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The memories I have for some of these shows disturb me

On the Shelves in Oxford this week we have two books focusing on two of our favourite things- literature and happiness!

Thinking with Literature offers a new perspective for mainstream literary criticism and the value of close reading, and demonstrates viability of cognitive analysis of all kinds of literature.

Happiness Explained shows how a wide range of factors can contribute to better and happier lives and how, together, they provide a new blueprint for assessing progress in terms of personal wellbeing.

Photos by Yasmin Coonjah for Oxford University Press.

How to Plot A Complex Novel in One Day (It WILL take all day)

Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin? 

What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots. 

Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow. 

Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear. 

What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story.  Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story. 

What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.

Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours. 

Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension. 

Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work. 

After you’ve plotted the loose structure of your novel from this, see my next post to work on character! 

Xanxus: Tell him about the birds and the bees.

Squalo, to Bel: They're disappearing at an alarming rate.

Scene Transitions

An important part of structuring your story in any format is the transition between scenes. When not handled properly, time and/or location jumps in a narrative can become disorientating and confusing, making it harder for the audience to keep up with the action. There are three important things to focus on when transitioning between scenes: where the first scene ends, where the second scene begins, and how to connect the two.

It’s important that each scene have closure. When you leave a scene, you need to know that the goal of that scene was reached. If you leave the scene too early, before you receive that closure, your audience will be left hanging, feeling unsatisfied and off balance. You need to ‘cut away’ when the scene comes to its natural end, when everything is understood and the audience is ready to move onto the next idea. If you leave the scene too late, it drags your story, and makes it feel like the scene is longer than it is.

As with the end of a scene, the beginning of a new scene must feel natural. If you have to backtrack immediately after starting your scene in order to explain whats going on, then it means you’re not starting at the beginning of the scene. You can sometimes get away with doing this, if the reflection is placed naturally in the writing, but you shouldn’t try and push your luck. If all of your scenes start with an immediate backpedal to explain where everyone is, how they got there, and when it takes place, then you need to go back and fix some things.

Information about the change in time and location are important to include. If you didn’t, then it would be impossible for the audience to tell if, when or how these changes occurred. The most widely accepted way of transitioning between scenes is to detail the things done by the characters to go from scene A to scene B. They can do so by showing the transition between locations (“They walked the distance to the theatre, laughing the whole way”), points in time (“hours passed as she sat reading in her favorite chair”), or combinations of the two (“they drove for days, the grassy hillsides of home growing into a looming mountain range”). The information in the transition must do everything to set up the new scene that’s starting.

I am going to use a segment from “These Shallow Graves” by Jennifer Donnelly as an example of what not to do when transitioning between scenes. In chapter thirty-four, a scene is ending where the protagonist and her love interest meet secretly during a ball and make a plan for her to sneak out later that evening. The scene ends on an angsty moment as they both watch her almost arranged fiance dancing with the competitor for his affections. Chapter thirty-five immediately begins with the two of them having met up and halfway to their destination. It is then explained how the protagonist had left the party early, snuck out, and made it to the meeting point.

Feels kinda jenky huh? Here’s how we could smooth this out.

Their plan for meeting up that evening involves the protagonist telling her uncle (who an attendee) that she is feeling faint and using that as an excuse to leave the ball early. This would make more sense as a place to end the scene as it signals the beginning of the transition between locations. When she sneaks out the house is a good place to officially begin the next scene, as it signals another change in locations. Because the time spent at the protagonist’s home is not important to the overall story (her waiting for everyone to fall asleep) this could serve as the transition between the scene of the first and the scene of the second meetings. The cab ride from her house to the meeting place is also its own small transition, and is a good place to reflect on past information without interfering with anything else going on (such as dialogue and bonding between love interests).

Remember! All of the important things to keep in mind when writing scene transitions are: Know where to end a scene. Know where to begin a scene. Know how to connect the scenes.

because they all deserved better.

How To Adult

For those of you who need the nudge, here are some resources that’ll hopefully help you. 

Organization

Things to include when setting up a new planner

How to organize your day

The best pens for planning

Login & password tracker printable

2015′s most popular planners

Questions to help you de-clutter

Brilliant organizing solutions

Career

How to look good in a group interview

An introvert’s guide to self-promotion at work

Career planning 101

36 career tips no one will actually tell you

Best resume tips

What to do if you don’t know the answer to the interview question

A guide to cover letters

Mental & Physical Health

How to become a morning person

Why you feel tired everyday

Water intake and your diet

Finding happiness when life gets hard

Books to read when you need a laugh

Books to read in your twenties

What your gyno really wants you to know

How to wake up happy

Become a morning person

Your guide to medical check-ups (extremely important!)

When you need to get checked by a doctor timeline

Relationships

Free weekend date ideas

9 conversations every serious couple should have

Date ideas for $10 and under

Summer couple’s bucket list

Fall couple’s bucket list

50 things to do besides watch a movie

Miscellaneous 

How to make small talk

Use the Internet when there is no Internet

Which glue should you use?

How to properly tip

Expiration dates of beauty products

How to increase cell phone storage

Clothing care / laundry symbols

A guide to dealing with hangovers

Do I need a photo ID to do this?

Documents you need before you die

100+ things to throw away

How to buy a car

Cooking / Food 

Using your hand to find portion control sizes

How to cut a recipe in half

Grocery shopping like an adult

Kitchen measurement cheat sheet

Meals on the go

The shelf life of food infographic

Helpful kitchen cheat sheet

What pasta goes with what sauce?

How to pair candy with alcohol

Foods that are hazardous to dogs

Home / Apartment

Apartment inspection checklist

Planning a move in advance

Make moving easier

How to keep a clean home

Cleaning schedule printable

Car cleaning hacks

Things to do before moving out of your home

Checklist for changing your address

How to take care of your car

First place checklist

Things you can clean in the dishwasher

Finding an affordable apartment

Rental walk-through checklist

What to handle first after moving

Finances

Making and living on a budget

How to start couponing

Making a budget binder

Credit score basics

Save money on utilities

Financial habits to start right now

Get help with medical bills

How to save money every week

When airline tickets are the cheapest

Couponing for beginners

Budgeting in your home

Create a calendar budget

Get your finances under control