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Story Middles - Plot Development - Part Two

© Janet Kay Blaylock

In the last article, I discussed the beginning of plot development and how to outline the plot. By outlining the plot, you will have some idea of where the story is headed. However, there are surprises that you will face when you start writing the book.

Predictions

First of all, you may have an idea of what you want to accomplish in your book and what you want to say in the beginning, middle, and ending, but what about predictions?

Let's say you are writing your book, and you come to the middle. Suddenly, you start heading in a different direction than what you have written in the synopsis. Now, you have to predict where the story is headed.

Are you going to end up in the direction of your synopsis? Is it going to go a different route than your synopsis? What about red herrings? These can also take you a different direction than you think.

When I first wrote my synopsis, I knew what direction I was headed. However, as I wrote, I started going in a different direction. At the time I was writing the book, I started thinking about what was going to happen next. It seemed like I was just writing and not knowing the direction. My writing was surprising me.

I kept thinking about things as I wrote, but even though I was trying to predict where I was headed, I wasn't that sure until I reached the end of my book.

Throughout the book, I kept planting different clues, but when I reached the end of it, I still wasn't sure about the clues. I wasn't sure which were going to be red herrings and which were the true clues. Now, let's discuss red herrings.

Red Herrings

Red herrings are false clues. Writers use red herrings to throw readers off guard. Sometimes these clues can seem real and readers think they know what will happen, but they find out they are led astray.

For example: A writer might give a clue about a candlestick being used to commit a crime, but that would not be likely because there weren't any candlestick holder in the house. On the other hand, the writer could keep readers guessing by saying the maybe someone brought in a candlestick holder. Readers would begin to think about the clue and begin to wonder if that might have happen.

Sometimes writers might plant questions to throw readers off guard. For example, in the book I'm writing, I mention different questions and statements later on that cause readers to stop and think.