It started at the end of last week. I was driving the elementary school carpool and was sitting in the carpool line waiting the ten minutes for the school to open its doors. It’s best to get there early since the carpool line goes berserk in just minutes.
I noticed the girls were being really quiet. This usually makes me suspicious, but this particular morning I was just pleased at the amazing amount of silence at 6:50 a.m. When the doors opened at 7:00, I called to them to hop back in their seats and buckle up—they were all the way in the back, trunk area of the minivan.
Later that day I was putting groceries in the trunk when I saw our rechargeable personal DVD player back there, loaded with a Harry Potter movie. They’d hidden it under a sheet of plastic that I’d had in the trunk to lay plants from the nursery on.
Ohh. So that’s why they were looking so pleased with themselves.
Monday I was in the carpool line again and they clambered into the very back of the minivan once more. I nearly called out to them to just bring the DVD player into the second row of seats. I couldn’t care less if they quietly watch movies for ten minutes.
But then something stopped me. I realized that the whole reason they were having so much fun is because they thought they were getting away with something. To a kid, that’s just about the most fun you can have. If they could write a story about an exciting adventure, it would probably involve getting away with some misdemeanor. Very satisfying. They were just as pleased as punch.
This led me (naturally) to think about writing. What storylines satisfy me as a reader. What makes me sigh and feel pleased when I’ve read a particular passage or finished a good book? What makes me pleased as punch as a reader?
- Boy Gets Girl/Girl Gets Boy.
- Subplot where a deserving secondary character makes great personal strides or develops tremendously as a character.
- Overcoming the odds.
- Narrow escapes from death or disaster.
- Good triumphing over evil. Or good crushing evil totally.
- Order restored from bedlam.
Do you have any favorite plots that always make you feel satisfied as a reader? Do you incorporate them into your writing?
You are a wonderful mom, Elizabeth. In your place, I would have told the kids I did not disapprove of what they were doing, and spoilt all their fun for them.
What satisfies me most as a reader and as a writer is when at the end of the book, everyone is happy in their own way. Evil triumphing is not something I ever condone, but if the not so nice character gains material success, I don’t mind, as long as the guy I really like also gets what he is looking for.
Does that make sense? Maybe not. Feeling particularly inarticulate today.
I love the characters. A decent plot helps, of course, but I like watching them achieve their goals (overcoming great hardship of some sort, be it physical or emotional, or both) and beyond that, I don’t really care a whole lot.
I love the motherhood story :). I would say I’m most satisfied (and most enjoy writing) storylines where truth emerges. Hercule Poirot said it best: “There is nothing so curious and beautiful as truth.” That’s why I like reading and writing mysteries. One moves from not knowing to knowing…
I’m with Jane. I hate it when there is no resolution of any kind. I also love character-driven stories where the protagonist faces obstcles and grows and changes as a result.
I wish I’d had you for a mommy!
karen
I agree with Jane. I definitely like resolution, but I want there to be consequences to whatever happened in the plot. I love for an ending to be incredible inspite of whatever happened in the story. Realistic but still fantastic, in a way.
I like it when a character opens up to the expansive quality of the world. Hmmm…like in Howard’s End. Where the main character gets what’s been holding him or her back and lets go. This usually needs to be connected with the natural world somehow. I think I have that in my first book, Feckless, and am after it in my second, True, but I’m not sure I got it in my mystery, The Rock Walker. There is some of it but because it is more about good over evil that part got a bit diluted.
Probably narrowing escaping death and good crushing evil.
I love that you let them continue their secret foray into the back to watch a movie. How wonderful!
Helen
Straight From Hel
Rayna–It does make sense. I’m usually pulling for someone the most during a book…and it might not even be the protagonist.
Jan–I love that movie! That’s a wonderful theme–overcoming the obstacles we’ve put in place for ourselves.
Terry–I like to watch them achieve their goals, too.
Margot–Hercule is the best! And you’ve put it very well–moving from not knowing to knowing with a mystery is very satisfying.
Helen—Well, it wasn’t hurting anyone. Except I probably look completely clueless to them! :)
I like when there’s a resolution to the plot. Some characters are happy, some are not, but there’s an ending. I don’t need every question answered but I do want answers to the big ones. People are people and not everyone gets a happy ending.
Elspeth
P.S. You’re a saint (in my opinion) to be carpooling at that hour. I’m impressed that I can get my eldest daughter to school for 7:30 once a week!) My hat is off to you.
Great carpooling story. I think the most important thing to me in a plot is resolution. I don’t like to be left hanging and forced to make up my own ending.
Jane–I agree. Even a bad ending or sad ending is better than NO ending. Although I don’t usually find unhappy endings very satisfying, I have to admit. There have only been a few unhappy endings that I enjoyed.
Karen–Character-driven stories are the best!
Well, but sometimes I make good decisions as a mama and sometimes I make rotten ones!
A happy ending, good triumphs over evil, boy gets girl, bad guy is killed, no kids are harmed. This is what makes me happy as a writer.
Stephen Tremp
One thing I love is when writers scatter tiny hints, and I notice them but don´t know exactly what they mean or where they will lead. I just know these are hints and should tell me something. (It is the same with writing – using a ´casual´ word or phrase, knowing that this is really significant is so funny).
Wonderful picture, by the way. I hope all your readers remember to enlarge it to get a better view of those dogs.
I’m with Steve here. Don’t mind a few bodies, as long as no children are hurt. Also like the hint of another story to come.
I think my favorite is the overcoming odds thing. All the others you listed are satisfying as well, but to face something you’ve been told you can’t do, or feel you can’t do, and by pure grit, get it done, makes for a great story. I guess I like stories that are, in that way, inspirational. The little engine that could.
Best Regards, Galen
Imagineering Fiction Blog
Stephen–It’s rare that I want something any different from that. It’s just good escape!
Karen–Yes! Hands off the kids. For sure.
Galen–“The Little Engine that Could” has got to be one of the most satisfying stories of all time. Here you have someone rescuing someone *else* and they’re too small, really, for the task. And then they overcome the odds. Fantastic!
Kristen–I do too. I’ll even try to spin an unhappy ending to make it a happier one!
I’m with Helen on this one. Good overcoming evil, close brushes with death – also stories with good morals to them. Throw in a couple twists along the way, I’m a happy camper.
Marvin D Wilson
Elspeth–I like everything tied up neatly. It makes me happy.
Well, she rides the bus home in the afternoons, but the bus seems unreliable to me in the mornings (as far as the pick-up time is concerned.) So carpool it is!
Dorte–I love that too! A little foreshadowing of things to come…that we don’t understand yet. Delicious!
I love the picture, too. The simpler times always appeal to me.
Sounds as though you are a totally relaxed and very perceptive mom.
As for satisfying stories, I’m hard to disappoint. I even consider myself a satisfied reader if I’m crying over a sad ending. Anything well written makes me happy (or sad but pleased). Oh, you know what I mean.
I need, NEED, a happy ending. The boy gets girl/girl gets boy thing is a definite plus too. I think I’ve developed my addiction to happy endings partially because I’ve worked with a large number of troubled kids over the years. There are no guarantees of happy endings (or beginnings or middles) for many of us. When I’m reading and writing there better be :)