How do y'all plot things?

[thrillingdetectivetales]

I've been poking at this whole "Dick unexpectedly becomes a vampire during the clash on the Island" idea and I keep getting stuck in my head about the plot. I wouldn't consider plot one of my strong suits anyway, but when I sit down and actually try to plot a fic out I wind up trying to do way too much in a story and then never finishing it. Does anyone have suggestions for how to keep a plot simple? Is there such a thing as a plot that's too simple? Does a story about a guy becoming a vampire need cloak and dagger war machinations or is it enough to have him struggle with his new status and figure out that he really wants to bite his friend?

I'm really excited about this story so far, and I've laid down some prose I really like, but I want to actually finish this story someday and I'm so tangled up about this whole "but what is the story ABOUT really" thing that I'm worried it's going to fall by the wayside.

I read plenty of stuff where the only real point is to see the characters kiss or bone or live happily ever after, and I enjoy those stories and never feel them lacking but there's still a method to accomplish that kind of simple tale where it feels meaningful. I don't know. Probably I'm just way too in my head about this.

I don't know that a fanfic really needs an in-depth exploration of how vampires work in a military capacity to be a worthwhile read, and maybe it's enough to just have that knowledge or that general idea in the back of my head, but I can't help but want to put it down on paper. Not everything can be a novel, though, and I'm already planning for a longer-form story that I'd really like to get to. Not to mention all the other fills for H/C Bingo I have waiting in the wings.

For a thing I really love doing, writing can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. :/

(Tangentially relevant question: does anyone know if Nix speaks any languages beyond English and French?)

Comments

[muccamukk]

Do we know that Nix speaks French? Other than the Carentan pronunciation joke, I don't remember it.

For plot, I usually... frankly completely wing it. I'm not an outliner.

But generally, my idea is to explore what the character is worried about. Like if Dick worries that he can't be the same man now that he's a vampire, that he's a monster, maybe he needs to run through a few situations that show the pros and cons of his new status. Some kind of action adventure plot would support that, but keep in mind "does this scene advance plot A (Dick worries about his humanity) or plot B (MAKE THEM KISS). I'm totally down for droning on about army procedures, but it's got a bit more spice to it if there's also feels.

[thrillingdetectivetales]

You know, now that I actually think about it I don't think that we do. I'm pretty sure I'm conflating the Carentan joke with some fic canon that has him speaking French. Hm.

Realistically I probably just need to stick to winging it because anytime I try to outline anything I get confused and lost and give up, which is. Pretty much exactly what's happening now, haha. But that's a really excellent approach, focusing on the character's worries. I'm writing it right now from exclusively Nix's POV because I had grand plans of doing a second piece that explored the same from Dick's POV, but it might be worth combining the two and just digging in. At the very least stepping back and focusing back in on what they're each fretting about will almost certainly help.

Thank you so much for your input. I'm really spinning my wheels on this one and I'm sure this'll keep me on track until the next time I hit mud of my own making, haha.

[muccamukk]

I think you could certainly justify him speaking some combination and varying degrees of French, German, Italian or Spanish, and maybe bad grammar school Latin. His family travelled a lot. But I don't think we have canon on any of it.

If it's Nix's PoV, then he's more or less worrying about Dick worrying himself to death, with a side order of What Does This Mean For Our Friendship? and a dash of What If He Is Really a Monster Now!? Which would probably play into the same plot, more or less, just with a different focus.

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Yeah, I was basically considering that he probably knows a little German at least? I know a lot of the guys seemed to have picked up at least a few useful phrases, and since Nix canonically has something of a ~cosmopolitan background it stands to reason that he might know a tiny bit more than your average G.I.

That sounds about right, haha. It's all that with a side of What Am I Willing to Sacrifice to Keep Him Here with Me Us? Or at least, that's what I'm planning for it to be.

[scandalinbohemia]

Well, Ambrose wrote that "Nixon had lived in various part of Europe", which is not the same as saying he would spend two weeks at the Riviera every summer. Living somewhere implies picking up the local language to some degree and at the time English was not the language of the cultured elites in Europe, French was (also, Wikipedia says he travelled to France and Germany, but source unclear).
I think the Carentan bit is the show writers' way of implying that he spoke the language, but agreed, it's not confirmed.

[muccamukk]

Ambrose also said that Nix ran an agricultural empire after the war and his favourite hobby was reading.

I'm fairly sure someone was feeding him a line on Lewis Nixon III, and it might have been Dick "my best friend went to Yale AND MIT" Winters.

[scandalinbohemia]

I can totally see him grow vineyards in California and develop a taste for licentious French prose.

[thrillingdetectivetales]

I feel like Nix would run a very real risk of drinking his own profits if he were ever responsible for a vineyard, haha. Probably Dick would have to be there to help him keep it in hand. I could absolutely see him getting into tawdry French novels, though. Hell, I could almost see him writing them, if there were sufficient comedy to be had at someone else's expense or he had enough reason to go to such great lengths to spite someone.

Talk about your post-war return to a civilized place for civilized men AU.

[scandalinbohemia]

And I'm sure sooner or later there would be some minor repairs to be done on the roof. *nod nod*

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Well, sure, that's just science.

[muccamukk]

SOMEONE needs to write Nix having a sideline in smutty novels. Time to read that Sam Steward bio, I guess.

[thrillingdetectivetales]

I would volunteer to do it but I'm already working through such a wild backlog of dumb ideas, haha. I mean, I could definitely still be persuaded, but either way I would read the hell out of that story.

[muccamukk]

Oh god, same, but did you see the link I posted today?

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Dick going so hard in his capacity as Nix's unofficial, self-appointed hype man will never not be absolutely hilarious to me.

[muccamukk]

As opposed to Nix, who said he thought the whole thing was stupid and refused to talk to Ambrose at all, and all the other guys who didn't like Nix. I guess Dick decided that SOMEONE who had to be Nix's hype man.

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Hahaha I wish I had an even closer up image of that same icon to use. xD

You know, Dick, that's fair. (As much as I'm irritated forever that there's not any canon Nix input that's also such a power move I can't help but admire it.)

Poor Dick, having to be like, "Well, so-and-so might have said Nix did that, but really it went down more in this way that makes him at least a highly likable and sympathetic character if not an actual hero and while we're on the subject did I mention that he's very smart and handsome and loyal?"

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Yeah I was wondering where that bit about France and Germany came from, because that's what I was thinking back to. As long as I can swing it in a way that's at least somewhat believable, I'm totally okay with taking some liberties as to Nix's linguistic capabilities, haha.

[scandalinbohemia]

Okay, I don't think I'm the most qualified person to give plot-building advice, because I mostly make it up as I go. I have an outline in my head of what I think the point of the story is and where I want it to land, but that might change many times before I'm done. This said, a good piece of advice I got years ago is to have a few milestones really clear in your head: beginning, end, and climax about 3/4 or 4/5 into the story. Then even if you later decide to make the story longer, you build around your milestones instead of just adding more and more stuff at the end. The good thing with this approach is that it absolutely forces you to decide right away what the story is about, because the climax has to be "the point".

I don't think that a story needs to be plot-heavy to be meaningful, nor that a story can be too simple, but I understand the temptation to do extensive world-building to give context to the characters. In your case, since you don't seem oriented towards a novella or novel length, I would do the world-building in my head and just drop hints here and there to show the reader that the world is there, but I wouldn't explore the details too much. If you want to do cloak and dagger, consider that the space you need to develop that will have be taken from something else (for example from the romantic drama).

But really, your story already IS plot-heavy: a supernatural AU with one of the main characters dying and coming back to life as a different kind of creature, undergoing a dramatic body change triggered by a violent assault, in a world where his kind is stygmatized (I assume from the bit I've read), and trying to start/manage a sentimental relationship at the same time? This is A LOT of plot!

[thrillingdetectivetales]

This is all really excellent advice! (And I've read your fic, you're totally qualified! lol) I think what always trips me up is the climax. Like, I always forget that a climax doesn't have to be a character literally standing between humanity and the end of the world, or whatever. It can be a guy who's going to lose his friend unless he acts, probably. I think maybe that's how writing works, haha.

I would love to write longer form stories but I get so worried about the plot that they all fall apart before I can finish them. Realistically I just need to keep putting words down on the page and allow that there'll probably be huge edits needed and that writing a thing will take a little time, but I'm impatient and somewhat desperate for validation so that's a difficult thing for me, haha.

I super appreciate your pointing out the plot that's already in there. I was sort of...unable to see it for a little while but I keep trying to take deep breaths and remind myself that it's already there and I don't need to inject anything new unless I stumble onto a good thread I want to follow.

Thank you for your input friend!!! <333