Your Heroine is Beautiful, Your Hero is Handsome
Now What?
by Kathye Quick
Copyright ©2007
Ah, plotting. We’ve all heard the
metaphor – plot is the skeleton on which the story is
hung. WRONG!! Plot is not something for you to drape your scenes upon,
hoping they eventually tie together and make a good
book. Plot is a concept that saturates every page of
your work and draws the images, events and people
together to make a good book. This may be the hardest thing for beginning writers to
come to understand. We are led to believe that the plot
is an object and not a process. As we write and get
better at it, we come to realize that the plot touches
every word we write, organizing them into a sense of
character, action and location. Now that I’ve totally confused you, I’ll try to explain.
We all have stories to tell. A story is a chronicle of
events strung together like links in a chain. These
events make the reader want to know what comes next. A
plot is more than that. A plot is a chain of cause and
effect relationships that involve the reader in the
question “why did that happen?” To makes our stories
interesting, we need a strong plot. As writers we are under tremendous pressure to be
original, but the truth is, there are only so many basic
plot lines. It is the writer’s style and way the plot is
presented that makes it original. As romance writers, we need to take the plots and mix
them with a healthy dash of love. When writing our
“Great American Romance Novel.” we need to keep some
basic points foremost in our plot:
The prospect of love should always be met
with a major obstacle. The hero and heroine may want to
fall in love, but they can’t. Not for a while anyway.
- The pair is often not suited
for each other in some way.
- The first attempt to overcome
the obstacle never works. Their love must be proven.
The characters must be unique and
interesting and you must have deep feelings for them in
order for the readers to also care. Love has many other
feelings associated with it and these feelings must be
fully developed according to the needs of the romance
plot.
Make sure the hero and heroine are
involved in the full test of love and romance. They need
to be tested and retested until they finally get the
love they seek. Love is earned, not just given.
Ronald B. Tobias gives a rundown of basic plots in his
book 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them. Tobias says
plot is more than an accessory that conveniently
organizes your material. Thinking of plot that way has
helped me tremendously over the years. I know I can’t
distill his work into a few paragraphs, but I can list a
few basic plot lines for you (with a reference to some
of the illustrative examples Tobias uses in his book).
If need be, find the one that can help your story come
alive and tailor it to your needs. The trick is not to
copy a plot, but to adapt it to your idea, always
remembering in our chosen field to keep the romance
level high.
- Adventure – Your heroine goes
out in search of fortune motivated by someone or
something to begin the adventure and needing the
hero to complete the task. (Any Indiana Jones
movie).
- Pursuit – Make sure there is
real danger associated with getting caught, and in
fact, your hero and heroine may even get caught or
almost get caught before the end. Establish the
ground rules for the chase, establish the stakes and
start the race with a motivating incident. (Murder
on the Orient Express)
- Rescue – The hero, heroine and
“bad guy” weave a journey of pursuit, separation,
confrontation and reunion. (The Princess Bride).
- Escape – Begin the plot with
the imprisonment (of person, of mind or of concept),
deal with the plans for the escape and make sure
that these plans are almost upset at least one time
until finally comes the escape or the liberation of
the heroine’s heart. (Rapunzel)
- Underdog – The against all
odds plot. (Cinderella).
- Temptation – This plot
examines the motives, needs and impulses of human
nature. The hero and heroine must learn something
about themselves and why it is right for them to
give in (or to not give in) into the temptation. A
lot of inner turmoil, a lot of emotion in this one.
(Adam and Eve).
- Change – The change usually
can only be accomplished through love. (The Frog
Prince).
- Forbidden Love – the hero and
heroine defy social convention and pursue their
hearts, often with dangerous results. (Romeo and
Juliet)
- Sacrifice – the sacrifice is
often made at a great personal cost, often with a
strong moral problem at the center of the story.
Make sure the reader understands why the sacrifice
must be made. (Casablanca)
Plotting a good book seems like a
tall order, doesn’t it? Truth is, writing is work. Good
writing is even harder work. But the end result of this
entire struggle is a good book; your good book.
In closing, I wish you beautiful heroines, handsome
heroes and 4-Star Reviews for what you do to them.
Happy plotting!! |
