The Plot - Warning Some Indirect Spoilers · 1:09pm Jul 10th, 2016
Recently there's been a lot of comments telling me that it is getting hard for readers to keep track of what is going on. Readers have a fair point when they say: "This is rapidly becoming a mish mash of plots, I don't get what's going on". If you don't want to read huge descriptions about character motivations and thematic choices, please skip this post. If you're interested, please read on.
Without really trying to spoil the plot, I want to be clear about the aim of this story. Knowing what I'm trying to do with this story, might also make it easier to swallow. Usually, I'd like it to be clear by the end of the story, but some readers may feel impatient, so I'm giving them the choice to check it out now. The aim of this story is to convey a theme. A theme about choices.
I know it sounds strange, but I've been dropping hints about this throughout the story.
Think about the Auditors. They are all about the rules. At least, one of them thinks it is. Written is a character that focuses on what she believes is right. Do this, do that, do your duty, do what's right. Everyone and everything has a place in Reality, and all characters must adhere to it. When something goes wrong, she seeks to correct it using everything at her disposal, she is not aware of the concept of personal cost.
Think about David. David is your seemingly average human who's had the world turned upside down for him. He's trying his best to manage what he feels is a constant negative. He's not sure he's able to accept Reality as it is. For him, Reality is already inconsistent, the moment he chose not to pursue his own interests. He believes that he can only make do with what he has been given, and given that he is in a position of (untenable) power, accepts that others know what the best use of it is to him. He is a conformist, a person who doesn't know that he's in a cage of his own design. His past relationships and his job attest to that. With his skills, with what he can do, he can be so much more, but he chooses his own path.
Now Secant and Mortimus. Mortimus dreams of being accepted, Secant never had these dreams to begin with. The contrast between these two personalities show the struggle between the environment you're brought up with, versus the primer that kicks these characters to move. The precipitous moment of choice for Mortimus was the appearance of Secant, the moment for Secant was seeing something in the Record about David. Secant is driven by the wonder of a new world outside her closed existence, she was penned in by the limitations of her environment. Viewing the Records was a small tantalising taste of what lay outside the cocoon of her existence. Her choice was to step out of that role and defy the Auditors, the enforcers of her Reality. Mortimus, similarly, has been penned into his role, though unlike Secant, he was much aware of where he was at, but was discouraged from finding happiness by the oppression of his peers. Just because he was born, like Secant, in a certain way.
Raven and her gang. This is about as classic a setup as I could get it. Environment versus upbringing, nature versus nurture, self-awareness to self-interest. Raven was under the thumb of a criminal syndicate, she like many of her gang were influenced via layers of circumstances to a life of crime. Each character mostly justifies their role by stating that they 'stick to the grey edges of the Law' but are clearly uncomfortable with what they are doing regardless. They think they have no choice. That's why they do what they do. However, when confronted with an act that goes against their every moral fiber, they see there is a line that they've been tiptoeing, and they can no longer tolerate being on the other side. They choose to do the right thing, even though it may come at a personal cost.
Exuviae and the changelings have been affected by their past choices. They are confronted with the dilemma of making friends with former enemies just to survive. Exuviae chooses to take a step forward, but doesn't know how to do it without being in a position of power. When David comes along, Exuviae sees this as a unique opportunity to bargain from her position, it fits comfortably within her modus operandi to use another pawn to get what she wants. When she realises that the human has a mind of his own and (somewhat ironically) has deceived her about his own intentions, she decides to accept that some things aren't as deterministic as she thought and that trust is a necessary commodity to achieve beyond her means.
From this point there are minor spoilers in terms of the overarching plotline:
Connected to all this is the concept of the Author and the Root, the underpinnings of the story line. Ultimately, all these characters will be confronted with the nature of Reality and their choices, which will come in conflict with the nature of this story. When the small scale conflicts are resolved, the main arc of all plot threads will weave together to form the overarching story. Believe me, there's a plan (which is also vaguely ironic considering that this story talks about choices and the illusion of reality).
Now, I think it's important to analyse reasons why (given all this) readers may still be dissatisfied:
1. There are too many subplots, anyway. Okay, yes. To be honest, I was trying something new, writing an epic. Obviously, it's hard to weave a lot of plot lines together and readers are burdened by my inexperience in writing. I'm sorry, guys! I'm new to this (even though that's a poor excuse).
2. The updates take too long and are too long! Sorry, I've thought about this, but if I break the chapters into smaller chunks, then the chapter's theme will also become fragmented over chapters. Can I cut things and accelerate the pace? Yes. Will characterisation suffer. Perhaps. I've often received criticism from previous stories that my pacing was breakneck, this is my attempt at slowing down, but now I worry I'm too slow. Also with regards to update frequency, sorry, sorry, sorry, I have a job, studies, volunteering, other errata too. Please, be patient! I know how frustrating it is to wait for something, and then see that it hasn't moved far, then wanting more.
3. Subplots are seemingly isolated. Yes, and though that was deliberate, there's a plan to marry them all back together.
4. David's powers are inconsistent. Yes. There's a reason for this. Glad you picked it up, though!
5. Shut up and write! ABSOLUTELY. I COULD THINK OF NOTHING MORE I'D LIKE TO DO WITH MY LIFE. But seriously though, I like writing, so be assured that if I had the time, I would.
If this doesn't seem like great justification for the story, then I'm afraid (short of revealing everything) I can't say anything that might satisfy you. Thank you for giving it a shot and perusing the story, I'm very, very glad that you've taken the time to read it/rate it/write comments, good or bad, critical or complimentary, contented or annoyed!
Please hang in there!
As always, my calibrated radars, I mean readers, thanks for reading!
I myself am happy with the story. It is different and intriguing, so I don't mind the oddities with it. I figured you had a plan and glad to know you do (cause if it turned out you were winging it, THEN I'd be worried).
Hey, I love the story! Also, I really enjoyed reading this because I've never been certain of if a story is supposed to bring across a message before, and also because free will is what I've been covering in my English class!
As one of the commenter that you likely are talking about, I hope you don't mind if I chip in my two cents.
First: The story itself is great. Even the subplots are all good when taken individually, and I can even look at them and give a reasonable guess as to how they will tie into the original plotline. The problem, as I see it, comes with the immediate reading. When looking at the subplots from an outside perspective, or knowing the final shape of the story, they fit. They probably even compliment the whole. But when reading from a position of ignorance, as an average reader would, they derail the story. It's like you're watching Star Trek and someone comes along and changes the channel to Clash of the Titans. Sure, in a dozen episodes Pickard may jump into a time we'll to help Perseus fight off the Kraken, but to the viewer who wants to know what Warf will do next, it's just a distraction. Especially since all these plotlines ARE disconnected. Sure, they will tie together in the future, but at this point, only a few are related. And even there, the relation is not direct.
If I can offer any advice, it would be to start future plotlines from within the main one. For example, any of the changelings. Their involvement began and was fleshed out through their interaction with David. They now have their own life in the story, so if they go their own way, we can still see a relation to the plotline.
As you are going for a multithreaded epic, I would suggest following Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time as a template. While it is often decried as an overcomplicated mess by critics, no one ever doubts that the dozen or more plot threads are relavent. This is because each and every one started within a previous thread.
4081831 4081797 Thank you both, you're very kind. I always try to make every story I write have an idea and a theme, I feel it helps guide my writing. I'm still learning, too :)
4081871 First of all, thank you so much for giving me feedback, I genuinely appreciate it! In response:
I guess my problem is that I have an urge to tell all the stories equally. To readers that are invested in the main character eking out from the beginning, the other subplots may hold less interest to them. I can totally understand this. I often get the same feeling when I'm watching a show or reading a story. That's why I tried to introduce the concept of how big everything was from the start. The sense of scale if what I'm after. However, I'm also worried that if I focus on the other characters less, any nuances I build towards tying them together may come as a surprise to readers, making them think: Where the hell did this come from?! Then again, the readers may not be to understand the context of the body of work because I failed to convey it at the premise, which is also my fault! Hopefully, I'll improve upon this when I start another story.
All in all, thanks again for your helpful input. I'll try my best and (incrementally!) improve.
I love the story. It does seem there a few too many sub-plots right now, but it also looks like the humans will soon be grouped together, and that should simplify things a bit.
I love the story even though it was confusing until people explained it.
And tips on a newbe writer?