Using Emotion as a Plotting Tool

Using Emotion as a Plotting Tool

Copyright © 1996 Althea Sexton

When you begin writing, devising a plot can sometimes be a frightening thing. It helps to remember your audience and the structure of your genre. In romance, the main plot device is the relationship between the hero and the heroine. Through the course of the book, you will chronicle the growing love between two people. It doesn't get any better than that.

Stories can be plot or character driven. Examples of plot driven stories are adventure, science fiction, thriller stories. They spend most of the page dealing with events that happen to the characters. They center on action and fast pacing. Watch the films of Indiana Jones and "Star Wars," and you will see plot driven stories.

Character driven stories engage the reader in what is happening in the heads and hearts of the people in the story. Interplay between the characters is a basis to the story. "Fried Green Tomatoes" is an example of a character driven story. Actually, any "date" movie will do.

Too often beginning romance writers create stories that are very "plot heavy" because they worry about what should "happen" next. Concentrate on what the characters "feel" by getting a handle on their thoughts.

In the romance genre, you write about a relationship and how it evolves into something lasting and powerful. It is too easy to be sidetracked by the adventure that happens to your characters. Turn off the planning part of your brain and get in touch with what they are feeling. Decide what you want them to feel and what happens to them will become more natural.

Romance novels center around the emotional life of the two main characters, the hero and the heroine (h/h). You can use their growing relationship to help establish the pacing and tone of the book. In fantasy stories a sorcerer's apprentice evolves through the gaining of power, and in mysteries, the detective finds clues to solve the murder. In a way, both represent a journey. It is the same for romances, but it is a journey of the heart and soul.

Keep your characters on the path by routing an emotional map. This is the placement of the emotional highs and lows of your characters. Some examples of sights along your character's route are the first meet, the first kiss, the black moment, the first time your heroine ties the hero up in bed to have her way with him, the resolution and the denouement. Of course, your mileage will vary.

Taking the time to make an emotional map of favorite reads can greatly benefit a new romance writer. Use whatever method is best for you. Do several of them. Notice when the different emotions appear in the books. Use this as a guideline for your own emotional map.

Start by establishing the emotional state of your hero and heroine at the beginning of the story. At this point don't worry about what "happens" to them, but rather what they are "feeling."

How do the h/h feel about each other at the beginning of the book? Remember, they don't have to hate each other to have conflict. Establish the sexual tension early on in the game. Think about the scenes where they desire each other. Write a scene from each character's POV showing them lusting after the other.

Now, think about where, when, how they begin to change their minds and hearts about the other. Each character must undergo a transformation during the course of the book. Think of it as personal growth. What emotional chains do they have to throw off before they can give themselves fully to their lifemate? How does that change come about?

By now you might start thinking, "OK, I need my characters to feel _this_ way now and here's what happens to them to bring that about." You are putting action to emotion but only as a catalyst. Actions always follow the emotional map of the story.

Action follows emotion and is sort of a variant of scene and sequel. A pattern develops and becomes the plot. Your character 'feels' something which causes them to act. Using this device also enables your characters to be more active and not passive players.

Here are some questions you should ask. What are you characters doing when they realize that they love the other person? How do they react to that knowledge? It should bring about some action. Do they run to or away from the other? How does the one being loved feel and what is the action taken on their part?

Try these exercises to help you get started. Write the following scenes. Don't worry about connecting them just yet. They may never make it into your final manuscript. It can be dialogue or narrative, but spill some emotional guts onto the page.

Write the scene just before the h/h meet from each character's point of view. For most romance novels, this will be backstory, but will give you a clue as to their frame of mind. They may or may not know that are about to meet the person responsible for such drastic changes in their life. What you want to concentrate on is the way they feel, what they are thinking, and what emotions are coursing through them.

Now, write the 'Meet." This where the h/h finally get together. Depending on the line you are writing for, it could be on page one or in chapter three.

In the next scene, write about how the h/h feel about the other in each point of view. Have some fun, torture them. They have these feelings about the other, but someone/thing is keeping them apart. For now, substitute "X" for the source of the conflict. If you've been having a problem with establishing conflict, this may help.

For a change of pace, do the next scene in dialogue only. Write the conversation where the h/h finally admit to each other that it is true love between them. What do they say to each other? Do both 'fess up or is it a one sided conversation?

And last but not least, write the last scene were true love conquers all. Are they deliriously happy? Or faintly bemused?

What you should end up with is a series of building blocks to mortar together and shape into a coherent whole. This emotional map will help you stay on course while plotting out your story, no matter your style.