Lecture 13: In the Beginning—How to Start a Plot

In the Beginning—How to Start a Plot ..............................................

Lecture 13

G

etting a plot started is a daunting prospect for most writers, but the

reason it’s daunting varies from writer to writer. Some writers know

so much about the story even before they start that they don’t quite

know where to begin. Others have only a single episode or character in mind,

and they’re not sure how to spin that situation into a complete narrative.

In this lecture, we’ll explore three ways to work a writer works out plot,

outlined by John Gardner: “by borrowing some traditional plot or an action

from real life ... by working his way back from the story’s climax; or by

groping his way forward from an initial situation.”

Working out Plots

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important to note that this is not the same as plagiarism, which generally

involves passing off someone else’s work as your own. Borrowing, in

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or using it for a purpose that the original author may not have intended

or even foreseen. Many writers, for example, have retold Homer’s

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well-known stories from a different point of view.

o Of course, historical novels take their stories from famous

people or events in history. As with novels that adapt earlier

works of literature, the best historical novels reimagine history

in interesting ways. For example, Robert Graves’s novel I,

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each tell the story of a Roman emperor from the emperor’s

point of view.

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stories. Beginning writers of mysteries or romance novels, for

example, probably have templates for those sorts of stories in

their minds. Although such a template can be a straightjacket, it