Storytellersunplugged

More About Plotting

George Guthridge

Since July I have been discussing how I use nonfiction to help students write fiction. They take nonfiction “tidbits” (i.e., interesting bits of trivia that could make for a very short term paper) from National Geographic and other periodicals, then winnow those down to one tidbit that has dramatic potential. They then brainstorm very precise possible protagonists who might have an emotional problem associated with the tidbit, and next design as enthymeme (a summary that says “what because why”) using “had a problem” to form a bridge between two variables. For instance, “George Guthridge, whom his fellow villagers had labeled ‘the Simpleton,’ had a problem with a talking dog because it had Tourette’s Syndrome” can be broken into two parts.

The first part, which I call the “What Statement” (because it tells WHAT the subject is) consists of a binary relationship. Think of two ends of a barbell or a binoculars. “George Guthridge . . . Simpleton” is one variable. He has a relationship with the other variable, “a talking dog.” The “bar” on the barbell (or the little mechanism between the lenses of a binoculars) will always be a verb phrase that, in fiction, says, “had a problem with.”

The second part, which I call the “Why Statement” gives one or more reasons (in fiction ONE is usually best, since it helps focus the story) why the What Statement is true.

The enthymeme consists of a binary within a binary. The enthymeme is a binary, and the What Statement is a binary. All communication occurs in relationships, and all relationships involve communication.

Now, to the Why Statement. It can and often does involve a flash of insight – the old “aha!” Or it can result from brainstorming.

Unfortunately, most people think that brainstorming is a single entity. In point of fact, there are different types. To name just a few: You can brainstorm (1) problems, (2) the news questions of who-what-when-where-why-how, separating them out when you do so, (3) through hitchhiking – that is, by getting an idea and generating similar ideas, (4) by funneling, which involves brainstorming an idea for ever greater specificity, (5) through reverse perception, which involves brainstorming an idea’s opposite, (6) through word association, and (7) via categories, such as the majors in a college catalog.

Brainstorm for quantity, not quality. Give yourself LOTS of ideas from which to choose. Thus, if your protagonist meets a talking dog, then what problems might result? Try to come up with at least fifty ideas before you decide on what you feel is the best one. Often, it is not the first thing you thought of, contrary to the popular belief that great stories derive from inspiration.

Next, use the enthymeme as your organizational device. Discuss the first variable (George Guthridge, Simpleton) in relation to the classification – i.e., generalization – based on the second one. You end up with GG + dogs in general – that is, perhaps a dog he has loved and lost in the past. Then you will say, “Then one day,” and you’re into the next section of the story.

Next, segue into the next section: the problem to be solved. An easy segue is to repeat the enthymeme. (Don’t worry about the repetition.) You will end up with the following pattern:

Intro = enthymeme
1st section = character (GG + dogs)
Transition: “Then one day . . .”
2nd section = event (meeting the talking dog)
Transition: repeat the enthymeme
3rd section = the problem to be solved

**

Now you need to decide on false solutions. Brainstorm as many ways as possible that the protagonist might solve the problem that the enthymeme states. Do not do this while writing story; it will limit your ability to think creatively. Again, try for many, many ideas. Do not worry about how unlikely or impractical the possible solution is.

After you have, say, 30 to 50 ideas, winnow them down for practicality, interest, and so on. The shorter the story, the fewer false solutions you will have. Generally, a story of about 1000 words will have about three, but that does not mean that a 3000 word story has nine. Rather, it has three or four, but each one has greater detail.

To borrow an analogy that Joe Haldeman taught me a couple of decades ago: pretend that your protagonist is walking down a hallway and must solve an emotional problem. Each door in the hall represents a solution. He opens the first, finds out that the solution does not work, and therefore has greater before he tries the next door. Door Two, same result. And so on.

He finally reaches the end of the hall. There are two doors left. One will enable him to solve the problem; the other will result in failure.

Unless you are writing existentialistic fiction, then he ALWAYS must open the correct door. Otherwise, the story does not achieve the catharsis that we know is essential to good drama. However, there are three conditions: (1) he must solve the problem himself – it cannot result from coincidence, luck, prayer, or someone else’s ideas; (2) the solution cannot be predictable; and (3) the solution must be consistent with what we know about the character and the parameters, or limits, within which the story exists.

This “final solution” forms the climax, the ending of the story. You can transition into that part of the pattern very simply. After the third section add,

“Then [protagonist] had an idea.”
Ending = final solution

Now, delete the original enthymeme, and you have a character-driven story that ends with an interesting, satisfying, and unpredictable solution.

**
A story consists of a series of concentric rings. In the middle is a protagonist who has an emotional problem. Something happens that causes that emotional problem to surface. He must solve the problem or else get really, really drunk and stay that way. Each time he tries to solve the problem he fails and thus enters another ring – each one further afield and filled with greater conflict. When he is at the outer ring and about to fall into the great abyss beyond, he solves the problem and returns his world to a happier, inner being.

You have taken that concentricity and patterned it to fit the linearity that a story must have if it is to occur on a printed page.

—- George Guthridge