares that dream with others. Martha understand plot, but–as she’ll tell you–it’s an understanding she worked to reach, so she absolutely gets how those of who are not so good at plotting feel. Because of this, her advice is always sympathetic and supportive, but it’s also strong. One of the best things about having had Martha as a critique partner is that she never gets lost in the words, in the stuff that fills in and layers around the plot points. Every time Martha has read a piece I’ve written, or done a plot planner for one of my stories, she has zeroed right in on the big pieces of the plot. Sometimes, it’s the lack of those pieces, but one of the best things Martha ever said to me was, “This has too many plots. It’s too crowded.”

Guess what? She was right.

Martha believes in plot. She recognizes that there are many writers who worry that, by plotting, they’ll make their story stiff or formulaic. She recognizes and respects that fear, but she also reassures us–rightly, I think–that the plot is the container, the structure, that holds all the magic we could ever want to write. And she coaches us through all the steps of creating that plot.

I bought Martha’s first book, Blockbuster Plots: Pure and Simple, when it came out. And last night, I drove over the hill to attend Martha’s launch party at Capitola Book Cafe and buy her new book. I talked earlier about this week how I’m struggling with plot on this WIP. I’m thinking it’s pretty nice of Martha to publish The Plot Whisperer just when I need it.

That’s just how she is!

I’m not doing NaNoWriMo, but I know a lot of you are. You’ve still got time to do a little pre-plotting and, even as you write as speedily as possible, you can be thinking about story. If you haven’t checked out Martha’s YouTube series on plot, do so now. And leave a comment for this post to enter my giveaway copy of The Plot Whisperer. (If your comment ID doesn’t include an email, please leave that in the comment as well, so I can let you know if you’re the winner!)

Good luck!