Does it matter if my story doesn't have a fixed plot?

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Joe90
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22 Jan 2021, 7:06 pm

I'm writing a story about my life during the year 2000. When I was 10 I did write stories about whatever was going on in my life, and luckily I kept the book I wrote them in and I'm now rewriting them (using the literary skills I have now that I didn't have so much as a kid). I'm writing it as a diary-type, similar to the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books (but without pictures).

I'm nearly halfway through writing my story but I've just realised that my story doesn't really have a fixed plot, only just a bunch of stuff that happens to me. So I'm not sure how my story will end. Do all stories have to have a fixed plot? Will publishers accept my story if it doesn't have a fixed plot?


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22 Jan 2021, 7:18 pm

You are relating what are called "anecdotes."

You are writing in "diary" form.

It's more like a biography than a work of fiction. There doesn't need to be a "plot," even though (I assume) that the work is fictional.

"The Color Purple" consisted of letters that the main character, Celie, wrote to "God." This genre is called "epistolary" writing.



kraftiekortie
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22 Jan 2021, 7:22 pm

The first English novels, like "Pamela" and "Clarissa," were done in the "letter writing" style.



Joe90
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23 Jan 2021, 9:13 pm

I was going to end it with the Y2K celebration...but the story is set in the year 2000 already and it's too late to change it now. I'm writing it in one of my favourite books that I had bought from a stationary store.

I suppose I could still end it with the new years eve into 2001, but I don't remember that new year. Y2K was the best new years eve ever. I was 9 years old, and was spending it with my whole family at my grandmother's house. She was brilliant at entertaining, and it was so great. Also it was so exciting.
(Little did we know that 20 years later the whole world would be battling a coronavirus pandemic).


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kraftiekortie
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24 Jan 2021, 7:06 am

So what if you don’t remember it!

Make it up!

You’re producing a fictional work.



Joe90
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24 Jan 2021, 2:31 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
So what if you don’t remember it!

Make it up!

You’re producing a fictional work.


I suppose I could, but it'd still be better if I could have ended the story with Y2K. That way I could have mentioned it a few times in the earlier parts of the story, like "everyone's talking about the millennium" and "I'm looking forward to the big party at my grandmother's house for the millennium party." Celebrating the year 2001 isn't something you talk about the previous year, because it isn't 'special' like Y2K.


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roronoa79
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26 Jan 2021, 11:06 am

Many great works of fiction are without plot or have a very thin plot.

If plot isn't the focus, then would you like it to be? I would suggest emphasizing character interactions, character development (if there is any), narrative tone, prose, themes, motifs, and emotion.

There's plenty to work with even without a real plot.


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26 Jan 2021, 11:26 am

The label you are looking for is "Slice-of-Life", which describes the depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment.  In literary parlance, it is the narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary or random sequence of events in a character's life is presented, often lacking plot development, conflict and exposition, as well as often having an open ending.


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Joe90
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26 Jan 2021, 3:09 pm

roronoa79 wrote:
If plot isn't the focus, then would you like it to be? I would suggest emphasizing character interactions, character development (if there is any), narrative tone, prose, themes, motifs, and emotion.


Yes, my story is all about character intentions and emotion. But the whole story is talking from the main character's (me) point of view.

I also include a flashbacks, whenever relevant.

I use my good autobiographical memory to be able to write this story.


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27 Jan 2021, 5:48 am

Authors like William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, and Jack Kerouac had written fiction based on their own autobiographies, rarely following any concise plot.


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Joe90
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30 Jan 2021, 4:30 pm

I have seen some book critics or reviewers not like a story much if it "doesn't go anywhere".

But I have noticed that so far in my story I have mentioned a lot of things that I was scared of as a child. So the reader might like that.


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13 Feb 2021, 4:51 pm

I wonder if the "plot" might emerge in a second draft? As you say, this is closely based on real life, and real life doesn't have neat little storylines. But once you've finished the first draft, you can re-read it with questions- "what's significant, what lessons are there here, what's the mood, what do I want the reader to take away from this?" On the second draft, you can gently shape the story to place more emphasis on what's important.


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