Said noir/mystery author Jim Thompson:
There are thirty-two ways to write a story, and I have used every one of them. But there is only one plot: things are not what they seem.
(Cited on the Facebook page for Neko Case.)
So tell me: We could go around and around forever regarding what he meant by “ways to write a story,” let alone whether there are only 32 of them, or not even 32, or whatever. (I found one citation on Google Books which said the number Thompson gave was 37.)
But is the plot of all stories, in fact, “Things are not what they seem”? What do you think?
__________________________
* And of course readers, editors, agents, drive-by commenters, vagrants and vagabonds, rabbis, priests, and ministers, and the duck they walked into the bar with as well as the bartender who gave them a hard time… anybody, really.
Sara says
One plot: Things Must Change
If not, pick another moment in time.
Querulous Squirrel says
I came across this quote awhile ago in a writing book by John Dufresgne and it stuck with me. One plot. Things are not what they seem. It’s catchy. It’s paradoxical. You try to be very clear in writing or the writing is no good. But you never spell things out or the writing’s no good. And the clearer you are, the more ambiguous things become if you are any good. The closer you get to the truth, the slipperier the footing. Everything is both itself and its opposite. Then there are the blank spaces between the words and sentences and paragraphs, all that is left out that is part of the story.
This idea becomes a plot as it unfolds over time if it becomes clear to one or more characters and the reader or only the reader that uh, oh, things are not as they seem. I actually can’t think of a good short story that is an exception to that rule.
marta says
Things are not what they seem to who?
At the moment I’m inclined to think that things are not what they seem to the writer.
John says
Sara: Whoa — another noteworthy contender!
I wonder, though… do they say the same thing, Things Must Change and Things Are Not What They Seem? Who is the “must” in the former directed at — is it an instruction to the author, like “You MUST make things change”?
Squirrel: Yeah! Things are not what they seem implies that we (and/or a story’s characters) are going to learn what things are, appearances notwithstanding. We’re going to learn something that’s true, against a background of somethings that may or may not be true.
marta: That inclination you mention wouldn’t have anything to do with surprising rejection, would it???
marta says
“Surprising?”
John says
marta: Amazing how much meaning can be packed into a single word. (And then how much meaning can be sucked out of it, just by surrounding it with quotation marks!) :)
froog says
Yes, catchy, but a bit trite. I think that’s a formula that works best for the mystery/thriller genre. I’m quite happy for things to be what they seem, so long as they seem to be interesting, and are taking us somewhere.
Who was it said (of writing screenplays; but it’s the same thing) “First you put your protagonist up a tree; then you throw rocks at him.’?
kelly says
I think it should read.
All things should be exactly as they are.
The best writing, for me, is when the author just captures the simple, everyday, emotions and moments that make us who we are.
But, I guess for the characters…things are not what they seem…works. Because really, how many characters start out self-evolved. What would be the story if they were.