Plot Is Overrated
Apr. 16th, 2021 08:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI'm going to be salty for a hot second and say that, even though I would very much appreciate an anonymous beta reader sometimes, I don't really trust most people younger than 25 because they haven't yet developed a broad understanding of what prose fiction is and how it's different from screenwriting.
The comment I always get from amateur writers is that my stories don't have enough "action." Which is bizarre. Like, this is a short story about overcoming grief, Karen. Or let's say it's a story about the quiet dread of realizing that your parents aren't infallible; it doesn't need explosions.
This is not to say that I don't enjoy writing plot and action (and sex), but rather that I don't think it's absolutely necessary for all work at all times. The same goes for the demand to have a flashy opening "hook" to a story, which I think is a sort of brain fungus people get from reading too much YA fiction to the exclusion of everything else.
Honestly, plot is overrated. What happens in The Makioka Sisters, one of my favorite novels? 540 pages of nothing. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, one of everyone's favorite novels? 620 pages of nothing. Yotsubato, the critically lauded and award-winning manga that is universally beloved by people in every single country on this earth? 15 volumes of nothing. The reason everyone loves novels by Stephen King so much isn't because of the scary things that happen, but because of the hundreds of pages when nothing happens at all. You just want to spend time in those vaguely creepy small towns with weird and interesting characters.
Character is just as important as plot. I would even argue that character is actually more important than plot, especially for older and more experienced readers who have passed the point of being surprised by any given plot development.
I don't mean to suggest that literary fiction can't have a strong plot (because just look at Octavia Butler and Margaret Atwood), but rather that a story doesn't need "action" to be compelling to an audience. Hollywood screenwriting is fun, but prose fiction has its own distinct set of pleasures. Not everything can or should be Harry Potter.
If I were going to inch even further along this precarious branch I'm perched on, I might even say that the extreme de-emphasis of character is one of the main reasons why YA fiction writers are so awful and cruel to one another regarding matters of "representation," which is all they have to distinguish themselves when the over-saturated market doesn't allow them to write flawed characters who are actually interesting and memorable.
The comment I always get from amateur writers is that my stories don't have enough "action." Which is bizarre. Like, this is a short story about overcoming grief, Karen. Or let's say it's a story about the quiet dread of realizing that your parents aren't infallible; it doesn't need explosions.
This is not to say that I don't enjoy writing plot and action (and sex), but rather that I don't think it's absolutely necessary for all work at all times. The same goes for the demand to have a flashy opening "hook" to a story, which I think is a sort of brain fungus people get from reading too much YA fiction to the exclusion of everything else.
Honestly, plot is overrated. What happens in The Makioka Sisters, one of my favorite novels? 540 pages of nothing. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, one of everyone's favorite novels? 620 pages of nothing. Yotsubato, the critically lauded and award-winning manga that is universally beloved by people in every single country on this earth? 15 volumes of nothing. The reason everyone loves novels by Stephen King so much isn't because of the scary things that happen, but because of the hundreds of pages when nothing happens at all. You just want to spend time in those vaguely creepy small towns with weird and interesting characters.
Character is just as important as plot. I would even argue that character is actually more important than plot, especially for older and more experienced readers who have passed the point of being surprised by any given plot development.
I don't mean to suggest that literary fiction can't have a strong plot (because just look at Octavia Butler and Margaret Atwood), but rather that a story doesn't need "action" to be compelling to an audience. Hollywood screenwriting is fun, but prose fiction has its own distinct set of pleasures. Not everything can or should be Harry Potter.
If I were going to inch even further along this precarious branch I'm perched on, I might even say that the extreme de-emphasis of character is one of the main reasons why YA fiction writers are so awful and cruel to one another regarding matters of "representation," which is all they have to distinguish themselves when the over-saturated market doesn't allow them to write flawed characters who are actually interesting and memorable.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-16 06:39 pm (UTC)Especially this bit: Character is just as important as plot. I would even argue that character is actually more important than plot, especially for older and more experienced readers who have passed the point of being surprised by any given plot development.
I swear you get to a certain age when you feel like you've seen every damn trope played out a million different ways and the only thing that actually makes you gasp anymore is whether or not you give a shit about the characters. I don't care how the story ends anymore; I just want to read fifty pages of late-night introspective talks between my faves.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-20 10:57 pm (UTC)Save the Cat is a useful metric, but it is not the only metric. Writing is not always screenwriting. Sometimes things are just about being there.