The Dastardly Plot

[KateESal]

This article in The Guardian goes back a few years, but its premise still rings true: in a nutshell, most of us love a good plot, but there seems to be a degree of snobbery about novels which have a particular emphasis on plot, such that they are seldom included in the Booker Prize lists, for example.

Personally, I like a decent page-turner and I get a bit bored if I'm not getting much sense of a story. Novels with great writing but indeterminate plots may well win my admiration, but I find them hard to love. That might be part of the reason why I read a lot of children's books: quite apart from the fact that it behoves me to know what's out there (as someone who also writes for children), kid lit tends to be plot-driven. The best stories (I reckon) are both plot and character-driven, and so deftly written, you can't see the join.

That said, I've read plenty of books whose plots have got a lot going on, but the writing itself is clunky and the characters two-dimensional. A great plot isn't enough on its own.

So, which books have you particularly enjoyed because of their dastardly plotting?

I will probably add more as I think of them, but plotwise, here are some I've particularly enjoyed

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Kate Atkinson at her best
Philip Pullman's His Dark Material trilogy
JK Rowling's Harry Potter series and also her Cormoran Stark novels
I also agree with the article linked to above, which cites Robert Harris as a novelist who knows how to write a good page-turner.

Over to you...thoughts on plotting and good examples/recommendations, please!

 

[CageSage]

I might belong to the school that says plot isn't a thing that can be separated - it's a character responding to [plot] events (the why and how) that make a story interesting. Events separated from character are the ones that feel empty of meaning.
When I first started studying stories to learn how to write them, I'd read a book and then do an outline (not to use for my own stories, but to see how it was done). Some of those outlines were warnings - don't let the events get out of control, 'cos every event that isn't relevant to the character growth/change/movement is an event that doesn't belong in the story. It's why those stories didn't hold my interest for long. It's the character the reader responds to, not the bangs.
What's that saying: if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, is it real? Well, in a story, if a tree falls and there's no character in the way ... [crickets] ...
Dune was the most interesting plot for a story, but it was easy to spot the plot holes after the rough outline test. I loved it before then, but couldn't read it again afterward. [Please don't ask me to highlight those holes - it was a long time ago and I was a different reader then.]

Oh, and I sort of like 'Game of Thrones' plotting, but would never attempt to outline more than one thread of it.

 

[Barbara]

I agree with CageSage. A plot is the action by a character who responds to a problem or need etc. Plot and character are co-dependent. I think it's the importance of those events which make the book a page turner or not. If the events are mundane and have no significance in the character's life, the plot is flat. If they matter and highly charged emotionally, the story is more tense. But I might be wrong.

This might be mildly weird, but I wrote / plotted my last novel backwards. It started with a flash fiction piece (before I discovered Litopia). The prompt was a photo of a woman wrapped in bandages, only one eye was uncovered. Her eye was open. I wanted to write something different than the obvious 'bodywrap or first aid course gone wrong'. So I wrote a scene where one of the characters was in big trouble (wrapped in bandages and doused in petrol while the other guy had the lighter). It was an unusual scenario to say the least. Flash fic over (I didn't win btw, quelle suprise) I thought how would someone end up like this? It might make a good and tense novel. So I started working backwards and built the plot. I think doing that helped me keep all motivations in place, and forced one scene to follow the next.

 

[Leonora]

Having spent 10 years as an academic, only reading literary contemporary fiction, Northern Lights was a revelation to me, and made me want to write again, after losing heart. I think children's fiction can be especially rewarding as it often mixes plot with 'big ideas' and lacks the cynicism and pessimism of a lot of adult fiction.

 

[Rich.]

I'm with @CageSage on the plot-is-inseperable-from-character front. At least, those are the books I enjoy the most.

His Dark Materials was a revelation to me too and when I read it, it felt like the Harry Potter antidote (though I've nothing against Potter).

Books I'd recommend in terms of dastardly plotting...

Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy is beautifully written psychological sci-fi. Strong characters, huge high-concept idea, and deeply disturbing to boot. VanderMeer is like a literary Stanley Kubrick. If you like speculative fiction, this one should be on your reading list.

I recently read James Oswald's Natural Causes. It's a police procedural and the first in his Inspector McLean series (I believe @Paul Whybrow is a fan). Oswald was/is a fantasy writer who found success writing thrillers, but you can feel his fantasy roots. Natural Causes has a certain otherness that isn't so common in the standard detective fare, a speculative edge below the surface.

And the last one (three) is a series I've banged on about all over the forum: The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, fantasy/sci-fi, mind-numbing plot, wonderful characters, totally character driven despite the enormity of its concept. It won't be everyone's cup of tea because nothing is, but I'll keep bleating about this one until you've all read it. All of you.

Oh, and the book I'm reading now, Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, fantasy again, but of the literary sort. It's a retelling of a Senegalese folk tale and it's written in full-on storyteller omniscient – the storyteller is "I" and she addresses you directly as "you" throughout. It's not a style you see much of these days, certainly not in the commercial realm. Plot is twisty as spaghetti, and the characters are timeless (and I haven't even finished it yet!).

 

[CageSage]

NK Jemisin

I think I'd read a menu written by this author - style is amazing, story is entrancing. Every story so far, and on every re-read.

 

[RK Wallis]

I'm with everyone, character is intertwined with plot. For us, if that's what we want to write (because I know not everyone does) the trick is braiding the two.

I'll keep bleating about this one until you've all read it

I'm on a mission this year to read 100 books (more if I can), so I'll add this to my list!

For me, Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver has a tightly braided plot for numerous characters, but it too is character-driven. In her book, Uprooted, she relied on adverbs a lot (in such an unexpected way, you could enjoy them), but she's not used them in Spinning Silver and she didn't use them in earlier books (which just goes to show, you write as the story demands, including plot). It's a retelling of Rumpleskilskin from a Jewish moneylender's perspective. Highly imaginative, if that's your thing.

From a different perspective, I thoroughly enjoyed In the Name of the Wind by Patrich RRothfuss, imaginative, character-driven, lovely prose, but did I miss something? I felt like I was promised a showdown with the Chandrian, but instead, I got a dragon??? Don't get me wrong, this is still a fabulous book, I loved his style/voice, but perhaps this is an example of character-driven over plot-driven?

Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn.
Jim Butcher's, Furies of Calderon
Emily King's, The Hundredth Queen

And I can't go past Emma, for me, it's better than Pride and Prejudice (once I got over the ickiness of the age gap, lol).

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Having spent 10 years as an academic, only reading literary contemporary fiction, Northern Lights was a revelation to me, and made me want to write again, after losing heart. I think children's fiction can be especially rewarding as it often mixes plot with 'big ideas' and lacks the cynicism and pessimism of a lot of adult fiction.

@Leonora, you raise an issue that’s always bothered me about plotting and how to end a story...is it essential that there be “cynicism and pessimism” as well as disappointment? I enjoy reading children’s books for their sense of discovery and wonder at the world and for their happy endings.

I found it easier to plot and end my Cornish Detective novels when the MC was a grieving widower. Once I gave him a love life in Book 5, I had to write about happiness. Can someone be joyful when he’s hunting a multiple murderer? I didn’t want to reduce his love affair to a distraction, which a lot of crime novelists do, but nor could I let his lover interfere with the thrust of the action. Thus, in Book 6, I’ve given her a shady past. My protagonist is still in love, but he’s not sure who with.

It made me think of Dennis Lehane’s Coughlin books. These are well-plotted with great characterisation. I loved the first story, The Given Day, which was headed towards the happy ending that the hero and heroine deserved, but then, the author killed her off a few pages from typing The End. I was furious! I’d have throttled Lehane had he been near! It felt gratuitous, completely unnecessary as if he’d clobbered characterisation with hefty plotting.

Dennis Lehane does the same thing with the two sequels, even rubbing out the protagonist in Book 3, which is an effective way of concluding a book series.

I wondered if his spiteful pen was a reaction to writing his long-running Kenzie & Gennaro crime series, in which the titular characters go from being business partners in a detective agency to husband and wife crime fighters. He has to keep that series going, but he definitely worked something out of his system with the Coughlin books.

Perhaps his stance is a sign of the times. The first Kenzie & Gennaro story was published in 1994, which is starting to feel like innocent times, whereas Coughlin Book 1 dates from 2008. It may be set in the early twentieth century, but it’s tinged with the cynicism and pessimism of modern times.

 

[KateESal]

I might belong to the school that says plot isn't a thing that can be separated - it's a character responding to [plot] events (the why and how) that make a story interesting. Events separated from character are the ones that feel empty of meaning.

Yes, indeed.
The best plot in the world can be let down by poorly-realised characters. And a good plot with convincing characters can be let down by clunky writing.
However, there are a lot of successful novels with beautiful writing and wonderful characters, but the plot doesn't amount to much. A series of loosely connected events. Or a journey (mental and physical) that doesn't seem to get anywhere consequential. The "literary fiction" genre has a lot of these types of novels, as far as I can tell. Correct me if I'm under a misconception!
I can enjoy a book where the characters pull me in, even if what they're doing isn't especially gripping. The most recent novel I read by Louis de Bernieres is an example of this.
But it doesn't compete with a book whose plot properly hooks me and keeps me reading way after lights out.

I sort of like 'Game of Thrones' plotting, but would never attempt to outline more than one thread of it.

I was thoroughly gripped by the GoT novels, but by the end I was getting frustrated with the plotting. I was starting to crave some sort of resolution.

Plot and character are co-dependent. I think it's the importance of those events which make the book a page turner or not. If the events are mundane and have no significance in the character's life, the plot is flat. If they matter and highly charged emotionally, the story is more tense. But I might be wrong.

You're not wrong!

I think children's fiction can be especially rewarding as it often mixes plot with 'big ideas' and lacks the cynicism and pessimism of a lot of adult fiction.

Couldn't agree more. The best children's fiction should be regarded as classic fiction, full stop (without the need for "children's" as a descriptive!)

The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, fantasy/sci-fi, mind-numbing plot, wonderful characters, totally character driven despite the enormity of its concept.

Making a note of that. And your other suggestions, thanks @Rich.

I thoroughly enjoyed In the Name of the Wind by Patrich RRothfuss, imaginative, character-driven, lovely prose, but did I miss something? I felt like I was promised a showdown with the Chandrian, but instead, I got a dragon??? Don't get me wrong, this is still a fabulous book, I loved his style/voice, but perhaps this is an example of character-driven over plot-driven?

Ooh, me too. Have you read the second part of the trilogy, The Wise Man's Fear? Another page-turner, but we still haven't had the Chandrian showdown!!! (this is not a spoiler, plenty of other stuff happens). It has an episodic plot structure, but like GoT, I am hankering for some resolution to the loose ends. I think it's been 12 years we've been waiting for the third part of the trilogy, so far. Come on, Patrick!!

is it essential that there be “cynicism and pessimism” as well as disappointment?

Not essential, but I suppose as adults we have a more nuanced view of the world, more time to accumulate life's bum notes, the knowledge that the child's cry of "it isn't fair!" is, unfortunately, an entirely fair summary of the human experience. So, I guess we often find it hard to accept a version of "they all lived happily ever after" as a plot resolution. Still, I think we like to at least be offered hope at the end of a story. The enjoyment of the romance genre is built on this, I think (again, I'm open to correction!)
Maybe that's why children's books can still offer so much enjoyment, as they allow us to recapture the innocence of believing there are happy ever afters — if we were lucky enough to have the luxury of that belief in the first place.

 

[Hannah F]

I absolutely agree with Stuart Turton's "The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" - quite a feat of plotting! Great characterisation.

Robert Dinsdale's "The Toymakers" - historical fantasy. A tear your heart out plot with characters you would almost be prepared to die for. Does he put your heart back in again? - No spoilers. Read the book and find out.