progressive plot

[marycatelli]

It's not enough, in a plot, for it keep on having conflict.

The conflict has to progress.  To get somewhere and do something.  So the conflict has to keep on building and getting places.  Things have to keep on getting darker -- even if the hero is going from success to success, it has to seem to make things worse, so that the reader doesn't yawn and declare that of course he'll win this, too, since he's always winning everything.  Stakes keep rising. . .

At the very least, the plot has to take a sudden veer and go off into new and different direction.  To keep things from getting too boring.  If the conflict between the hero and heroine stems from a lie, even if the lie escalates -- if, for instance, the heroine thought it was trivial and realizes more and more how important it was to the hero, and how every time she doesn't confess builds up the hurt he will feel when he knows what she kept from him -- it can get a little monotonous.  Having it explode into discovery and fury would shift the plot to new and different ground.

The quest can have a lot of issues with it, since the main character (with any companions)  goes from place to place.  Keeping on finding stuff and locations is not an escalating plot.  More clues as he draws nearer the aim, and the more danger, too, as his object is better guarded, and the fewer resources as he uses them up -- but it's got to escalate.

Comments

[akilika.livejournal.com]

That's one of my problems with "The Red Hat Club" (a book which I, overall, did not like very much at all . . .) We have the initial conflict . . . and then steady and certain progression toward resolution. That's it. There are side-character plots, but most of those fall under a different issue--no progression whatsoever until they're finally and suddenly resolved at the end. Some of the flashbacks are entertaining as stories in and of themselves, and while technically it's foregone that all the characters will be fine, they still sometimes succeed at making you wonder about the road to get there . . . but overall, the book just has no momentum.

*gah* Anyway, thanks to that book, I think I've got a very clear idea on what you mean.

[marycatelli]

Yeah, the effect can be sad.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

I refer to this as "Lost" syndrome. Lots of plot, but no progression at all.

[marycatelli]

TV series are prone to it, if they are neither episodic nor with well-planned plots.

This is another area

[notr.livejournal.com]

where I've felt the Stargate TV shows consistently shine. The challenges just keep getting bigger, in unexpected ways--and the universe keeps expanding around them, so they never reach a point (though they may seem to approach it for a while) where there's nothing left to shoot for.

Re: This is another area

[marycatelli]

Then, of course, there arises the question of climax and whether it can rise indefinitely without numbing the audience.

Yep,

[notr.livejournal.com]

and of course that's a different question in a single work than in a series. A very long novel probably has more room for this than a shorter one, but I thought it worked well in Greg Bear's Eternity, which isn't all that massive.

Re: Yep,

[marycatelli]

Length is an important consideration in the form of the plot.