Day 120: Derailing the Plot Exercise

Sometimes I play this game while writing where I count the number of steps it would take to completely derail everything going on. The less creative ways to derail the plot are usually equal to one, and most of them look like deus ex machinas. A meteor kills everybody. All the debts driving the characters are paid off by an anonymous donor. Zeus saves the day. But the more interesting derailments require lots of steps, and often end up as potential side plots of their own. The steps are usually ones that have already been taken if I want to see the plot go down in flames as soon as possible. Someone on the crew is actually a cop, who took up an undercover position years ago and has been building trust the whole time only to turn on the not-so-good guys at a critical moment. The president working toward some goal has secretly been undermining his own party for the sake of the union all along, and his plans unfold just as he passes the torch to the next guy. Zeus finally impregnated one too many mortals and now the youngest demigod is working to join forces with the rest and destroy him. Its a fun game to play, and while it usually doesn't amount to much of anything, sometimes I do get some useful ideas. If everything in my plot seems too smooth, I'll take some of the derailing ideas I came up with and try to incorporate them into the story. It can be as complicated as the examples above, or as simple as a janitor locking a door he shouldn't have. Hope you have some fun with this one!

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley