Writer's Carnival

There are a few things you can do to make the process easier, however:

Put your best work forward. It should be clear of grammatical errors, revised, and sent through a gauntlet of beta readers.

Research where or who you are submitting too. In this day and age, nothing is secret. A quick Google search of the publisher or agent can help reveal if they are reputable and are the kind of place you want to submit to.

Read guidelines. Agents, publishers, magazines and journals tend to tell you what they are looking for. Don’t waste your time (and theirs) by submitting material they aren’t interested in. Pay attention to things like word count, genre, whether they take multiple submissions, and whether they take simultaneous submissions (i.e. you can submit a piece to them that is still under consideration somewhere else). Also, different publishers prefer different formats. Hint: Learn how to format in standard manuscript format.

Pay attention to response times. Most reputable places will tell you when you can expect an answer. Don’t follow-up with them until that time has passed.

It’s going to take a while to hear back. Following up from the last piece, you aren’t going to be hearing back right away from most places. It takes time for people to read, to consider, and to decide. Sending daily emails with “Did you read it yet?” is a good way for your submission to make it into the round file next to their desk.

Remember, money should flow TO the writer, never away. You are best avoiding publishers and agents who want to charge you a reading or submission fee. They are scams, bad at their jobs, or both.

Here are a number of useful links for writers looking to submit, but are cautious about putting themselves out there or don’t know where to start:

Writer’s Beware (SFWA’s ongoing blog about what sites, agents, and publishers to avoid and why)

Query Shark (how to write a better query)

Agent Query (looking for an agent? There are worse places to look than here)

Ralan.com (a fantastic, free, up-to-date resource for speculative fiction writers)

Writer’s Market (not free, but even more extensive than Ralan).

I suppose, like anything else, it’s just a matter of perspective.

I see Fan Fiction as a way to pay homage to characters I know and love. For me, its a way to exercise story telling skills like dialog, exposition, and writing to pre-set guidelines. It’s also a way for me to test how well I know the material.   Do I really know and understand the characters and the story?

From Writer's Carnival, we have the following opinions:

From Emmex:   I think good writing is good writing all around. I’m still chuckling about Doug’s quote that good writers borrow, great writers steal! You know it. Fan Fiction is cool by me, and the people who write it are among some of the best writers.

From JC Wolfe:   I was an avid fanfiction writer in my late teens, and it’s always been a form of creative writing that I really enjoy. I’d write it mostly for fun, but it was also a way for me to practice writing until I felt comfortable enough to share original works online. I think that’s because fanfiction takes away the pressure of having to create characters and settings, which is certainly fun for the experienced but can be difficult for beginning writers.

From Shanna:    I used to have a very negative view on fan fiction, then I met some uber nice people almost a decade ago on Livejournal, who changed my mind about it. I still don’t actively read it but there isn’t any reason (other than severe lack of free time) why I wouldn’t. I don’t know that I could ever see myself writing fan fic because there are only so many fandoms that I would consider myself knowledgeable enough to even take on, but I don’t rule it out as something that would never happen.

From Matt:    I confess I am not big into fanfiction on either side (writing or reading).  For writing: for me it is too much like playing with somebody else’s toys. I want to develop my own characters, my own setting, play by my own rules.

That said, fanfiction is a great way to get comfortable with the techniques of fiction writing. It can help give insights into how the relationships work and develop, how to plan out plot, and to indulge in a bit of off the wall speculation.

What’s your view?

Do you like fan fiction?

Do you read it?   Why, or why not?

How about after a nice shower when all school work has been completed and my head is clear? Literacy at the max. Add a bottle of water and I’m golden. I can’t say I can relate with most of you on the music listening. I become too immersed in the music to be able to write properly.

I love listening to music when I write, but often times I do get too caught up in the music and it ends up distracting me. Not all of the time, but it does happen. Glad to see you joined the conversation!

Usually it’s when I should be sleeping. Other times I write best with headphones in. I like to have candles or essential oils burning preferably one with cinnamon. A can of cherry coke or code red Mountain Dew if I have it. Candy on hand. My fave pens and a notebook. Also generally need to be alone though my cat is good when she’s not on my notebook or laptop.

I have two dogs and I like to have them close when I write, but no humans. Humans get in the way. It is like they want to converse or something… I have no idea what that is about.

I write best alone- if I’m not alone in the room, then I seclude myself by plugging in my headphones. My family hates this.

I like to have background noise too- preferably music, but can write to movies, TV, etc when I’m not by myself.

I like to have a drink next to me too. Anything but water, and lately, pop.

I do the headphone thing too; and I forget to turn music on sometimes, just wearing them is enough to keep me focused.

I don’t have a ritual. Very little is consistent from one writing session to the next.

Last week when I had the Cybercop brainstorm I was at work in between student appointments to see me and some other work I had going on. Last night I had a birch beer float and three books of poetry on my lap with my computer on the other leg and Notepad open. Yesterday when working on Cybercop some more, I had my computer and a deck of cards on my dining table. Two days ago I had cheeto fingers and was typing one-handed while watching Big Bang Theory and munching crunchy corn snacks. Today I’m at the dining table again, in a different seat. I just play-tested a few rounds of Cybercop and I’m about to take my daughters to a birthday party. Poems will pop up later. I might have a dram or two of Scotch tonight so that I can further postpone grading papers until tomorrow.

I love soaking in hot baths! They are quite relaxing and refresh not only the body, but the mind as well.

As for me, I write best in the mornings, when my son is still in bed and I can enjoy the stillness of my home. I usually sit at my breakfast nook table and write while sipping hot coffee with lots of creamer. At times, I have bluegrass, country, pop, folk or rock playing for enjoyment. I take short breaks and check Facebook or read articles. I do this to sort things out in my mind. It actually helps me from becoming overwhelmed with finishing a essay, or chapter. I enjoy “ME” time, but do not get to experience this often. My son wakes up early or I sleep in. I hope to get back into the groove, so that I can be more productive.

My ritual is I start writing and it just takes on a life of its own. All I do is follow it and try to make sense of it. Sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t. And of course the coffee.

I prefer writing in the mid morning, I am up at 6:30 or 7. which gives me a comfortable window of hours to work with in. Before lunch is when my brain and body are the most relaxed and rested. Allows short break for breakfast. When it hits half past noon; I stop, regardless of productivity, because by then my attention span waivers. The method leaves me far less worry that I am wasting time. NO matter what my brain decides to churn out, sotry, character sketches, back stories, I will feel that I have made goodf progess.

I always have to have music blaring and then I close my eyes and imagine myself putting on the skin of my character. Creepy, eh? :lol: Once I’m suited up, I go on my way!

Very simple. I start off with a decent cup of coffee followed by reviewing posts at WC and Fanstory, which always provides incentive to write. Next to the recliner I keep a notepad handy to jot down ideas, names, data and whatever piques my curiosity.

I like it to be nice and quiet and usually looking outside. I can be anywhere on holidays, at home or work so long as I get some peace and can look outdoors.

You must have one of those waterproof pens, Doug. My dog, Buck, ate my rubber duck so I had to immerse him under the water. :) He wasn’t thrilled with the earbuds but he got the message. Rituals? Erm… just real life stuff like, Buck. :D

It depends…I get inspiration from weird places. I was standing at the kitchen sink one night doing dishes, and for no reason whatsoever, I blurted out, “Of course you realize, this means WAR!” (A phrase immortalized by Bugs Bunny). As I finished the dishes, I started thinking about how I could write a story around that phrase. I do most of my writing at home, with something on in the background–usually a DVD that I’ve put on just for noise. I wrote most of Armageddon’s Clock that way, alternating between the three “main” Star Wars movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi). It just depends on what I’m in the mood to have as background noise.

Thanks for the post on writing rituals, it really made me ask myself ‘do I have any’. I don’t have a designated writing space and often can’t find pen & paper when I need one, so the idea of doing something regularly or following a routine of some kind really struck me. Since I write picture books, I find that physically writing down the ideas as they come to me is the hard part ( if I can find that pen )! Ideas tend to strike when I’m on the verge of sleep, another nights sleep ruined so I simply get up and write everything down. Sometimes daily activities might spark an idea or I will see something occurring and ‘put it into a story’. I do carry notepad and pen at all times of course, if the kid doesn’t get them first but then I have to find a quiet place to put everything together so it all makes sense – that’s the hard part! Thanks for the post and the thought process that it started, who knows? Might make a great story!

If I want to get totally immersed in writing and not just dabble here and there while checking Facebook, then I absolutely have to be alone. Day or night, it doesn’t really matter though I prefer night and I normally need a drink (beer, cocktail, whatever) and my music. The piece I’m writing normally dictates my choice of music, though I tend to pan between hair metal, techno, and folk. In an ideal world my desk wouldn’t be a jumble of family papers and bills but, it is. I like to have pictures around me somewhere, my desktop, on the wall, just different little things that have gotten me thinking about one thing or another.

I’d recommend not trying to write out accents. Capturing a dialect can quickly backfire, as it might come across as a caricature of what you are aiming for, or even worse, making your prose indecipherable to the reader. Remember what I said about colloquialisms, though? That’s where this comes in, so people get a sense of where the character is from. A short description of the character’s speech pattern/accent/pitch can work wonders to give readers a clearer sense of the character. The one exception might be if a character stutters. “I-i-if they are in a s-s-state of p-p-panic, then taking some l-l-liberties with how they speak, m-m-might be in order.” I would strongly recommend you avoid using “…” to end your dialogue sentences, as it implies a trailing off, the character muttering to themselves as they wander down the street, and not actively engaged in speaking. Likewise, starting a sentence with “…” should be avoided even more so. Having a character be cut off in mid-sentence is best expressed as thus “I don’t know what you’re-” with the person doing the cutting starting their dialogue as you would any other.

Be clear with who is speaking. Yes, it can be obnoxious to have “he said” and “she saids” dotting the page. One way to break it up is to have the characters take an action after they speak. For example: “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Frank said, shaking his finger at his son.  Don’t feel the need to always use alternatives to said, however, as they can break immersion. Let the words in the dialogue convey the meaning you want. In addition, a new speaker should always get a new paragraph, which also aids with clarity.

Clarity becomes even more important when you add more than two people to a conversation. Think about the characters’ personalities. Do one or two characters dominate the conversation more than the others? Is everyone equally engaged? Is there one main conversation, with perhaps asides by other characters? One method to writing a multiple character interaction is to write out the main thread of the conversation first, then go back through to add other participants.

Now that you have your dialogue written out, are you done? Not even close. Read your dialogue aloud. See if it sounds natural. Mark those places where it doesn’t. If you can find a person to read your dialogue with you, even better. Do both of the participants sound the same? Is there a way to make them distinct from each other?

Commercially, the publishing industry is a ‘strike while the iron is hot’ playing field. In that sense, if you have a ‘first in the series’ book which captures readers imagination, then having the rest of the novels written and ready to go enables you to ride that wave of popularity.

I speak in terms of the ether of writer’s dreams and hopes, of course… in real terms, those stars of good fortune rarely coincide in the manner of Harry Potter/Twilight… and, sadly for the reputations of writers everywhere, ‘50 Shades of Gray’.

I once asked my agent, upon placing my first novel into her hands for her to ‘submit’ to publishers, “How long will it take to land a publisher?” (I know, I was very green.)

Her answer was, “Write your next book. That’s how long it takes.”

In that sense, you do have time to write the rest of your trilogy while the first book is being touted. However, creatively, even with the plotline developed and a ‘story bible’ in place, releasing your first book before you have at least written the first draft of the next one, is a risk.

Sending out your first in the series closes doors, and sets certain aspects of the plot in stone. I personally would advocate that, at the very minimum, you have a detailed chapter plan for the next novel written, and be one hundred percent comfortable with it before you draw a line under the first MS.

It is only a personal view, but I believe writing the second book will kick up thoughts and ideas which, in minor cases, but sometimes in more substantial ones, ideally, in hindsight, you could have laid the groundwork for in the first book.

A writer offers nugget of information to the reader, and not all of them appear important, but they all settle in the reader’s mind. The overreaching arc of a series means that you introduce apparently insignificant pieces of information in ‘Book One’, which may not give the reader that ‘Ah’ moment until the ‘Book Two’. It is the tuning of this process you lose out on if you write the books in isolation.

So, when you reach the end of book Two, there may be minor edits you can make in Book One which whet the appetite for events contained in Book Two.

The term ‘milking the beginning’, whilst unattractive, illustrates the point that when you write a novel, the plot gathers momentum and details are added. If you think of a book as a circle, when you write the ending, you take that story which was only an outline before, and use it to give more substance to the opening chapters.

The same is true of a book series/trilogy, the circle exists, but spans several books, the earlier books being stronger for knowing where the future books take the journey.

I know many writers will say that they have a ‘plan’ therefore they know the outcome, but how many of us have found ourselves deviating from a ‘plan’ when inspiration strikes?

Organizing and Capturing Research and Idea Synthesis

Committing Words to Paper

Editing. Rewriting, Revising

List of Organizing Tools

Sectioned Notebook / Binder

Index cards / Whiteboard & Sticky notes

Smartphone camera to take a picture of your hen-scratch and napkin sketches.

Hierarchy of folders with files on your computer. There is no one 'right' way to do this, but needs to make sense to your sense of organization.

Evernote, a cloud-based note-taking software that is available for download on nearly all mobile devices for free. Capture text and images wherever you are, tag them and organize them in a virtual notebook. The storage costs are based on how much you use within a month. For text-notes, a free account is often sufficient.

Microsoft OneNote (with OneDrive), similar to Evernote, is free to download on most devices. You have the option to store the notebooks on your own computer or in OneDrive's (formerly SkyDrive) web-based storage. The killer feature for OneNote is Microsoft Office integration and stellar handwriting recognition.

Scriviner, a full-blown writing suite that mixes both the notebook and card-sorting metaphors in an intuitive way. It is well-suited for organizing large writing projects or as a warehouse for all your writing needs. Not only is it great at planning, but it integrates writing and editing phases as well. There is a learning curve, but those that like it, like it a lot.

yWriter, similar to Scriviner, but at a much lower price tag (free). It's not as polished, but is well-supported. Did I mention it was free?

List of Writing Tools

Pen & Paper

Plain Text, because sometimes it's best not to worry about formatting and about getting the words out of your braincase

Markdown, because sometimes a little bit of formatting is required in plain text. If you write for the web and haven't looked at Markdown yet, you should.

Microsoft Word, the 'go-to' standard for almost everyone. It's everywhere and it works. It has outlining, layout, styles, grammar and spell checking. Many plugins are available to extend its functionality. Microsoft has recently moved to a subscription-based licensing model that includes the entire Office suite and a slew of other features. Compared to other offerings, it's not cheap. There is some confusing FUD as to which edition is required to be legally licensed for commercial use. I'm currently awaiting confirmation from my Microsoft contact and will update this post. UPDATE: The license agreements for Home and Student editions of Office and Office 365 specifically prohibit 'commercial, non-profit, or revenue-generating activities'. Ya hafta go Pro.

LibreOffice / OpenOffice, very similar to Microsoft Office, these are reminiscent of earlier versions of Office. Even though OpenOffice still exists and is actively developed, LibreOffice is considered its spiritual successor. It's Open Source and free to use. The biggest challenge is in document fidelity with Microsoft Office documents. If you work primarily in this tool and keep your formatting simple, you'll be fine.

Google Docs, part of Google's web-based suite, offers a complete and free-to-use document processing experience with plenty of add-ins to extend functionality. Documents are stored in Google's own format in their cloud service but can be exported as Microsoft-compatible downloadable documents. As with LibreOffice, there are some document fidelity issues to contend with if you're using tools outside of the Googleverse.

List of Editing Tools

'Words-to-Kill' list & Thesausus

Microsoft Word's built-in grammar tools and your brain

Free/Cheap Web-based tools: ProWritingAid, Hemmingway, Grammarly,AfterTheDeadline. These are great tools to assist in identifying common writing errors: readability, passive voice, adverbs. They are quick-and-dirty, first-pass editing tools but no real substitute for greymatter. Your mileage may vary.

Desktop tools: Scriviner, yWriter, StyleWriter, AutoCrit. These are more robust and often more expensive tools, but can do a great job. The same caveat as above applies.

I dare not make any attempt to determine the 'best' set of tools to use. There are many factors including: access, budget, learning styles, comfort and personal preference.

Many thanks to Matt, Anthea, Anisa, Cameron, Charles, Ray, Donald, Delores, Tim, SMDavis and BCHickey for weighing-in thoughtfully on the topic.

Knowing your subject goes beyond characters, of course. The same approach can be taken with locations, time periods, and events, whether factual or spun whole cloth from your imagination. The key is to be the expert on those items so when it’s time to tell your story, you aren’t stumbling over a character trait, or worse, undermining work you’ve already laid down. 

When an author writes a story/novel, or any piece of fictional prose, the first thing that takes form in their minds will most often be the plot. But the ingredient which gives life to a story will be character POV.

You have a brilliant story, but telling it from ‘first person’ POV will give an entirely different slant than if you tell the same tale from a ‘third person’ POV.

First Person:

Many writers find ‘first person’ POV easier to write. Staying inside one character’s head means you can use the internal thoughts of the Main Character (MC) to narrate the story, and build a strong personality which can add layers of humor/insight/darkness. It also makes the story much more intimate.

The disadvantage is that the reader cannot be privy to anything the MC does not know. It is like holding a camcorder and walking through the elements of the story, if it cannot be filmed/heard, then the events cannot appear in the story.

I have written a novel in the ‘first person’ POV and I found the freedom of getting inside the head of the MC, and creating intimacy, was outweighed by the disadvantage of the requirement to limit the ‘action’ to the experiences of that same character.

Third Person:

‘Third person’ POV allows you to build suspense by revealing details the MC is unaware of, but this offers difficulties in deciding who’s POV will best serve the story in any given scene.

The writer has the freedom to jump between characters and reveal obstacles/conflicts which the MC has yet to encounter. This builds suspense and draws the reader into the story.

The writer can also reveal ‘inner thoughts’ where the plotline will benefit from that device.

‘Third person’ POV enables a writer to tell more complex stories and to always stay with the character who is ‘doing something interesting’.

The disadvantages, or difficulties come in deciding which character’s viewpoint best serves the story at any given stage. This makes ‘third person’ more difficult for amateurs/new writers to write well.

The ‘voice’ of the character can be less forceful too, as referring to them as ‘he’ inevitably has less impact than the ‘I’ perspective of living ‘inside’ the character’s head. Therefore, stirring an emotional response from those reading your work can be more challenging than the ‘first person’ alternative.

Both POV’s have their place, and whether a writer wants the intimacy of ‘first person’, or the wider encompassing scope of ‘third person’, will depend upon the story you are trying to tell.

Making the decision on which POV to write in is, in the end, as personal as the ‘voice’ which you, as a writer, have crafted.

Yup.  Star Wars.  Now before you roll your eyes and move on to something else, hear me out on this.  Way back, a long time ago in a history not so far away, back in the days before movies had things like a color picture, three dimensions, or even sound, there as a little movie called “Metropolis.”  It came out in 1927 and was directed by Fritz Lang.

”Metropolis” featured a character who bears a striking resemblance to a certain golden skinned ‘droid from a movie that came out 50 years later.  Did Lucas know what he was doing?  You bet he did.  But what he did, and what you must do if you intend to do this, is to make what you steal your own.

In the case of C-3P0, Lucas made him a neurotic robot with a penchant for getting into trouble.  Not only that, but he coupled this tall golden droid with a short, barrel like counterpart, and made them key factors in that first movie.  He made them a comic team similar to another famous duo- Laurel and Hardy, familiar icons from his youth. 

I’ll give you another example.  Remember the movie “Avatar” from James Cameron?  It was a huge movie which set records at the box office.  Now what if, instead of in space on a faraway planet, we set that movie on the American frontier?  Also instead of a crippled Marine, we make the hero a disenchanted Civil War hero and change the blue skinned “Na’vi”, into a tribe of Lakota Sioux?  Same story where the soldier becomes a member of his newfound tribe, learns that his own people are not as honorable as maybe once he thought, and falls in love with a native.  Doesn’t that sound like “Dances With Wolves?”

Cameron did the same thing with Avatar that Lucas did with Metropolis.  Except Cameron pulled more from a single source, whereas Lucas borrowed from a number of different places.  They both took something someone else created, and made it their own.  They changed enough to create their own characters and have their own story- and in doing so, they have presented some of the best known and best loved stories of modern times.

So, can you think of any examples of a writer or director stealing something and making it his own? 

Can you see where something like this might work for your own story? 

What are some of the pitfalls you might run into, if you were to attempt this?

When submitted for feed back, some of the opinions stated:

**It’s important to note that using established character arcs to plot out a story is nothing new and has been employed way back in the Greek Chorus.

**There’s nothing new under the sun.

**I freely admit that I have “stolen” a lot of ideas from multiple sources developing something completely new in my stories. I make enough changes that my stories always come out unique. I have been influenced by, Star Wars, War of the Worlds, and Thundercats to name a few. In a sense I see it as paying homage to works that I have enjoyed. 

**Thanks to Doug, Charles, and Anthea for their insightful comments on this topic.

After some informal surveying with other writers, name generation falls in to one of the following two camps:

The Researcher:

Randomly pick some names, find out what they mean and match them based on personal preference and fitness to the characters’ personalities.

Look for names that are popular during the time period, social-economic class, ethnicity and geography. Great sources include newspaper obituaries and the History Channel.

Construct them on purpose. For example, the use of alliteration, aural patterns and tropes to create names is common in superhero and larger-than-life serials (Flash Gordon, Clark Kent, Tom Swift, Dick Tracy, Lois Lane, Pepper Potts). Try to avoid names that are explicitly tied to iconic characters like Conan, Elric, et al.

Consider how people with a certain name are portrayed in other fiction. Names are usually suggestive to some degree. Duke, Max, Buddy and Billy usually denote someone of more physical prowess, whereas names like Dexter, Stephen, James and Jameson might be considered more intellectual.

Other sources:

http://babynames.com

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php

http://www.behindthename.com/random/

The Muse Consulter:

Sometimes, writers try too hard to come up with great names. Just go with your gut, because names come as they come. What you read will influence what you write.

Think of everyday normal names or make them up on the fly

Glance at the nearest newspaper, choose the first name from an exciting word, and dream up an unusual last name.

Sometimes characters form with a name and vivid visual already attached.

Naming villians and good guys can be colored by personal experience. If you dislike a person in the real world, you will never call your hero that name.

In the end, regardless of what you're writing, you have to believe the name-- not ‘like’ it, believe in it.

So, is involved name etymology a passion for you?

Inquiring minds wanna know….

I know for myself, I tend to look for SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar) first. If I was more disciplined, I’d be better at reading through an entire piece first before going back to make my comments. But, there’s this little editorial demon sitting on my shoulder that likes to jump up and down and scream and point and shout and the only way to shut him up is by making notes. So I make some notes. When there’s a repeated pattern of abuse I’ll draw attention to the pattern, and try not to focus so much on individual incidences. This is where I notice how often an author uses that, had, very, or just. Is the author of the piece repeating phrases, or using dialogue tags in the wrong places? Is the author consistent with point-of-view and tenses?

After SPaG, I look at how the piece is structured. Is the author telling as opposed to showing? How many adverbs are used, and could stronger verbs be used instead? Is the writer giving a lot of unnecessary detail, devoting word count to the inconsequential? For example, is it important to tell the reader that the main character fished in their purse for the key, put it into the lock, turned the key, and opened the door?

Around the same time, I’m looking at inconsistencies that jump out at me. The things that jump out at me, as many people on this site can attest, are booze and weapons. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an expert on either, but I know more than the average layman. So if you call a whisky that doesn’t come from Scotland Scotch, I’m going to call you out on it. If your warrior is wielding a ten pound sword, I’m going to call it into question.

But, characters simply doing things isn’t plot. Plot is the main event chain of the story. You can write a day in the life that would be entertaining, but it doesn’t need a plot per se. You can write a charming one-hundred word vignette where someone drinks a cup of coffee and checks their email. Sure, the character is taking action, but it doesn’t necessarily rise to the level of plot.

Typically, well-plotted stories follow a loosely structured sequence:

exposition or inciting incident

rising action or complications

climax or turning point

falling action (often omitted or truncated in short-fiction)

resolution

Driving the plot.

There is the old adage that ‘villains act while heroes react’. The heroes are forced into action by the machinations of the villain, and rarely have proactive schemes of their own.

Sauron is invading Middle Earth,

the Empire has built a Death Star,

a mobster just blew up a boat in the LA harbor.

One way to mix it up is to give the characters a definable goal that they want to accomplish independent of the villain in a piece. You can move motivation from external to internal. Maybe the character wants to become the best gunfighter there is, or is striving to get a good paying job to support his family. All potential spots for conflict.

There doesn't have to be a single plot.

The Empire built a Death Star that must be destroyed. To destroy it, secret plans have to get from the custodian of the plans to those who can best put them to use. There is a series of events that take place until the climax at the end where the plans are received and used to destroy the Death Star.

There can be any number of sub-plots to use along the way.

A boy learns he has special powers he must learn to control.

The rogue begins to understand the world is bigger than himself.

The heroine learns that she has to count on others to help her in time of need.

Each character, good or bad, can have some journey to make. The best villains are those that are fleshed out with their own motivations and character arcs. Sometimes the relationship between hero and villain is complex. For example, the movie ‘Unbreakable’ explores this concept to the point where it’s unclear whether the villain created the hero or the reverse.

A plot isn't absolutely necessary. No, really!

It's important to note that there is an entire genre of novel that doesn’t have any plot to it at all, the picaresque. That is, there is a series of events the characters go through, but there is no overarching scheme unifying the whole beyond what the characters experience. There is no central conflict. A modern equivalent, Hunter S. Thompson’s 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’, lacks the five elements of plot, there is no true final resolution, and yet many find it entertaining.

When reading these stories, you focus on the development of the characters and their emotional state. Any plot should be interesting and believable but not the driving force. The characters need to be clearly driven and an integral part of the plot as to make the story inviting and full of life.

For example, in 'Seinfeld', great character development drove the show, not the plot. Plot can play second fiddle as long as the characters are honest, emotional and believable.

The end?

Many thanks to Ray, Charles, Karen , Matt, Tim, Anthea and Eric for their invaluable input on this topic.The original discussion can be found here:

http://www.writerscarnival.ca/how-important-is-plot-anyway

More reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_(narrative)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picaresque_novel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_structure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Plot