A Novel Without a Plot

Can a Novel be Written Without a Plot?

When we think of novels and movies, one of the first things we ask is, "What is it about?" We're referring to the novel or movie's plot. And when we think of a plot, we're thinking conflict, development, and resolution. We've often heard it said that without conflict there is no story—and again, when we think of a story, we're thinking about plot.

Seinfeld billed itself as a TV Show about nothing. In that case, the TV series didn't have a gimmick as its frame for the entire, long-running show. If it was about anything, it was about the characters, and for sure, each of the episodes was about something. So, even a TV series about nothing had episodical plots.

During the course of my career as a writer and editor, I've never been inclined to say that "this novel has no plot" but as a book evaluator (some three hundred novels), I've come close a few times. I have had to point out to the writer that there's no "there" there. When a novel starts out with extended character description, background, and no indication of what the story is going to be about, I've usually stopped the writer, right there, and said, "Where's the hook? Where's the conflict? Readers won't continue beyond the first couple of pages, unless there's something 'going on' in this story." But many writers still begin their stories with a lot of detail and no hook, no conflict. Aside from the fact that they might also neglect giving a name to the first character we meet, there can be a saving grace for an opening that doesn't contain a hook, an indication of plot or conflict.

So, am I about to make a one-eighty turn as say that a novel can work without a plot? We need to get away from the idea that every novel has to be "exciting" and non-stop with a breath-taking plot pace. Let's leave that for thriller/suspense stories. Sometimes conflict itself can be a kind of plot. We will want to see how it is resolved for the characters. And sometimes the conflict can be very subtle. An elderly woman is waiting for her social security check. If she doesn't get it that day or the next, her heat is going to be cut off, and it's winter, and a snowstorm is on the way.

What can a writer do to make this niggling kind of conflict interesting? She has to find a way to make the elderly woman interesting, so readers will immediately feel empathy, and they will mentally be sitting on the edge of their seats when the postman arrives and sorts through the mail on the porch. The woman is watching from inside her small living room through a gap in the blinds.

Now, we probably can't build a novel-length plot out of this simple conflict. So we might consider, like Seinfeld's series about nothing, to make each chapter an episodical series of small conflicts, each resolved or not, to cause us to move to the next chapter. For example, let's say that by the end of the opening chapter, the social security check does not come.

This event sets up a new conflict in the elderly woman: now what am I going to do? We could also build tension by revving up the oncoming storm, with the wind picking up and the day turning darker instead of lighter.

Where would a writer take us from there? Maybe the elderly woman has a final piece of artwork or jewelry or some other treasure that she will have to take to the pawn shop, hoping to get enough for the piece to at least stave off having her heat shut off. And now she has to make the journey in the cold and wet to the pawn shop...

You can see that the story could continue such an empathetic mood for a while longer. But readers might not want to engage such a sad story for more than fifty pages or so. Readers need all kinds of "relief" from conflict throughout a story. It can't be downhill from the beginning, so that by the end the elderly woman breathes her last breath and dies—how predictable! Oh, it could end that way, but somewhere in the story we would want a sense of significance to engage us in the woman's struggle.

So, basically, if a novel is written without a strong plot, the writer has to create what we call a character-driven story.

Let's continue with the old woman's dilemma by taking a look at her character. We could use something within her to gather the strength, determination, and fortitude to virtually and literally "weather the storm."

Here are some particular character traits that could well determine the movement of the story, driving the plot. Each bulleted item creates different character traits for our main character.

• The old woman was a child of the Great Depression. She has raised six children, has fourteen grandchildren (now grown) and has a number of great-grandchildren. Because of her own childhood during the Great Depression, she has always paid cash for everything she owns. She worked many years, had a nest-egg, and even owns her home. The past few years have brought on unexpected reversals. She and her husband were financially devastated by illness, and her husband has been dead now for ten years. Her children are busy with their own lives, as are her grandchildren.
• The old woman has been dependent her entire life on her husband. She never worked herself and never thought she would have to. She has no skills, and now with her husband's death she is lost and has no way to get a job. 
• The old woman has always been a risk taker and never thought twice about jumping into quick-money schemes. She never married enjoying her own life and her own destiny, but now that she is older, even though she owns her home, she has no other assets, except for her Social Security.

Readers should be familiar with each of these different kinds of elderly people, and so they should be willing to accept that the old woman could have one or a combination of character traits that will drive the story, based upon her current crisis.

She could decide that she will need to take on a renter. She finds one, and based upon the sort of person who rents a room (with kitchen privileges) her situation could be solved or she might be trading one set of problems for another set of problems. Just use your imagination to think about how the story might unfold at this point. Remember that without an over-arching plot, the story will move along in a rather organic way, based upon the character traits.

She could decide (as a dependent person with no job skills) that she will go to one of her children and ask for help. Again, dependent upon the kind of characters her children are, she might get help from them, she might not, and she might even get taken out of her house and be put in a facility when her children realize that she is no longer able to "take care of herself."

She could decide to rob a bank. This might turn the story into a comedy of errors, and the dismal mood would be lifted as we root for her to get away with this insane idea.

As you can see, any of these possible scenarios that stem from the threat of having her heat turned off,  right in the middle of the oncoming winter, present an almost endless way for the story to unfold.

The point is that when there is not an overarching plot, we are in the realm of general fiction, a kind of nondescript genre. It is a story that is driven by context and character traits more than an event or plot idea presented within the opening pages of a novel. As for the pistol packing grandmotherly type above, I can attest from my own experience that one of my grandmothers could outshoot her three sons, but she never had to rob a bank.