Can anyone recommend
any really good books on plotting? I’m thinking that it was time I was plotting another historical novel, so that I can finally send Running Press the option book that it calls for in my False Colors contract. Not wanting to do anything the easy way, I made up the plot for False Colors by doing one of those “100 drabbles from random prompts” things, and it took me the better part of a year just to do the plot plan as a result. This time I was hoping to do something a bit speedier!
TV meme:
Day 5 – A show you hate.
The old man was disgusting, the young man was cruel, they were needlessly horrible to each other all the time, and it was supposed to be funny. Why is it supposed to be funny to watch people make each other’s lives a misery? Are we being invited to enjoy their suffering or something? That’s a bit sick, isn’t it?
It was very popular when I was young, and it was one of those things that made me feel like I was some kind of stranded alien on the earth who would never understand human beings. I still don’t understand it, and just watching that Youtube clip makes me sad.
The US version, Sanford and Son, was kinder and gentler and had its funny moments thanks to the very experienced comedian who played the lead and his relationship with his dead wife’s sister. However, many series in the ’70s were like that, ‘funny’ when they weren’t. I despise situation comedy to this day because of it.
My favorite book on structure (ie plotting) is Christopher Vogler’s book The Writer Journey. It’s really more about screenwriting but story is story. It’s based on Joseph Campbell’s work and focuses on all the basic elements to create a good story.
Here are two books on plotting I have and found really useful.
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20181.Write_Great_Fiction_Plot_Structure
Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68317.Beginnings_Middles_Ends
Yes, I think Alf Garnet was much the same – but I don’t remember actually seeing that one, and most of the sitcoms I remember were more of the Liver Birds/Butterflies sort, where you were encouraged to like the characters and care about them even while you laughed (gently) at their foibles. I’m very glad it’s a fashion that seems to have died out!
Oh, thanks Marshall! That does sound good. I’ve heard lots of praise for Joseph Campbell, who I also haven’t read, and I agree with you that there isn’t an insurmountable difference between a novel and a screen play. I’ll look that up 🙂
Oh wonderful! They sound just the job. I feel particularly reassured by the title of “Beginnings, Middles, Ends” because that’s the sort of structure I can cope with 😉 Thank you!