What is Plotting?
In taking a class on genre writing–fantasy, suspense and mystery–from Marvin Kaye at NYU, I was surprised at how closely the plot structure of suspense resembles that of romance.
Plot structure sounds very dull to a writer eager to let the words flow, to create, but without a structure to your plot you have nothing. Unfortunately, structure is not something that flows like magic from whatever side of the brain is involved in creativity (I can never remember). It must be learned–usually consciously. If you happen to be one of those fortunate omnivorous readers who imbibed the printed page with your mother’s milk, you might be lucky enough to have had plot structure embed itself painlessly into your mind as you absorbed story after story. Few of us have that kind of luck.
In a suspense plot the story begins with the protagonist threatened in some way. If it doesn’t, no editor will buy the story because no one would read it. The writer has the choice of presenting the main character and the threat in three ways.
Elements of the Structure
First, in media res, in the middle of things, beginning with action. Or as Kaye puts it, we see the protagonist waking up tied to a bed in a locked room and neither he nor the reader knows how he got there.
Second, starting at the beginning. The protagonist is walking down the garden path when an attacker leaps out from behind a bush and grabs him.
Third, the attacker behind the bush is shown first, so that the reader knows he’s there but the protagonist doesn’t.
This creates anxiety in the reader as he watches the unsuspecting hero come closer and closer to the waiting danger.
The next development in the structure of the plot is the confusion sequence. Depending on how the writer has set up the beginning of the book, the protagonist may be unaware of the danger, partially aware, or fully aware but usually not comprehending the reason.
These two elements of the structure, if correctly done, lead to the next step–realization. The protagonist finds out just how perilous things are. This is the pivotal point of the book.
Now comes the real meat of the story, the part that takes up most of the pages, the gathering knowledge and counterattack section. The protagonist may seem to be momentarily successful here but he never quite is and most often lands in worse trouble because of his actions, thus increasing tension for the reader because of the alternation of hope and fear.
The culmination of this is the climax, the highest point of action and suspense. This is not the end but, since everything is downhill from here, the rest of the story must be kept short.
Now comes the denouement–which way the scales tip, who wins.
Last is the resolution where the writer ties up all the loose ends. Quickly.
In these seven elements, the first two, the threat and confusion sequences can’t be dragged out too long without denying the reader the meat of the story. And the last two, denouement and resolution, should be succinct.
How do these elements apply in writing a romance?
Actually, with a few word changes, the plot structure is essentially the same.
As a suspense novel begins with introducing the protagonist, the threat to him and, usually, the antagonist, a romance novel begins with the introduction of the heroine, gives at least a strong hint of her problem and also introduces the hero.
In both genres the writer most often starts off in media res, plunging the reader immediately into the action, but it’s possible, though more difficult, to start a romance novel from the beginning or from the hero’s POV, in the latter case, telling the reader things the heroine doesn’t know.
The confusion sequence is very similar in both genres.
What does the hero want? our heroine asks herself. What’s he up to? Or–I know what he wants (she really doesn’t, not yet) and I’ll see he never gets it.
She then comes to realize she’s really fighting herself. Or that she’s been oh, so wrong about his motives. Or that he isn’t the macho monster she thought he was. At this point she begins to change–the pivotal point is reached.
Now comes the biggest part of the book–alternation of hope and fear as both heroine and hero acquire more knowledge (sometimes false) about each other. Here they come together only to be wrenched apart by events, quarrels, or their own emotions. It’s the she loves me, he loves me not section.
This ends with the climax–not necessarily physical
It’s the part of the book where the relationship between the two reaches the point of no return. Will they grasp this chance for happiness greater than they’ve ever known, or not?
Unlike a suspense story, the denouement always comes out yes. In a romance it’s never no at this stage of the book, because it’s too close to the end. Any nay saying must occur before the climax.
The very brief resolution usually assures the reader that the hero and heroine will marry, or it may show the wedding. If they’re already suffering from a marriage of convenience, it pictures the marriage as no longer false.
Sometimes it skips ahead and shows a happy family after they’ve married. Succinctly.
I can’t emphasize enough the necessity to study these elements of plot structure. When judging Golden Heart mss., I found the basic problem with most of them was the lack of plot. There was none. I came to realize that too many beginning writers have no conception of what a plot is.
Whatever else can be said about a plot, it does have a structure, a definable structure, and that structure can be learned.
An easy way to begin is to try rereading a few of your favorite romances and picking them apart to see where one element of the plot gives way to the next. Discover how the author handles each element. If she learned to do it–so can you.