Can I just give you all a big THANK YOU for the lovely mailbag questions you’ve been sending in? It’s made summer a lot easier on us and it’s just ENJOYABLE, isn’t it? To feel like we can chat books and story. To ask and answer, like we’re sitting across the table from one another chowing down on pizza and living the storytelling life?
I’m digging it. Keep sending in those questions and we’ll get to them as we’re able!
Today’s question comes from Abby. She says:
I’m new to the writing world, and currently planning/starting to write my first WIP. It seems like the plot will be more of a journey, than an obvious good vs. evil fight. There will surely be conflict throughout the journey, but my main character’s journey will likely be the main plot. Any tips for how to keep a plot like this moving and exciting, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat and interested?
I love this question, Abby! It’s something we all deal with from time to time, especially when our story idea doesn’t come to us with the obvious trappings of a good versus evil plot line.
Let me start by saying that there is no wrong way to write a story. You can get from beginning to end any way you want. For real. There’s no screwing this up.
But my advice is to do a little research. Consider books you’ve read that are also journey books–stories that begin in one physical location and end in another. Make a list if you can and then go read the summaries on the back of each book. If you don’t have the books on hand, look them up on the internet. Nothing is easier these days.
One thing I bet you’ll notice is that the main character in each of these books likely wants or needs something. Not only that, but your main character believes they will find what they want or need out on the road.
Sometimes the character is a reluctant traveler and will hardly admit to needing anything. Sometimes the character thinks they need something but are wrong. And sometimes the character loops entire armies into the journey with them.
But the consistent bit is that the main character has an end in sight. I think this is the key to journey books. And it’s what will keep you and your hero going when all the traveling starts to take its toll.
Your protagonist needs to be going after something, not just going. Goals can change as the story moves along, but there must always be something worth chasing.
Think of Frodo Baggins. When he first leaves Bag End, he believes the end of his journey is Rivendale, where he will leave the One Ring with the Elf Lord, Elrond. Once he arrives, everything changes and Frodo’s new goal is to deliver the ring to its destruction in the fires of Mount Doom.
Neither the reader nor the main character need to know their final destination in order to take a compelling journey. BUT both need to have good reason to push down the road. As the storyteller, it’s your job to give that to them in the form of easily recognizable goals.
If you can do that, you’ll have a good chance at arriving at a well-told, well-traveled story.
Readers, help Abby make a list of journey books. Leave your recommendations here in the comments, will you?
Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.
Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.
It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.
To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.
For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
The Hobbit by Tolkien is a good journey book. Another one is the Beyonders trilogy by Brandon Mull. It is a good example of not knowing where it will end, you will definitely be wrong about where it ends.
Dang. Now I really want to read that ha ha. Add it to the list.
False Prince by Jennifer A Nielsen (bk 1 of 3)
The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa is a good example of a journey without an actual good vs evil fight, but it’s book 4 in a 7 book series, and the other six books are more good vs evil fights, so keep that in mind if you decide to check out this book for tips.
The first book in the Splintered series by A G Howard also has some good journey elements.
Oh, and just realized that Alice in Wonderland is a journey book too.
I’d recommend The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady as well as The Quest of the Fair Unknown by Gerald Morris. In the latter the main character doesn’t even really know his goal, and the whole point of his journey his discovering what his quest is. Both books are what I’d call “adventure”–there’s no broader plot aside from the journey and how the characters change along it.
Yes!! All of the Squire’s Tales books, with a possible exception of the last have very good journey elements, and most of them are journeys. Also, they are just good in general.
Navigating Early
Adam of the Road
Taran Wanderer (Book 4 in the Prydain Chronicles)
The Wizard of Oz
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Homer’s Odyssey
The Hobbit
Around the World in Eighty Days
I’d say Taran Wanderer, Around the World in Eighty Days, and The Hobbit as well. Wonderful, wonderful books.
You know what, I was actually keenly disappointed with the ending of Taran Wanderer, haha. But the Prydain Chronicles as a whole are dearly beloved and smashing good fun.
Courageous by Dina L. Sleiman.
Oh, and other piece of advice for books that are journeys: have some sort of comic relief. A) it can add tension if a character has a bad sense if humor, and B) who doesn’t enjoy a good, amusing person on a long, tedious journey that may or may not have a lot riding on it? ??
That’s a great tip and one I wholly agree with. ?
Watership Down
The Odyssey
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Journey to the center of the Earth
Gawain and the green knight
The silver chair
The Wizard of Oz
The Lost Hero – Rick Riordan
The Horse and His Boy
Eragon – Christopher Paolini
Percy Jackson
Let’s Get Lost
The Odyssey
Lord of the Rings (sort of? parts of it)
The Green Ember series is a good example.
I LOVE The Green Ember series!!
Me too! 😀