I'm live-blogging me working out some plot issues
read along while I attempt to work myself out of a corner
CRAFT is a reader-supported email newsletter about the nuts and bolts of fiction writing and the world of publishing.
I wanted to do this post to show people how I figure out practical problems when dealing with plot. I like talking about plot problems because it’s a different skill set than dealing with a lot of other writing problems, like making something flow better, making dialogue sound more natural, or fleshing out characters on the page. A plot problem, like “why don’t they just call 911?” or “why wouldn’t they just talk to each other” becomes a plot hole if the writer never bothers to deal with it. I guess they just never see it, or see it but assume no one will care. Good writers will cover all the bases.
I have a plot problem in the book I’m working on. (So if you are a fan of my fiction and wants zero spoilers for Untitled Vera Kurian Project Book 4, maybe skip this post, though honestly it will be years before anyone sees this supposed bookthing). I have not fully solved this problem—I know it exists but haven’t given it a ton of thought, but I’m going to do something wild and crazy and try to figure it out as I’m writing this post, live. It may or may not have a fruitful resolution—I have no idea—but I figured it might be worth reading for someone who doesn’t know how other people work out issues like this. My second book has an extremely complicated plot: there is a 1995 plotline with 6 MCs, a 2015 plotline where they are both dealing with the previous plotline while conducting a new murder investigation, AND there are also 100 years of this town in play. Some of what I had to do to fix that book in developmental edits was just answering pragmatic plot problems: “How can I get A to happen if B is true, but C is false?”
So here’s my plot problem: The thematic content of Book 4 has a lot to do with angsty love. Specifically I was thinking of Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Elena Ferrante’s second Neopolitan novel, wherein (SPOILER SPOILER) the MC is deeply infatuated with a boy, but she never tells him, and spends a summer with her and her BFF watching the BFF and the boy fall in love with each other and start an affair. The other vibe is from Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, specifically that part where Timothee Chalamet is trying to confess his love to Saoirse Ronan—they’ve been close friends for years—and she’s like, No, no, we promised this was the unspoken thing we would never acknowledge. I really really liked that specific type of angst and wanted it to be a key feature between potential lovebirds in my next book.
But sometimes the readers are clearly going to ship two people, and it’s going to be frustrating that they’re not together, so you need a really good reason that two people who seem like a good match would not be together. Okay, so here, I’m going to brainstorm all the reasons I can think of that two people who would be a good match are not together even though maybe it’s meant to be.
A likes B, but B doesn’t like A (assume vice versas on all of these).
They both like each other, but think the other doesn’t.
Timing or other physical impairments (distance, illness)
A likes B romantically, B like A as a friend, but grows to change their mind.
One or the other is in a committed relationship.
One thinks they are not good enough for the other
One thinks they are too good for the other
Financial reasons
cultural or religious reasons
They are only physically attracted but not mentally so it wouldn’t work.
They are mentally attracted but not physically.
It is forbidden/ taboo
One is not emotionally prepared for a romantic relationship
One wants a relationship but is distracted with a Bigger Thing.
Sexual incompatibility
Values incompatibility
One needs something from the relationship that the other cannot give (eg, children).
One doesn’t want to be happy.
One both hates and loves the other.
Now I’m going to go through each of these and think them through—meaning “how could this be true?” and try to think of it could work/ apply to my particular situation:
1: A likes B, but B doesn’t like A. The standard unrequited love situation. Tried and true. We have a girl who likes a boy, but he doesn’t like her back that way. She thinks of him romantically, but he doesn’t reciprocate. But, given the story, they are friends. In fact, they become very close friends for years. So he does like her as a person. Thinking through the logic here: what are reasons why someone would like someone as a person but not as a potential romantic partner? a) he’s not physically attracted to her b) she might be physically attractive but gives him the ick somehow c) she has some trait that that would be tolerate-able for a friend but not a romantic partner (for example, I’m friends with people who are perpetually late, but would not like it in a partner) d) some people are friends with people with really different values from them but would not date/marry someone with such different values. In this particular story, A is not true— he does find her attractive, so that won’t work. B) this might work in some sense… not “ick” per se, like he is grossed out by her, but there’s something about her that says “don’t go here.” Something unwelcoming. C) C goes with B a little. I could see him being intrigued by how mysterious and clever this person is, but also finding it a bit scary, like he wouldn’t know how to handle or understand her. I can have a mysterious friend, but when I go home to my partner, I want to feel safe. So maybe she feels safe as a friend, but not as a romantic interest. D) I need to think more about this- I have a sense that a lot of their values are similar. They are liberal college educated people who probably agree on a lot of things. But I think I’ve identified a weak spot here—mainly because I haven’t fully finished working on the characters—but they may have somewhat different worldviews given their different backgrounds (one was born and raised abroad in dangerous circumstances, one is more compassionate to humans in general because of an interest in human rights. )
2: They both like each other but think the other doesn’t… This happens a lot in romances, but the problem is, the longer the span of time where they don’t know the truth, the more annoying it is. One of those things where you are just screaming at the page/screen JUST COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER!!! It can’t be a simple misunderstanding ala “I saw you talking to a hot woman you must be cheating when actually it was your sister.” I was thinking a third party could mislead one or both of them, but now that I’m writing this, I think it can’t be just the third party, but also the characters piecing together that “clue” with actual real information that could be interpreted as being consistent with that. What happens is that people’s psychology and insecurities stand in the way of them seeing things clearly. I have a greater understanding of the girl’s psychology (she was raised to think she was less-than) but not the male character’s- so I need to work on that.
3: I think some of the above should be combined with physical roadblocks. Timing: one or the other is in a relationship, one ending up in a multi-year relationship that results in pregnancy. But also, these are both jet setters so they are moving around to different cities, so while they maintain a close relationship with looooong emails and seeing each other occasionally, they haven’t had much time post- college to be in the same place at the same time.
4: Someone changes their mind. I think the girl likes him romantically, convinces herself that it will never be and they are just good good friends, then maybe convinces herself that its psychologically unhealthy for her to have this attachment to him. Importantly, the last thing would affect her behavior, like shutting down any potential flirting on her part, and mis-seeing any potential signs from him. Now that I think about it, the way he thinks about her grows and changes over time. He has an initial teenage boy thought: she’s pretty does she like me? But is then kind of scared of her, then grows to have a deep friendship with her that he doesn’t want to lose. Again, I’m missing something about his psyche here that I need to figure out, but it has to do with his childhood. At some point, when he realizes he could lose her, he more fully comes out as liking her.
5: One is in a committed relationship. I already thought this would be in play. One is locked down in a multiyear relationship where they are living together with someone as partners. They start happy, but that decreases over time.
6: One thinks they are not good enough for the other. This could go both ways. Girl was raised to believe she wasn’t good enough and enters into young adulthood feeling super awkward and uncool. Boy is intimidated by girl not being easy to read, but also intellectually. He thinks, if she likes me, she would have given some sign because this is true for most people.
7: One thinks they are too good for the other. This doesn’t work. These characters aren’t jerks.
8: Financial reasons. Not sure this works either. She ends up doing well financially. He might struggle a bit more (he’s a journalist) but maybe the only way it could negatively impact their relationship is him having to move places for jobs.
9: Cultural or religious reasons. Not sure this works either even though they have different cultural backgrounds. ESL could lead to some misunderstandings early in their relationship, though.
10: They are only physically attracted but not mentally so it wouldn’t work. This doesn’t work because they are.
11: They are mentally attracted but not physically. See 1.
12: It is forbidden/ taboo. Interesting, but doesn’t work here. Only inasmuch as it could be relevant when one of them is in a relationship. Neither is a cheater but maybe some emotional cheating going on, and I do see a confrontation with that with the aggrieved partner at some point.
13: One is not emotionally prepared for a romantic relationship. I think this is a big one for the girl. She comes into college very much in a child state of mind. She might have crushes with boys, but she is still quite far from the ease that other college students seem to have with flirting, sex, and relationships (this isn’t her fault though). She’s not prepared to see any interest from him when she’s young. When she’s a bit older, she’s working out some of the psychological issues related to her childhood—realizing that maybe it wasn’t so great. I’m drawing a bit of a blank trying to answer this for Boy. I think he has ease with girls when they first meet, but is not ready for someone like her.
14: One wants a relationship but is distracted with a Bigger Thing. Didn’t really think of this till just now, but this is potentially a good one. Both go on to have careers that are important. One is documenting various wars around the world. The other becomes a human rights scholar. The girl would very much start to thing that her purpose for being is doing this work, and that it’s silly and pathetic to be distracted by romantic yearning.
15: Sexual incompatibility. Not an issue given the logistics.
16: Values incompatibility. I need to think about this some more. I can’t see either doing/thinking something that is morally reprehensible to the other, but one may have a harsher worldview than the other (he survived a war a child. He may think humans are inherently bad while she thinks they are inherently good).
17: One needs something from the relationship that the other cannot give (eg, children). Kids thing doesn’t work because this is not a story about people dating and trying to figure out if they should be together forever, but more a story of people who never got together and maybe they should have. Outside of kids though.. she needs validation, and he does validate her. But I think he wants a certain warmth/welcoming that he doesn’t get from her, but this is because she’s reserved, especially around him, not because she’s cold.
18: One doesn’t want to be happy. I think this is a good one. It isn’t that girl doesn’t want to be happy, but that maybe she doesn’t think she deserves to be happy. Perhaps this is even a motivating factor in her work in human rights. She does care about the issue but at some deep level she’s just trying to prove that she is a good, and therefore worthy person. I think Boy always wants to be happy—it’s part of his personality—but at some point when he’s in relationship, he has certain values about duty and obligation. He can’t abandon someone who needs him.
19: One both hates and loves the other. This doesn’t work. They may have their fights but it’s not a love/hate thing.
Okay, so I think I got some valuable information from this! One thing that is clear is that I need to finish working on my character profiles (I have like half of one done, but not all four), but also taking different elements of the above would be best, rather than one stupid thing that keeps the lovebirds apart : I didn’t get the email you sent (cough cough The Notebook) or I saw you with your hot sister.
Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash
#18 resonates the absolute best with me, is psychologically accurate (uh, ouch, seen) & I think offers the richest scope for plotting/nuance/character development....