Finding or Losing the Plot...

We had productive fun at Annabel Smith's plotting workshop on Saturday, with lively discussion around what it was that drew us into a novel, and what pulled us forward and compelled us to keep reading. We discussed masculine and feminine approaches (masculinist and feminist?) the linear and the circular, singularly or multiply climactic, and we did practical exercises exploring our current projects in the context of these exercises.

Annabel explored the what and why of the novel, referencing articles from here, here, and here.

I'm always in two minds about workshops (at least two minds). At their best they can help break a deadlock and stimulate a surge in writing and a renewed level of excitement in what I am doing. (I tend to work at it regardless, but it's better and I'm more productive when I feel excited about the process). At the other end of the scale, workshops can become an end in themselves, an endless pursuit of information which is seldom directly applied to the project at hand. That's not a necessarily bad thing if it leads to a useful shift in understanding. I think no learning is wasted - it's all recycled, and often the long way round is the most scenic. Sometimes when I'm in the mood, I even book into workshops without knowing what they are going to be about. At the moment I've given myself a fairly tight schedule, so I was pleased that this workshop was immediately relevant, and my time was so well-spent.

Why?

The presenter was flexible in her approach and encouraged and engaged in the discussion around the pros and cons of plotting rules. It was a true exploration of ideas rather than a set formula approach to plotting - although structure was presented as a series of helpful exercises. What I found was that by going through the process of thinking about the various elements of story development, my own project became clearer, and the trajectory of the story became more developed in my imagination.
At the same time it reminded me that I have my own permission to live in uncertainty when it comes to writing a story. It can go in any one of so many directions, and the emphasis and story will change as the writing materialises. I feel that writing is a process of seeking a kind of truth through reconciling the conscious, rational mind with the intuitive, and by understanding that without some ability to step back and look at structure a story is impoverished. It is similarly impoverished when we write without emotion, passion, and a certain willingness to put our thoughts - or not our thoughts - (as words) on the line. In the bumpy and twisted terrain of novel-writing, by placing both hands on that steering wheel, we're more likely to keep our car on the road.