#18 Six questions to drive your plot, The roles dialogue plays, Artificial intelligence revolutionizes interview transcription
If you're reading this for the first time and enjoy it, you can get the newsletter free every Friday by subscribing at chipswritinglessons.com/newsletter. Thank you.
"The View of Delft"/Johannes Vermeer
Wikimedia Commons
WRITERS SPEAK: Alice Munro on a story is like a house
“A story is not like a road to follow ... it's more like a house. You go inside and stay there for a while, wandering back and forth and settling where you like and discovering how the room and corridors relate to each other, how the world outside is altered by being viewed from these windows."
- Alice Munro
CRAFT LESSON: Six questions to drive your story's plot
There are two types of writers: plotters, who plan out their story, sometimes in great detail before they begin, and “pantsers,” who prefer to write without knowing the outcome in advance, content to sit at their desk and discover as they go along. I’m one of the latter.
But recently I pulled a book from my shelves that has led me to reconsider my approach. “Plot” is a 1988 primer by Ansen Dibell that takes a comprehensive look at this crucial element of storytelling.
Ask someone what the plot of their favorite novel or story is and they will tell you what happened in it. That’s useful shorthand when the conversation is about finished stories, But when it comes to writing one, it’s like saying “that a birthday cake is a large baked confection with frosting and candles," Dibell says. " It doesn’t tell you how to make one.”
“Plot,” says Dibell, “is built of significant events in a given story — significant because they have important consequences.” She gives two examples. Taking a shower isn’t a plot, nor is braiding your hair. Neither have any consequences. They are incidents.
But if it’s Janet Leigh stepping into the shower while homicidal maniac Tony Perkins waits to pounce in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," or the mega-long braid that is going to let a prince climb up the tower where Rapunzel is being held by a witch, these mundane incidents are transformed into plots.
For two months, I’ve worked nearly every day on a novel. I’ve written scenes and dialogue — the foundations of dramatic narrative — and summary narrative that leaps across time and space. But until I read Dibell’s book and other sources that discuss plotting, I didn’t realize I may just have been spinning my wheels because I didn’t ask some critical questions before I started.
Is there something at stake? Plotting is the way you show things matter.
Have I identified a protagonist, the person, in writing coach Jack Hart’s words, who “makes things happen?"
Can I summarize my plot in a sentence, the shorter the better, even if it takes hundreds of pages to play out? Two more examples from Dibell. “A group of British schoolboys, attempting to survive after their plane crash lands on a tropical island, begins reverting to savagery. That's the plot of William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” “The police chief of a New England vacation community, although terrified of the ocean, sets out to destroy a huge killer shark.” "Jaws."
Have I established the sequence of events “that occur when a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation that he confronts and solves,” which is two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative writer Jon Franklin’s definition of story.
Have I identified plot points, “any development that sends the story spinning off in a new direction," in screenwriting teacher Robert McKee’s formulation? These will help me plan my story trajectory.
Is my story going somewhere? Do I have an ending in sight, or at least in mind? Knowing your ending allows you to establish foreshadowing that can help build suspense and forge your story's meaning.
Pantsing is fine for some writers, and has worked for me in the past, mostly with short stories when the journey is relatively short. But as the word count of my book rises, I realize I’m not sure where I’m going. And I don’t feel like spending a lot of time creating a spineless mass of prose that I may end up jettisoning or face a massive rewrite. With these questions in mind, I’ve decided to stop spinning and start thinking first, pansting less and plotting more. If you’re struggling with a story, you might want to do the same.
"The Girl with the Pearl Earring"/Johannes Vermeer
Wikimedia Commons
TIP OF THE WEEK: Dialogues' roles in story
Dialogue is the breath of every story. Use it to develop characters, advance the plot and pace your stories.
James B. Stewart uses dialogue extensively in his two nonfiction books, "Blood Sport" and "Den of Thieves."
His book, "Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction" is one of the finest guidebooks for those aiming to write compelling nonfiction.
"If description enables readers to visualize a scene," he writes. "Dialogue lets them hear it." Don't pass up the chances to bring your story alive with dramatic rather than summary narrative. "Dialogue," Stewart says, "sometimes makes a point more persuasively than anything I could say by way of paraphrase"
BOOKBAG
Have you read these? The New York Public Library has released the titles of the 10 most checked-out books in its 125-year history:
“The Snowy Day,” by Ezra Jack Keats (1962).
“The Cat in the Hat,” by Dr. Seuss (1957).
“1984,” by George Orwell (1949).
“Where the Wild Things Are,” by Maurice Sendak (1963).
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee (1960).
“Charlotte’s Web,” by E.B. White (1952).
“Fahrenheit 451,” by Ray Bradbury (1953).
“How to Win Friends and Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie (1936).
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” by J.K. Rowling (1997).
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” by Eric Carle (1969).
Worth noting: Any writer who's ever had to transcribe an interview knows what a time-consuming pain it is. Now that audio recorders are a non-negotiable item in the toolkit of writers who conduct interviews, speedy, accurate transcription is a must. Enter artificial intelligence which has made automated transcription possible. It's not perfect yet, but it's remarkable how much of an interview can be transcribed with computing power. For several months, I've used Otter.ai. It transcribes quickly and while the error rate varies, you can playback the audio and quickly correct the text to make sure you've got it right. It's taken a lot of the drudgery out of transcription, especially on deadline. That's just one option. You can pay for human transcription if you've got the budget. Otter gives you 600 free minutes every month without having to upgrade to premium. Open Notebook has performed a great service by testing a handful of the most popular transcription services and publishing the results. It's a bit nerdy, but will help you see what's out there and decide which to try. Your typing fingers will thank you.
"The Geographer"/Johannes Vermeer
Wikimedia Commons
CHIP IN YOUR EAR
"Grief's Theme"/Alexandre Desplat
Sign up for Chip in Your Inbox.
Newsletter archive.
Question? Comment? Email me at chipscan@gmail.com or send a reply to this newsletter.
May the writing go well.
Chip in Your Inbox participates in the Amazon Affiliate links program, which enables sites to earn commissions from the sales of books listed here. Many of the books are also available in public libraries.