All good jokes usually revolve around three people and, for reasons of balance, so should a good book. Not people in the sense of different nationalities or characteristics but in the sense of different facets of the writer.
The transition from creative chaos to coherent complexity demands three aspects of a writer’s persona to be in complete harmony. To illustrate the point I will term these facets The Creator, The Colourist and The Critic.
There is an inherent chaos about the creative process of writing. The flow of a good narrative often takes a more zigzag path than would be acknowledged by those writers who advocate a fixed structure. But this is The Creator at work and the creative process is, for the most part, an absolute joy. When new ideas come to the writer the writing just flows. Frequently it does not fit within the constraints of a rigid plan and nor should it.
But to create a three-dimensional plot the writer must also add depth through colour, both in the descriptive elements and the complexity of the story lines. The second role is that of The Colourist. This is the part of the writer that deepens the experience of the readers by providing enough detail to enable them to construct the environment and tone of the story as it unfolds.
However, without the writer’s inner Critic, there is a real risk that either the creative or the descriptive process becomes too dominant and the book flounders. When the writer can bring their inner Critic to bear then any excesses of the writing process can be tamed and the threads of complex plots can be woven together successfully.
Some writers leave The Critic’s role to their editor but I would argue that this is a mistake. The writer needs to know how the words that they have written will be interpreted by their readers. So it is important to check that all the threads of the plot work together and none have come loose or conflict with other elements of the book.
So how does a creative writer undertake this task? There are numerous methods for tracking complexity in other spheres of life like business planning and project management and I think that some of those tools may greatly assist a writer.
Does it require specialist skills or software? No, generally simple tools like Excel spreadsheets or pen and paper are more than adequate.
To map out complex plots, each character should be allowed a row down the page and each event in the plot should be listed in columns across the top. This will test the interaction of the different plot elements. It should also drive out a view of whether there are too many sub-plots and when streamlining is required.
However, it then becomes necessary to stress-test the different elements to ensure that they are relevant and advance the novel. One technique that may help here is mind mapping where the different inter-relationships between the characters are drawn into a spider’s web-like view of all the connections. This exposes whether the relationships work or need to be reconsidered.
Use of mind maps to test out story elements, such as each character’s activities and relations to other characters and plot lines, should be detailed diagrammatically by drawing lines between the characters and the plot elements. e.g.:
Character A – father of X – works for S – envious of Z – involved in sub-plot 2
Character B – niece of A – involved in sub-plot 1
And what if it all looks far too complex? Then realistically, if you think so, it is likely that your readers will too. Which can only mean that you need to either strip out some of the complexity, pare back some of the story elements or combine characters.
But this is not easy to do if you are too wedded to your novel. So seek help from people you consider to be both level–headed and impartial. Ideally these should be your beta readers and their role is to provide feedback on your first draft. With strong beta readers you can be sure that you can iron out any fatal flaws before you send the book to your editor.
After all, you want the end result to be challenging but not so complex that you lose your readers and they give up after the first couple of chapters.
So find your inner Critic or get someone to fulfil that role for you and keep polishing your plot until it shines.
But when you undertake this role of Critic, ensure that the three facets of the writer are in complete harmony and one does not take over. After all, who ever heard the one about the Englishman and the Scotsman?
The Colourist, The Creator and The Critic need to bounce off each other and no one element should dominate. Coherence comes from the interplay of all three.
Sam Audley writes pacy, tightly-plotted international crime thrillers. Last year her well-received novel, The Dawnlands Catch, was based on the concept of ‘when is an offer too good to be true?’It majored on the themes of betrayal and manipulation and covered action spanning Africa, Asia and the United States. She is currently finalising the next novel in the Maria Ruiz series, a tale of ‘who can you trust?’ based in Guatemala and Mexico.
Follow Sam on Twitter @sam_audley; on Facebook or via her website; www.saauthor.com.
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