A Companion Exercise to “Whose View? ” from “The Writer's Corner,” Words & Pictures , Winter 2007
By Tish Farrell
Plots can of course be event driven, but these tend to make for high-action but ultimately not very satisfying reads. To really hook readers, the plot should be character driven – that is, events unfold as a consequence of the hero's predicament and the ways in which he/she chooses to resolve it. The tension is created by exploiting your hero's weaknesses/misunderstandings rather than their strengths.
If you are currently having difficulty with a story plot, it is possibly because you've taken your eye off your hero's weaknesses, or not thought them through properly. To sort things out, try some brainstorming. You'll need a large sheet of paper and coloured pens. Use a different coloured pen for each step, but save the red one for step 5.
At the top of the page draw your hero and/or write their name, or if you have a photo that looks like them, stick that on the page. Now you have someone to have a dialogue with.
Time yourself, say 10 minutes, to complete the following steps. No heavy thinking. Write/doodle first thoughts only, no matter how weird.
• Ask your hero what his/her weaknesses are. List briefly under the name and circle them.
• Ask your hero to state his/her external problems (there may be several angles or layers). List them under the weaknesses and draw a circle round them.
• Ask your hero what he/she must do to solve these problems. Put this near the bottom of the page and circle it.
• Next ask your hero what is stopping him/her. List these obstacles in the middle of the page and circle them.
• Finally, ask what will happen if your hero fails to overcome the obstacles. Write this in big red letters at the bottom of the page. This tells you what is at stake.
You can repeat this exercise, with your own variations, as many times as you like. It will give you a set of ‘hero-view' traits and circumstances that you can use to create your initial plot. Later, as you develop your story, you can mine your thought lists in greater depth to help create convincing twists and turns.
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