Cause And Effect - The Physics of Your Plot

Have you ever been reading a story, and it just seemed like nothing was connected? The protagonists were running around just flipping switches and hitting buttons, the villain seemed to be taking random shots in the dark, and the entire book just feels like a bunch of unconnected stuff that's happening rather than anything you might generously call a plot?

This can happen to the best of us. When it does it's best to take a step back, take a deep breath, and remember a very simple rule. Cause and effect is how things work in the real world, and it should be what determines the series of events, actions, and reactions in your story.

It's all connected... or at least it SHOULD be.

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Cause And Effect In Your Narrative

If you're writing a story, the things happening in it should follow a logical progression, and they should be connected in a way that's easy for your audience to keep up with. If the local rec center is going to be torn down because they can't afford to pay for the repairs to bring it up to code, that leads to our protagonists looking for ways they can fund the repairs. Maybe they band together to do summer jobs, arrange some kind of charity walk-a-thon, or enter a dodgeball tournament where the prize money is exactly what the rec center needs to be saved. At this point there's usually some kind of complication (a corporation tries to stop them from raising the charity, a team of bullies signs up to make sure they don't win the tournament, etc.), but in the end they usually pull off the win, and they get to keep the little piece of their community.

This series of events has an easy-to-follow logic... more importantly there's a sensible cause-and-effect you can follow. A problem arises, our protagonist(s) seek a solution, they deal with some setbacks, and ultimately achieve the ends they set out to in order to resolve the problem.

Just follow the strings, and it all makes sense!

Now, it should be noted that characters (much like real people) do not always take completely rational, logical actions. The characters may lash out, act impulsively, or attempt to do something out of fear, greed, or selfishness... but even in instances where that happens, your audience should be able to understand where they were coming from, and why they took those actions.

The point is that no matter what actions your characters take, your audience needs to be able to see where those actions came from... and, preferably, that the actions taken have sensical escalation. This last point can sometimes trip authors up because we want to make things more action-oriented, or make the stakes feel higher... but it can end up making a story feel melodramatic at best, and silly at worst.

For example, say that our plucky young team of dodgeballers square-up with their rivals who are trying to scare them off their quest to win the tournament. Now, assuming this is a YA-style narrative, it's quite possible that the bullies go a little too far and end up pushing the protagonist's team around, maybe causing an injury to one of them that's just bad enough they can't play (like a sprained ankle, a broken arm from a bad fall, or something similar). What would not be in keeping with the tone, style, and genre would be one of the bullies taking out a handgun and threatening to shoot the protagonist dead right there in the park if he and his team don't withdraw immediately from the tournament.

Now, a confrontation like this does happen in the Stephen King story The Body, but that is a coming-of-age story about a group of friends walking through the wilderness and coming to terms with their own mortality. It's also been made extremely clear that the kid who pulled out the gat has a particularly bad home life, and likely has a screw or two loose in his head. It's a little extreme, but it's tonally consistent, and it's something we as the audience can follow. But it wouldn't be appropriate for a YA-style story about friends saving a part of their community through a relatively wholesome activity/sport.

So, keep that in mind when you sit down to tell your story. Make sure the actions of all persons make sense, and that they have an internal logic the audience can follow... but also make sure your story isn't going from 0 to 60 in the space of a sentence or two for no reason.

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It's Not Illegal If Your Main Character Does It!

I have always had a sweet spot for stories about revenge. Whether it's Frank Castle donning the death's head skull and waging his one-man war on crime, or Frankenstein's monster killing everyone his creator loves because he backed out on his promise, I could not get enough of these stories. I tried. I really tried, but there is something so viscerally appealing about a wronged party getting a piece of their own back that it became my book candy of choice.

So, of course, when I got to high school (the angstiest of the angsty periods in most writers' lives) and took creative writing, that was what I wanted to write about. Fundamentally good characters, pushed past their limits, until they have to come for their own in blood and pain.

Basically the plot of every Mel Gibson movie ever.

It was freeing, to be allowed to write that kind of story for class credit. However, one of the first pieces of constructive criticism I ever received was from the teacher in that class. It was a single question, and a question that I think all authors who get a little too caught up in their stories should remember.

"What's going to happen when the cops catch up to him?"

Your Story Doesn't Exist in a Vacuum

Play a game, sometime. Go to Netflix, pop on any 80's action movie you can find, and count the number of laws being broken. From illegal carry and use of a firearm, to reckless endangerment, to out-and-out murder. Sometimes in the triple digits, if you're a fan of Stallone or Lundgren. And yet, when the film is over, ask how many times those crimes are addressed. Sure, sometimes the lead dies heroically at the end to save a beloved family member, but more often than not it's the hero in a hospital bed, being told he can go home in a week or two. Good job, you sure showed those gangsters/private military contractors/corrupt public officials what for.

That isn't just a little hole in your plot. That is something you could drive a convoy through.

Side-by-side, even.

It isn't just revenge stories that suffer from this problem, either. From swashbuckling space operas, to black bag spy thrillers, too often writers will just hand-wave legal repercussions in favor of characters doing badass things in badass ways. Because, let's face it, if even a layman's grasp of the law was easy, more of us would have gone to law school. We became authors so we wouldn't have to deal with all that nonsense, and we could just make up our own worlds.

However, it's important to remember that breaking the law is something that adds serious drama to your story. It's a mark of the stakes being raised, and it means there's even more pressure on your protagonists. Because not only do they have to accomplish their goals (whatever those goals are), but they have to do it knowing they can't turn to the authorities for help. Or, worse, that if the authorities get wind of it, they'll have another force to deal with on top of their antagonists.

Normal people who go outside the law are going through a transformation. Those who already exist outside the law (mercenaries, assassins, and others) are exotic in ways that normal protagonists could never be.

Think It Through, And Do The Hard Work

There are going to be laws in any setting you set your story. Even the dystopian hellscape of Mad Max has laws, bleak and terrible though they might be. The whole concept of Beyond Thunderdome is that the law, though functional, has been written and enforced by maniacs. It's a central part of the film, and acts as a kind of framework for the events that transpire.

Even the law of the jungle is still a law.

This goes deeper than just, "did your main character break the law?" though. What it is really about, and what your take-away should be if you've read this far, is that all your character's actions need to have reasonable consequences. That includes both their good actions, and their bad ones.

For example, if your protagonist is a violent bully, always waving around a gun or getting into fist fights, those are not qualities that should endear them to anyone. It certainly shouldn't get them promoted. If your male lead is constantly ignoring when partners tell him, "no," and yet he's seen as strong and romantic, take a step back and ask if that isn't a euphemism for, "rapey." And, if someone is constantly putting themselves in violent situations, ask what that does to their mental health. John Rambo was a man whose experiences broke something inside of him, and that made his actions (at least in the first film) extremely tragic. It's also what led to the extreme escalation from both sides.

That's cause and effect in action, right there.

Does that mean all your protagonists need to be well-balanced, law-abiding citizens? Of course not! It does mean, however, that when they do something, it's your job to create believable reactions, or explanations for a lack of reaction. For example, when your protagonist shoots three mob enforcers in a diner, and then isn't even questioned by the police, why is that? Is it because no one saw him? There was no evidence? His name never came up? Is it because the cops don't care, and are writing it off as gang-related so they don't have to spend resources tracking down the killer? These are all options, but you need to tell your reader why things happen the way they do if you're going to preserve the sense of reality in your world.

Internal consistency is key, and it is the greatest law that governs your work.

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