Plotless

I spent much of today reading over my tome. You remember, the one I began writing in November in my writer's cottage? You remember November. Every post here began with NaNo something-or-other. NaNo Andiamo, for when I had arrived. NaNo Secludo, for when I was feeling secluded. And one of my current faves, Na No-Plot.

So, I re read all 157 pages today, and found that there is some good news (praise jah). My characters are dynamic, multi dimensional and interesting. My visuals are at once crisply literal and poetically abstract. There are some nuggets that are final-draft ready, where I'm actually moved by my own turn of phrase. I counted two Pulitzer worthy paragraphs. Can one win a Pulitzer for 188 words? The big worry here, my overarching concern (which by the way is not a new concern), is that my story entirely lacks a plot.

From a post on 11.27. I write:

But all the sudden, I have a story. A real story, with a hook and a plot and a viable "problem" to solve. There's mystery and things get worse before they get better and there are secrets the reader has to figure out.

What was I talking about? I have no memory of having these realizations. Or rather, I remember feeling this way, but I don't remember the actual details. In the very same post, though, I wrote:

I mean, I'm under no illusion that I'll go through another phase of thinking the story is crap, and being at a total loss for how to actually get these characters in a room together.

At least I know myself.

I feel a bit strange having spent a day with my in-progress work. It's sort of shallow in parts. I guess that's allowed since I wouldn't even qualify the manuscript as a draft just yet. It's a mess, really, with too many spare parts. I need a crisis. I need to kill someone or blow something up or get someone in trouble. I like them all too much, though, to really harm them. And what if I kill someone and then find I need them later? I haven't even really considered killing anyone. As much as I like them, it would be better if I were more attached to them before I kill them. That way the reader will really feel the blow.

Speaking of blow, I wrote some pretty sexual scenes, and I found I wasn't terribly embarrassed going back to read those. I mean, I'm not hurrying the non-draft off to Dad or anything, but they weren't as vulgar as I originally thought they were. They get the point across without overdoing it.

So what's it about, people? We have Fantanelle, Bea, Arraua, Ridley and Hunter. Aldaine was invented in the middle and joined Fantanelle who's currently in Agraria with Ridley. We haven't heard from Arraua (Fantanelle's long lost mother) for 10 years or so. Hunter is about 180 years old but looks about 40. Fantanelle has left the institute and is comfortably hiding away. A next step will be her running away from Agraria for fear of infringing on Ridley and Aldaine's kindness.

What I need to do:

• I need to establish why R & A agreed to take F in in the first place. That part isn't clear.
• I also need to revisit Bea and Owen who met about 20 years ago. I need to make it clear that they met before Fantanelle was even born and finish defining the beginnings of their union.
• Was Arraua friends with Bea & Owen? Is that who told her about the hospital? Maybe Owen brings Bea to Arraua's cottage for dinner, and the cottage will give B & O some reference in time.
• What's the crisis Fantanelle faces? She has to get shitwrecked somehow. Maybe I should just expand on her time in the woods, which allowed for a lot of prose.
  

What now, what now...