Ah–Ha Moments: Kamikaze Plot Rescue
It happens to every writer. All of a sudden your fabulous plot that’s been humming right along comes to a complete standstill. You’re watching the whole thing--which you thought was soaring--suddenly hell-bent on self-destruction. What ifs (of wild, moderate or even leaden nature) don’t help. Sometimes even knowing the end doesn’t help.
Before you consign the manuscript to flames, trunks, swamps or oceans (real or cyber variety) there is a way out that really does work. Guaranteed. And discovering this little pocket miracle was definitely one of my own biggest ah-ha! moments.
The answer to moving the plot forward is not asking what happens next, the real answer is your characters—both heroes and villains, alike. Ask them questions: What is your greatest fear? What is the thing you want the most in the world? What secret do you have you’re terrified will be found out and by whom? What do you hope will happen to you and what if it doesn’t? What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? What’s the worst thing you ever thought about doing?
You get the idea....You may have to do a bit of first person writing and then integrate it later, but your characters—their true natures, that is—always hold the key to the events that comprise your story. And your characters are top-notch when it comes to getting your plot moving ahead again.
About the Author:
Lisa Mannetti’s debut novel, The Gentling Box, garnered a Bram Stoker Award and she has since been twice-nominated for the award in both the short and long fiction categories: (“1925: A Fall River Halloween” and Dissolution). Her story, “Everybody Wins,” was made into a short film by director Paul Leyden starring Malin Ackerman and released under the title Bye-Bye Sally. Recent short stories include, “Corruption,” in Nightscapes Volume 1 (August 2013) and “The Hunger Artist” in Zippered Flesh II (February 2013).
She has also authored The New Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (second edition to be published by Smart Rhino early 2014), two companion novellas in Deathwatch, (new edition Nightscape Press, December 2013), a macabre gag book, 51 Fiendish Ways to Leave your Lover, (Bad Moon Books, Feb 2010) as well as non-fiction books, and numerous articles and short stories in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. Forthcoming works include additional short stories and a novella about Houdini, The Box Jumper. She is currently working on a paranormal novel, Spy Glass Hill.
Lisa lives in New York.
Visit her author website: www.lisamannetti.com
Visit her virtual haunted house: www.thechanceryhouse.com
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