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Layering
What works for me is to think of a plot as a series of layers. It's like building a house, adding a brick here, a window there, a door or two, putting in the furniture, painting the walls, adding a few ornamental touches.
When I'm working on a character or an incident or a situation, I ask myself, "What can I do to add another layer? What can I do to make this story seem textured enough?" Because what makes a reader turn the page is having enough story, enough suspense, enough character development to create interest and intrigue.
When I'm on a research trip, near or far, I keep taking notes, or talking into my tape recorder, filing away lots of material, some of which I won't use. I don't try to sort it out.I just put everything down that occurs to me and it seems as though the sheer weight of the material forces a storyline to surface.
When you are researching a story, whether you are out and about or reading about various aspects, story pieces start fitting together. What I look for is cause and effect. If this happened, what would be the result? Okay, what would be the result of that? And always, can I add another layer?
In one of my novels, titled, The Moon Gate, a romantic story set in Bermuda, my heroine, Allison, was researching her roots, and making a video movie. Was that enough? No. Why did she want to research her roots? How about if her mother was dying of leukemia and wanted Allison to track down the family's roots before she died. That added a layer to the story and also revealed the compassion in the heroine's character.
I spend a lot of time on character development. Usually I start out with bits of people I've met, a smile here, a way of talking, a way of looking at life, certain attitudes-- and the person grows in my mind.
I had Allison searching for her roots, and not getting anywhere with historian Colin Endicott, the hero. There was a bit of a mystery as to why Colin wouldn't co-operate which seemed to be tied in with the death of his wife in an airplane crash. There was also a bit of a mystery about why Alys, Allison's ancestor who first came to Bermuda on a ship that was wrecked, isn't included on the passenger list or in any of the historical details that are in print.
There was also a young black man who just got out of jail and an old blind black man who turned out to be from a branch on the same family tree as Allison. He held the key to some of the past story. And these two men became entwined, which added another layer to the plot.
Other layers in this book include a look at the dynamics of an island that is 60% black, 40% white. I knew right from the beginning that I wasn't going to write an all white book. We live in a mixed world and I want my fiction to reflect real life.
One of the best ways to build a layer is to ask 'why?' Motivation is extremely important in a novel. If you think of it as adding a layer, it gets easier.
One of the easiest layers to apply is an occupation. As soon as a character has an occupation, he or she begins to come to life.
I like my stories to be fairly complex. In order to achieve that I ask myself of every idea that comes along, "Can I add another layer to this situation, this character, this incident?" Doing this makes the job a whole lot easier. In order to create suspense in a plot, you have to pile difficulty on difficulty, but it can't just be contrived, it has to be integrated into the story. I try to create enough suspense to make the reader turn the page by making sure I have enough story, and I make sure I have enough story by layering.