#dialogue definitely leaves a lot to be desired‚ but I'm hoping that this improves in the later acts

[yesistolethisurl]

.

[jadegreenworks]

I'm dying to know--how in the world do you write such amazing plots? How do you even begin weaving in suspense and character development and desires into the story? I've been struggling with this for years and I still haven't improved much in fiction. Is there any advice you can give me and other people who struggle to write plots? Maybe map out your own writer's process? You're such an inspiration

Honestly, thank you so much! This is incredibly kind and you are sweet to ask! I wish I had some sort of formula I could share, but the majority of my plotting was panic. The entire story of my favorite work, Overcoming, evolved from a single scene and an idea of two people so deeply opposed to one another it would take a miracle to bring them together. I knew how I wanted it to start and what I wanted to have happen, and had a firm grasp on the ending I desired, and then I worked on scenes. I wrote out every major turning point scene and then altered the story line to bring me to those scenes. Take the Trout Slap, for instance, if you know of it. That was not originally written in the first version of the story, it just came out when I read Hannibal's dialogue. I thought, "Wow, I'd slap the shit out of him if he said that to me," and the trout slap was born. So sudden inspiration can really pay off.

But I suppose to answer your question more specifically, I'd say the best thing is to create conflict. Answer the question, “Why has my ultimate goal not been obtained yet,” like another writer posed. If there is no reasonable explanation as to why your chosen ending can’t take place immediately, then it’s back to the drawing board to create circumstances that truly thwart and prevent, say, your two lovers from coming together. Your readers will be questioning, because that’s just the way we are, why this that or another was enough to keep them apart, so definitely make the conflict something solid enough to be reasonable.

I like to set up situations, the more complicated and difficult to solve the better, and then I come up with ways to resolve them throughout the course of the story using the characters themselves. Sometimes that means creating characters people love to hate (channel unpleasant people you've dealt with!) or creating characters so morally ambiguous you're not certain you should root for them or not. I made some doozy situations, like Hannibal having a mistress and child (I got some straight up hate mail for that one before the plot twist came out), and then when the time came to resolve that particular barrier to happiness, I found a way to undo it fairly, without falling back on the old trope of someone dying or the heroine forgiving or not even paying attention to the fact that they were cheated on. Setting conflicts pushes you to figure your way out of the maze (and sometimes, in my case, mess) you've made. Those types of situations generate suspense as well, and it's just as important resolving them and giving those reading a little break from tension before you harken back to another conflict, make it worse, and end on a cliffhanger :D

Character-wise, I think the best thing is to write how they react to conflicts and one another. Are they frightened of another character? Are they terrified of falling in love? Are they being manipulated in ways they can't see, but we can? Do they need the specific help of Character X to fix something, but Character X is unwilling or missing or just a turd? Are they so dedicated to a hopeless affection that they allow situations to escalate beyond their control? Make them human, make them real. Give them hopes and fears we relate to as an audience. I have two completely different versions of nearly every story I've ever written, just because I took two different approaches to the way the characters develop. The best piece of advice I can give for characters is to let them fail. Let them have flaws and help them become better people, or worse people, as long as there is dynamic change. They can so often drive the plot by themselves in search of evolving. Subverting tropes is another fun and good way to move things along, too, because people expect things to go a certain way, or to see a character do a certain thing, and when you get to surprise them it pushes the story up a notch. If all else fails, an experienced beta reader (and I highly recommend shopping around because it isn't always a match at first try) can help you get from point A to point B and make the plot and tension more streamlined and intense. And I can never emphasize the power of a cliffhanger enough. It leaves people eager to see the next chapter and is just a lot of fun to do!

But long story short, I started with a scene and two people who had zero chance in hell ever making it work going through a series of situations that challenged their respective perspectives just so I could bring them together. Better than half the time I was working on the fly just cranking situations out I thought might work. Most were discarded for other things, some were kept, but only the ones that moved my characters forward to my goal ending.

So, hopefully somewhere in this rambling nightmare mess I've made some sense! And my inbox/messaging is always open if you'd like more detail. I don't do beta reading myself because I am pretty crap at it, but I am always happy to help brainstorm! Thank you again for this!