Thursday, January 3, 2013

The power of what if

For Christmas I got season 1 of the TV show Once Upon a Time. The first thing I watched was the bonus features, because I love seeing how these things are made. What stuck out to me was how many times the writers of the show said "we wondered what would happen if" or "this path was obvious, so we asked ourselves what if..."

The biggest thing to me is when they were talking about Prince Charming's back story. They knew everyone would expect to know his story--the royal prince with a rich father who would take Snow White away. So they asked "What if that wasn't his story? What if he was actually a pauper?" From this simple realization that  the story would be more interesting with Charming having a different back story, the show has a whole other plot to go into with the conflicts of becoming a prince without having been raised as one.

As I've been plotting my next book, I've asked myself these same questions. What would the audience expect to happen from this? If it's something good--like the heroine winning, then I don't touch it. But who's expected to be the bad guy? The good guy? What cliches are in this genre that I want to avoid? Then from this, asking "what if this happened?" Sometimes it's awful. But sometimes it's good. And I've found that things are a lot less predictable and a lot more interesting.

Do you have any tricks for plotting your story?


10 comments:

  1. Whenever I get stuck writing, it's because I haven't thought through back story thoroughly enough.

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  2. i love the 'what if' game, definitely works in furthering your story.

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  4. Hi Jenna, I have this 8 plot point structure that I plot my stories with. Its quite good and helps me get my story moving.

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  5. I need to play the "what if" game more with my plots. It really does produce some original and exciting ideas!

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  6. I love the "what if" game--it always leads to interesting outcomes! I don't use it all that often when writing, though I like your take on the antagonist--I will have to try that.

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  7. Notecards, and reading things by Donald Maass.

    Just found your blog, btw. :) I'm a fellow writer and blogger--nice to meet you!

    Susan @ The Feather and the Rose

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  8. Asking "what if" questions can really help open up to new possibilities in your plot. I love plot twists so the "what if" question is essential. (:

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  9. Love that show!

    I've found that the best way to raise the stakes in your story is to think about your main character's worst fear and then put them in the situation where it does happen or could happen.

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