So I've been thinking about what makes a book fantastic, and blogged a little about the Who of the story (ie Characters, not the band). So now I'm turning my focus to the What and Why and How of the story... The Plot!
I write largely character driven stories-- meaning it is the character's motivation that drives the story as opposed to an outside force (Think A Tree Grows In Brooklyn as opposed to, say, Jurassic Park.), though both elements are necessary for a successful story. You can have great characters, but if nothing interesting happens to them, we (as readers) get bored.
So what makes a plot fantastic?
In his book The Sacred Romance, John Eldredge talks about our desire as humans to be a part of a story, for adventure and romance. I've got to agree with him. And that desire is part of what drives us to read fiction. We want to get lost in a story greater than ourselves, to see the fair lady won and the villain destroyed. (Can you tell I just read a fantasy?)
Every story is a journey. A goal is set. Obstacles arise. The hero struggles against them, and either rises victorious, or loses and learns lessons of life.
All this barely scrapes the tip of the iceberg as far as plots are concerned. So I'll keep exploring this further in the coming weeks...
Um yeah. On Mondays. Sorry for being late again.
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