Story Plotting: Turn off the GPS by Julie N. Ford, WiDo Publishing

Every now and then I’ll hear a writer say that plotting is his/her least favorite part about writing a novel. Okay first of all, “novel” and “plot” are nearly synonymous. Without a plot, there is no novel, no story. So technically, if a writer doesn’t like to “plot,” said writer probably shouldn’t be wasting his/her time writing a novel. Just because a person enjoys writing doesn’t mean he/she must become a novelist. There are other ways one can express oneself through the written word—columns, editorials, poetry, blogging, journaling.

And second, maybe the reason so many writers have a hard time plotting is because we as a society have become too dependent on technology doing our thinking for us. We don’t memorize phone numbers anymore because all of our contacts are stored in our cell phones. We don’t have to think about how to spell because Word and even our phones do that for us.

I’m showing my age here but I remember when telephones still had party-lines and TVs were black and white. *Gasp* Viewers had to actually get up and turn a knob to change channels. (Currently, I don’t even know where the on and off switch is on my TV much less how to change channels without the remote.) And when I started college, students were still using typewriters for term papers and libraries to do research. Ah, I do miss the days of rifling through the card catalog . . .

Back in the good ol’ days when we needed to travel somewhere we’d never been before, we used something called . . . a map. For those of you who don’t have a firsthand knowledge of such a thing, maps are somewhat cumbersome, accordion folded sheets of paper that often hitch at the seams and have a tendency to flap away at the slightest breeze. But when laid out flat, a map is a vision to behold—a colorful labyrinth of intersecting paths that offer options to one’s destination while branching out into a myriad of possibilities. Stretched out across a table or the hood of a car, maps are a visually pleasing tool that allows an individual to plot his/her path to a desired destination while highlighting each and every point of interest along the way.

The beginning, middle and end of a new journey.

When traveling with the use of a map, one needs to be keenly aware of where he/she is at all times, pay close attention to mile markers and state lines, watching for signs indicating the next turn in the journey. The traveler is an engaged, active participant in the success or failure of reaching the desired destination.

Enter the GPS.

An ingenious piece of technology you can feed an address and then like magic, the course to follow appears on the screen accompanied by a pleasant voice that guides you effortlessly to your destination.

Easy, peasy.

The last road trip I took was from Nashville to Kansas City. I plugged the hotel’s address into my GPS and then started driving. Along the way I passed small towns and big cities often asking myself, “Where am I?” But it didn’t matter. I didn’t need to know. Dave (the name we gave the voice that comes from our GPS) dutifully warned me of every upcoming turn, while repeatedly reminding me of the impending change in course, followed by an exact measure of when to make the change in direction. And I never even questioned, never wondered if Dave was leading me the right way, never thought to check the correctness of his course. I blindly followed Dave, and he led me straight to where I needed to go.

Like going back to the “dark ages” and planning out a trip on a map, plotting our story seems tedious—a waste of time and effort. You see, plotting a story is much like mapping out a road trip. Our stories must stretch out in front of us with a beginning, middle, and then an end. If we don’t know how to visualize the possibilities, experience wrong turns, back track, take unexpected stops along the way and roll with diversions from the path, then how can we envision the same for our characters?

We’ve become lazy.

And this lack of plotting ability may just be the reason that many novels and movies are sent out to readers and viewers with holes in the storyline. Could it be that we are losing our ability to step from one point to another without the help of technology? What’s next, electronic story plotters? One day, will Dave be capable of plotting my novel for me as well?

Good gracious, I hope not. Plotting is, after all, half the fun in writing a novel.

 

Julie N. Ford is the author of four women’s fiction novels, The Woman He Married (March 2011) and No Holly for Christmas (November 2011), published by Whiskey Creek Press. Whitney Award Finalist, Count Down to Love (July 2011), published by Bonneville Books. And Replacing Gentry to be released April 2013 by WiDo Publishing. Currently, she lives in Nashville, TN with her husband, two daughters and baby hedgehog, Wallace. Julie’s website is julienford.com.

Author: LDS Publisher

I am an anonymous blogger who works in the LDS publishing industry. I blog about topics that help authors seeking publication and about published fiction by LDS authors.

One thought on “Story Plotting: Turn off the GPS by Julie N. Ford, WiDo Publishing”

  1. People who rely on the GPS to find my house usually get lost. I suppose that’s appropriate, as I still like maps and books on paper. No Generic Plotting System for me!

    Typewriters, though, are just too inconvenient.

Comments are closed.