Not Part of the Plan - Ch 8: Time to Decide

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Chapter 8: Time to Decide

Adrien wakes up in his own bed and feels remarkably alone. There is no luxurious lie-in in Marinette’s arms or fluffy pink blankets. The contrast is becoming more and more painful by day. Before he can ruminate over it too much, Nathalie walks in at 6:30 as she always does.

She runs through the day’s schedule, and he forces himself to listen far more carefully than he usually does. He needs to perform perfectly today because tomorrow is Marinette’s appointment. And he knows he’s going to have to talk to his father about the situation shortly after that.

He’s not looking forward to it.

“Nathalie, I do need to request one change to tomorrow’s schedule.”

“The morning is pretty inflexible with a photoshoot in the morning,” she says. “But I can likely squeeze something in afterwards. What do you need?”

He hesitates for a second, his gut twisting in anxiety. But he can do this for Marinette. He can do anything for Marinette. “I need you to cancel the shoot.”

She looks up from her tablet. “Adrien, you know I can’t just cancel a shoot.”

He shakes his head. “I’m not asking. I’m informing you that I will not be there. I have another appointment.”

She frowns. “I schedule all your appointments.”

Adrien takes a breath. This conversation was nothing compared to what it would be like with his father. “This is an appointment for my girlfriend.”

Nathalie considers him for a moment before speaking. “You have a girlfriend?”

He nods. “For a year now.”

She sighs and turns back to her tablet. “Well, that explains a lot. Why did you keep it a secret?”

“Because I wanted to keep having a girlfriend.”

She doesn’t comment. “May I inquire what this appointment is in regards to?”

“We’re pregnant.”

Nathalie’s head shoots up, her eyes wide. It’s the most uncontrolled action he’s ever seen from her and it sends his nerves skyrocketing. But Nathalie knowing can’t possibly make things worse, and might actually make some things better when he has to face his father.

“I wouldn’t have expected that of you.” And she would know, having been his primary source of sex education.

“We were careful,” he says.

“Not careful enough, apparently.”

kasienda reblogged

When Characters Don’t Communicate: Problem or Reality?

You know how annoying it is when characters could solve their problems by just communicating better (or by communicating at all)?. You get frustrated and call it unnecessary drama, but then you think about how many real life problems could be solved if people would just talk. Few people in real life communicate frequently and effectively, so it’s funny how accurate that fictional “cliche” can be.

Spitting out feelings is hard. Talking about problems is hard. A lack of communication can be realistic, but stories can’t always directly mimic reality if they want to be good stories.

Imagine if dialogue truly included all the “uh”s, backtracking, corrections, stammers, forgotten words, etc. of realistic speech. Not only would it be a total pain in the ass to read, it would take up so much of the text that the story would barely have room to flourish. Oftentimes, adding more reality to a story can help increase its quality, but there’s a difference between acceptable breaks from reality vs bad storytelling.

So why does so much communication-oriented drama in fiction fall flat or make it seem like the drama is just added for fun? It doesn’t explain why (or the “why” is a poor reason). It’s perfectly realistic to have characters not communicate properly, however you have to show the readers the reason why and make sure that reason is a good one. Why does the character act this way? What’s stopping them from talking? And most importantly, the reason why they eventually talk needs to be up to the same standard.

There are some factors that determine if lack of communication in a story is a genuine and understandable problem vs a cheap way to add tension. Many of these overlap with each other:

Character personality. If you present a character as someone who is good at communication, but then they refuse to communicate for one specific thing, it’s going to be frustrating to read and seem unrealistic. Now, that’s not to say that this character can’t have some specific reason to behave differently in that instance– but you have to show that reason to the readers. Not every character can get away with having communication issues without it being annoying or looking cheap. Sometimes, even for the characters where poor communication makes sense, it’s easy for readers to find them to be annoying so craft them carefully.
Genre and role of conflict. Lack of communication that stems from a character being unable to show their feelings is a form of conflict, usually inner conflict. Inner conflict is the driver behind stories using the “character vs self” model, also often known as “character-driven stories”. It can show up in more plot-driven stories, however you have to be careful because writing in a genre is a promise to your readers that you’re going to deliver a certain type of story. Not all genres can explore communication issues caused by personal problems and not all plots are equipped to work with them.
The actual reason. Some issues are more forgivable to not being resolved as quickly than others, but your readers need to be told why it’s not a simple fix. Don’t be afraid to explore the potential consequences that are holding the character back. The reason(s) needs to make realistic sense, be understandable for who the character is, reasonable to the situation they’re in, and add to the story in a meaningful way.
Repetitiveness of the issue. If a character is just shy and they never learn to work through it, especially if they don’t even try, then the communication tumor is much more likely to be seen as annoying, boring, or the story as stagnant. When something is constantly an issue but it’s never addressed, the writing is significantly more likely to be seen as cheap– particularity if this issue is part of the main plot!
Getting over the hurdle. Because the reasons for poor communication can be never-ending, the ways it can be resolved mirror that. The point at which a character learns to work through their communication issue is a climax of that particular issue and plot, so don’t treat it like some throwaway concept. The bigger the communication issue, the bigger the climax.

Your characters may not be amazing communicators all the time, but to avoid creating cheap drama you need to show readers the reasons for the poor communication, why those reasons matter, and give a satisfying conclusion to the conflict.

Bad poor communication in a story uses it as a plot tumor or an excuse for an event or reaction.

Good poor communication in a story treats it as an exploration of character with something to add to the story as whole.

Communication issues are conflict, not excuses for something to happen or not happen. Treat the conflict properly and it can add depth to a character and plot, with a good splash of realism, but treat it poorly and your story will be poorly crafted. Reality, in this case, needs to be handled carefully to benefit a story.

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#writing tips #creating drama #characters communicate #communication #miscommunication