# A Story With No Plot



## JP-Clyde (May 24, 2016)

So, here goes a question to ponder and question. Can you write a book with no plot? With little to no action, but simply about capturing moments of real, honest life. 

I ask this question because I was wholeheartedly interested in the idea after being sent to a film called, Jeanne Dielaman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelies. The point is, if a film can have a film about simply the honest realities of life, couldn't a book?

Little happens in my life, the mere action in everyday life is someone cuts you off.

Could a story be written with as little plot as someone living? The only action is the slight irritations of life that happen, but nothing nowhere near as seriously and gravely depicted as they are in books or movies.

What are your thoughts?


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## Tettsuo (May 24, 2016)

Yes.

Easy, right?


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## JP-Clyde (May 24, 2016)

Tettsuo said:


> Yes.
> 
> Easy, right?



Um?


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## Patrick (May 24, 2016)

Language warning. 

[video=youtube;JHVqxD8PNq8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHVqxD8PNq8[/video]


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## JP-Clyde (May 24, 2016)

Patrick said:


> [video=youtube;JHVqxD8PNq8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHVqxD8PNq8[/video]



I'm not going that far. What I was considering was a novel that depicted the life of one individual within 12 months of his life. I want to use Narration, rather than Dramatics to show change in the character. In Jeanne the film that I was talking about, they spend a great deal of detail on her peeling potatoes. Instead of dramatic breakdowns, she drops a spoon which signifies a breakdown of her character. 

I am using narration to depict a breakdown without using the superlative. Writing the Story In One Langauge. And then as events begin to tear him down, he starts using words or thinking in a way he wouldn't use.

That he slowly loses his credibility as an individual as the narration of the story begins to dissolve 

But the point is to write a Still Book.

A Book that is Quiet.


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## Schrody (May 24, 2016)

Oh, I love that movie!  Seinfeld is a show about nothing. It seems that writing about nothing is a lot harder than one would think so :lol:


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## Patrick (May 24, 2016)

JP-Clyde said:


> I'm not going that far. What I was considering was a novel that depicted the life of one individual within 12 months of his life. I want to use Narration, rather than Dramatics to show change in the character. In Jeanne the film that I was talking about, they spend a great deal of detail on her peeling potatoes. Instead of dramatic breakdowns, she drops a spoon which signifies a breakdown of her character.
> 
> I am using narration to depict a breakdown without using the superlative. Writing the Story In One Langauge. And then as events begin to tear him down, he starts using words or thinking in a way he wouldn't use.
> 
> ...



You of course can do all of the above. Crisis can be internal as much as external. But here the narrative is inward and complex as opposed to expansive and plain. This is of course not a novel without a plot, however.


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## afk4life (May 24, 2016)

There don't have to be explosions to mean there's a plot. What you're talking about is basically a plot, it's just not a massive, elaborate plan. And usually if those are done well, they're the best. That's the big difference between a lot of American films and European ones. You can just tell things are changing by the little things changing in the MC and the way people react to him, or the new people whom he brings into his life. It's super subtle but if you can pull it off it will be way better than interjecting some deus ex machina to create conflict. The main things are making sure the readers invest in the MC early on, like really like him as he is at the beginning, because the changes will be that much more powerful then.


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## JP-Clyde (May 24, 2016)

afk4life said:


> There don't have to be explosions to mean there's a plot. What you're talking about is basically a plot, it's just not a massive, elaborate plan. And usually if those are done well, they're the best. That's the big difference between a lot of American films and European ones. You can just tell things are changing by the little things changing in the MC and the way people react to him, or the new people whom he brings into his life. It's super subtle but if you can pull it off it will be way better than interjecting some deus ex machina to create conflict. The main things are making sure the readers invest in the MC early on, like really like him as he is at the beginning, because the changes will be that much more powerful then.




Well I started it off with this:



> I have always found January to be a very lonely month, I suppose that is lonely because the first two months before it I find are very loud months. Why I think November and December are loud months are because they are holiday months and the holiday people make the most fuss about. Sure, the New Year is big and exciting, but no one talks about the New Year the same way they talk about Christmas or Thanksgiving. Even in January people are talking about Next Christmas or Next Thanksgiving, January just isn’t cut out to be a holiday month.


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## Jigawatt (May 24, 2016)

It depends on your definition of plot. Do you have to iron clothes, put the roast in the oven, and rescue the family pet in the backyard from being swallowed whole by the neighbor's python? Give the reader a reason to turn the page.


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## afk4life (May 24, 2016)

That's damn good writing. It makes me want to read more and learn more about the narrator. I mean all I can add is *maybe* throw something in there about the cold but that's minor.


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## JP-Clyde (May 24, 2016)

afk4life said:


> That's damn good writing. It makes me want to read more and learn more about the narrator. I mean all I can add is *maybe* throw something in there about the cold but that's minor.



I'll PM You


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## kilroy214 (May 24, 2016)

Story with no plot? Didn't Joyce pull this off with Ulysses?


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## denmark423 (May 24, 2016)

Writing a book without a plot is very possible. Having no plot does not stop you in writing. But having a plot is much better because you can have a great plan or setting for the flow of your story.


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## Bard_Daniel (May 24, 2016)

A good writer could pull off a story with little plot. It would matter, for them, how the project was written more than the idea itself.

If that makes any sense...


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## Bishop (May 24, 2016)

If readers want to read the story? Sure. Things that are against the norm aren't immediately dismissed... they're just sometimes at an initial disadvantage. But when they get above it and succeed, it's often indicative of a great work.


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## Patrick (May 24, 2016)

kilroy214 said:


> Story with no plot? Didn't Joyce pull this off with Ulysses?



I don't agree with those who say it has no plot; it has one of the most carefully structured plots I've read.It's the Odyssey in one day in Joyce's Dublin. 

*Spoiler alert. 

*




The resolution is Bloom's victory of returning to his wife and her monologue, which is told in a style of thought that mirrors Penelope's weaving and unweaving of the burial shroud for Odysseus' father Laertes that she claimed to be busy with in order to delay the suitors, is what declares it. The pattern of Molly's monologue is that she introduces a concept, and then introduces several others before returning to that subject again, and by the time we reach the end, we see she has crowned Leopold Bloom as victor. Because it's a modernist novel, Molly is not faithful like Penelope, and Bloom is not a perfect hero. Stephen Dedalus also finds his father figure in Leopold, in the same way Telemachus set out to find his father in the Odyssey. Reading the Odyssey is important if one wants to understand the plot of Ulysses. It's a work of genius (Ulysses), in my opinion.


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## Jay Greenstein (May 24, 2016)

A plot is  setting out of the events that take place iover the time of the narrative. Your day, if you record the events in it, has a plot. As storytellers just create the record before the events.

So no, there can't be a story with no plot. But forget plot. A decent writer can spark off plot ideas faster than you can write them. And in the end they're only variations on seven or so basic themes.

But it sounds like you're talking about a story in which there is no conflict (a word that means tension in writing terms). And the answer to that is no, too. You can write a story like that, of course, but who will want to read it—or more to the point, pay to read it?

Take a story about a nice man, with a steady job, who meets and marries a nice woman. Together they have a nice life and have a daughter. Present that and a reader's eyes will glaze over, quickly.

But...suppose the man is secretly a government agent. And suppose the woman is getting bored with her nice life and thinking about having an affair. And suppose their daughter, who is of an age to be rebellious, is on the verge of doing something stupid.

Put that together and you have the basis for, True Lies, and you'll end up saving the world, while having great fun doing it.

At its simplest a story is about someone with a problem, one that draws in the reader and makes them care about if the protagonist is able to handle it. Without that it's just a chronicle of events _that we could be living ourselves, were we not reading._And who wants to pay to read about that? But read something that makes me feel as if I'm agent 007 on a case? Something that takes me back in time? allows me to romance the woman who, in the real world won't even look at me? Hell yes I'll pay got that...and do.


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## Miseo (May 25, 2016)

JP-Clyde said:


> So, here goes a question to ponder and question. Can you write a book with no plot? With little to no action, but simply about capturing moments of real, honest life.
> 
> I ask this question because I was wholeheartedly interested in the idea after being sent to a film called, Jeanne Dielaman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelies. The point is, if a film can have a film about simply the honest realities of life, couldn't a book?
> 
> ...


When I was in highschool I happened to stumble across a show called FLCL. It had only a few episodes, but it was the weirdest shit I have ever seen. Absolutely absurd. If a story with no plot could be made, I'm sure it would look a lot like FLCL.


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## Terry D (May 25, 2016)

JP-Clyde said:


> So, here goes a question to ponder and question. Can you write a book with no plot? With little to no action, but simply about capturing moments of real, honest life.
> 
> I ask this question because I was wholeheartedly interested in the idea after being sent to a film called, Jeanne Dielaman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelies. The point is, if a film can have a film about simply the honest realities of life, couldn't a book?
> 
> ...



Sure you can, but the question is; why would anyone want to read it?


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## Tettsuo (May 25, 2016)

Terry D said:


> Sure you can, but the question is; why would anyone want to read it?


exactly this.  Can you do it? Sure.  Will it be entertaining?  Highly doubtful.


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## Sam (May 25, 2016)

JP-Clyde said:


> So, here goes a question to ponder and question. Can you write a book with no plot? With little to no action, but simply about capturing moments of real, honest life.
> 
> I ask this question because I was wholeheartedly interested in the idea after being sent to a film called, Jeanne Dielaman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelies. The point is, if a film can have a film about simply the honest realities of life, couldn't a book?
> 
> ...



The first thing to understand about reading in general is that people do it to escape the reality of their lives. They read to visit another world, to imagine things that would never happen in the real one, and to experience something beyond the prosaic day-to-day of life. Which begs the question: why would they want to read something that they encounter every waking moment of their life? 

Some people read for the love of writing, which is the sort of people you would be targeting with such a book, but the everyday reader wants to escape their oft-times mundane life and be transported to a place that takes them away from their reality, if only for a fleeting moment, and makes them think: "What if?" 

If you're a parent raising four young children, struggling to make ends meet, and getting fitful sleep at best -- do you really want to read a story about a parent raising four young children, struggling to make ends meet, and getting fitful sleep? No, because you want to forget your life for those forty minutes that you have to yourself. That's what reading does.


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## Bishop (May 25, 2016)

I even beat Sam to the punch, and I'm still going to end up saying...

What Sam said.


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## JustRob (May 25, 2016)

Maybe my writing tends to play down the importance of plot, conflict or whatever else convention needs to be included in a story. In fact in a way the characters in my writing try to lead normal lives despite the plot, conflict and fantasy aspects diverting them from them. If anything that is the theme of my writing, how far a person must be diverted from everyday experiences to change radically. In my writing the answer tends to be that humans will always hold on to human values regardless of their circumstances. Isn't that true in most stories though? Even superheroes are enhanced by their human attributes and behaviour, their diets, friendships and love affairs for example, aren't they? Doesn't almost every high power crime-busting TV series eventually dissolve into a soap opera indistinguishable from any other regardless of its theme? Such things as plots and conflicts provide the context for specific human behaviour but it's that behaviour that probably makes the story what it is ultimately even though it may be the plots and conflicts that keep the reader reading. Hence both aspects have their purposes, but that doesn't mean that we can't change the proportions of the ingredients in our personally created cocktails. 

Someone mentioned to me that in the second chapter of my novel virtually nothing happens. I found that a little amusing as that chapter is almost a synopsis of the entire story, certainly giving away the major aspects of the plot, which does exist, if one reads it in a particular way. One can write in any way that one likes as long as one can find readers who read it in the right way and see what they are intended to see. Maybe as a writer one can please some of the people most of the time and perhaps most of the people some of the time but ... there's no answer really.

Somewhere in my writing a character mentions that the world of fiction is one where some people go to ask "What if?" and others go to think "If only." Either way it's escapism.


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## Newman (May 25, 2016)

JP-Clyde said:


> Can you write a book with no plot? With little to no action, but simply about capturing moments of real, honest life.
> 
> What are your thoughts?



Lots of books are written that are just a "collection of items." I have a friend who writes "books" which are just a collection of her blog posts - each entertaining and the "books" as a whole are entertaining too. They sell too (not many, but they sell; that's more to do with marketing than her writing).

But can you write a story without a plot? You have to define story and plot. And into the rabbit hole we go.

Once you figure out what plot is, it becomes a bit of a redundant question.


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## JP-Clyde (May 25, 2016)

Sam said:


> The first thing to understand about reading in general is that people do it to escape the reality of their lives. They read to visit another world, to imagine things that would never happen in the real one, and to experience something beyond the prosaic day-to-day of life. Which begs the question: why would they want to read something that they encounter every waking moment of their life?
> 
> Some people read for the love of writing, which is the sort of people you would be targeting with such a book, but the everyday reader wants to escape their oft-times mundane life and be transported to a place that takes them away from their reality, if only for a fleeting moment, and makes them think: "What if?"
> 
> If you're a parent raising four young children, struggling to make ends meet, and getting fitful sleep at best -- do you really want to read a story about a parent raising four young children, struggling to make ends meet, and getting fitful sleep? No, because you want to forget your life for those forty minutes that you have to yourself. That's what reading does.



But that isn't always the case. Some people, like myself, read to be challenged, read to be questioned. To gain new perspective to understand the world. My favorite television show of the decade this year was Mr. Robot. I identified a lot with the character, especially in the very first episode when he said, "I hack people to understand people"

I have crippling anxiety in my real life. People don't make sense to me. So I write for the very same reason to understand people. It's my way of understanding the world around me. Yes, is it a niche market? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean it gets to be knocked down a few pegs because it doesn't fit that view of escapism.


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## afk4life (May 25, 2016)

I don't read to escape life. I read to be challenged, same as watching shows like Mr. Robot, which is also one of my favorites. I think what you're trying to say is what you're writing is a character study, but I think you're mistaking that for not having a plot. You can't develop a character without having them do things, react to things, get reacted to. But since you mentioned that show, there was a plot underneath it all which was really subservient to the character development aspect. It's interesting you picked that show because the character drives the plot, in the end it turns out a lot more than we ever thought. So if you're saying no plot, I'm not sure you're not just saying the plot is secondary to the character(s). But there's examples like The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, though that's poetry, is character-orientated. The main thing is there is no point in writing something if you don't want to write it.


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## JP-Clyde (May 25, 2016)

afk4life said:


> I don't read to escape life. I read to be challenged, same as watching shows like Mr. Robot, which is also one of my favorites. I think what you're trying to say is what you're writing is a character study, but I think you're mistaking that for not having a plot. You can't develop a character without having them do things, react to things, get reacted to. But since you mentioned that show, there was a plot underneath it all which was really subservient to the character development aspect. It's interesting you picked that show because the character drives the plot, in the end it turns out a lot more than we ever thought. So if you're saying no plot, I'm not sure you're not just saying the plot is secondary to the character(s). But there's examples like The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, though that's poetry, is character-orientated. The main thing is there is no point in writing something if you don't want to write it.



Well I also understand that. I was just explaining that people read for different reasons. To be honest, I feel as a fan base I'm being neglected and ignored by most of the stories out day. Going to Barnes and Noble is an extremely stressful time for me because of it.


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