It's the last week of this month's theme - features of writing. We're going to be looking at plot. The idea for a plot is probably the first thing you come up with if you think like me, and your characters and ideas follow from this.
When plotting a story, I normally come up with an idea or start with a prompt. This idea is usually quite bare-boned, though I might have a few details or scenes that I'm sure of. The plot usually takes on its full form when I start writing, after creating my characters and settings.
This week I will be telling you about some typical plots as well as some atypical ones. Certain eras of writing tend to follow certain rules about plot - typical endings, typical subject matter, etc. I would say that contemporary writing seems to be about being different at the moment. Writing has become much more freely accessible thanks to the internet, so writers are doing what they can to get their stories to stand out.
A good way to get yourself started on this is mostly through reading. Read around your genre and see what conventions you can find, particularly in more modern writing.
If you want something practical to do, I would suggest keeping a dream journal. At the very least, write down any particularly interesting dreams you can remember.
I recently wrote a piece that was inspired by a dream and it ended up becoming something different and more coherent - relying on mythology. From the dream, I took the image of a bright orange lawnmower stuck up in a thin tree. The improbability of it all led me to do some research on forests in England associated with witchcraft, as well as their local legends and more broad mythology.
I find dreams a great source of inspiration in my writing, and although you might be sceptical at first, by keeping a journal you will start to become better at remembering dreams and you will have a notebook full of prompts!
Happy writing!
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