Plot
#4 of The Art and Science of Writing
The three parts of a story are Characters, Presentation, and Plot.
An interesting book called "The Energy of Delusion" told me that all of the great stories have already been told. Shakespeare also said this, and now he's a legend. Then a really interesting teacher told me that the plot is the least important part of the story. My eyes bugged out of my head when he told me this, so I took the most direct approach I could think of. If all the tales have already been told, then instead of making up my own, I can find others and make them mine.
PLOT is only the road which the story rides upon. It is how we present the story which entertains.
Plagiarism!?! No ... not really. All of us did this type of storytelling as kids. "Okay, I'm Super Man and you get to be Lex Luther!" Baby's first Fanfiction ... I told stories like this as a kid, my friends have told them, and, throughout our lives, we have heard them again and again. So I took existing stories, stripped them of their characters, and made them my own.
When my characters reach a boring part of the story and I don't know where to go, I begin reading and watching movies. I flood myself with stories until something catches my eye and I can imagine my characters in that situation. So, here are some examples from my first book.
NOTE: This information is a little repetitive ... sorry.
Little Red Riding Hood: A little girl who goes off into the woods and gets into trouble for not doing what she is told ... a talking wolf (one friendly one not) ... friend or foe ... sex ... innocence ... a hunter ... the red cloak which might or might nor symbolize a girl's first period, the breaching of her hymen, or her death at the claws of a terribly cruel and violent world.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Anthropomorphic bear family ... little blond girl intruder ... mix in Hansel & Gretel ... add idea of indentured servitude for breaking in and breaking their stuff ... mix in Beauty and the Beast for a teenage girl and bear ... toss in the legend of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor ... stumble upon the idea of reading the stars.
Rapunzel : Girl in a tower ... trapped there by her over protective witch of a mother ... dumb prince comes to rescue her ... magical garden ...
The Billy Goats Gruff: The characters must cross a bridge which has a terrible monster living under it. They must find a way to get past. NOTE - The method they use to cross comes from an old Saturday morning cartoon - Conan the Adventurer
Medusa, from Greek Mythology: While looking through a D&D monster manual I stumbled upon a picture of a fairly attractive Medusa and her young Medusa daughter. Instantly a pair of characters sprang to mind... and became the Oracle and her daughter. Oracles are classic Greek characters whom every hero must eventually go to. Thus my hero must go to one too.
Blue Beard or The Fletcher's Bird: A wizard in a mansion who captures young girls and tells them he will marry them if they stay out of this one room. When they fail he chops their heads off then hacks them up with an executioner-axe. I immediately decided I wanted my hero to cut his head off instead.
Baba Yaga: A wise and scary witch or ogress from Russian myth ... lots of fairy tales have a witch ... maybe I can use them ...
Old Mother Hulda: A wise and motherly old woman whom humbles young women by having them do menial chores. Also the recreation of an older legend of a Santa Clause character who favors tailors.
Hansel and Gretel: Cynthia was turned out into the forest because her family was starving. ALSO - Baba Ginger lives in the Gingerbread house.
Jack ... and the Bean Stalk ... Jack be Nimble Jack be Quick ... 7 in One Stroke ... This character is all of these people rolled into one. His super power is insane luck. This character was created when my good friend Hillary almost throttled me for ignoring a romantic moment. In order to learn to create and use this romantic plot line, I read the book On Writing Romance, by Leigh Michaels. I would like to thank Hillary for shaking me like a British nanny because out of that scene came one of my favorite characters.
A Midsummer Nights Dream: Oberon, Titania, and Puck all make fantastic characters which have helped me to forge my version of the fairy realm. By mixing these characters with D&D lore, I crafted Adara the Nymph, Dewdrop the Pixie, and a host of other characters I have yet to make.
NOTE - Poor Dewdrop got cut from the book ... but she's in that court! I just know she is! I hope to bring her back in a future book. Her bubbly personality and love of humanity's strange ways shall not be forgotten!
NOTE 2 - Dewdrop made it into Little Red Wolf Book 3! Though this book is not out yet, I rescued Dewdrop from the cutting room floor and put her back into the book! She also made an appearance in "Sweets and Sour."
Unknown Internet Story: I stumbled upon a tale of a fairy queen who blackmails princesses into giving up their first born by holding their entire family for ransom. This became the basis for the The Lady of the Mist and her holding Selena's father hostage as she demands the woman's first born.
For my other books I cranked it up a notch and have been reading The Book of Revelation, Genesis, and Exodus, from The Christian Bible, a book on Norse Myth and the stories of Ragnarök, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and every other ancient tale I can get my hands on. From these I have made an interesting story which I think people will like. Who knows where else these tales will take me. But PLOT is only the road which the story drives upon. The delivery of the story is what entertains an audience!