Keeping track of plot beats | #123
How to add layers to your fiction
Hi, this is Celeste. I have been writing poems since 2017 and my low-fantasy crime novel Project Dylan since 2022.
Letters for Creatives is where I share my thoughts on writing, creativity, and interview creators/authors bi-weekly. Subscribe if you want them in your inbox. Take a look at the archive before you get the next letter from me.
Share your product with 620+ writers and creatives by becoming a sponsor.
Kate Cavanaugh talked about how she gets over writer’s block with a outlining method from How to Write a Mystery. (She recommended Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell for revision) She would write the outline from the beginning to the middle, then from the ending to the middle. It helps to build the story to the ‘incident’. By knowing the ending, you can drop clues from the ending to the incident. For example:
Beginning to incident:
Dylan is living an ordinary life→One day, something happens that would change his life→An incident happens one day
Ending to the middle:
Dylan overcomes what happens in the story→The incident happens
I find that this is useful especially for mystery/crime fiction. Plotting helps you to plan how the crime would happen in the book. Save the cat beat sheet would be useful if you need a better structure, or you can try other plot structures.
The soul of crime fiction is the breadcrumbs and clues that we get along the book. Imagine if it goes like:
Chapter 1 - Someone dies.
Chapter 2 - This person admits killing said person.
Chapter 3 - The person gets sent to jail.
THE END
What is the point if it is like that?
As I read I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, I found that it has layers upon layers upon layers of clues of the crime. It keeps me thinking about who actually is the killer in the story.
Kate Cavanaugh would write notes about the characters’ mentality at the start of the scene. For instance, it can be:
Dylan does not know that this person knows that Dylan can read minds.
For foreshadowing, I got notes such as:
Dylan goes to a place where he sees someone for the first time.
Foreshadowing: Dylan gets introduced to the person later and he recognizes him in an instant
How can the scene where Dylan sees someone for the first time be useful for Dylan when they get introduced later? Why does a scene need to exist if it is not useful for a later chapter in a crime novel?
What you get after you upgrade with a paid subscription
Full access to the Literature Lab series, deconstructing the mechanics of groundbreaking fiction
120+ newsletter issues on creativity, storytelling and writing
Full access to interviews with creators and published authors, on their writing/creative process, getting over roadblocks, their creative hero and more
2023 and 2024 writing/creative prompts
If you like reading this letter, you can show your support by:
Restacking, sharing, one-time tipping, clicking the little heart❤️
Prompt #18
If you are stuck in the thick of writing a book, try different outlining methods and find the one that suits the book. Because every book is different.
With gratitude,
Celeste