clevermanka | Plotting is the new Emotions

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Plotting is the new Emotions

Ugh, I do not know how to incorporate plot. *headdesk* I have all these (I think) charming personal interaction scenes with no Actual Plot besides They Are Living In A Haunted House And Things Keep Getting More Weird While Zhao Yunlan Falls In Love With A Ghost.

Two full months of story-time have passed and I know the Scary Thing that's gonna happen in a couple months, and then the Slightly Worse Thing that happens a couple months after that, and then the Final Really Bad Thing. And I know where and how the sex scenes happen (because Priorities), but an actual cohesive plot is...not gelling.

Is this a problem? If it is a problem, anyone got suggestions? My last two days of writing have been very unsatisfying because half my brain is yelling YOU NEED A PLOT and the other half is DO I REALLY and I'm just kinda... /o\

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DO I REALLY

NO

I personally believe in writing what I want to read, which means my characters talk to each other a lot and if there's any plot at all, it's only there because they needed something to talk about when they weren't discussing more important things, like tea and jokes and comfort. ♥ So for whatever that's worth... (As a reader I skip the purely-plot scenes to get to the tea and jokes and comfort (I'm just here for the (friendly and loving) relationships!) which is how I developed those priorities in my writing. :) )

So whenever I do the PLOT /o\ thing at

xparrot she reminds me that we read fic for the characters, not the plot. What most of us want is FEELS, not plot. So it's perfectly fine to skate from Charming Personal Interactions to Scary Thing and not really...do much else along the way?

I mean, I am struggling with this exact thing because I accidentally set up Plot Things in the 15k of intense h/c I'm currently sitting on?

So here's where I'm at with my writing - whoops, this is very me and maybe not at all relevant to you, so just prefacing this with that caveat.

Talking this "PLOT HOW" thing over with

xparrot and really, in my case I need to just. Either have plot stuff happen as part of character stuff? Or cut down on it somehow. Because I'm not invested enough in this particular scenario to put 15k words into it - not when the heart of the story is about Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, and yes saving the world is all very well, but if they haven't gotten a chance to talk (or in your case SEX SCENES whoo) then that's... not what I want?

tl;dr I am with the DO I REALLY part of your brain, because fanfic. ♥

Actually laughed out loud at the all caps NO, there. Thank you for this, seriously. Maybe I can crank out another cycle (one funny scene, one scary scene, one recovery scene) before this evening's company arrives.

Curses, Accidental Plot! =D

the heart of the story is about Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan
Good point.

As I discovered writing Lollipop, I do very well when I know I'm serving the needs of a particular audience. It's good to be reminded that the fanfiction audience is not necessarily here for the intricate plot developments. Thank you.

in your case SEX SCENES whoo
I am so excited to write their first time. Ghost Sex! It's gonna be Weird and Awesome!

Curses, Accidental Plot! =D
It really is a curse. XD

It's good to be reminded that the fanfiction audience is not necessarily here for the intricate plot developments.
Same! I mean - I need that reminder, because I tend to build up to "but if this random background thing isn't explored then--" and

xparrot will have to talk me down. ("I need to explain how everyone prepares to go to Dixing!" was a thing I thought I needed for Kaleidoscope and literally not a single person ever has asked me why that scene doesn't exist. Which it doesn't because the best of betas gently pointed out that no, nobody actually needed to know that level of detail.)

And this goes for good plot, too. It's fun to read a story where stuff happens, but as long as it's mostly coherent what is really fun is seeing how Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei and the others react to those things, and how that thing between them develops.

I am so excited to write their first time. Ghost Sex! It's gonna be Weird and Awesome!
*\o/*

I am so excited to read it!

With fanfiction (and certain kinds of literary fiction?) it's 100% possible to write a highly acclaimed piece that has zero plot. Everyone sits in a room, perhaps emoting, perhaps just introspecting, and the piece will be in the top 5 of the fandom kudos ranking. So: there will be an audience to characters emoting in an empty room.

My own experiences with stuff is that I have to start with a plot if there is to be one. That said, looking at your outline-thingy, you're perfectly placed for a Big Dumb Object -type plot! Just have them gradually discover more and more about a thingy, like the house. My personal preference for shipfic is that there be more going on than just the shippy get-together or whatnot, but then again, as I am not your audience (nothing personal, I just ... don't like setting-change AUs or haunted houses), you probably shouldn't tailor it to my likes. :P

Ha! No worries on not wanting to read this fic. The only archive warning it's NOT gonna have is Underage, so I realize it won't be everyone's cuppa.

I appreciate your weighing in on the plot issue. It makes me feel better to hear people confirm that a bunch of character-building scenes centered around a loose concept is fine. Thank you!

It's your hobby. You have fun with it, however it makes you happy.

Also, a lot of people enjoy reading the characters interacting without conventional plots. You will have readers.

That does seem to be the consensus. Very encouraging, thank you!

I continue to be impressed with your stretching yourself and trying new things!

(My current fic writing thoughts are going like -- Maybe I should trying writing something for my own dire panda challenge? But then I'd have to write fic that's not about Shen Wei cooking ... can I do that? *quickly distracts self with 5 other projects*)

Maybe...have him cook something for the dire panda? =D

Since plot is basically a sequence of events, it sounds like you have one. It just isn't a mystery plot, or an action plot. Falling in love with a ghost is totally a plot.

The story of mine with the most comments/kudos at AO3 is a MCU/Leverage crossover that has a Leverage-style con going on entirely in the background as my main character hangs out at a brew pub and reads books. Write the story you want to write.

Falling in love with a ghost is totally a plot
Yay! It's so good to hear similar, supportive validation from everyone. \o/

I love the idea of a plot happening in the background like that.

But pandas only eat bamboo, which doesn't need cooking. Maybe he could warm up milk for a baby dire panda.

I can't remember where I saw this so can't find it now, but I read an essay from a romance writer who pointed out that one of the reasons/ways romance gets dismissed as a genre is because it "doesn't have plot" -- when in fact characters getting together can be a very involved and complicated plot? It's just not an action plot, so the beats work differently.

In a romance story, the plot is the relationship. So ideally, every scene should advance the relationship somehow -- it should move them closer to developing their feelings, or realizing their feelings, or acting on them. But nothing else needs to "happen"; that development is what matters. So if Zhao Yunlan is falling more in love with the ghost with every scene, you have a plot already!

(also romances and fic can have subplots too, so if in some scenes they're not falling in love more but Zhao Yunlan's relationships with his friends are changing and developing, that's also plot!)

PERFECT

As a reader who personally loves plotty fanfic the best (character interactions and relationships are always more interesting when they're set in an around a series of occurrences in the characters' lives, rather than in isolation, imo), I can safely say that it sounds like you have a really interesting plot on hand already! Now you just need to figure out how to tie those events you've plotted out together.

Or he could cook the dire panda?

They Are Living In A Haunted House And Things Keep Getting More Weird While Zhao Yunlan Falls In Love With A Ghost.

That sounds to me like you have your plot right there?

From what you've described about your story, it sounds like what you need is progression and stuff happening around that; if you're writing a story set over several months, you probably need some stuff to happen around the relationship progression, otherwise (at least this is my experience) you might find yourself going slightly nuts writing the same two dudes just having conversations about... what? their feelings? So, yeah, I think a story set over several months needs some 'stuff that happens' that can prompt the relationship progression and will give your characters things to have conversations and feelings about, but I don't think you need a cohesive singular (outside) plot. The joy of a getting-together story is that there's an intrinsic plot with a resolution (one would hope *g*) and I strongly suspect that for a majority of your audience, that is the plot and resolution they care about, not whether there was a cohesive mystery built up over ten chapters and perfectly resolved one chapter from the end. (I mean, it's great when that happens! But in relationship fic, the absence of an outside, non-relationship plot isn't a primary concern.)

Would be my take, anyway!

That was my original thought, so I'm glad someone said it.

one of the reasons/ways romance gets dismissed as a genre is because it "doesn't have plot" -- when in fact characters getting together can be a very involved and complicated plot? It's just not an action plot, so the beats work differently
Oooo. If you ever come across that article again, please do send it to me. I think one of the reasons for my issue with this is Someone Who Is A Professional Fiction Writer In The House keeps impressing on me the importance of Plot and Narrative and I was beginning to doubt.

every scene should advance the relationship somehow
ah-HA! I think you just helped me solve my inertia. THANK YOU.

Thank you! Good point about tying the scenes together. When the time comes, I'll make sure to work with my beta on that...

it sounds like what you need is progression and stuff happening around that; if you're writing a story set over several months, you probably need some stuff to happen around the relationship progression
This is super helpful, thank you.

Thinking of it as *progression* of the relationships (especially ZYL/SW but also ZYL & Zhu Hong & Da Qing) instead of plot is a fantastic way to think about it. I just need to develop increasing tension in those relationships, followed by resolution, then building tension again. I'm resolving things too fast, I think, and not giving time for things to build up.

Seconding clevermanka's kudos. They're herbivores, they should be yummy.

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