Alyssa was born in small-town Milton, Florida, but life as a roving military kid soon mellowed her (unintelligibly strong) Southern accent. Wanderlust is in her blood, and she’s always waiting for the wind to change. Stories remain her constant. Alyssa received her BA in English from Berry College and her MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. She is represented by the fabulous Amber Caraveo at Skylark Literary. Follow her adventures on her blog, on twitter, or join in yourself at WriteOnCon--an online kidlit writing conference!
I started writing down my stories when I turned twelve, and throughout my teen years I became thoroughly obsessed.
But one tiny,
slightly important point has always been a struggle to me: Logic.
It isn’t just in my stories, either. Famously, as a small
child just learning to swim I decided to see if I could jump through my
circular floatie… in the deep end. Yeah, that went well.
Logic is like acting: Easy to notice when someone else is
doing it wrong, but hard to evaluate on your own.
So, how can you check the logic in your story and make sure
it’s working well?
Explore
When your character comes to a crossroads or an important
decision, take a second to really think
about the options. How would you
react in their shoes? How would a friend or family member react differently?
Which reaction is most true to this character?
Some writers (like Marissa Meyer) will actually map out the
different options before deciding on a route. While you don’t have to go that
in-depth if you don’t want to, you should take a moment to really settle into
the tension and think through what should come next.
The following is an excerpt from a story I wrote when I was
younger (with corrected grammar, etc):
“Mommy, may I take
care of Thunder [colt]?” Tom asked.
“No, Christy [mom
horse] can take care of Thunder just fine,” Mom said.
Quickly Tom told of
Christy's death. “So can I take care of Thunder? Please!”
“I suppose.”
As you can see, this situation is resolved far too quickly
and doesn’t quite feel right. It’s not logical. But I can explore this scene by
asking my characters some questions, like:
Questions Tom’s mom
might want to consider:
●
Why doesn’t Mom already
know about Christy’s death?
●
Whose horses are
these? Do they belong to Tom’s family or someone else?
●
Can an eight-year-old
boy take care of a newborn colt by himself?
●
How is Tom going
to get schoolwork done?
●
Who is going to
teach Tom how to take care of the colt?
Research
The best way to make sure your story’s logic makes sense is
to spend time learning how people work.
●
Read. A lot.
And not just in one genre. Try to expound into non-fiction books about
historical figures. (They aren’t all dull!)
●
Journal.
Keep a journal for your own thoughts and feelings. Use it to process what’s
happening in your own life. Not only will this help you understand yourself
better, you can also refer to your notes for ideas.
●
Spend time with
people. I know we writers tend to be introverts, but spending time with
actual alive human beings is important.
●
Eavesdrop and
take notes. Carry a little journal with you and take notes on interesting
interactions you overhear. Go people-watching frequently and make up stories
for the people you see.
Here is another example from a story I wrote as a child in
which I could have benefited from doing some research:
After he told [the
policeman] he had no license and had killed the buck with a spear, the man
clamped metal around his wrists and made him get into the car.
[A bit later, after Arthur challenges the policeman to a duel]
[A bit later, after Arthur challenges the policeman to a duel]
“Hey, okay, you’re
free to go,” Josh said, edging around Arthur and making a dash for the car.
You would think that as a teen I would have known you can’t
get out of an arrest by challenging a police officer to a duel. Apparently,
common sense was not my strongest attribute. I should have done some research
on hunting laws and what can happen to a person caught breaking them.
Share
No matter how much you study and teach yourself, you will
always have blind spots when it comes to your writing. By reaching out to
others, you can minimize problems and maximize awesomeness in your story.
●
Find writing
partners. These can be friends online or in person. Swap stories with them
and ask them to look for logical problems. Bonus points if you get some
partners who are different from you (younger, older, diverse, math-brained...).
●
If appropriate,
put (some of it) online. While publishing original fiction on Wattpad or
Figment might not be the best plan for long term publication prospects, it can be a great way to get feedback from
others around the web. Be open to critique (ask for it!), especially when a
plot hole or logic error crops up.
●
Write
fanfiction. Fanfiction is great because it gives you all the practice for
writing fabulous stories, but you don’t have to worry so much about being a
Very Serious, Very Secretive Author. It can be a great option as you stretch
your logic skills.
●
Seek out literal
thinkers. For me, it’s my military dad, Spock-like brother, and
hypercritical sister. For you, it might be friends who don’t write but love to
analyze stories.
Here is something I wrote when I was younger and shared
with some readers:
“Another morning,”
Cedrin said to himself as he pulled on his tunic. “Another day filled with
reading and—oh joy—flower exploration.”
The Literal Thinkers I found to read this story were quick
to point out that having my hero study flowers out of sheer boredom was:
●
Boring
●
Pointless
●
Boring
Space
Finally, the best way to become aware of logical problems in
your writing is to step away from the story. Take a month off (or six, or
twelve) and work on another project. Do everything you can to not even think about that story, so you’ll forget
the little details.
Return with fresh eyes and read the book like it isn’t your
own. You’ll be surprised when what seemed to make perfect sense the first time around now seems entirely
impractical, like in the following example.
Robert (teen): By—by
the way, I sort of—crashed an airplane in your barn. My co-pilot got shot by
the woman with us, then she shot herself. I'm not good at landing.
Benjamin (an adult): I hope it was not the barn where my animals are kept.
Benjamin (an adult): I hope it was not the barn where my animals are kept.
Now that I’ve had some time away from that story, I can
clearly see these other responses that might have made more sense:
●
WHAT THE HECK?
●
ARE YOU KIDS OKAY?
●
THAT IS TERRIBLE!
Have you ever caught a logical error in your story? How did you spot
it, and how did you change it? Leave a comment below!
This happened in stories when I was younger. Adults would agree to children's plans waaaay too fast, and when I was rewriting the story, my mother made note of that to me.
ReplyDeleteThat's what moms are good for! :D
DeleteThis is a great post, Alyssa! I definitely have this problem on occasion, and, for me, stepping away for several months is one of the best things I can do. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteGlad it was helpful! I agree that space is normally the best way to spot the problem areas... I just know I, for one, can sometimes be too impatient to wait!
DeleteGreat post! I can relate to the solving problems to quickly. When I went back and read my book(after about 6 months of space), I saw how terrible the logic was, and it was way too rushed. Sometimes when I look back I can just laugh about it.
ReplyDeleteI like to look back and laugh, too! It was actually kind of fun to go digging for these examples. And even though it's obviously inconvenient to find a logic gap, it's also strangely rewarding to catch and fix that sort of problem.
DeleteThe "Literal Thinkers" part made me laugh :-) Although, I supppose sometimes you have to ignore what they say if it's not an actual point of logic--if it's something more emotional, and they just aren't "getting it" because emotion is not really their thing . . .
ReplyDeleteToo true! Once I asked a Literal Thinker to help me stage a sword fight. He spent about 80% of the time talking about the kind of sword it was. Helpful, yes! The point of the scene, nope.
DeleteYou're completely right. Knowing when to take and leave parts of advice is definitely a skill that writers have to learn.
I catch most errors when I read my book aloud to someone. For some reason, everything sounds different then.
ReplyDeleteThanks for guest-posting, Alyssa!
That's another great method! When I'm editing, I actually will convert the text so that a robot reads it to me and I'll listen to it like an audiobook. Sometimes it doesn't help me for logic-specific problems because I get distracted by everything else going on (read: typos), but sometimes it can make all the difference.
DeleteFirst of all, Alyssa, you are positively hilarious. What a fun and valuable read! Because I started writing at a young age (I am fifteen and have been writing for as long as I can remember), I have definitely experienced flaws in story logic. Now that I am older and have studied different genres in different types of media (as you mentioned), logic isn't hard for me. That is probably also because of my personality and interest in understanding the mental processes and motivations that result in emotions and other reactions. Maybe I can help my writing friends recognize illogic in their stories. Thank you for sharing, Alyssa! And again, your approach to this topic was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it! Definitely use your logic powers to help out writer friends--speaking as someone who's never quite reached Full Logic Mode, I know that sort of input is valuable. :D
DeleteThis was a fabulous post, and I loved the examples!
ReplyDelete*takes a bow* Glad you enjoyed my examples! I enjoyed finding them. ;)
DeleteThanks so much for joining us, Alyssa! Great advice!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post! Fortunately for me, logic has never been an issue in my writing. At least, not since I was eleven and that was eight years ago. I think its because I myself am a literal thinker as you so eloquently put it. That's probably why I tend to falter with emotional moments in my stories. I'm not the "why me? poor me?" type, instead I'm the "it happened, now how can I solve it?" type.
ReplyDelete