Setting

The setting in not just where your story is happening. Story influences how the conflict will happen and how they will solve it. Even before reading the story, the setting you choose will allow the reader to make assumptions.  Setting describes what kind of characters you have, a messy household with wailing children, scattered toys and unwashed dishes talks of a frazzled or absentee parents.

Setting aids in the complications you can throw at your main characters. If your character is a Hindu and you set him up in India, oh well nothing there we’ll all assume that this is his comfort zone on the other hand place him in a remote village inside Congo and you’ve got yourself a conflict without even putting your pen to paper. If the whole world is your character’s oyster he can hide from the big guns pursuing him however, if he is however too broke to live his little town Middle Brook you increase the tension because there’s a strong possibility he could be caught.

Every story has generally two types of setting i.e.

1. Physical Setting (geography and time)
2. Social Setting (culture, socio-economics, politics)

 Every story has a general and specific setting. The general setting refers to information such as the time period, the larger environment e.g. politics of the day, economics. The specific setting on the other hand details the story and character’s place in it. It will need a lot of research and imagination (most of which you may not even end up using).

Usually writers will go into long drawn out explanations of how the place looks before they’ve even introduced the character. Soon readers have to wind their way through a maze of clichés, unnecessary adjectives and eye-rolling adverbs. Big Mistake! If you want any reader to take interest in the setting let your character experience it. Let them see it, feel it, taste it, smell it and hear it. Let it inspire emotions or long forgotten memories.  Make it come alive.

Plot Structure

The most important aspects of writing your novel are character, setting and plot. Which of the three bears most importance will depend on your writing style and the genre of your novel. For instance mystery and thriller stories are often heavily dependent on plot rather than characterization, fantasy loves to dwell on setting and romance is heavily focused on characterization.   

Plot is how you tell your story. To its bare bone, plot simply means that as a writer you give your main character a conflict or two and he/she has to overcome it to meet their goals. It is the series of events that lead to your character finally meeting their goal. Since plot is basically hooked on conflict, there are four basic plots every writer will choose from. It’s either man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self or man vs. technology.  Often plot can be described in two sentences. Example;

Nancy Wickham, an English treasure hunter discovers that the artifacts she recently discovered are missing. She sets out to find them.

No one is born with the storytelling skill or the unique ability of thrilling us all with memorable characters who undergo exciting conflicts that they escape by the skin of their teeth.  However anyone can learn it.

CREATING A COMPELLING PLOT

1.      Create an interesting conflict  that will capture your mind and the mind of your readers. Creating a good conflict simply means giving your character a compelling and noble goal (something they really need) then throwing obstacles to prevent them from reaching it. The first chapter of your book should introduce the conflict not just introduce the character. The protagonist may even have to sacrifice everything to meet their goal.

2.      Create a unique character that is not going to give up after every obstacle if anything their resolve is just going to grow stronger. Give them a specific way of talking. Make them the least likely hero a reader would expect. Everything they do should match their character.

3.      Make your descriptions, short active and specific.

4.      The plot should be logical and no plot strands left hanging.

5.      Give your plot a time constraint or deadline. If she doesn’t get out of the castle with the sword by six fifteen the dragon will break into the city and set everything on fire. 

6.      Create a resolution that allows your characters to continue existing after this particular story. Except for romance stories where readers usually want happy endings, most times you can leave the ending hanging…did they catch him? is the monster still alive?

Good plotting therefore is a lifelong learning experience and the more your write the better you become at it.  It is therefore important to read up on the aspects of plot. Once mastered these element will help you master the art of narrative.

Most successful plot masters structure their novels into five main parts. These are;

1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
3. Complications
4. Crisis
5. Resolution

As you create each part ensure that you note down the timelines for the novel itself so that you can keep track of the events unfolding.  

Romance Tropes

Arranged Marriage

Often the parents/guardians of the hero and/or heroine, assuming they know best arrange for a union between the two. Usually one or both parties will protest vehemently before underground machinations like blackmail, threatened disinheritance force them into the marriage. The marriage will start out shakily but eventually burst into cute butterflies and roses as the couple fall in love. The other version is the marriage of convenience where one party is forced to get married to get out of some trouble e.g. blackmail, gambling debts, collapsing business empires, trouble with the media. The trouble may be the makings of the other party to manipulate their hand.

Best Friend’s Big Brother

The heroine has always had a rather unhealthy fascination with her best friend’s older brother. Suave Alex on the other hand has never noticed little Miss Friend. One day she decides she’s over the whole love from a distance and decides to seduce him.

Best Friend’s Little Sister

The brother’s best friend has always been protective of her. He is just the right amount of protective and thoughtful, almost like a brother. Problem is she doesn’t think of him as a brother or he’s been latently attracted to her.  He won’t go after her because of the bro-code (let alone the fact that Big Bro has a reputation of pummeling potential suitors) and the feeling that he’s still responsible for her. But when another man enters the scene, he goes all Alpha male. What to do…

Best Friends

They’ve known each other since childhood, high-school or the first day of University and instantly clicked. Instead of becoming romantic their relationship went straight to friends perhaps because one was a plain Jane/Joe or too quiet to expose their feelings.  When the other finally realizes they have feelings too, conflicted feelings appear

Bet

Bets will make characters do just about anything. They will go to ridiculous lengths to prove they can win (even sabotage), lengths that could land the protagonist into a lot of trouble such as arranged marriages, one night in each other’s arms, a date.  Or maybe in the course of the games and competitions they find out that they are evenly matched and start to fall for each other.

Boss –Secretary

Okay so the boss-secretary romance trope is strange in this world of law suits and sexual harassment but true romantics still believe that office romance is alive and well. Often the hero will be an Alpha male with no intentions of being entangled. The underling on the other hand will harbor some feelings for the boss but never tell.

Brother/Sister’s Intended

A touch of the forbidden added to the betrayal of falling for a sibling’s intended. Never mind the fact that sibling dearest has no real feelings for their intended.  The intended is of course honorable and his fall from grace will be a painful emotional rollercoaster.

Fake Betrothal/Marriage

One of the main characters finds themselves in a fix that only marriage will solve. Because they are not willing to take the plunge only pretend will do. Till they discover feelings for their savior and suddenly pretend doesn’t seem so attractive anymore…

Family Enemies

Their families can’t stand each other maybe because of competing business interests or generational warfare that can be traced back to the Dark ages. But the two meet and suddenly sparks are flying. None of them wants this to happen furthermore their relatives are watching over their shoulders like hawks.

Family Friends but Enemies

Their families have always been family friends but for some strange reason these two cannot be in the same room without pans flying. Then suddenly they discover a common nemesis and have to work together and suddenly the only things flying are pants.

Guardian/Ward

The hero is responsible for the heroine’s well being. He is supposed to hand her off to marriage but suddenly they both discover feelings for each other. This trope has the unfortunate potential to degrade into a parody of incest, it is therefore important to make sure that the guardian does not know the heroine when she was a child (eww). He may be older but not old.

Learning to Love Again

Protagonist 1 has been bitten once two many times by love, a few deaths or heartbreaks will do. Finally s/he has decided that living single is not a bad thing. Enter protagonist 2 who decided to put on some moves to win this resistant heart. It may take some patience to soothe away the reluctance but we hope love will win.

Love at First Punch

They hate each other on sight in fact it may involve some kind of verbal abuse. She hates that he’s so arrogant; he thinks she is a witch. They immediately become enemies but apparently the town is too small because they keep meeting. Finally one of them discovers that their feelings aren’t quite as unfriendly as they thought.  The other doesn’t appreciate the sudden amorous attentions but finds her/himself attracted however. The worst if the two may eventually reform.

Love Triangle

Harry and Jim both love Liz, poor Liz can’t quite decide who she’d rather be with. Will it be dependable Harry or passionate Jim? Is Harry not quite as stodgy as we thought or has Jim got a dependable bone we never knew existed? Who will she fall for? Now make Harry and Jim siblings and see if we can make Liz’s life even more complicated. Then one of the suitors steps back because all they want is for Liz to be happy…but Liz was just poised to choose him.

Makeover

A plain Jane or plain Joe is transformed into an irresistible swan (can be done by protagonist 2). Protagonist 2 suddenly discovers latent attraction to the new Jane/Joe. Unfortunately Plain Jane/Joe has decided to play the field or still has insecurities considering their former warts.  The Ugly Duckling may interpret Protagonists 2’s sudden interest as some form of fickleness.  He/she then has to prove that s/he loves Ugly Duckling for who they are not who they look like.

Mistaken Identity

The hero/heroine is not what he/she is thought to be. The masquerade may be intentional or accidental. He/she cannot reveal who they really are because of the stakes involved. Usually there may be impersonating other characters and twins.

Opposites Attract

The two are completely different from each other; he’s a good boy, she’s a bad girl; he’s the school jock, she’s the nerd who has to tutor him. The neighborhood librarian and the flirt suddenly discover they have one or two things for each other. She’s rich, he’s dirt poor.

Second Chance

Once upon a time there were two lovers. They were passionate and intensely in love till they had a dramatic parting because of parental interference, infidelity, job transfers, tragedies etc. A miracle happens and they meet again – actually it might not be as much a miracle as the machinations of one of the characters. They rediscover their love finally understanding that they are soul-mates.

Secret Baby

Usually the secret baby is a product of an accidental pregnancy during a lost love phase. Of course the heroine doesn’t tell the hero because of past betrayal. In another context the hero could find out about his secret baby by another woman and the heroine comes riding in, maternal hat beneath her arm, to save the day.

Fantasy Tropes

Dark Fantasy          

Magic tends to be evil. There’s a lot of overt sexuality and violence i.e. lopped heads, pillage, plunder, rape. Aristocrats are evil and misuse the lower classes. There is a pronounced horror aspect.  The protagonist may be morally ambiguous.

Gaslamp Fantasy   

The story is set in the 19^th century or early 20^th century. It does not focus on the technology of the era but rather in the supernatural elements of technology created during that time. 

High Fantasy
High fantasy will usually include a Dark Lord who wants to conquer the entirely fictional world and is extremely evil. It is characterized by the fact that if the hero does not do something the world will end and politics plays a great role in the plot. They are epic and the novels can draw through numerous series as the struggle against the evil force is usually very grand. The hero is usually more ‘elegant’ i.e. does not need to be a masculine barbarian. He/she will be dragged kicking and screaming into the novel. Usually he/she will have some kind of mystical mentor

Historical Fantasy

Story set in the in an actual historic geographic location on Earth generally before the 20^th century. The plot may be based on mythology and legends. Fantastic elements in the book are explained as having been hidden from today’s reader or dismissed e.g. forgotten myths or superstitions. Non-magical folk cannot see the magic.

Low Fantasy

The setting is minimally supernatural, usually the real world. There is grey morality in that the good guys can do bad things or the bad guys do good things. Worlds are populated exclusively by humans. The victories are achieved through physical combat as opposed to any specific mental exertion. Magic is often evil, does not exist or is completely strange.

Magical Land

It is common in children’s literature. Usually the magic land is a newly discovered place that people from this world will visit. Often it is ruled by a monarchy, contains magic and sentient non-human species. The hero is often young and comes to save the world. The created world features low technology.

Science Fantasy

This combines elements of both science fiction and fantasy having robots and vampires existing in the same place.

Sword and Sorcery

Involves the exploits of a sword wielding hero and their magical companions who help them fight evil or monsters and recover treasures. Exciting and violent conflicts abound. Romance is often present and the battles are not world endangering.  The sword wielding hero is often from a humble control and is forced into the role by events not of his making. However he/she is often eager to abandon his humdrum life for adventure.  

Urban Fantasy        

This is a story that takes place in our world real time. It is common for it to take place in a large city here on Earth rather than in constructed worlds then supernatural elements are thrown in.  The Vampire may work as a night-guard for Versa Corp. Compared to the urban, the magic is minimized.  The Urban fantasy explores how the magical and non-magical folk feel about each other.

Thriller Fiction

The thriller thrives on extraordinary situations with a high emotional thrill. As a thriller writer your aim is to keep the reader sitting at the edge of their chair as they wait for your next swipe at your protagonist. You want to make your book, that book they can’t put down. The one they are caught reading in the middle of class as you keep them tense and dangle an impending sense of doom.

The plot structure will often depend on exactly what sub-genre of thriller fiction you have decided to write on. It can be a psychological, crime, political or paranoid thriller, but basically, the villain will present the protagonist with a problem and he/she will go through a lot of danger to solve it. The most critical element is that it be fast-paced with plot twist, cliff hangers and red herrings.

Common themes include international intrigue, ransoms, heists, revenge, kidnappings, stalking, death traps, paranoia, threats to the country, espionage, assassins, electronic surveillance. Unlike the mystery, in thrillers, cover up of important information is allowed as the main aim is to keep the reader on the edge of their seat and not solving the problem. The primary theme is the search for justice.

As opposed to whodunit mystery fiction, thrillers require that the protagonist stop the crime before it happens.  Evidently the protagonist will have some kind of time limit within which they must stop the crime. The criminal may be known but somehow they can’t be exposed because the protagonist is not in a position to reveal it or the authorities are disbelieving of the grandiose claims of your hero/heroine.

In the course of the story there is often a shift in the balance of power from scene to scene where sometimes the bad guys have the upper hand and sometimes the good guys seem like they could actually take this one. With each page the stakes are raised, the excitement level increases until it gets to the climax – the most stressful part of the plot. The hero stops the enemy with a lot of pomp and fanfare.

Compared to other forms of fiction, character development is pretty limited as the concentration is on providing non-stop action. In this type of fiction there is often no middle line, the main characters are either good or evil.  The thriller like horror fiction has a villain driven plot. The antagonist presents obstacles that the hero must overcome. The villain is initially stronger than the protagonists. 

The point of view is dominated by the protagonist. Often the protagonists may be an ordinary citizen, however he should be tough and resourceful. He/she must face eminent death (their own or somebody else’s). The protagonist and villain battle at both a mental and physical level testing both wits and strength.  The character development is pretty limited as the concentration is on the action.

You can set up your characters in ordinary settings like suburbs and cities or exotic setting such as deserts or the high seas. They may involve traipsing through varying geography or they may be home-bound, as long as it supports the action component.

Mystery Fiction

In a mystery, your lead character wants to get to the bottom of some unexplained happening or puzzle. The reader is challenged to use the clues provided to solve the puzzle before the hero. Mystery fiction relies heavily on the plot, clues and plot twists and requires a lot of research and reason. In fact mystery fiction remains the most logical of all genres. It does not tolerate unexplained incidences. 

The plot in a mystery novel requires the presence of a crime that happens within the first chapters of the novel. More often than not, the crime will involve a murder.  Smatterings of kidnapping, theft, missing people, arson, assault, blackmail, extortion, vandalism, sexual assault or stalking may feature in the plot. What is critical is that the crime be sufficiently gruesome, unusual and interesting. The victim will probably be someone who is not well liked or not well known. Create an outline of how the crime occurred and the timelines for when everything happened.

Even before you begin writing you must know the ending of your mystery novel. Who is the criminal? It cannot be an accident or a suicide. The criminal himself should be intelligent enough to cover their tracks. He/she can be either immoral (knows it is wrong but does it anyway) or amoral (rules are made for others). Usually they are extremely egotistical.

The criminal is camouflaged by suspects. The prime suspects must have means, opportunity and motive. They want to stay out of jail so they’ll lie to excuse themselves or to implicate other suspects. You can kill one of the suspects to increase the urgency of the plot.  Eventually the suspects will be exonerated by an alibi.

Like the criminal, the detective cannot be foolish. He can be absent-minded, naïve or quirky but never stupid. When creating your detective, there are certain character traits he/she must have i.e. curiosity, personal abilities and resources to be able to solve the crime and a sense of morality.  Take care that the kind of detective you present is appropriate to the time and if not show the difficulties they go as they try to adapt. His/her instruments are the clues.

Clues can be anything from physical (piece of cloth, an open book,) to verbal (dialogue with characters and eye witness accounts) an action, gesture.  All clues necessary to solving the crime must be shown even if they will be released sneakily throughout the story. Try to make your clues as understandable to the layman as possible.

Usually it is best to have your list of clues (about 3 – 10) before you set out to write to avoid mix-ups. The clues will include real clues and red herrings to divert the reader’s attention by either implicating wrong suspects or leading to dead ends. Most of the clues should have the ability to be misunderstood or misread and point to more than one suspect. However, you must have one main real clue that leads only and directly to the criminal. Also think of varying how all your clues will be revealed and by who. An example of a chart to plot out clues;

	Lou	Sanders	Deidre	Keisha
Has access to the car boot	ü	ü
Did not frighten the victim	ü	ü		ü
Knew the guard’s patrol schedule		ü		ü
Heard Maggy come into the apartment complex		ü	ü	ü
Strong enough to lift her into the boot in minutes
Key Clue: Had access to the Parking lot		ü

The crime scene can assist or impede the investigation. Mystery writers will often use normal settings understanding that the genre in itself can make even the most boring of places pulse with excitement. However is you do choose to use known places remember to rename known landmarks.

As you plot your mystery don’t forget to include a climax where they’ll be tension or drama and a resolution where the crime will be solved.