On Starting Fresh With a New World

Let’s say you’re struck with a fantastic new concept. What if (for example) the battle for the souls of humanity is even more pitched than we know? What if angels and demons appear at the time of death for souls “on the fence” and hold a small official court hearing to determine the destination for that soul?

And what if Hell is winning because all the really good lawyers go to Hell (lol, lawyer jokes never get old — they’re almost as villified as Nazis) and so the main character is a less-than-pristine soul that got in to Heaven on a technicality and now has to train a bunch of lily-white angels in courtroom politics.

Bam. New world. Inklings of an actual plot in there, so just start typing away, am I right?

NO, THAT IS NOT CORRECT.

Ahem.

Look. Even assuming that plot up there wasn’t almost directly yanked from a book I recently read (and it was, up till the laywer joke), what I’ve got up there isn’t a book. It’s not a story idea.

At BEST, it’s a concept. It’s a tiny candle flame of something interesting which MIGHT turn into a story that MIGHT turn into a book.

It’s always so tempting when a new concept appears and sways provocatively in front of us, but we have to think back to our previous flames.

Yeah. Those. The half-finished, limping manuscripts we’ve shoved into a metaphorical chest in the dustiest corner of our attic.

You need MORE than just a concept.

You need characters (that lawyer up there is a good start, and it’s easy to branch out and add some angels and demons and a human or two for good measure).

You need PLOT — not just “how cool would it be if this was true” but move past that. If this is true, then HERE is a problem that my main character can solve which is directly intertwined with that neat concept.

Yes, if your “cool concept” is Emergency Soul Court, your plot should utilize that cool concept as much as possible. Which means an interesting court case. How is the case interesting? How does the main character’s unique perspective allow them to solve the problem AND make them the most fun person for us to follow around on this journey?

This is not, in my opinion, a case of Pantser versus Plotter. Plotters take this and run even further, building outlines and history and the like.

We’re not talking about that.

Pantsers (and every writer I know was a pantser at one time or another) — how often do you start writing about a cool concept and then a couple chapters in a plot starts forming? And you have to constantly explain to your readers that it starts to get really good around chapter 5 or so?

Pretty freaking often, if you’re anything like me-as-a-pantser.

And EVERY bit of prevailing writing advice says to ditch the “intro” chapters and get right to the plot.

If you can have at least an inkling about your plot ahead of time, you can make things up as you go along and spin a great, surprising tale in true pantser style.

If you don’t, then more often than not stories run out of steam because that initial concept is just a candle, not a flamethrower. It can’t sustain the weight of characters and plot without help.

And if you’re lucky, while you’re in the initial throes of that creative energy, thinking up new characters and plot options gives you even MORE candle flames. That crusty lawyer meets a sweet little cherub who eats nothing but sugar and breaks out into a rash when he tries to tell a lie. One of the demons is OCD and can’t stand it when brimstone gets on her jacket. One of the humans is a disabled veteran who bombed an innocent village and runs an animal shelter and a soup kitchen in his retirement. The interesting court case involves purgatory (how does purgatory work in this world?)

… the more things you know, the more questions you can ask yourself and the more bright spots you can use to hang your story on. If you only ever start with a single vibrant idea, then your story will only have that one hook to keep YOU (the writer) interested in what’s happening.

Next time Inspiration slaps you upside the head with a shiny new idea, stop and really look at it before you dive into your wordcount. I’m not saying you have to throttle all the surprise out of it, but just a few moments spent thinking about the world AROUND that idea can often net you very valuable rewards. You AND your readers.

(P.S. If you’re not sure if you’ve got a “plot” yet, ask yourself “what is the problem that the main character needs to solve?” If you don’t know the answer, or have a hard time pinpointing it in a mishmash of character development, take a step back and try again.)