How Important is Plot?

Earlier this month, Liz posted a compelling blog about Standalone Characters. This made an almost uncanny introduction to the post I had written below, for September.  I always re-examine my life in September - remnants of having taught college for over 25 years, no doubt.   

So I ask today: 

How important is plot? 

I work hard on plot.  I don't start writing until I know the end of my crime novels.  Blame it on my short story training, perhaps, where every word must matter.  In a novel, I design every scene so it moves the story forward.  If it doesn't, out it goes.

Not only that, but I work hard to write a plot readers haven't seen before.  And after 60 short stories and 22 crime novels, that's not easy!   It takes me at least a year to imagine and write a 75,000 word mystery book.

So I was somewhat taken aback recently, when I asked a number of my readers which books of mine they liked best, and why.

WHAT READERS SAID: 

Almost everyone said some version of, "The Pharaoh's Curse Murders.  I like the banter between Lucy and Elf, her maid." Or  "The Goddaughter books.  They're so funny!"

When I tried to pin them down to an actual book, and an actual plot, that got harder.  One said,  "The book where The Lone Rearranger was introduced."  Another, "I really like Nico in The Goddaughter books."  Another - "I loved the fashions in The Silent Film Star Murders."

No one mentioned the plot of any of the books.

To say I was surprised is an understatement.  All that time creating plots with unique spins?  Plots where an astute reader might come to the same conclusion as the protagonist, at the very same time?  

But never too soon.  The clues must be clever enough, so a reader isn't disappointed.   We don't want them to figure out the mystery too soon.

WHAT ABOUT CRIME WRITERS? 

And then I talked to some noted crime-writer friends of mine.  I asked them the same question.  Which of my books did you like best?  The answers came fast and furious.

"The one where Lucy shoots the snake. Clever reveal."

"Your latest, the Egyptian one.  I loved the unusual and daring ending." 

(There were more, but to list them here would be spoilers.)

But they all had one thing in common:  they said something about the plot.

So here's what I came away with:  Readers remember and fall in love with characters.  

Writers love characters too.  But they are more apt to point out a clever plot, because they know how hard it is to pull off. 

My conclusion:  Of course, the best books have both.  Good Characters and good plots.  I expect readers would notice if the plot was ho-hum.  I certainly do.

I write the books I wish someone else would write, so I could read them.  I feel blessed when readers like them too.

What about you?  How important is plot to your writing? Is plot more important in a short story than a novel?

Compared to Agatha Christie by The Toronto Star, and “Christie-meets-Wodehouse” by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Melodie Campbell is the winner of 10 awards. Her publications include 22 novels and over 60 short stories. The Pharaoh's Curse Murders, from Cormorant books, has just been released.  http://www.melodiecampbell.com

 

 

 

 

Ditching the Day Job: When Your Hobby Becomes Your Work, What Then?

Like many young writers, I had a dream…

Ditch the day-job and become a pro!  Write fiction novels that make enough money to support my simple lifestyle without needing a second income from another job.

As a dream, it was a big one.  The stats on writers' incomes are scary across the globe: I read that in England, the average fiction novelist with a traditional publisher makes less than 4000 pounds a year, down dramatically from the 1990s.  That translates to approximately $8000 a year Canadian, which might cover the costs of your nosh for a year, if it isn't too posh.  But forget living in your car for shelter, because you won't be able to afford the parking.

It took me twenty years of writing to be able to ditch my day job and live the dream.  That was several years ago now, and as I look forward to the release of my seventeenth novel, I want to talk about a curious issue that never occurred to me when I was yearning for the life of a professional author.

When your hobby becomes your work, what do you do for fun?

It's great to do something you love for your work. But in doing so, you lose that hobby that consumed you for so many years.   

In past decades, I wrote for pleasure.  I wrote when I wanted to, and when I was inspired to.  It was the ultimate escape.

Now, life is very different.  The deadlines loom.  You end up having to write when you don't feel like it, and when you aren't writing particularly well.  Which is what work is all about.   

And I've discovered, no matter what you do for a living, no matter how much you like it, we all need a break from work.  More so, we need something to take our minds off the novel in progress. 

So a colleague suggests to me:  why not relive the excitement of those early writing days?

You could write something else for a hobby.

I loved writing short stories.  And I still write at least one a year.  But that can't be my hobby. 

Like so many people in late middle age (stop laughing,) if I am on the computer eight hours a day writing mystery novels, and responding to all the promotional requirements of being an author, the last thing I want to do is spend more time on computers.  My fingers hurt.  My eyes are dry and achy.

Also important:  this hobby is needed to take my mind off my work.  Doing more of the same (creating fiction) doesn't cut it.  

That's the problem I am facing.  For most of my working life, I had stressful jobs in health care.  For relief from that, I turned to writing.  And writing was a fabulous hobby.  

But now that writing books is my work, I am without a hobby.  And I find it hard to find a new interest to obsess me so late in life.  Yes, I read, knit a bit, bake.  But none of those are obsessions the way writing was.

 The search for a hobby.

My LIL (live in lover) also known as the Emergency Contact, is a fanatic golfer.  He tells me that all the pro golfers work on their game every day like the full time job it is.  But that's their work, and they do other things for fun.  Some fish, for example.

Fellow Canadian Linwood Barclay makes the bestseller lists everywhere.  In his downtime, he has a world-class model railway system in his home that gives him pleasure and satisfaction outside of our frantic author world.

Friend and colleague Vicki Delany does jigsaw puzzles. And I mean billion-piece, gorgeous puzzles that should be framed and displayed as art.  She says: 

"It clears my mind completely. I find that I never think about my books or my writing when I'm working on one."

That's what I'm missing now.  A hobby that will take me out of my work, so that I can return refreshed and invigorated.  Something besides eating (at which, granted, I am simply world-class.)

Trickier than I thought.  It's sort of like when you try to find a new best friend later in life.  Most people have had their best friend for decades, just as they've had their beloved hobbies.

So all you out there who think you'd like to make the move from part-time to full time, think about it carefully before you make the jump.  At the very least, go into it with clearer eyes than I did.

Do I regret it?  Not a whistle!  This is what I was meant to do, and finally, I'm doing it.  

But damn, I'd love to add something fun to my life to take the place of the glorious hobby I once had.

Anybody else facing the same dilemma?  I'd love to hear from other plotters on this!

Melodie's latest book, The Merry Widow Murders, will be out in May 2022.  If you've read the mob caper series starting with The Goddaughter, you'll get a kick out of meeting Gina Gallo's great-grandmother in this new series!