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pegkerrRead in The Pocket Muse about the difference between situation and complication. Stories can grind to a halt if you mistake a situation for a complication. A situation, however complicated, is self-contained (situation: someone is contemplating suicide and holds a gun to his head. Only one way out of the story: either he pulls the trigger he doesn't). A complication, however simple, opens up, affording a way out. (Person holding the gun to his own head gets a wrong number cell phone call, from someone who needs help. Now what happens?) Excellent complications offer several ways out.
A good complication illuminates, thwarts, or alters the character's desire
A good complication forces the character to act
A good complication offers the story a point of departure
A good complication raises the stakes
A good complication thickens the plot
Ex: Miles' parents are stuck in a standoff in the civil war in Barrayar. But then Miles' uterine replicator is kidnapped and held hostage by the enemy, and there is a time limit to how long it can support him. Cordelia's husband won't negotiate to trade hostages. What does Cordelia do?
Consider: The idea of Rolf kidnapping Ingrid. How is this a complication? How does it change what Solveig does? Perhaps she was originally going to quit work on the ice palace for some reason? (Fired from her job? Or?) Or she was going to build the ice palace without magic, but the kidnap changes her mind? Or it forces her to change her design to go with Jack's changes? Or to overrule Jack's changes? (After all, Jack's changes were at Rolf's behest).
Damn. Ouch. Just saw for the first time the structural similarities with the kidnap of Willy Silver in War for the Oaks. Do I have to ditch this story idea, then? The old gravitational pull problem. Aargh.
I can see more clearly how it (Ingrid's kidnap) changes things for Jack. It causes him to switch sides. But how does it change things for Solveig?
What other complications should be built into the story?
The Aquatennial business with the milk carton boat race on Lake Nokomis is the start of Solveig facing her fear of drowning. Could Solveig need to face it even more fully? Can I think of some reason she'd have to go swimming under ice in winter, related to Ingrid's kidnap? Maybe she has to consult with the fish? Maybe they find that Ingrid is somewhere that Solveig has to reach by swimming only? And when they get there, they discover she's been moved?
Why is Agnes in the story, really, other than to talk with Solveig and give her coffee? Agnes-Solveig-Ingrid make up the crone-mother-maiden triumvirate. Why? What power/use is this in the story? I had thought that Agnes is an ex-Princess Kay of the Milky Way (State Fair Queen). Why does that matter?
Peg
A good complication illuminates, thwarts, or alters the character's desire
A good complication forces the character to act
A good complication offers the story a point of departure
A good complication raises the stakes
A good complication thickens the plot
Ex: Miles' parents are stuck in a standoff in the civil war in Barrayar. But then Miles' uterine replicator is kidnapped and held hostage by the enemy, and there is a time limit to how long it can support him. Cordelia's husband won't negotiate to trade hostages. What does Cordelia do?
Consider: The idea of Rolf kidnapping Ingrid. How is this a complication? How does it change what Solveig does? Perhaps she was originally going to quit work on the ice palace for some reason? (Fired from her job? Or?) Or she was going to build the ice palace without magic, but the kidnap changes her mind? Or it forces her to change her design to go with Jack's changes? Or to overrule Jack's changes? (After all, Jack's changes were at Rolf's behest).
Damn. Ouch. Just saw for the first time the structural similarities with the kidnap of Willy Silver in War for the Oaks. Do I have to ditch this story idea, then? The old gravitational pull problem. Aargh.
I can see more clearly how it (Ingrid's kidnap) changes things for Jack. It causes him to switch sides. But how does it change things for Solveig?
What other complications should be built into the story?
The Aquatennial business with the milk carton boat race on Lake Nokomis is the start of Solveig facing her fear of drowning. Could Solveig need to face it even more fully? Can I think of some reason she'd have to go swimming under ice in winter, related to Ingrid's kidnap? Maybe she has to consult with the fish? Maybe they find that Ingrid is somewhere that Solveig has to reach by swimming only? And when they get there, they discover she's been moved?
Why is Agnes in the story, really, other than to talk with Solveig and give her coffee? Agnes-Solveig-Ingrid make up the crone-mother-maiden triumvirate. Why? What power/use is this in the story? I had thought that Agnes is an ex-Princess Kay of the Milky Way (State Fair Queen). Why does that matter?
Peg
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Re: OMG! You read Miles too!
Date: 2003-03-09 08:34 am (UTC)At any rate, all the best with the book and writing and rest assured I'll be keeping an eye out for your books as well.
Regards
Sebrena
Re: OMG! You read Miles too!
Date: 2003-03-10 07:24 pm (UTC)I do understand your feelings of awe entirely. I started as a fan, remember. I went to conventions for years hoping to meet writers because I wanted to become a writer myself, and I felt that same awe, that feeling that whenever I approached a writer I was approaching a demi-god. It was nerve-wracking at times. I'd wonder will he think I'm a geek? Do I have a piece of spinach stuck between my teeth? But I wanted so much to learn that I overcame my shyness, and I discovered, to my surprise, that writers are pretty much like other people. Yeah, some (a very few) are rich and famous, but for the most part, they're simply a pretty friendly bunch of uncomplicated people who like to talk about literature, yeah, but also talk about their kids and dogs and mortgages and politics too, and they have to get up and put on their underwear in the morning just like everyone else. And as I was discovering this, I was becoming a writer myself. It has been a very strange feeling at times, particularly since finishing my first novel, to realize that people are starting to look at me that way--my words take on added weight for them because I've had a book published. It feels extremely surreal when I discover that someone is nervous about approaching me because I've written and published books.
So don't worry that your posts are silly, because they aren't at all. I understand why you feel that way; I've felt that way myself when I started out talking to writers. But I'll tell you something: I've always found that writers in the science fiction/fantasy field in particular are extremely gracious about answering questions and talking with fans, and particularly about helping other writers all they can, because they all remember that they were helped by other writers before them, too, when they started out. So they practice pay-it-forward. It's a great field for mentoring.
I assure you--I have to get up and put on my underwear in the morning, just like everyone else.
Cheers,
Peg