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Developing a Plot

by David Hoof, Professor Emeritus of English, Georgetown University

Professor David Hoof continues with the second stage of his lecture series on novel writing - "Developing a Plot". A plot is not a story outline. Developing a plot is part of the process of revision in which the first draft is edited with an eye to how the original presentation of a story satisfies the dramatic requirements imposed by readers. These include defining beginning, middle and end to all story intervals, down to the level of scenes and, sometimes, to beats as well.

Writing

Fates and Furies

The Georgetown Book Club's September selection

Charismatic Lancelot "Lotto" Satterwhite and stunning Mathilde meet when both are students at Vassar. Soon, they marry, working together to make it in New York City and eventually achieving success. While these are the basics of their story, though, they are far from the whole truth.

Art Imitates Life

Literary Fiction inspired by true events

Although the following Literary Fiction titles are indeed novels, each feels to some extent familiar, as all borrow from real life events. Those events are diverse, ranging from crimes to crises, as are the ways in which the titles incorporate them, with some drawing on scenarios as well as the individuals involved and others borrowing from the real more sparingly.

Picture Books with Catitude

Picture Books About Cats

Do you have a little one at home who is obsessed with cats? I lived with dogs growing up and long dreamed of being a cat owner. Last October when my living situation changed, a cat finally entered the picture, followed by a new kitten in December. Between the attitude that they are in charge of the household, the games of chase around the apartment, and the cuddling, I’ve grown to love everything about cats. D.C.

Liz A.

Time Travel In Young Adult Fiction

Young Adult Novels Featuring Time Travel

Have you ever wished that you could travel through all of time and space? Although we may not have time machines at any of our libraries yet, we do have lots of young adult fiction that features time travel, which is the next best thing. Check out this list whether you want something historical, realistic, or a little paranormal. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

The Name of the Rose

The Georgetown Book Club's July Selection

As in previous years, the Georgetown Book Club is celebrating Summer Reading with the discussion of a classic, though this year that classic is of the modern variety:

Killer Cliques

Friendships that go too far in Literary Fiction and Mystery

Tight-knit and exclusive, the groups of young people depicted in the following Literary Fiction and Mystery novels all become entangled to some extent with violence -- often of the fatal variety. Formed for different reasons, these groups are similarly variable in their involvements in these acts of violence -- as well as in their members’ reactions, both immediate and ongoing.

The Buried Giant

The Georgetown Book Club's June Selection

Hushed in tone and steeped in medieval lore, Kazuo Ishiguro's 2015 novel The Buried Giant focuses on Axl and Beatrice, an aging married couple afflicted with the memory loss that has descended on the post-Arthurian England

What Should the Georgetown Book Club Read Next?

Vote here for upcoming selections

The Georgetown Book Club is again replenishing our reading list! If you are a current or prospective member, please review the titles listed below and vote in the poll at the bottom of this post. The poll will close on Thursday, May 26 at 5 p.m., and the five titles with the most votes will be added to the group's reading list.

An Unnecessary Woman

The Georgetown Book Club's May Selection

The narrator and heart of Rabih Alameddine's 2014 novel An Unnecessary Woman is Aaliya Sohbi, an aging translator living in her home city of Beirut whose perceived place within her family and culture gives the book its title -- yet is far from the whole story.

Book Clubs

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