...But Does It Advance the Plot? by Patty Blount

 Over the last 20 years or so, I've taken countless workshops about plotting and if there's one thing I've learned along my publishing journey, it's that there are as many ways to plot as there are writers. 

I've tried using sticky notes and tri-fold boards, the hero's and heroine's journeys, various shapes like snowflakes and Ws, screenwriting techniques and even inverse plotting and every one of them works...to an extent. 

But none of them are fool-proof and that is what I want to talk to you about today. If you're looking for the perfect plotting technique, STOP! Save yourself. Abandon your quest! It does not exist. 

Instead, focus on character. Character is where plot lives and breathes. 

Let me give you an example. 

List 3 of your favorite fictional characters ever. They could be from a book, a movie or a TV show. 

My favorites: 

1. Dana Scully from The X-Files
2. Levi Cooper, from the novel The Best Man, by Kristan Higgins
3. Noah Hutchins from the YA novel, Pushing the Limits, by Katie McGarry

Next, take a few minutes to identify what it is about each character that resonates so strongly with you. Why is this character a favorite? 

1. Dana Scully is off-the-charts smart and is unapologetic about her intelligence and pursuit of scientific proof for the crimes and cases she investigates. Despite the years of experience following Fox Mulder into all manner of spooky situations, she insists on exhausting rational and logical explanations first. She's also rather fearless. 
2. Levi Cooper is chief of police in a small town known for its wine-makers. He was abandoned by his father and grew up in a trailer park. Unable to afford college, he enlisted in the military, went to war and now currently cares for his teenaged half-sister after their mother dies. But perhaps his biggest claim to fame is busting up the fairy-tale wedding of Faith and Jeremy because Jeremy was keeping a pretty important secret -- even from himself. Speaking up was the right thing to do, even if Faith never forgives him. 
3. Noah Hutchins is a high school student and foster kid separated from his little brothers after their parents are killed in a fire. He will do anything to protect his brothers, even if it means lying to social services. 

Okay. Now I want you to imagine these characters in new situations. These situations should be something they did NOT face in their original worlds. These new situations don't need to be extraordinary or even heroic. They could be common-place or even stereotypical. In fact, the more boring, the better! Let's go with laundry. 

Then, I want you to imagine how your favorite characters would act in these situations. 

I'll go first. 

1. Dana Scully -- Because this character lives her life from one dangerous situation to the next, I like to imagine her doing something like laundry. When I picture her carrying a basket downstairs to her building's washer and dryer, I see finding someone else's clothing already taking up residence in a machine. Scully's not a mean person, so she won't just dump it on the floor. She'd probably fold it into a neat stack. And then, she'd find something in a pocket. Maybe it's a crumbled up letter. Or a fragment of jewelry. I imagine her doing her best to track down who owns it so it can be returned. She'd eventually call in Mulder to help her because remember: she's all about the rational and logical explanation. 

2. Levi Cooper is all about duty. Even when he's off duty, he does a lot of work around the community, like teaching senior citizens how to defend themselves, for example. While doing laundry in his apartment building's shared laundry room, I imagine him walking in on some adolescent boys who've gotten into some other tenant's load of whites. "Inappropriate." He'd mutter as he collects the various pairs of lacy undergarments and puts them back in their basket. If one of the boys tries to smart-mouth him, Levi would come up with some sort of community service and then flex an impressively muscular arm to emphasize the point. Remember, Levi is also about doing what's right. 

3. Noah Hutchins is a foster kid so everything he owns fits into a single basket. He'd probably wear pajama pants to the laundromat so he could wash everything else and if someone came in who was in worse shape than he was, he'd give that person his only pair of jeans. Remember, Noah is all about protection! 

How did you do with this exercise? 

I hope you noticed that plot is not merely what happens or what your characters are doing, but why they do it, why they make the various decisions they make. Plot is character; character is plot. You can't have one without the other. 

When you've developed your characters well and to the point that they're fully three-dimensional, you'll be able to drop them into any situation and know exactly how they'd behave. 

If you really want to have fun with this exercise, try crossing characters into one another's worlds. For example, see what happens when you put Noah on an X-File or Scully in wine country. 

Whenever you find yourself struggling with plot, look back at your characters. Are they making decisions that are right for them, in this moment, given their goals? That's how you advance your plot. 

Tell me what characters you chose and why in the comments!