Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations. Plot is observed after the fact rather than before. It cannot precede action. It is the chart that remains when an action is through. That is all Plot ever should be. It is human desire let run, running, and reaching a goal. It cannot be mechanical. It can only be dynamic.
– Ray Bradbury
Tag: plot
Quotable 233
Characters make their own plot. The dimensions of the characters determine the action of the novel.
– Harper Lee
Quotable 192
A plot without action is like pasta without garlic, like Dolly Parton without cleavage, and like a writer without his similes.
– Dean Koontz
Quotable 162
Plot exists so the character can discover what he is really like, forcing the character to choice and action.
– John Gardner
Pen to Paper: Really Listening to ‘High Fidelity’
I’m not a big fan of the cinema, but occasionally I’ll latch onto a movie and not turn it loose until I’ve wrung it dry of its secrets. I have to know why I like it so much; I want to know what makes it tick.
One such movie is High Fidelity, directed by Stephen Frears from Nick Hornby’s wonderful book and starring John Cusack in a world-class performance. I’ve studied that movie and learned some valuable things about plotting. One of the keys to this story is the use of surprise. This is where I learned how crucial surprise can be in fiction.
Hideous, terrible spoilers begin here for those who haven’t viewed the movie. Do as you like, but you’ve been warned.
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