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Plotting method – Oral retelling script
Hey all. We spoke about some plotting exercises on the last Apex call. Here’s the story plotting exercise that really helps me (can be done alone or with friends/tutors/writing buddies). I like it, because instead of focusing on organizing the story with tools and logical planning, it naturally straightens it up through oral retelling. Basically, it’s a pantser’s key to plotting.
Write or talk yourself through the following script. Do it multiple times if your story has more than one independent storyline. Feel free to swear – seriously, it liberates you from self-censorship. I’ll add examples fitting Nikolai Gogol’s “The Nose” (if you haven’t read that proto-Kafkaesque masterpiece, you really should.)
STORYTELLER: Dear LISTENER [pick a trusted, but competent person], here’s a story about a [character that finds out something]. E.g., a guy that discovers his nose disappeared overnight and turned into its own person.
LISTENER: What does he do about that?
STORYTELLER: He starts combing through all people he knows in Saint-Petersburg, trying to find his damn nose.
LISTENER: Why does he do it?
STORYTELLER: Because he’s a self-conscious, petty official, and losing one’s nose is an embarrassment he can’t imagine surviving.
LISTENER: Wait up. Where does it happen?
STORYTELLER: [Provide context/setting.] E.g., it’s Saint-Petersburg in the 19th century Tsarist Russia. It’s the rise of bureaucratism under Tsar Nicolas I.
LISTENER: Ok, makes sense. So, what happens next?
STORYTELLER: He [description the next encounter/challenge/plot point]. – Iterate it until you get to the culmination.
LISTENER: How does he resolve it?/What happens next?/Why? – Iterate it until you get to the culmination.
…
LISTENER: So, what happens in the end?
STORYTELLER: [Describe the culmination.] E.g. the guy discovers his nose didn’t just turn into a person. It got a government job and got promoted way faster than its past owner.
LISTENER: Cool. What does the character do about it?
STORYTELLER: [Describe the conclusion.] E.g., he tries to confront his own nose, but the latter gets away and tries to flee the city, only to be apprehended by a police officer. The guy gets his nose returned to him and one day finds it reattached back in its place.
LISTENER: Do you know what will probably happen to the character after the conclusion?
STORYTELLER: He gets back to his habbit of office gossip and flirting with girls. The moral of the story is lost upon him.
LISTENER: Cool story. But what is it REALLY about?
STORYTELLER: [Describe the intended subtext.] E.g., the rise of mediocrity to power in a hyper-bureaucratic, classist society, where even a runaway nose can become a big boss.
Look back through the script you just wrote or spoke through.
Ask yourself these questions:
– What parts of the script stand out and make you excited? Highlight them, that’s potentially your strongest writing material.
– What questions didn’t get a clear, satisfying answer? Revisit them.
– What questions received too long of an answer? Revisit them.
– After what answer did your LISTENER had nothing to say? (You’re your own listener sometimes, so be honest about where you stumbled in your script. That’s where the reader will question if they want to keep reading.)
– What was the most natural flow of the questions and answers? The real reader may sometimes want to know what happens next, but sometimes may really want to know why this particular thing just happened. Don’t go against the natural flow of the LISTENER’s questions.
Now, look through the story again. Imagine it’s an interview that will be printed in a magazine/newspaper.
Highlight the STORYTELLER’s answers that deserve being highlighted in the article. (They would naturally attract the reader that was just skimming through the magazine while waiting for an appointment.) These are the parts of the story that work as hooks. One, you can use them in your query/pitch. Two, these are great places to start a new part/chapter/the novel itself, as they hook up the reader that just opened a random page.
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1 Reply
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Thanks. This looks like an interesting exercise. I’ll try it on “Tenth of December”, a short story I like.
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