Plot your story using learning and teaching techniques

Leverage the Feynman learning technique to gain the clarity that comes from explaining your content—plus an open invitation to Office Hours craft calls for the rest of 2024.

Nov 02, 2024

Remember those "explain it to me like I'm five" moments from school? While I’ve never had to explain fiction plotting to a kindergartener (thank goodness), I often find myself in dinner-table debates over the plots of various favorite books or movies. Spoiler alert: Those dinner conversations have taught me more about how readers do and don’t follow stories than a dozen writing workshops.

And this is where the Feynman Learning Technique comes in. Named after a physicist who could explain atomic theory to sixth graders without breaking a sweat, it's like a secret weapon for writers: If you can explain a plot to someone who thinks "rising action" means their sourdough bread is finally doing its thing, you're probably onto something good.

Come this way, all ye who practice the Writes of Fiction, as we explore this and other techniques that turn good stories into unforgettable ones.

Plot your story using the Feynman Learning Technique

The Feynman Learning Technique is a proven method for learning and understanding concepts by teaching them to others, as if you were explaining the subject to a beginner such as a sixth grader. It’s designed to help learners (future teachers) truly understand and retain information, rather than simply memorizing it for a test, then swirling significant stuff down the drain of post-exam obscurity.
This learning and teaching technique is named after Richard Feynman, an American theoretical physicist who won a Nobel Prize in 1965. Mr. Feynman was nicknamed “The Great Explainer” for his phenomenal ability to understand complex subjects and break them down into simple terms and explain them in a way that a sixth grader could grasp.—Read the rest from Garry Rodgers.

More on learning and writing: I’m a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s notion that it takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery of a skill or field of endeavor. It’s fairly evident that this applies first and foremost to your writing itself. The only way to ratchet up your experience level is by writing more manuscripts, whether they go on to publication or not.

The hardest part of breaking into anything new is that you’re not even aware of what you don’t yet know. So dig in. The list below is by no means a comprehensive plan of self-education, but these ideas will certainly help you spot some of the things you’ll want to learn and explore as an emerging novelist.—Keep reading Kick-start your own career development program for writing.

Does your story’s outcome ironically contrast with the initial goal?

We don’t want to live in a clockwork universe, and we don’t want clockwork stories. We don’t want to watch authors plug numbers into a machine, pull the big lever, and get the expected result. We want irony because it’s surprising, because it’s clever, and, more than anything, because it’s realistic. There are no straight lines in nature, and we don’t want any in our stories, either. We love to see our heroes get what they want in the end—as long as they don’t get it in quite the way they wanted.—Read the rest from Matt Bird.

More on bringing out the point of the story: When a character melts into tears because the donut shop is out of blueberry donuts (I know—it hits me right in the feels too), readers will wonder if the character is unhinged. Could blueberry donuts really play such a key role in the plot? Or is the author simply unable to convey how the characters are behaving in a believable way?

As long as you offer a frame of reference through your characters’ inner lives, readers will willingly travel fantastic places within your book, plumbing a serial killer’s psyche or accepting magic and alien cultures. Your character’s inner life is like the legend of the story map, showing how the regions of the story world relate to each other. Stiff, disconnected, or missing character reactions remove that key and scramble readers’ ability to make sense of the story.—Read more at The link between character thought and credibility.

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Hyphens and Dashes: A refresher

Most readers know that hyphens connect groups of words or numbers whereas dashes set things off. But from there it tends to get a little fuzzy. For example, which key do you press to get the dash? Is there more than one kind of dash? . . . What about minus signs?
Most copyeditors, on the other hand, will usually know their way around hyphens and dashes. But when it comes to knowing precisely which type of miniature horizontal line is needed for which context, most of us can use the occasional refresher.
We’ll start with the basics, and then we’ll review a few of the lesser-known varieties.—Keep reading from CMOS Shop Talk.

More on a clean, error-free book: Start with a cleaner manuscript. Common sense dictates that a cleaner start leads to a cleaner finish. Study your craft as a writer. Not only will you produce tighter, more effective writing, but you’ll build the foundation you need for shading your work using more subtle techniques.

Use spellcheck, and try a program like ProWritingAid. I guarantee you’ll learn a few things about your writing. …

Read the entire manuscript out loud. You’d be shocked at how many problems this simple strategy uncovers. Either read aloud to yourself or use Word’s Read Aloud feature. (For other apps, Google the alternatives; modern technology makes reading documents aloud a pretty simple process.)—Read more at Why did the editor miss errors in your book?

Prevent potential work-in-progress disasters via your pitch and description

If I’m struggling to write the description, something wonky might be going on with my structure. Most novel problems have to do with structure and can be daunting or impossible to fix if you’ve let it get away from you.
Also, once you know your structure is solid, you’re able to devote time to theme strengthening, character layering, and other attributes that make for a great read.—Read more from Karin Gillespie.

More on common pitfalls: Issue: Failing to directly relate the scene turning point to the scene goal. For example, if Camille’s objective is to covertly retrieve a secret code from her coworker’s files, it wouldn’t make sense for the scene’s turning point to be returning home to find her apartment flooded due to a burst water heater in the unit above. This is definitely a nasty setback for Camille, but it doesn’t have any bearing on the pursuit of the secret code; that plot thread is left dangling.

Instead, imagine Camille poised to steal the secret code form her colleague’s office when the receptionist rushes down the hall with word of an emergency call from Camille’s landlord. This turning point directly affects the scene goal of obtaining the secret code. Just as Camille anticipates snatching the code, she’s yanked away.—Keep reading Navigating common goal-driven scene pitfalls.

Fiction Fuel

Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do.
—Richard Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics

An open invitation to Office Hours

Remember that time you woke up at 3 a.m. wondering if your protagonist's sudden interest in competitive alpaca shearing was actually moving the plot forward? Well, here’s something that might help with those late-night manuscript crises: Office Hours calls are now free for all subscribers through 2024.

Bring your writing conundrums to our virtual craft klatch at Office Hours. Whether you're wrestling with worldbuilding or dancing with dialogue, your fellow readers and I are here to help. Office Hours is like a writers' support group meets master class, minus the uncomfortable folding chairs and with significantly better coffee (because you're making it yourself).

📅 Mark your calendar for November 21 in the evening:

Thursday, November 21 · 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. America/Chicago
Google Meet
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/tpy-msvc-uqg
Or dial: ‪(US) +1 252-376-1680‬ PIN: ‪900 843 345‬#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/tpy-msvc-uqg?pin=2540460618110

📅 And for the weekends, come on December 14:

Saturday, December 14 · 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. America/Chicago
Google Meet
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/hhu-zxmz-pjo
Or dial: ‪(US) +1 443-489-6389‬ PIN: ‪344 785 438‬#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/hhu-zxmz-pjo?pin=8675018241527

I’ve been pondering whether Office Hours makes an attractive subscriber benefit or if y’all feel more comfortable nestled into the safety of a newsletter. Let’s see who shows up during November and December, and then I’ll decide whether to continue Office Hours calls as a Writes of Fiction benefit.

See you in November? … And definitely right here in another two weeks.

Onward,

Lisa

P.S. Paid subscribers get more Writes of Fiction in weekly Wednesday Craft emails plus monthly Office Hours calls. Want more too? Upgrade your subscription today.

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This is The Writes of Fiction, a curated trove of old and new thinking about writing designed to help you get better at the craft of writing fiction. And this is Rémy, your editorial assistant of the week. 👇