“I like exploring the small, telling pivots of a moment because I believe that such small moments can be as important as the larger dramatic moments we often think define life.” Grant, this sentence of yours is gold to me. I’m also grateful I am a paid subscriber to your posts because I don’t want to miss the many shiny bits I find in your newsletters and work.
If only "plot" wasn't taught as so mechanical in discussing the progress of a protagonist or a story. What if it's about human change and development that is, or appears to be, organic based on the conflicts and challenges of a human person. And in short fiction, I can see the non-plot moment working; the problem is in longer fiction, how do we find a different more subtle solution to " what kind of change occurs." Maybe you are saying the progress of a story doesn't need to be about change?
Oh, Grant. I really like what you say about plot. When Anne Bernays and I were writing WHAT IF? WRITING EXERCISES FOR FICTION WRITERS, we sent the manuscript off to our editor at Harper Collins and he wrote back "You left out plot." True. So, we were asked to add it to the book, but our hearts were not happy. Recently, I wrote this for Vancouver Flash Fiction Writing Tips: 2023: "Forget plot. Plot sits like a boulder on your story. Instead think “unstable situation” and notice that an unstable situation has a past—and a future. Also forget conflict—it too is a dead weight. Instead think “tension,” “anticipation,” “apprehension,” and “dread.”
I love your posts. They are wise, witty, and full of inspirational advice. Now, I am waiting for your novel. Cheers.
The thing about plot is people tend to overly worry about it, construct elaborate and clever plots no one will remember, the characters on the other hand…
I always refer back to James Joyce’s Dubliners as the gold standard of epiphany in writing. But I would also note that it is possible - perhaps even mandatory - that even character driven fiction contain the basics of plot, I.e. beginning, middle and end. It’s not easy to get to the top of that hill but it can be so rewarding if a writer can do so.
Ira
writing from the bottom of the world, or, as it is known around here - - Salem, Oregon.
Great article. When "composing" a story, I use a single suggestive (nonsensical) sentence to create the context:
example: “Andy lived blind until his hearing was shot!”
WTF: Then I explore the potential meaning of the sentence; and/or those 8 combined words. First: I got Andy, blind; hearing; & shot. Most important I got “until.” What happened?
I am only starting out as a crime fiction writer, but that’s how I create a plot from nothing..!
it's...extreme--earlier and more Expressionist with a capital E than the tone-row stuff he's more known for and (that I'm guessing the NY-er piece focused on, but I'll check). Signal use of Sprechstimme too, which is awesome.
“I like exploring the small, telling pivots of a moment because I believe that such small moments can be as important as the larger dramatic moments we often think define life.” Grant, this sentence of yours is gold to me. I’m also grateful I am a paid subscriber to your posts because I don’t want to miss the many shiny bits I find in your newsletters and work.
If only "plot" wasn't taught as so mechanical in discussing the progress of a protagonist or a story. What if it's about human change and development that is, or appears to be, organic based on the conflicts and challenges of a human person. And in short fiction, I can see the non-plot moment working; the problem is in longer fiction, how do we find a different more subtle solution to " what kind of change occurs." Maybe you are saying the progress of a story doesn't need to be about change?
Oh, Grant. I really like what you say about plot. When Anne Bernays and I were writing WHAT IF? WRITING EXERCISES FOR FICTION WRITERS, we sent the manuscript off to our editor at Harper Collins and he wrote back "You left out plot." True. So, we were asked to add it to the book, but our hearts were not happy. Recently, I wrote this for Vancouver Flash Fiction Writing Tips: 2023: "Forget plot. Plot sits like a boulder on your story. Instead think “unstable situation” and notice that an unstable situation has a past—and a future. Also forget conflict—it too is a dead weight. Instead think “tension,” “anticipation,” “apprehension,” and “dread.”
I love your posts. They are wise, witty, and full of inspirational advice. Now, I am waiting for your novel. Cheers.
The thing about plot is people tend to overly worry about it, construct elaborate and clever plots no one will remember, the characters on the other hand…
I always refer back to James Joyce’s Dubliners as the gold standard of epiphany in writing. But I would also note that it is possible - perhaps even mandatory - that even character driven fiction contain the basics of plot, I.e. beginning, middle and end. It’s not easy to get to the top of that hill but it can be so rewarding if a writer can do so.
Ira
writing from the bottom of the world, or, as it is known around here - - Salem, Oregon.
Great article. When "composing" a story, I use a single suggestive (nonsensical) sentence to create the context:
example: “Andy lived blind until his hearing was shot!”
WTF: Then I explore the potential meaning of the sentence; and/or those 8 combined words. First: I got Andy, blind; hearing; & shot. Most important I got “until.” What happened?
I am only starting out as a crime fiction writer, but that’s how I create a plot from nothing..!
it's...extreme--earlier and more Expressionist with a capital E than the tone-row stuff he's more known for and (that I'm guessing the NY-er piece focused on, but I'll check). Signal use of Sprechstimme too, which is awesome.
Schoenberg: lmk when you get to “Pierrot Lunaire.”