Lesson 4; Discussion

Tuesday, February 02, 2016

What I learned from this lesson!

I will start with plot. Last summer I read, “Novelist’s Essential Guide to Creating Plot” by j. Madison Davis I bought this book about 8 years ago put it on a shelf and never read it until summer 2015. I did a comparison with my notes on the lesson 4 reading assignments. I found that I now have a really good working idea of how Plot and Theme move. I like to think of plot as a map of the story. It binds characters to goals within the story. Plot produces conflict. It also contains your resolution to the tale.

Theme as a leading melody in a composition clarifies it for me. Now, theme makes a lot of sense as a separate writing object. Theme in writing is the subject the story is written about. It is the subject, while plot is the action that links to the subject. The links are how the characters, conflicts, and resolutions play out against the leading subject.

Subplots are the little stories that motivate actions within the plot. They are about characters or actions by characters that may or may not sink with the main plot characters.

As I map the story I am working on, about Bea (the main characters name changed in Lesson three) and Megan I have discovered at least one subplot that may liven up the storm a little. I have not written it but I think it will be a parallel plot or a swallowtail plot. All this information about plots, subplots, themes will make me a better reviewer as well. I like the planning side of stories. Up until now, I have been a Pantser but think the Planner is going to help me see quicker the many places a story can go and decide which direction will "reel in the reader".