conditions of a good plot

< 24-03-04_093313

物語の書き方　継続性編

conditions of a good plot

here, we are digging into how to write a good plot.

Consistency

This is by far the most definite and concrete element of all. Lack of consistency makes a story less engaging in most cases, if not all. Honestly, I don’t remember a single case where inconsistency made a story better.

Consistency refers to ensuring that the rules, events, and characters in your story are logical and consistent throughout. Here are some specific aspects to consider:

• Narrative elements: The plot, setting, characters, and themes should all be cohesive and not contradict each other.
• Character motivations: Characters’ actions and decisions should be consistent with their personalities, goals, and beliefs.
• Cause and effect: Events should flow logically from each other, with clear cause-and-effect relationships.
• Rules and limitations: Any rules or limitations you establish in your world (e.g., magic systems, time travel, etc.) should be consistently followed and not broken without justification.

But above all, the main character’s motivations MUST be consistent. If you have to change or shift them that much, well, yikes, but if it is absolutely necessary, you need to set up a bunch of foreshadowing long before the change so that the shift might be more convincing and understandable, or less annoying so to say. But keep in mind that it takes more efforts than you might be imagining, and the success rate is generally low. The odds are that you just ruin your story miserably.

Good repetition of elements

First things first, I have to clearly state: only GOOD repetition makes a story fascinating. There are good repetition and bad repetition. Bad repetition is, like, really bad and shold be avoided as much as possible.
Basically, good repetition is reusing of the same phrase, item, or whatever element shown before under these conditions:

• in a different context
• very sparingly, meaning that it should be distant enough from the last time it was used
• it progresses the story in some way - reinforcing a character’s motivation, giving eureka moment or solving the current problem

Examples of bad repetition are:

• used in the same context
• it doesn’t make any progress to the core story
• occurs frequently

A good rule of thumb is, you can use repetition of the same element three times at most.

Emotional proximity

Emotional proximity refers to the extent to which the reader can relate to and empathize with the characters and their experiences. But think of it this way: do not try to put the reader in someone’s shoes. Instead, do not make the reader feel like they are left out. Especially with the protagonist. Technically, you can temporarily leave out the reader when something extremely surprising happens(cliffhanger), but even then, there needs to be an immediate payoff or the next part must be right around the corner. The worst case imaginable is that the author, namely you, did not even think of the possibility that the readers may not resonate with the protag, and as a result, the readers are completely lost. You should at least be aware of that possible perspectives and, regardless of means, tell somehow that basically “I, the writer, know you might be upset because of this reason, and I’m telling you I’m doing this intentionally. Here’s why”. The easiest way to achieve this is to use some observant or somewhat perky character to speak for the reader’s doubt. A good example is Jean Kirstein from Attack on Titan, who serves as the voice of reason and rationality to counterbalance Eren’s impulsiveness and recklessness. In a nutshell, there should be at least one character all the time to whom the reader can relate. Like, any time. There shouldn’t be a single moment where no one feels relatable. And please note that emotional proximity does not mean that everyone has to be likable. It simply means that

1. the characters should be humanlike in their emotions and reactions, and
2. there should be someone that readers can identify with.

Pacing

Pacing is the speed at which your story unfolds and involves balancing action, exposition, and reflection. It’s about keeping the reader engaged and moving forward while still allowing room for character development and meaningful moments.
But it’s a relatively complicated concept and should be taken with caution.
First of all, let’s take an ultimate example: if you must go with either a ridiculously fast pacing or a ridiculously slow pacing, you want to choose the former. Think it simply: both may be garbage, but at least the former wastes less time. Of course this is a complete oversimplification, but I wanted you to know that slow pacing can often make a book feel like it drags on endlessly, so avoid it unless you have a really good reason (e.g., building tension in a horror novel).
Now some might think, “yeah fast pacing is good and all, but wouldn’t it be shorter and less enjoyable?” No. Actually, what matters is density. Being short doesn’t mean it’s less dense. Death Note is a perfect example, having as few as 13 volumes yet being one of the most complex and engaging stories ever written. Conversely, a story can be boring as fuck even with 100 volumes or more. So in short, you should adopt a fast-pacing method in general, but you can still make it vary - in a nut shell, like this:

# boring ass novel
base_spd  = 10
# accelerate
base_spd *= 1.5
# slow down
base_spd *= 0.5

# good novel
base_spd  = 50
# accelerate
base_spd *= 1.5
# slow down
base_spd *= 0.5

Now, we’re getting into more advanced areas, or I’d rather say more subjective concepts.

Branches

A good fiction automatically gets a lot of fanfictions. But why? Because it’s made easy to imagine different universes. In other words, you should make your story easy to imagine branching. It means that there could be many alternate possibilities that don’t contradict each other. To be more precise, a good story has a lot of plot points(aka pivotal scenes), and as a result, the storyline can significantly vary just by changing those specific scenes. Too ambiguous? Okay. Don’t worry, I have a perfect example to explain this concept. Let’s say you want to watch a Let’s Play of some game. What sort of them do you think will be more fun to watch? A game with a lot of plot twists that will surprise the shit out of the player and therefore you can relish their wild reactions. A game with no twists is not only boring to play, but also boring to watch. Basically the same goes for writing a story. Consider a virtual reader or youtuber that records a reaction video for your story. You might want to startle them from time to time.

感情操作

感情操作というと聞こえが悪いというかおこがましく思えるが、要するに読者に「え？これどういう感情で見ればええん？」という思いをさせてはならない、ということ。
シリアスな場面のつもりで書いたのに、読者が「笑う場面」と認識してしまったり、あるいはその逆だったり。
重要なのは、「読者のリアクションと作者の想定リアクションの不一致」が必ずしも問題であるわけではないということ。問題なのは実際に発現する反応ではなく、「読者が想定する『作者が想定した反応』」そのものが不確定な場合だ。

これはOK。つまり「作者はシリアスなつもりで書いてるんだろうけど、あかん笑えるｗ」みたいな「シリアスな笑い」は、まぁ正確には技巧好しとは言えないのだが作品において特に大きなデメリットにはならない。

これも、技巧的にはダメだが、感情操作という要素においてはこれでも最悪のケースではない。最悪のケースはこちらである。

非線形の語り口(nonlinear narrative)

[!cite]
非線形の語り口
ネタバレの是非

[!example] AI Guide

1. Start in the middle or at the end instead of the beginning. This immediately establishes that the story will not follow a chronological timeline.
2. Use flashbacks and flash-forwards liberally to jump around between different time periods. This fractures the narrative sequence.
3. Have split storylines following different characters or plotlines that interconnect or are revealed to be related later.
4. Use recurring symbols, motifs or phrases that create connections between separate narrative sections.
5. Play with narrative perspective by switching between first-person, third-person limited, third-person omniscient, etc in different sections.
6. Consider using forms that lend themselves to nonlinearity like vignettes, frame stories, or nested narratives with stories-within-stories.
7. Utilize ephemera like letters, news clippings, interviews,etc to fragment the story across documents.
8. Don’t explicitly reveal all connections - allow some threads to dangle or mysteries to linger for readers to interpret.
9. Use recurring symbols or objects to unite disparate sections thematically if not chronologically.

The key is creating a literary form that mimics the disjunction of memory itself by rejecting straightforward chronology. With a nonlinear structure, you can emphasize subjectivity, themes and poetic resonances over objective plot progression.

非線形の語り口は、個人的に「推理小説」などと同じく「必ず物語が面白くなるフレームワーク」のひとつになりうると思っている。
そもそもchronologicalでない物語というのは広義的にはとても多くの媒体で用いられている。「番宣PV」「ゲームの発売前PV」「OP映像」などはある種そのひとつである。時系列順ではなく、目を引く場面を繋ぎ合わせて一つの物語となっている。あれが一番原始的な形のnonlinear narrativeであり、なぜそれが魅力的なのかというのがlucidになるキーポイントだと思う。

思いつく利点

マクガフィンを利用しやすい

時間で繋がらない分、エレメントーつまりキーアイテムの複数回に渡る登場で読者にシーケンスを”予測”させることになるため、アイテムの重要性や再利用性がとても高い。