No Plot.....Perhaps a Wee Bit of a Problem
Today I found myself detailing the difficulty of last night's writing task by explaining that I'd had to show how important this mule was to this guy so that it would really mean something when the mule was subsequently eaten by a sasquatch.
That's right. Eaten by a sasquatch.
Which I think constitutes rather a good argument for having a winning plot before you start writing.
That's right. Eaten by a sasquatch.
Which I think constitutes rather a good argument for having a winning plot before you start writing.
posted by Clucking Bell @ 6:48 PM
4 Comments:
At 10/06/2005 9:17 PM,
Perdita X said…
Not the mule! How can you be so cruel. Why can't we see how much the man means to the mule, so it really means something when the man is eaten by the sasquatch? Poor mule, all that's left of his man is a partially chewed leather boot.
At 10/07/2005 3:59 PM,
Clucking Bell said…
So what are you saying, the mule-eating development isn’t “grabbing” you? How can I continue now? My confidence is crushed!
Additionally, you should know that this is how these stories always start. First pets and livestock, then people. It is the way of things in the animals-run-amok genre, although sometimes it does go campers, then pets and livestock (optional), then suburbanites. Don't worry, the old guy who liked his mule will get his -- though he's the sort that would die of a heart attack before he ever got mauled.
Besides, at this point? People and animals getting eaten by sasquatch could still turn out to be a subplot. I don’t want to define the parameters of my story so narrowly that I get bored. Like maybe the sasquatch are just the first wave of a cryptozoological planetary takeover. Sasquatch hit the campers in the hills, lake and river monsters hit 'em when they flee the hills. And the werewolf/shapeshifter sorts scour the plains for survivors.
At 10/08/2005 9:30 AM,
Perdita X said…
Ah, the tried and true "when not-quite-normal animals attack" formula. Good point - if I recall in Tremors, the sheep are the first to experience a series of unfortunate events. Then the old folks. Then the younger, healthier, more developed characters. There is a pecking order in these situations which should be honored.
I still feel bad for the mule. But now I see how his untimely demise causes me to emotionally engage in the story.
At 10/08/2005 9:48 AM,
Clucking Bell said…
Actually, the town drunk gets "treed" and dies of thirst first, so not eaten but certainly unfortunate. Then the old sheep farmer notices his sheep are upset while hoeing, but he ends up getting eaten before they do (because of the hoeing). Then the road crew gets it (a relatively young and vigorous pair). Then the doctor and his wife (retired). Then the town gets hit and all heck breaks loose.
Of course, the format I described above is mostly for your standard landlocked mammals run amok (these are becoming rarer in today's films). Giant snake movies usually start out in a lab of some sort, and shark movies have a different formula altogether (though sometimes black labs go missing while playing by the seashore). Then there are true originals like "Tail Sting," where small scorpions get loose on an airplane and quickly grow to improbably large scorpions -- on an airplane.
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