Putting the pieces together

[John Dean]

As a writer, I find that that it sometimes helps to liken the craft of plotting to completing a jigsaw, in that it’s all about slotting together many disparate pieces.

This thought came to mind as I worked to finish the first draft of my latest DCI John Blizzard novel for The Book Folks and found myself constantly scrolling back to slot in plotlines, snatches of dialogue and fleeting references, each one of which put the plot into sharper context by allowing the reader to make more sense of the story.

What do I mean? Well, here’s a simplistic example (not one I have used but it makes the point for me). Towards the end of the story, one of your characters opens a garden gate to be confronted by a dog which scares him/her. That’s fine as it is but how much better would it be to scroll back a couple of chapters to have him/her recalling a frightening incident with a dog as a child? It does not need to be a big passage (too much overblown back story can slow down a narrative) but a couple of lines means that, when the incident happens, it makes more sense and the reader can empathise with the character.

Then maybe you move on another couple of chapters and you realise that the dog is actually important to the plot, something you might not have worked out during your initial plotting – maybe it allows the character to remember exactly where they were when pressed for an alibi. Suddenly, you have three pieces of the jigsaw which, when taken together, provide a strong narrative thread.

In the case of the novel on which I am working, the pieces of the jigsaw relate to crimes which appear to be unrelated but actually have connections.

As a writer, you suddenly hear the snap of pieces going together and wonder why you did not think of them earlier - scenes which seemed unimportant assume relevance, characters who seemed to add little to the story find themselves imparting vital plot information, scraps of back story which were part of the background become central.

For the pieces to be used properly, you need a strong story, an idea that sees your main characters asked to overcome obstacles. It’s vital to keep the story moving so pile as many problems as you can on them then have them take action to get out of the situation.

A good idea is to prepare a synopsis in advance – jot down what you wish to happen in each major scene. Just be prepared to discard it as the story assumes a life of its own and the pieces of the jigsaw start to come together.

A synopsis rarely survives contact with the storytelling process unscathed, I find, but, although good novels evolve during the writing and have plots which assume lives of their own, a bit of pre-planning can prevent things from becoming too unruly!