It's a cliche, and in a way it's a conservative idea about fiction, but I did learn the hard way that plot does need to dictate the story.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Fiction is optimistic or unrealistic enough to demand that there should be a meaningful narrative.
We don't experience our lives as plots. If I asked you to tell me what your last week was like, you're not really gonna give me plot. You're gonna give me sort of linked narrative. And I wanted to see how do we bring that into fiction without losing the reader.
It is the creator of fiction's point of view; it is the character who interests him. Sometimes he wants to convince the reader that the story he is telling is as interesting as universal history.
One reason we love fiction is because stories have a comforting shape. They provide a resolution that's lacking in our regular lives.
I never plot out my novels in terms of the tone of the book. Hopefully, once a story is begun it reveals itself.
I always struggle with making the technical aspects of the plot fit with the story that's unfolding in my imagination.
I tend not to know what the plot is or the story is or even the theme. Those things come later, for me.
Use plot to buttress a story.
Considerations of plot do a great deal of heavy lifting when it comes to long-form narrative - readers will overlook the most ham-fisted prose if only a writer can make them long to know what happens next.
I believe that the writer should tell a story. I believe in plot. I believe in creating characters and suspense.