The Writing Experiment by Hazel Smith

with the meeting. We think that there may be some unexpected

twists in the meeting itself. However, instead the story revolves

around reminiscences, and imaginings about the daughter, and the

meeting itself never materialises.

This certainly subverts plot expectations but it is still recognisably plot-
orientated. However, you could take the whole process one step further:

Example 7.2: Raising non-specific expectations

X receives a letter from Y which alludes to a meeting. But we are

never told what the contents of the letter are, or why the meeting

is required. X then reminisces about the past, and we are continually

guessing about what is in the letter.

In this example plot is still present in the sense of raising expectations. But
it becomes much vaguer, and causality is loosened.
Another way in which plot can be subverted is when it is over-
determined. In many postmodern novels, events double up, repeat
themselves, and reflect back on each other, and there are multiple coinci-
dences as in the following example:

Example 7.3: Over-determined plot (outline)

X discovers the murder of a teacher in the school in which he works.

The next day he discovers a murder of another member of staff

and then another. All the events happen at the same time, on the

same day, in successive weeks, with different murder weapons which

nevertheless look alike. He develops an obsessive interest in the

victims and tries to trace their lives outside the school. He finds that

they all worked simultaneously and secretly in other schools.

As you can see from this, there is an abundance of plot, but to some extent
the different elements double up and collapse into each other, and do not
retain their individual places in the fictional scheme.
This process can be taken even further by devising a plot in which the
same story develops in different ways which conflict with each other:

Example 7.4: Conflicting storylines (outline)

Scenario One: X receives a letter from a previously unknown

daughter and decides to meet her. Scenario Two: X receives a letter

from someone who claims to be his daughter, he is unsure whether

this claim is true, talks to the putative mother, and decides that the

girl is not his. Scenario Three: X goes out to look for his adopted

138 The Writing Experiment