Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Plot eludes me, which is why I may end up being relegated to the role of a personal memoirist for the rest of my life. I write effectively and even emotionally, but I cannot string a story together.

What should one do when one wants to write a best seller? Hire a ghost writer? Take seminars on writing novels? Work harder on one’s own? I don’t know, except to say that I have, at least, discovered the problem. The issue now is how to resolve it.

As I understand it, plot is how the story first evolves and then resolves. It is what makes readers go from chapter to chapter without a bathroom break. It is the heart of the matter, to repeat an already coined phrase.

But how does one do it? I’m so used to the short form of the essay that to write a story where there is an actual beginning, middle, and end is intimidating. How do I know where the beginning ends and the middle begins? What makes the end an end?

I only know I write from the heart, sending it out there, without regard for form or structure. I think that is the best way to do it; otherwise, one’s silent ‘editor’ takes over, telling the writer what should and should not be on the printed page.

At the same time, this approach has stunted my plot growth. So perhaps there are lessons to study, exercises to do, tests to pass that would help me create a real story, rather than a memoir, one that would catapult me to the top of the NY Times Best Seller List.

The NY Times Best Seller List is the penultimate achievement in my eyes, regardless of whether we’re talking real literary quality here or merely dribble in the wind. It doesn’t matter. To be on that list would be wonderful.

Which makes me wonder how to acquire more expertise in the area of plot. Won’t somebody tell me? Will somebody come and stand by my side? I know I could do it with a little guidance. Contact me if you know how to do it.