Every morning I took my seat in Alistair MacLeod’s workshop at Humber College and I scribbled down his words so I wouldn’t forget them. Here’s what he had to say about plot.
Plot is when you can go in anywhere in the story and ask, “Why?”
Alistair drew a string of boxes on the board and in each box, an event. Queen died. King died. Dog died. Prince died. So far, there is no plot here. Plot is a causal, not chronological series of events.
So how do you make the events into something more? You link them with cause and effect. When the queen died, what effect did it have on the king? Then what happened as a result? Plot consists of an action and the consequence of that action.
When the queen died, the king fell into a deep state of grief, neglecting his young son. He trusted his brother to raise the boy and as a result the prince grew to become a cruel and arrogant young man. One day, the prince was out hunting and a dog crossed his path. It was an ugly thing and the prince struck it down with his sword. The dog died and in that instant a spell was cast on the land.
That's just a quick example to illustrate cause and effect. Next time you are shaping a story or a novel, consider how one event leads to the next.
What a wonderful time that workshop was, Laurie. I am ready for another. Are you taking one?
ReplyDelete