Carolyn's Writing Workshop
Plot - What is it and How do I Get One That Works?
Your plot will not be believable unless you provide the set up and motivation for what happens and why your characters act the way they do. Given sufficient set-up and motivation, anything can happen. Absolutely anything.
Set up Defined
What you must previously establish in order for your scene to be convincing.
Examples of Set up
OK. We have a hero who wants a marriage of convenience because he needs money and a heroine who wants a marriage of convenience because she believes it will save her from icky Cousin Fred.
You have to make me, the reader, believe in the motivations. Here's a list of some of the things I'll have to believe in order to buy that this hero and this heroine will enter a marriage of convenience (and, yes, some will be more work than others).
Now, you have to make me, the reader, believe in the motivations. Here's a list of some of the things I'll have to believe in order to buy that this hero and this heroine will enter a marriage of convenience (and, yes, some will be more work than others).
- The hero wants money more than love
- The heroine believes the hero possesses qualities that will deter icky Cousin Fred
- The heroine has money
- The hero in fact possess qualities that will deter icky Cousin Fred
- The heroine wants to evade Cousin Fred more than she wants to marry for love
Set up Deconstructed
Let's take the first item from the list above: The hero needs money more than love. Here's a list of possible reasons for this to be true:
- Threat of immediate foreclosure on the family home
- A friend who once saved his life begs him for money
- He just flat out doesn't believe in love
Let's say it's the first one, threat of foreclosure. Put in other words, the set up for your hero's money motivation is the threat of foreclosure. Therefore! Somewhere in your story before you introduce the solution of a marriage of convenience, you need to say he's about to lose the family home unless he comes up with a chunk of cash. (Ah, but that, too, implies certain things about your hero, namely that a foreclosure is a terrible thing for him.)
Your assignment
Examine your hero's motivations for what he does. Deconstruct his motivations and make sure each element is convincing.
Extra Credit
Do the same thing with the rest of your characters.