Shawn

1) Theodore walks down the street and spots and old woman.

2) Theodore sees that she is poor, so he gives her groceries.

3) Theodore helps old woman carry groceries.

4) Theodore falls down and drops groceries.

5) Woman beats Theodore for dropping the groceries.

Now... despite the rather tacky name (it was all I could come up with at the moment) what can you infer about Theodore's character? The plot doesn't matter... it could be a regular, boring event. Theodore has a greek origin, along with this plot.

You could recognize Theodore as Prometheus (partially where the name comes from), who gave man fire to have it thrown back in his face. What else is important about the name? Saint Theodore! That's right, the first Archbishop of Canterbury... great humanitarian. Great... boring plot. The thing that makes the story work is:

1) The reason why Theodore gives the old woman the groceries.

and

2) How Theodore feels after point 5 on the outline.

Answer those two points and you'll have the key to what the plot is built along.

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"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?"

MiloDaePesdan

Isn't it the other way around? And why do I get the feeling Theodore is a conman trying to swindle an old woman out of her groceries because he's down and out of luck?

Very happy, because he managed to sneak a can of peaches in his jacket.

Though going the route of Prometheus you could say his 'good' intentions burned Theo because he fumbled, which is actually a hard truth in reality. (How many times I've seen people say 'I will help you' only to fail and get blamed.)

Didn't catch the Canterbury reference.



Milo

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Shawn

But, besides that... see what I mean? The character rules the plot... you don't have to learn plot... just learn your character.

__________________
"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?"

MiloDaePesdan

Oops? That accursed comma blinded me. XD Sorry.

So it really is about knowing your own character that drives the story, while the plot is just the road he's on?

Brings to mind that old saw about only the journey matters, not the end.



Milo

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Shawn

Yes, because the differences in character decide whether he's going to stroll down the road or trip and scrape his knee.

__________________
"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?"

MiloDaePesdan

Question. Does this work for both short stories and novels, or one of the two?



Milo

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Shawn

Both. Themes are always scalable. Say I wanted to take the premise of the op and put it into a novel.

Theodore, instead of giving a poor woman some groceries that he bought, is in the same position as the woman but gives those groceries to her without paying for them. Stealing's wrong, yes, but what about the generosity of his action?

Perhaps the store, in response to the robbery, offers a small reward for information. The woman sees this opportunity and rats him out.

Now Theodore has to deal with the consequences of his actions, but also question the idea of helping people. This could only be the exposition, though.

Hmm... let me think. Theodore eventually gets a job and maintains an income... but what happens when some of his coworkers are laid off. Maybe this is quite some time ago. Perhaps it's set in the mid 60s. The labor union at his place of employment is the teamsters... Ah, I see something here.

He somehow stumbles upon the fact that Jimmy Hoffa tries to bribe a circuit judge... historical fact, actually.

Now Theodore has to choose between three things: his job, his coworkers, and his sense of justice. And he has to deal with these things with the baggage of his past.

Of course, that has a lot of external stimulus in the plot... but you get the idea. It's about the moral struggle that the character goes through to get to resolution.

__________________
"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?"