Delve into my NaNo draft with me for a moment, if you will. Marie, our heroine is driving her team in a big truck with an extended cab along a highway in the desert. The next “catastrophe” I’ve planned for them is an engine problem, which happens on schedule. They get out, one of the guys thinks he can fix it, and rummage around in back for a tool box. I’ve not given them one, I want them to solve the problem creatively (or not, whatever happens as I write).
And then they find a box in the back. One that could be a tool box. I’m intrigued, because it’s not supposed to be there. I’m typing furiously; just as curious as they are to find out what’s in the mysterious box. They open it up, and through a serious of cryptic comments, we all find out that it’s a kilo bag of cocaine.
Obviously, this adds some serious issues to the story. There are certain logical things that one “expects” to go with illegal drugs being randomly found. One of which is that at the very least, someone’s probably looking for the drugs.
This doesn’t actually change my plot at all…it just adds another layer of complexity. More bad guys to watch out for. Maybe more good guys if law enforcement gets involved. Certainly more challenges and danger to deal with as they try to solve the main challenge in the story. It’s something I hadn’t thought of, and why would I? I was focused on the main story when planning out my scenes, and I don’t plan out every little detail before I start writing (because knowing too much about the story before I write it bores me, and then I don’t write it).
This happens to me quite often – I’ll be writing along, minding my own characters when someone finds something, or an event I didn’t plan just sort of happens. Sometimes it’s annoying, and completely unusable. My past NaNo drafts have many such examples that make me fear editing them. Occasionally, they’re like the example above, and I sit in awe of what can happen when you let things play out as they will on the page.
Do automatic sub-plots pop up in your drafts? Are they normally usable, or just words to cut later? Have you ever taken an automatic sub-plot out and turned it into it’s own story?
54 minutes ago
5 comments:
My stories are constantly going off on their own path. I stopped outlining long ago because my story never resembled what I had originally intended.
That used to happen when I was writing without any outline. With current outline, while some scenes and some actions of my characters have changed, so far no major changes in the plot. We will see what happens by the time I reach the end, but I don't expect major diversions, because I have already had all of that when outlining.
Although I have to know the end of a story before I start to write it, I never know what's going to happen in between until it happens.
I've already had a dream sequence between my two main characters pop up unexpectedly - and they haven't even met yet!
Okay, they've met now, but they hadn't when the dream ocurred
LOL- That's a great sub-plot (poor characters- you're so mean..LOL J/K)
Yes this happens to me all the time! I get new characters, new attitudes, new "boxes" that pop up. I think that is a really fun thing about writing, ya never know what's around the corner, even when you're the one writing it!
Sounds exciting- should add some good layers for ya!
Subplots may not be the "point" of a story, but, personally, I find them one of the most pleasurable parts. Since they're supposedly not as important as the main plot, the pressure's off and I get to just have fun deepening the layers and fleshing out minor characters. The danger is when we get so wrapped in the fun that we end up with too many subplots!
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