Most Overlooked “Rule” of Fiction Writing
Rethinking character versus plot
When it comes to writing, people throw around a lot of rules. Most of them are well intentioned, but not always entirely helpful.
One that is of paramount importance, though, isn’t talked about nearly as much as it should be.
It is the rule of cause and effect. Or connecting events with therefore, instead of and.
To break it down further: If something happens in your story, it should cause something else to happen further into your story. Nothing should be a throwaway.
A perfect example of this technique done right is in the TV show Grimm.
Spoiler warning: Many, many spoilers ahead!
Cause: Nick’s aunt gives him a mysterious key.
Effect: The royal family wants it and sends Adalind to retrieve it.
Therefore: Adalind goes after his partner, Hank, as a hostage to get Nick to give her the key.
Therefore: Nick takes away Adalind’s powers.
Therefore: Adalind goes to work for the royal family to figure out a way to get her powers back.
Therefore: She gets pregnant with a powerful child that could affect the balance of good and evil.
Therefore: Nick takes the child to keep it from the royals.
Therefore: Adalind goes to take Nick’s powers away to get her child back.
Therefore: Adalind becomes pregnant with Nick’s child, and Nick and Juliette use magic to get his powers back.
Therefore: Juliette turns into a Hexenbiest, and Nick and Adalind form an alliance to protect their child from her.
This series of events takes place over multiple seasons of the show, and more things happen afterward. But it is a clear path to follow the initial incident — Nick’s aunt giving him a key — to the last thread, where Nick and Adalind form an alliance. It’s safe to say that if Aunt Marie had never given Nick the key, baby Kelly never would have been born.
In his brilliant book, “27 Essential Principles of Story,” Daniel Joshua Rubian puts it like this:
This principle is about leveraging the power of cause-and-effect to tell purposeful and coherent stories that build momentum and drive toward meaningful conclusions. Picture wires connected to a stack of dynamite. For our purposes, the dynamite is the ending. It could be the end of a conversation, scene, chapter, or the whole story. The electric charge must flow directly to the dynamite to set off the explosion. If a wire is frayed or the wires have weak or loose connections, the charge will fizzle out and the dynamite will fail to detonate.
It can seem daunting when reading about character versus plot, but ultimately they have a symbiotic relationship.
As each character moves through his or her journey, it affects both the plot and the character — the Adalind in the first season is a different Adalind than in the last season.
One is so concerned with getting her powers back that she doesn’t care who she has to take down to accomplish her goal; the other is more concerned about how her powers might affect her relationships with those around her.
She ultimately becomes a more selfless person.
When you are writing your novel, take a good hard look at the events in it. Are the wires firmly attached to the dynamite ending or are they loose?
If they are not as tight as they could be, look for ways to connect the events in your story and make the ending pack the ultimate punch.
Events keep your reader turning the pages, but characters are the heart of any story.
When you connect the two, you create something that will stay with readers long after they have reached the end.
This is how you leave the readers blown away by your tale.
