The plot thickens! No, not one of the plots that Michael Stackpole crafted in his “Plotting” workshop but experiencing the Stackpole and Company workshops in successive Dragon Con years. I took notes in Stackpole’s 2023 workshops and annotated them in 2024. Many of his best points were clarified, expanded, or amplified. New and relevant material arose in answer to questions or during interesting bypasses that veered off from a main access point. All apply to the two workshops moderated by Stackpole and highlighted in this article. I wonder how many writers have experienced these repeat symposia encores.

“Finding the Story,” Michael Stackpole, Sunday 10AM:

If you’re expecting a visit from a muse, don’t, says Stackpole. The best technique to jump start creativity is to get started. He finds dividing writers into plotters or organic writers (or any related name) is crap. It’s all the same work, just tackled in a different order. The approach taken may differ by project. Some writers work from an outline. They are theoretical and organized from the start but may never get to the end. A more organic writer may wander everywhere in the writing project and, at about 25% to 30% of the work, find the through-line and go back and reverse-outline the book.

Stackpole says, “don’t sweat it.” If you don’t outline, that’s okay. If the muse doesn’t visit, that’s okay, too. Just remember, “poets are a nasty bunch.” Don’t listen to them. (Reporter’s summary: inspiration doesn’t fall from the sky.) Stackpole recalled that the detractors of science fiction and fantasy claim that these genres are all written by formula. Nonetheless, Stackpole, over both the 2023 and 2024 sessions on this topic, identified a number of reliable story “recipes” including the most basic “bug hunt,” mystery, romance, and thriller.

“Building Tension – Surprise vs. Suspense,” Bryan Young, Sunday 11:30AM:

Bryan Young, author and screenwriter, noted that lots of films are excellent at building tension in a way that can be applied to prose. Extremes of tension can cross-apply to every situation. In a James Bond novel or film, the stakes are the world may explode. In a romance, the stakes are high that the characters may never get together. These premises are actually very similar. He discussed Alfred Hitchcock on the difference between suspense and surprise. Paraphrasing, there is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.

If you give the reader something to anticipate—an event, receipt of information, that the characters meet and kiss—tension will be created over the course of the story. He praised George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire for creating tension through the use of different characters’ points of view. The characters scheme against each other, creating an inherent anticipation for the scene where they will be seen together. He also mentioned Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (1934) as a great mystery story with suspense punctuated by surprise and the movie Casablanca (1942) for its use of narrative tension meshed with the unknown.

“Advanced Characterization,” Michael Stackpole, Sunday 1PM:

Since the advent of psychology, Stackpole sees stories as more character and emotion driven. Writers must make characters real in our own minds and real in the minds of our readers. “To be or not to be”: everything a character does confirms whether the character exists or not. All of us struggle and seek proof of our existence. He also distinguished between character growth and change. Change is a response to external pressures and is temporary while growth is a behavioral response to internal pressure and is permanent (at least until another challenge arises that causes the character to modify behavior).

Stackpole also discussed what made characters enduring. A bit of mystery defined Sherlock Holmes. A spark of humanity or of the heroic defines many characters, although a writer can go too far. To make a character human, give the character one admirable quality. A character can be defined by loyalty or disloyalty. He praised Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe as demonstrating a reliable character that was still capable of surprising you. He noted that memorable characters rank high on a scale of self-sacrifice. Characters from love stories, even if driven by love to dire actions like John Wick, are often memorable. Many mortals can do things that normal humans are incapable of. Stackpole also reminded writers to give readers a rest break after intense action scenes.

(To be continued: the sixth and final part to include highlights from all 18 hourly workshops.)