I've been writing for eight years. This is nothing compared to those who flew out their mother's
uterus's covered in plasma and clutching a number two pencil, but tough. Still, no matter how many years, months, days, or hours I write, I find myself struggling
immensely with plot. I just don't know "what happens next?"
I know, I know, if we were all in a semi-circle right now Megan would say something like "make something happen." To which I'd pause for a few moments, nod, and say that my character suddenly went from sitting on his Harley at a stop light to speeding through it and hitting a five month old shiatsu. I'd then get home, type the story (tragic death of shiatsu included) and hand it in. Mission accomplished, right? Wrong. I'd eventually go back to the damn story and decided that I didn't like "what happened next?" Not only would I discover that I didn't "like it" but then I'd scratch the story and start a new one, that I'd eventually toss when plot had to be addressed.
Why writing Gods, do my fingers tingle at paragraph after paragraph of place description and character description but turn cold when the "climax" of the story occurs? Well, I'm not 100% sure, but, I think I've found the answer through reading Matthew Klam's: Sam the Cat and Other Stories.
Sam the Cat and Other Stories is a short story collection that deals with modern day sexual relationships. I use the word sexual loosely. Don't get me wrong, Klam's a good writer, but the stories narrators are not "exceptional" in any way. The plots of the stories are basic and, considering the subject matter, have been written countless times before: man represses feelings of homosexuality, newlywed couple finds out they cannot have children, boyfriend hits his girlfriend, married couple goes on vacation and meets other couple. There is little "action." Dialogue is present, but doesn't take the front seat. Still, Klam's stories have had me on the edge of my seat, flipping frantically page after page, dying to find out "what happens next?"
Finally, after skimming through all of the pages I'd post-it-noted, I figured it out. Klam's stories have me frantically asking "what happens next?" because Klam not only knows his characters, but he knows his characters roles in specific relationships. It's fucking brilliant and intimate and that's what makes the stories work. That's what drives the subject matter forward and turns the everyday hurdles and pitfalls of romantically involved couples into plot and action.
Yes, Klam could know the individual narrators inside and out, and it's evident he does. But, without knowing that with Girlfriend A the narrator didn't watch Yogi Bear but with Girlfriend B they did or with Boyfriend 1 they didn't smack their lips when they ate apple sauce, the stories are flat.
Discovering the "rules" and roles my characters possess when they're with another character won't solve all of my plot problems, I know that. But, right now, it's making me write. It's teaching me about my narrator and main character, it's creating secondary characters, and, it's "moving the story forward." So, for now, that's enough to leave the dreaded outline for tomorrow.
