How important are plot layers to stories?

I am reading Literary Agent Donald Maass’ Writing the BREAKOUT NOVEL workbook. I had ordered it on Flipkart (the Indian version of Amazon) in October, it was delivered at my doorstep within 5 days, I have started going through it just few days back.

Initially, I was very hesitant to read the book as I was scared that it would make me suspicious of my own MS. I am half way through the book and let me tell you that it is a wonderful tool that helps us write better.

One thing that I was delighted to read was about adding plot layers to a story. I had heard a lot about this tool: plot layers to enhance a story.  Many people may mistake a subplot and a layer. Maass has explained subplot as plot lines given to different characters while layers are plot lines given to the same character.

Maass talks about a plot being layered when more than one thing is happening simultaneously to the hero/heroine. He has a murder to solve, and at the same time his father is dying of cancer. Why not add a further layer? He is searching for the soul of Mozart’s piano concerti. What is it that gives them their power, their drive? He has to know, so along the way he achieves that insight, too. Thus, there are levels of problems to utilize: public problems, personal problems and secondary problems. Small mysteries, nagging questions, dangling threads- those also can be woven into the plot.

The argument behind adding more plot layers is that it reflects the multitiered complexity that most people feel is the condition of life today. 

I think my MS has maximum 3 plot layers, that too by accident. My protagonist has a main problem and two small complications. That’s it. What about all your protagonists. Do they have plenty of problems to wade through in the course of your stories? How many plot layers have you added to your stories? Do you agree with the view that the more plot layers the richer a story becomes? What is your opinion about it?

As I will be busy with some personal work, my next post will be on Tuesday  24th April. Till then, keep writing.

A New Distraction

The book that I am working on right now, was actually started to distract me from fretting about the query business and also because the plotting for my MG  Paranormal Trilogy was not going too well; a result of excess adherence to all the Writing Craft books I am reading and trying to follow. I got so fed up with stressing over the Inciting Incident and raising the Key Question in the reader’s mind, that I temporarily put that book on the back burner. I will return to it next year.

This new book  I am writing, I feel it is like a cuddly teddy bear (the reason I called the story cuddly is because it has come to my mind at a time I badly needed a story to distract me by embracing me in its warmth and letting me forget everything). 

I cannot deny the immense help that writing craft books have to offer, after all they have been written by experts who know what they are talking about, but too strict an adherence to these tips can be detrimental to one’s inherent writing skills. As a writer, I have both my share of strengths and weaknesses and no amount of reading craft books can help me, if I don’t actually sit down to write that first draft. For me the world- building happens as I write; then the characters start whispering their secrets and revealing their stories to me.

My current literary playmate is a new book, something I am pretty excited about. I am writing in the First Person Narrative for the first time. For this book, I have just the beginning and the end in my mind. The rest of the story is unfurling every time I put pen to paper. Every time there are new words on the paper, I am surprised to see my story grow and characters too grow.

For me the two characters appeared in my mind and now its time for me to tell their story. I have realized that with this book I will follow my instinct and go with the flow; without any pre-conceived notion of technique. The book may not find a publisher, but I will know with a certainity that I wrote something I was passionate about.

What about you all? Do you follow writing craft books strictly or do you follow your own story telling abilities. What do you think is the correct method of story-telling? Is it writing what one is passionate about or following what craft books endorse?

P.S. I am taking a blogging break  for few days. My next post will be on 3^rd Jaunary 2012. Here is wishing all my writing friends and blog buddies a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful and Joyous 2012.

Are we Making the Correct Writing Moves?

Not just books, I like to read author interviews too. Few years back when one Indian writer won the Booker Prize, there was a long interview of the author in a popular magazine. This was the author’s second book. Her first book  did create a hullabullo, as her mother was a very famous writer and she had a famous last name. The writer openly admitted that her book had been written with the Booker Prize in mind. Her dad had gifted her the last ten year’s Booker prize winning books.

After reading all the prize winning books, she realized what kind of stories, writing styles and themes appealed to the  jury and the judges. Then, started her long and uphill task of writing a book that would appeal to the judges. Her book was rejected  by several publishers abroad. One New York Editor  called it the most miserable book she had read. The book was finally published after it had been chopped from 800 pages to 350 pages. The book sold very few copies until it was shortlisted for the Booker. And, when it won the coveted prize, the sales touched the sky. Now, this author has an advance of 2.7million pounds for her next book.

This got me thinking that like a chess player this particular author planned her writing career, she knew exactly where she wanted to go. Though she met with the initial rebuffs, ultimately, she not just succeeded but is laughing all the way to the bank and has also been taken seriously.

Though, I had read her interview few years back, I don’t know why it  was flashback time now. Perhaps there is a message for all of us in this. By now, most of us know the genre we want to write, and the kind of stories we are capable of writing. We all are in this for the long haul. It’s not just one book I am talking about. It’s definitely more than one.

I think its time we all too planned a  writing strategy. I am not sure whether I am making the correct writing moves. I do have  a writing agenda in mind, at the moment its to get my next lot of books published.

But, I have plans of reading a lot of books in my genre; seeing why few worked and  why the others didn’t work (I already do that). I would also like to read the books that were made into movies. What was their appeal? Why the characters worked?I have started reading a lot of writing craft books to help me create better plots.

Are you all planning  your writing  moves with the precision of a chess player? Or,  are you just swimming with the flow? What do you think of the above author planning her career by making all the moves that made her achieve her goal. Do you think what she did was right?