by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Penguin has asked me to write a fourth Memphis Barbeque book. It was great to hear that I’d have a reason to spend more time with the characters in that series.
I also had an idea for something I wanted to do with the plot—I wanted to feature the huge Memphis in May festival that’s such a big event there every year.
My protagonist and sleuth for the series is Lulu Taylor, who owns a barbeque restaurant. I decided to make Lulu a judge for the event. There are many different foods to judge at the festival—everything from slaw to sauce to the barbeque itself.
I got deeper into the research on being a food judge. I realized there were different rules these judges have to follow to keep the competition fair. I saw that there was a good deal of training that went into being one. I felt, also, that this would be something I’d need to make sure I represented well in the book, since there are people in Memphis who read this series…and I wanted my information to be correct and not something that I changed for my own purposes.
I could also tell that Lulu would be kept very busy as a judge.
As I got farther into the book (this is one that I’m working on now), I realized I was making this mystery unnecessarily complex. And confusing. And, really, having Lulu be a judge was going to tie up a lot of her time and make her less available to investigate a murder.
This wasn’t a book about judging barbeque competitions. This was a mystery. And my sleuth needed to solve the mystery, not pick the top baked bean winner.
These were some of the questions I asked myself before I decided to demote Lulu from judgeship:
Does this forward the plot? Is it necessary?
Am I including research simply to show off how well I’ve researched?
Will this complication confuse readers?
Are there other, simpler ways to accomplish the same effect?
What’s the basic reason I’m including this complication in the book?
For me, I decided the whole point I’d made Lulu a judge was to put her on the scene at Memphis in May. But wouldn’t she already be there? Her best friends have a booth at the festival. It’s the biggest Memphis event of the year. And Lulu has two grandchildren begging for her to take them there.
Why wouldn’t she be there? The whole complication of Lulu being a judge just wasn’t needed. It only made the plot more convoluted for readers and tougher for me to write. And required a great deal of research.
Do you ever notice, like me, that you’re making things complicated for both yourself and your readers? How do you simplify unnecessarily convoluted plotlines?
Looking forward to the new book! And yes, I have to watch for too much complications all the time. I love research… and I find so many fun things I’d like to share….
Elizabeth – Oh, I am so excited that there will be a fourth Memphis BBQ book! That’s wonderful!
And yes, I sometimes find myself trapping myself in complications, too. One wants to be accurate, one wants to tell a rich enough story and that can certainly trap one into adding too many complications. When I catch myself doing that I stop and ask myself the same question you mention here: Is this important for furthering the plot? Nope? Then it goes.
Congrats on the next book!
I usually hold onto my plotlines until the last draft and then I realize I really need to let them go — and I do. Not that it’s easy.
Yes, I notice I make things too complicated sometimes! That’s why I’m so thankful I can have as many tries as I need to simplify things, unlike, say, a surgeon would, haha.
Hope you’re having a great week, Elizabeth, and looking forward to the new Lulu book!
I do this too! I write romances and when I get stuck and the words don’t flow, I start to throw in all these external complications. And of course, readers read romances b/c they want the romance not a whole bunch of other stuff! ;-)
I’m still not very good at catching myself, but if I’m stuck, I try to remind myself to dig deeper into the main characters’ motivations and not go out on a limb. Or I got back and check my outline (or rewrite it) and see if the romance is still the main part of the story or if it has been taken over by runaway plot elements.
Great post and this happens to me quite a lot… but the other way round.
I start off not knowing where and what I need to research and my characters usually lead the way. But I do end up in situations where I’ve done too much research and have to then pick and choose what is relevant. But it sure helps to figure things out at the right time! Have a great writing day!
Anju
I think it’s great you realized this was a dead end when you did. Too often I get so invested in the research that I’m really disappointed I don’t get to use it my story. But it sounds like you made the right choice — though I wonder if you would have realized that if you weren’t so thorough in your research to begin with :)
Oh, yeah! I’ve done this. Sometimes I’ll get so stuck on my original plan it’s ridiculous! Like you, I ask myself what is not working. The draft I just finished had a different premise at first, but the writing was taking forever because I kept getting stuck. That’s a sign something needs to be changed. :)
Huge congrats on the 4th book! Woo-hoo!
By way of analogy, I’ve read complaints that Dorothy Sayers made The Nine Tailors too much a book about English bell-ringing.
(start geek mode) Additional complication leads to non-linear growth in the length of the story, i.e., the length grows faster than the number of complications. (end geek mode)
When Unthinkable came in at 53,000 words, I felt that was too short and the solution too simple, so I expanded a thread that was already present, made the book genuinely better, and brought it up to 59,000 words.
The (writing) moral: Have more present in the background that can be brought forward if needed; don’t expand all your threads from the get-go.
In Sayers’s case, the solution to the story was bound up in the atmosphere of the story as much as in its events.
Kathleen–Maybe someday we need to satisfy our research urges and write a great non-fic book!
Laura–Thanks! I think it’s tough to cut those things out at the end of the book. We’ve invested so much time in them!
Laura–Good thing we aren’t surgeons! Ha! And thanks. :)
Jill–Very good idea! I think, like you, when I realized I was moving out of my genre and too far into culinary, I was getting seriously off-track.
Margot–I think you’re bringing up the bit that makes it tricky–the fact we’re wanting to add some texture or richness to our stories. Then we *do*, but maybe it’s either not the right complication or complexity for the story, or else there’s something that would work a little better that we might be overlooking.
Bluestocking–The funny thing is that usually I *never* reserach until after the book is done, then I plug it in. I’m so glad I did the research upfront this time! Otherwise, in a couple of months, I’d have been really sweating trying to figure out how to make it all work.
Jill–I think you’re right. And sometimes it’s hard to figure out what it is that’s making us stuck! When I kept having to look up judging minutae for the Memphis festival, it was definitely a sign!
Jim–Okay, I’m still trying to digest your comment! My thinking cap has been banged around lately, so it takes me a few minutes. :)
I *do* think I remember giving up on “9 Tailors,” which I hate admitting to, since I’m a Sayers fan!
I’m usually a fan of a little plot padding, if it ties into the main plot or makes for a satisfying “tying up” feeling at the end of the book. I like your idea of having bits in the background that we can elaborate on in a meaningful way in our plot.
And, reading your comment again, it sounds as if Sayers *did* use her complications enrich her main plot! Shame on me for not finishing the book to discover that fact.
Yes. THIS. I do this to myself all the time. With my current WIP, I think I’ve finally learned my lesson. I keep trying to put suspense subplots in my contemporary romances. It worked in book one, but that’s because it served the romance in the story. But at my heart, I am not a suspense writer.
I get to this parts to write them and want to skip them because it just doesn’t come naturally to me. I have to force that suspense stuff out. I even yanked the whole subplot out of my book 2 and rewrote it without the suspense. You think I’d have figured it out by book 3,but no, here I am with a suspense subplot that’s driving me crazy again. No more. After this one, I’m done with that, lol. Let’s hope.
I’m grappling with that problem right now. I’m writing a mystery set in South Africa and I want my character to visit Namibia. I will ask myself the questions you listed and see what the answers will tell me about complicating my plot.
Roni–Maybe it just comes naturally to try to spice things up! My subplots are usually humorous…but then, I write humorous mysteries! Why I went off on this tangent this time is beyond me. Sounds like you’re onto yourself and what you’re doing with the complications! That’ll probably be the end of it (am hoping I can say the same for me!)
Anju–I think it’s great that you’re listening to your characters that way! Then you can research the things that they’re interested in. Good tip!
Wasn’t it Raymond chandler that talked about keeping it as simple as possible? Can’t wait to read it!
Nancy–So tricky, isn’t it? Maybe there’s something really basic you can think of, the way I thought about the 2 grandchildren wanting to go to the fair with my protagonist. Your answer could be a sick relative or an assignment for work, or…
All. The. Time. I can make getting a cup of coffee the most difficult job on the planet. I always have to step back and apply the KISS principle, because I am the stupid one it refers to.
I am guilty of making my stories too complex and then having to go back and “unwrite” & streamline.
P.S.- These mysteries look interesting. I plan to pick up one (or more) to read this weekend:)
Icess–And Raymond was a very smart man!
Thanks!
Carol–Ha! And it’s funny because life rarely gets that complex (well, mine doesn’t.) I find myself at odd places doing odd things for very basic reasons (I’m a field trip chaperone or a volunteer for a Scout food bank project or I’m across town trying to get the best BBQ in the area, or..)
Stacey–The worldbuilding and plotting is tough, isn’t it? What we’re expected to do is complex, then we’re supposed to make it look easy on the page. Not so easy!
Thanks so much, Stacey! Hope you’ll enjoy the books. :)
Since I’m still a novice writer, I think my problem is not having solidified subplots. Maybe I need to make things a little more complicated instead of so straight forward. hmmm…. now I need to research some blogs and craft books on the art of sub-plots. :)
“Am I including research simply to show off how well I’ve researched?”
I guess that can be tempting to do, given the time you have spent on it. Just keeping that question in mind is probably very wise to avoid overdoing >:)
Cold As Heaven
Hi Elizabeth .. so true – we do make life complicated for ourselves in so many ways .. but wonderful Penguin have asked you to do a fourth ..
Enjoy the weekend .. Hilary