Plotting No No Contest
I'm in the middle of plotting a book. I'm at the how-the-heck-can-I-get-these-characters-where-I-need-them-to-be stage, so my question to you is What plot device makes you say, "Not this again!”? I don't want to screw up, and sometimes, when I’m desperate to get the characters where I want them, I start clutching at straws. I don’t want to clutch the wrong straw.
I once read a comment from an editor of sweet romances in which she said something along the lines of never wanting to read another manuscript opening with the nervous secretary running smack into her intimidating boss and dropping her armload of papers. I imagine that before the day was over, she saw another.
For me, the “oh no” scene is the one where one character is having a nightmare. The other rushes in to see what’s going on. Did I mention that they are both naked or almost naked? And then you know what happens… because it’s happened before.
Now, I’m not making fun of these devices, because they work. Or have worked. And I’ve definitely tried to make them work. The problem is that some of them have been worked to death. I will admit that a naked nightmare scene would still be good for me if it had an interesting twist on it. I can’t think of that twist right now, but when I do, I’ll probably put it in a book, because after all--it's the naked nightmare scene.
There are some tried and true plot devices that I still love. I’m a fan of snowbound cabin, but the circumstances that put the people in the snowbound cabin had better be good. I also like mail-order bride. I don’t know why, but I do.
And finally there are the overly, shall we say, unusual plot devices. I once read a book, back in the 1970’s, where the heroine gets hit on the head by a falling cocoanut and severely injured. This is an actual danger around cocoanut trees (as are falling Keith Richards) but when reading a romance novel, somehow the mention of falling coconuts makes me step out of the story . Coconut? She just got hit by a coconut? Other than that, I liked the story. I just wish that she’d been hit by an errant baseball instead. It would have worked. Even on a beach in Fiji.
What plot device hits your not-that-again button?
What tried and true plot devices do you like?
Have you seen an unusual twist on a tried and true that you enjoyed?
All registered Cigars readers who answer one or all of these questions will be put into a drawing for one of my hand-braided horsehair and pewter bracelets. (Or if you're allergic to horsehair, you can have any one of my books.) I'll announce the winner on Friday.
Secret Baby
Hopefully, it's already too late for this one but I HATE THE SECRET BABY plot line.
Honestly, I'm not overly fond of kids in my romances anyway although I've read some where it worked.
But not the Secret Baby. Ugh.
ani
But...
I just remembered that I adored Sandra Hill's The Blue Viking which had a secret baby! So, like you said, if done well, all those overdone plot twists can still be fresh!
But it was a secret baby from even the reader for a big part of the book so it worked in a different way.
Plot lines
I'm kinda tired of the heroine had an accident out in the middle of nowhere and the hero comes to the rescue. Now that doesn't mean I won't read them if the twist is just right and there are some authors I'll read even with that plot line.
I like the long separated friends who meet again and become more than friends; stories about families who didn't know about each other; actually if it comes right down to it I'll read anything that is well done.
Plot devices
Every time I think I'm sice of a certain plot device then there is a book I read that proves that an author can use it and tell a wonderful story but I have to say that I am not a big fan of the secret baby plot device. I have a big problem with any woman who didn't give her child time with his/her father because of some hurt feelings or something some guy said about not ever wanting children.
Secret babies are my pet peeve...
but I agree with Ellen. Any plot device can be made into a great story, even one that's been used a million times. It's all about spin. And voice. And a bunch of other things...LOL
Among others, I like the friends who become lovers storyline. I love reading about two people who have always viewed each other a certain way until they begin to see each other in a whole new light.
Cari
http://cariquinn.blogspot.com/
Secret baby plots turn me
Secret baby plots turn me right off a book.
I enjoy the friends to lover plots or lovers who break up and then get back together years later.
Ditto
Count me as another who is not a fan of the secret baby plot line. I'm not a big friends to lover fan either. I do enjoy stories where the hero and heroine come together to fight crime or save the world. I also love revenge stories.
I'm with Ani
I loathe the secret-baby plot-line. In general they drive me right up the wall, and I can't remember any that I ended up loving in spite of that start. I don't mind kids, unless they're really weirdly precocious, in which case it's kind of annoying. Actually I guess I really dislike dishonesty--sometimes those plots where the hero or heroine has some big secret that they can't possibly tell the other person creates some funny scenes, but overall I just hate conflicts that could be resolved if they just sat down for five minutes and spoke honestly with each other.
Another of those is more common in historicals I think--the whole "I can't marry him if he doesn't love me; he hasn't SAID he loves me, so he must not!" hand-wringing... ARGH!
Like some other commenters have said, I do love friends-to-lovers, reconciliations, reunions... I guess in general, I enjoy stories where the couple have some history; sometimes I think that allows a more realistic quick build-up of emotions.
I do sometimes like the "they've got to get married" plots--to keep a family together or for some sort of kind-of-legitimate-regulation or something--they can be an interesting way of forcing the couple into developing intimacy (not necessarily physical).
I, too, dislike the plot
I, too, dislike the plot where the h/h have a great night together, something happens that they go separate ways, then the woman(usually)comes back to town where she lived many moons ago and just as she enters the bar, goes into the store there is, guess who?, the guy who is the father of her child and yet he doesn't know he is.
I really like the plot where the next door neighbors get together; one has just moved next
door and they hit it off when he/she is helping the other one.
What an awesome prize by the sounds of it. I love bracelets but have yet to see one of these.
The bracelet is awesome
but so are Jeannie's books. I absolutely am tired of pregnant lady going off the road to be rescued by knight in shining armor who then proceeds to deliver said baby and ends up loving both. I'd rather see the pregnant lady rescuing the hero.
Thank you, Kaelee! And I
Thank you, Kaelee! And I love the idea of the pregnant woman rescuing the hero, lol.
This is good stuff! Thanks
This is good stuff! Thanks everyone who commented. As an author, I love hearing what readers like and dislike, and I'm getting a good idea of what I won't be writing about in the near future. I also agree that many times an author can take a stale plot device and make it amazing. Take Kaelee's idea for instance--pregnant heroine with a twist. I love it.
Thanks all,
Jeannie
Secret Baby
I can deal with about any kind of plot as long as I switch around alot and don't read the same plot real often. I am kind of like everyone else though I think the secret baby one has been over done.
Great topic
Love this topic, Jeannie.
My very favorite plot device is amnesia, hands down. I love amnesia. LOL I can't resist. I think most of my favorite books in any genre are amnesia books. Bourne Identity, Dead to the World (Charlaine Harris), and others I've read, several Blazes. My amnesia Blaze was About Last Night, and to some extent, Untouched.
My second favorite is heroine/hero in peril -- danger, suspense, mystery. Put this together with amnesia, and I'm a happy camper.
Third favorite is dual identity -- Superman/Clark Kent, etc -- everyone has a dual nature of some sort, and I love books that play with that. HOWEVER, what I don't like is when this becomes a story where all of a sudden people who know each other well somehow fail to recognize each other because of some event, like an accident or years intervening. I'm sorry, I have met people I haven't seen for 20 years, and I still recognized them. I may not know their name, but I know I know them.
Which links to "wrong bed" -- these are fun stories, but let me tell you, if I crawled into bed, even in the dark and drunk, with anyone other than Mike, I would KNOW it, and no, I would not just "go for it" anyway -- so I find "wrong bed" scenarios very hard to swallow. I can see how it might work if someone gives their characters an ounce of intelligence and they work it through and make a decision, but even that's a stretch, I think.
Least favorite, I'd have to agree that it's secret baby. I don't buy that someone would have someone's child and keep it from them, unless they really thought the guy was a bastard, and then you are logically lead in one of two directions: the guy is a psycho, and thus not a romance hero, or, there is a huge misunderstanding, which is also a peeve -- it's one hell of a misunderstanding that would keep someone from telling you you have a child in the world, and that's just a little too serious for me to feel sympathetic toward it. Even if it is resolved, it's not a plot line I can relate to at all.
However, wrong bed and secret baby are incredibly popular, so I guess enough people love them, right? They keep selling...
Sam
Device/Premise
Not to throw a wrench into it (aren't you glad I got my internet back? Snork...), but it seems we're lumping premises with plot devices... so the running into someone and dropping stuff is a plot device, mechanics of the plot, how to make something happen, but things like "Secret Baby" or "Amnesia" are story premises. They're larger... so I probably mixed those up, too...
Not that we can't talk about both, but you know how I am weird about terms. ;)
But I see your point completely on the running into someone and dropping papers, etc, the nightmare sequencing into the love scene (I think JD Robb books personally used this one to death...heh... a pun, kind of ... in death, to death... never mind....).
For me, I think I am getting tired of the orgasmic vampire bite. I think it would change all of vampire romance if biting hurt. I mean, so you love this vampire, and they want to bite you, but they have to resist because they don't want to hurt you. Still, they have to bite *someone* right? That would be better relationship conflict than the usual "I know letting him/her bite me is wrong, but I want it because it feels good." I don't know. The idea of someone sucking blood out of your body doesn't sound very sexy to me (especially how they do it in True Blood -- it's just so gross).
Sam
New rules
I'm accepting both plot devices and plot premises. Now we can talk :)
Very funny
It kind of went downhill at the end but if you want a look at how some romance readers feel:
http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=122538
Nerd becomes superhunk
I like the ex-nerd-becomes-successful-lawyer (whatever)-superhunk and returns for his 20th HS reunion to wow the beautiful girls who looked down their noses at him. Of course, the one he always wanted falls in love with him and he with her after a suitable number of pages devoted to “punishing” her. It’s a male fantasy thing, trite but fun to think about. Of course, the nerd could be a female who undergoes the same transformation
LOL! The book I'm writing
LOL! The book I'm writing right now has the nightmare scene you hate so much. And I'm writing a secret baby story next!! What can I say, I like to put my stamp on an old favorite :-)
I guess I get annoyed by people being murdered just to spice up the plot. Especially when it's a minor character I never even knew existed and don't really care about.
That said, I can enjoy pretty much anything if it's done well.
Jen
http://www.jenlewis.com
Jen--I bet you add your own
Jen--I bet you add your own special twist to both stories. And secretly, I long to use naked nightmare, but I can't come up with a new way to do it. Personally, I'd kind of like to experience naked nightmare. Shhhh!
Jeannie
Just eat something really spicy before bed, watch a scary movie, and don't wear PJs. LOL
Sam
Sorry Sam
as a read only person I know now I got premise and device mixed up. But some devices are overworked too. I will never tire of love at first sight premise? I think?
I got them mixed up, too!
I mixed them up, too -- after I posted, I thought, "oh crap, I didn't answer Jeannie's question right, I was talking about premises" but then I guess she let me off the hook by saying we could talk about either. ;)
So, whew. ;)
Sam
Father is forcing daughter to marry
I despise when the father is forcing his daughter to marry someone despicable. It's way overdone. Besides, she's actually going to marry the handsome rich guy anyways, so why bother with all that craziness. LOL
Deidre
I guess for me the "please
I guess for me the "please not again" device is the one where the characters are thrown together because the hero has to "protect" the heroien because the bad guys are after them. Granted, it really works, but it does get a little old.
J.K. Coi
Immortals To Die For
www.jkcoi.com