070T – Using Chris Fox’s Plot Gardening System

Chris Fox came on the show last week to talk about his new book, Plot Gardening. I've been reading the book and making notes as I go through it, and it occurred to me that I might be able to help you as you work through a new book or try to figure out what to do with one in progress.

In Chris's book, he talks about how to build the characters, the plot, the world, a step at a time. One question he asked was - how is your book different from others in your genre. As always, my first thought was, "I don't know. Uh-oh! It isn't!" :-D

But that's not necessarily true - our books can be quite unlike others, unique in their own fashion, but still within the tropes of our genre. How?

Just for the fun of it, Google "<your genre> tropes." I Googled "romance tropes," "horror tropes," "suspense tropes," and others, and found a long list of websites, PDFs, and YouTube videos explaining all the things readers have come to expect from those genres. They can give you ideas, or help you refine an idea you already have.

Don't worry, if you're a pantser you can just relax and fill your brain with all kinds of "useless information" as you Google to your heart's content. It will all become fodder for your subconscious as you start writing later. Of course, if you're a plotter you may find you're creating your story outline as you find more and more interesting tidbits through Google, Wikipedia, and more.

Remember, Chris has several different series of videos on his YouTube channel (ChrisFoxWrites) that may help you with various aspects of writing as well as marketing. He also has lots of information on his website, ChrisFoxWrites.

I hope this helped you with ideas on where to get more ideas! Happy Writing! :-D