Writing a novel Part 1. Plotting a story

Mass Slaughter in Schools Poem to stuffed paranthas

Writing a novel Part 1. Plotting a story

To me plotting a story is the hardest part of writing. We live in the age of information overload. Every story has been written before, every idea has been tried in some corner of the world, in some other age. If not, I’ll bet something similar has been tried. So, how does one engage a reader?

Readers have become hard to please too.

If we have nailed the plot, we have a story to tell. Of course, then finding the right voice to tell the story in becomes the next big thing … but that comes later.

The plot is the foundation on which the novel rests. As I am fond of mythology, I re-visit my favorites, Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Bible too. These tales have lasted centuries. They are the best.

Story 1

A worried man in chains paces up and down a dungeon. It is raining outside, he can hear the thunder and see flashes of lightning. His wife is in labour. Her cries are drowned by the thunder. A boy is born. Miraculously, the chains break. Unfettered he picks up the infant, walks out of the dungeon whose doors open magically. He ‘walks’ through the river to the other side where he swaps his child with the new born daughter of another man and returns. The evil king awakens and hears about the birth, goes to the dungeon and kills the girl.

If I wrote this, I’d be booed. Yes this story about Krishna’s birth has lasted centuries. Why?

The trick is in the layering.

As a child, my Naani told me this tale. She was an awesome narrator. She would bring out a photo or a tiny baby Krishna figurine. She would then sit down and narrate the story, ending with a resounding chant of Jai Sri Krishna. It was fascinating. We kids would yell, Jai Sri Krishna and not delve deeper. As I grew up, I found out more. Devki was the evil king Kamsa’s sister. The throne was the bone of contention. Krishna actually killed Kamsa, gave the throne to his father Vasudev. There is more, Nand and Vasudev were brothers. So this is a family affair. I can imagine high level plotting that went on behind the scenes between the two brothers. I can imagine dungeon keepers being bribed, keys being thrown into the dungeon to unlock the chains, boats being ferried to Nand’s village. Children being exchanged. Sad the girl had to die … but patriarchy being what it is …

Maybe once Vasudev was King, he found ways to compensate his brother and sister-in-law in myriad ways.

So the characters drive the plot. There are motivations which can be understood easily.

GREED, REVENGE, FAMILY.

The same layering shows its magic in the war between Pandavas and Kauravas. Krishna was not an interfering busy body. Kunti was Vasudev’s sister. Again it was a family affair. Krishna helped out his aunt and cousins who had suffered for ages in a hostile court after Pandu died. They had been exiled, there were unsuccessful attempts to kill them.

REVENGE, PRIDE, FAMILY

But the motivations have to be implied, not spelt out. Which means the characters have to be rooted in a social milieu. On the surface there are events, there is action. Character motivation should come naturally. If we explain it, we lessen the impact. When a character behaves in a certain way, the reader should just nod and murmur, ‘Of course!’

A young man goes missing … He is the main lead of the story. Now, there are several ways in which one can tell this story.

Give him a temper. Get him into a fight just before he goes missing.

Now let us begin to give this layers. Layers can add 3 chapters to the story.

He is about 26, has a boring job and is frustrated. So that we evoke reader’s sympathy, give him idealism, not too much, but a bit.

We have effectively described 80 per cent of today’s youth.

Add another layer, he is the youngest in a family and has two sisters, unmarried.

Warning bells : Cliche!

The thing about cliches is that they work. Sad but true. So throw in another layer to distract the reader from such an obvious cliche. He gets into a fight with the rich and powerful.

Too simplistic! It is David and Goliath.

Add another layer. His opponent is barely twenty and is actually a sweet boy, just pampered.

So where is this going?

We have a fight between a frustrated young man and the son of a rich man. Have this in a parking lot outside a pub at night, throw in a gun and bullets. Throw in a bystander who gets shot. Get in chaos, ambulances, cops, witnesses, and in the middle of all this the young man goes missing.

Very plausible.

Give them both a back story each.

We have added the bystander.

What if the bystander is a diplomat from another country? Now we have a national crisis.

Meanwhile the youth is still missing.

This is how a plot is built.