Plot Types You Love or Leave

[Tallyfire]

I wonder if Sapkowski wrote them initially planning that format for release. Apparently if you didn't plan it beforehand, linking it together afterwards for release is called a fix-up Fix-up - Wikipedia.

As for why, it might just not be as broadly satisfying the common formats. TV dramas seem to move towards stronger plot arcs.

On the other hand, something like that might stand out among all the novel trilogies and anthologies today.

Interesting point! It does almost read like a fix-up. The early examples of those from the man who coined the term sound… slightly terrible.

It would certainly stand out to me, but i feel as if I should know more examples if it was actually a “good” format.

I made a thread with the question.

 

[X Equestris]

I wonder if Sapkowski wrote them initially planning that format for release.

I know the original short story, “The Witcher” was written for a contest put on by the Polish SFF magazine Fantastyka, came in third, and was published there. I couldn’t find much on any of the others, so it seems like they were written with a collection in mind. Though one was written as a wedding present for a friend, so maybe not.

Why don’t we see more books following a similar format as TV shows with “episodes,” where some episodes further the plot and some are only for character development/worldbuilding?

Aside from the fix-up and its relatives talked about here and in the other thread, there’s also serialization. You don’t see it nearly as often today, but stories written specifically to be serialized in a magazine do often feel more like TV or old-time radio dramas since each entry in the serial needed to be compelling in its own right even if it didn’t stand alone.

 

[X Equestris]

Mysteries are a favorite of mine. A lot of the stories in my backlist are some sort of mystery, predominantly fantasy but also a few sci-fi or weird western ones. Whodunnits and howcatchems alike, though I definitely have more of the former than the latter.

Hunts are another favorite. Lots of overlap with mystery, so I guess that shouldn’t surprise me.

I actually constructed a lot of my main fantasy world with these two in mind; the Order of Watchers exists to eliminate arcane threats, so there’s lots of investigating crimes committed with magic, hunting monsters, and looking into unexplained phenomena.

I love a good romance, too, but I need it intertwined with strong external conflict to hold my interest most of the time. SFF romance, military romance, romantic suspense, some western romances…all good stuff. Mundane contemporary romance? Not my cup of tea.

Heists are fun to read and write, even if I haven’t done a ton of the latter.

Every time The Heist comes up in fiction it feels tedious. I'd only be interested in writing it is if I find a way to somehow obscure the 'getting the crew together' part. Otherwise I'll probably pass on it.

I actually managed to pull this off in my last heist, “He Who Sows”. When the story kicks off, the heist is already in motion. The main characters have infiltrated a festival and used it to cover their approach to the temple where the ritual item they want to steal resides.

But the “crew” is only two characters, and it’s a short story/borderline novelette; “start late, leave early” works well in short fiction, but I’m not sure a similar setup would lend itself to a novel.

Now, as for plots I don’t like, time travel. I hate time travel, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s all the paradoxes, maybe it’s how often those stories follow the same beats, maybe it’s the fact the status quo tends to be restored and make the whole plot feel useless. I don’t know, but there’s no faster way to make me drop a story than the inclusion of time travel. I have to be really invested to tough it out (like I was with Dragon Age: Inquisition, and even then, the time travel is why I prefer “Champions of the Just” to “In Hushed Whispers”).

 

[Jay King]

I tend to write about characters who seem to be ordinary people. When the truth about the character is revealed, so is the plot. That's sort of how life is. Everyone is different. Everyone has secrets. The arc of the plot follows the revelation of character.

 

[CdnWriter]

I'd like to write about a mass murder, a serial killer with an insane body count like in the thousands or tens of thousands and NOBODY knows that it's been happening. I'm trying to do it now. I know how the murders are done, I know the victims are all races, genders, ages, all over North America, and I know nobody knows it's happening.

I'm just really struggling with doing the premise justice. I'm not sure I could write the story I want, but I keep plugging away.

 

[CdnWriter]

I actually constructed a lot of my main fantasy world with these two in mind; the Order of Watchers exists to eliminate arcane threats, so there’s lots of investigating crimes committed with magic, hunting monsters, and looking into unexplained phenomena.

Now, as for plots I don’t like, time travel. I hate time travel, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s all the paradoxes, maybe it’s how often those stories follow the same beats, maybe it’s the fact the status quo tends to be restored and make the whole plot feel useless. I don’t know, but there’s no faster way to make me drop a story than the inclusion of time travel. I have to be really invested to tough it out (like I was with Dragon Age: Inquisition, and even then, the time travel is why I prefer “Champions of the Just” to “In Hushed Whispers”).

You may want to look at contributing to Larry Correia's "Monster Hunter International" series, he lets other writers contribute stories to his universe in the short story collections: "Monster Hunter Files" and he also writes collaboration books with other writers. I really, really like how the monsters are humanized. The first book in the series is "Monster Hunter International."

The other writer that does this is Eric Flint in his "1632/Ring of Fire" series universe. The short stories are collected in "The Granville Gazette" books 1 through...10? 11? 12? I lost track after a while. The first book in the series is "1632"

Eric Flint's work does involve time travel but it's an entire town and they move from West Virginia in 1999 (?) to Europe in 1632 and they stay there (so far) inventing things like airplanes and democracy and modern medicine. I really like how the women are shown as actual thinking creatures that can contribute to society on a par with the men and not just regulated to cooks, maids, prostitutes, or princesses/queens.

Even if you don't throw a story their way, you might enjoy some of their work.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. What is a "plot type", I wonder? Are we talking about memes here?

For me, the "chosen one" meme is one that never appealed. I have written "chosen one" novels, but the character who is "chosen" always fights against the notion of being "chosen", or refuses to accept the responsibility. There is no "But Thou Must" in my stories or novels, unless my protagonist is literally the toy of a deity (which happens exactly once, and even then, the protagonist rebels against it).

I have also always wondered how mythic elements like magic would work in real life. Some of my stories involve 'classic' magic like scrying, shape-changing, fireballs, and even a magic sword -- but I always take pains to consider how this would work in a real-life situation, who has access to such magic and why. As for the 'magic sword', this is an extremely rare and exceedingly difficult to create MacGuffin, which requires an entire adventure and lots of sacrifice. My protagonist (a blacksmith) is required to create one, in a world without magic; and how do you create a magic sword when no magic exists? That's the end-point of his story, but before getting there, he has a long character arc to go, goals to achieve, character changes to accomplish. Above all, I strive to make magic possible and even plausible.

 

[Jay King]

Hmm. What is a "plot type", I wonder? Are we talking about memes here?

For me, the "chosen one" meme is one that never appealed. I have written "chosen one" novels, but the character who is "chosen" always fights against the notion of being "chosen", or refuses to accept the responsibility. There is no "But Thou Must" in my stories or novels, unless my protagonist is literally the toy of a deity (which happens exactly once, and even then, the protagonist rebels against it).

I have also always wondered how mythic elements like magic would work in real life. Some of my stories involve 'classic' magic like scrying, shape-changing, fireballs, and even a magic sword -- but I always take pains to consider how this would work in a real-life situation, who has access to such magic and why. As for the 'magic sword', this is an extremely rare and exceedingly difficult to create MacGuffin, which requires an entire adventure and lots of sacrifice. My protagonist (a blacksmith) is required to create one, in a world without magic; and how do you create a magic sword when no magic exists? That's the end-point of his story, but before getting there, he has a long character arc to go, goals to achieve, character changes to accomplish. Above all, I strive to make magic possible and even plausible.

What you are talking about are archetypes:

An archetype is a universally understood symbol, concept, or pattern of behavior that serves as a model or prototype upon which others are copied or emulated.

More information about archetypes can be found here.

 

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

I like stories about exploring exotic places, as well as stories in which indigenous people defend their homeland from colonial invaders.

I'm less of a fan of "Liar Revealed" plots in which the character tells a big lie, spends the middle act trying to uphold the lie, and then has their lie exposed at the "belly of the whale" moment. There are some stories I've enjoyed that employ that trope, but I find dishonesty repugnant most of the time, and the structure tends to be predictable regardless.

 

[Naomasa298]

I don't think there are any plot types I would reject out of hand. I've written plot types and genres I never thought I would write when I started off. If I can think of something interesting to do with it, then why not?