In writing genre fiction, is it necessary to have a strong plot?

In most cases I’d say, yes. In literary fiction (whatever that means), you can supposedly wander aimlessly about your story, still satisfying the reader by delivering a connection to the characters as they face the simple vicissitudes of life. In other words, plot might take a back seat to evocation of place or the realistic drawing of a character’s life and feelings. However, in genre fiction, be it mystery, science fiction, romance, westerns, or any of the other discreet varieties, the expectation of the reader must be met. There is a secret contract between the reader and the writer, and the reader will feel cheated if they pick up a mystery book and there isn’t a mystery that gets solved, right? In genre fiction, plot is vital, it is expected, and if not delivered well, the story fails.

There are different ways to look at plot, and not every plot needs to look like every other plot, but the basic premise is that plot is what happens in a story, and the idea is that the happenings make sense: one thing leads to the next thing. Another way to look at plot, probably the simplest but most effective, is to see it as Challenge, Complication, and Climax. Make it layered, complicate it with sub-plots and tricky characters, but in the end it still comes back to Challenge, Complication, and Climax.

In the beginning of a story you define the Challenge. If nothing happens to begin a story, then why write about it in the first place? Next, you move to the Complication. This is the middle part of the story and the longest and presumably most interesting section regardless of length. If a challenge arises and it is easily solved, then it’s not much of a story and again, why write it? So, the middle of the story is where the reader gets to become involved and is kept engaged by a compelling and not easy to solve complication. Donald Maass, in his Writing the Breakout Novel course, tells his students to look carefully at their plots and when you have a choice at a plot point, “Make it worse.” Again, plot is what happens in a story, and in genre fiction, making it worse is generally a good choice, especially in the complication stage of a novel or story. What “Make it worse” means, depends on the genre you are writing in. A romance will have a very different complication than a military thriller, for instance.

Finally, the end of the story is where Climax comes. You resolve the story in some way, and in genre fiction, the resolution should be in keeping with the expectation of the genre you are working in. I’m not saying be formulaic, but if you make a promise to a reader by penning a science fiction or fantasy novel and presenting it as such, then deliver what you promise. Plots are important in genre fiction – they just are. That doesn’t mean a plot has to be fleshed out in advance with charts and little letters and numbers. A plot can grow organically as the story is put down, but the writer with an eye to look at their story and say, “Did I get this right, is the complication compelling, is the resolution satisfying?” will be writing genre fiction that delivers what the reader expects, wants, and loves.

Originally published on the blog Charge of the Write Brigade