Going down the rabbit hole
… and having fun doing it!
“I’m late, I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say ‘hello, goodbye,’ I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!”
Remember this guy? — Poor fellow, never seems to have any time, always in a hurry… and to be honest, he is not to blame! Sometimes I feel the same way. We live in a complex world, where time seems to dominate our everyday lives. We are always in a rush to catch the next bus, attend the next meeting or hit the next deadline. While making the time to focus on these “important” things, we don’t have time to spend with our loved ones and won’t appreciate the little details in life anymore.
Sometimes when reading a book, or watching a movie I am being told that I waste my time. Well, am I really? — I don’t think that time you enjoy spending is being wasted.
With the limited time we have I appreciate it even more, that you took the time to read this. Funny enough, after this sentence, I will have used the word “time” 13 times. If you went back to count, you are welcome, I just made you a time traveler!
As of now, real time travel is impossible, but still everyone has their own perception of it. Sometimes it’s enough to just open a book, to make your mind travel somewhere else — Another time, world or even dimension. No matter where you go, time will always be essential, as it is extremely challenging to grasp the true concept of “timelessness”. Try it out! Besides, when no time passes, stories are pretty boring anyways.
Your characters need to experience something, overcome obstacles, learn skills, engage in conflict and find love… all those things take time to do and we love following the protagonist facing her challenges and turn out better than she has ever been before — Reading stories like this is fun… planning on the other hand is a nightmare.
Time is complex and not always as linear as we wish. Events happen over time and affect your characters in one way or another.
One character, let’s call him Bob, might be at the receiving end of a bullet while the other one, Bill, fires it. — Then, in the very last second, a third character steps in to take the bullet for Bob. He saves his life at the cost of dying in return… later it is revealed, that the third character is actually Bob from the future, while Bill was Bob from another dimension all along…
Sounds complicated, I don’t need that in my story!
Sure, not every plot is as crazy as that, but also seemingly simple things get complicated quickly.
Jerry and Louise are in love and always have been, since Kindergarten, such a beautiful romance. Suddenly Nancy moves in next door and seduces Jerry, which Louise finds out eventually….
Those events cause a variety of emotions in your characters that need to reflect consistently in your writing. This starts with right choice of words, while answering questions on the way. Why did Nancy seduce him? Why could Jerry not resist, besides his love for Louise? How does this affect their relationship?
Plot Maniac helps you put your plot in order. With our first product Plotbox, we want to make your life easier and ensure that every little detail goes where it makes sense for the plot of your story.
Part of our Plotbox is a Timeline, that allows you to view events from many different angles. We support views from the perspectives of the event itself, characters, locations, items, etc…
The consistency of your story is our highest good! Plotbox enables you to easily drag and drop your elements on the screen, establishing a logical link between them… this link remains throughout your element’s lifetime, or until you decide to change it manually. Events that happen at the same location, at the same time, will be linked automatically for your convenience.
Events may change your characters looks, personalities, emotions, items or locations as they occur. Currently we are working on a visualization to reflect that change as clearly as possible.
While working on Plot Maniac, I have had some interesting challenges towards the ambitious goal I have set for myself — but I really love doing it! I certainly enjoy spending the time working on it. It is always evolving, just like your stories. Please tell me how you currently write them! What are your biggest struggles? How can Plot Maniac make your life easier?
