and boy do I need some pep talks:
Fun fact: there are also 3,000 varieties of pears. That’s right. Even PEARS are more complicated than you thought!) And even though the kind of lawyer may not be essential to the plot, if we simply blow past this moment without a decision and a little bit of research, the world of our novel will start to feel flat, less interesting than the real world.
But this isn’t all bad news. The inherent gnarliness of things isn’t just a pain in the butt requiring more research. It’s also an opportunity. When your writing starts to run out of steam, you can ask yourself, “What parts of my novel have fallen prey to childhood ontology, and how can I get beyond cats and cows to zebus and tardigrades?”
Dare to ask, “Where is my novel too simple?”
For example, let’s say your novel is set in a post-apocalyptic world that’s been invaded by all-powerful aliens. It was exciting at first, but your characters have been running and hiding from aliens for a while, and you’ve pretty much exhausted all the drama you can create from that. So what now?
Maybe your characters need to encounter more kinds of aliens. Big ones, small ones, smart ones, dumb ones. Not just the ones who are trying to kill all the humans, but also the few who feel bad and are trying to help. Human rights lawyer aliens! Aliens who eat the previous aliens, and use humans for bait! Aliens who don’t care about humans, and are just here to study zebus!
Make a list of all the varieties of aliens you can come up with. (And if it’s less than 3,000, then THE PEARS ARE LAUGHING AT YOU, MY FRIEND.) When your list is done, choose the four kinds of aliens that will put some steam back in your plot, plus a few more just for fun. Because complications are where plots come from.
–Scott Westerfeld
Yes that’s what I need. Less of the same, and more complications.
And maybe fewer bouncy cats who want to be on the glider with me while I’m trying to catch up in NaNoWriMo.
