All About Plot

Well, i'm supposed to talk about plot. As a story writer, I consider myself a bit of an expert on plot, even though I tend to focus more on character. Well...what should I tell you. Hold on, let me read the directions...Alright, first off, I believe that something can be a good narrative without a strong plot. For instance, "The Catcher in the Rye". I personally don't believe that the plot is very strongly developed in "The Catcher in the Rye" considering that throughout the story, nothing interesting (except the prostitute thing, and teacher thing) ever really happens. It is almost completely character development, and I believe it is a wonderful amazing book, so of course, I would be a hypocrit if I said that a story needs a strong plot to be good. Okay, let me look at the directions again...okay, now i'm going to tell you a little about what I personally do to develop plot as i'm writing. One of the questions i'm supposed to answer is do I outline the story before I start writing. Well, no. See, I always get a basic idea in my head, but I try to keep the story pretty much open so that a) my writing can flow naturally and b) so I don't get so used to and sick of the storyline that I get bored with my writing, because for me, if I get bored, I don't want to do it anymore. Ummm, what kinds of narrative plots do I write, you ask? I write alot about futuristic situations, so the plot tends to revolve around characters trying to either overthrow, escape from, or conform to the government/society. I also write alot of plots where....well, all kinds of things, actually. I don't know what kinds of plots I write! I just write stories. And yes I do start with the characters and let the plot develop from them, but I usually create a very basic plot when thinking up characters, so it's kind of simultaniously (shut up about the spelling). About first person and third person, I like both. I love how with first person you tend to understand the main character's motivations more and also get much closer to the character, and I usually write in first, but the last two stories i've started, i've been writing in third because these stories depend a whole lot on theme and to really get the "big picture" across and the motivations of other characters, I feel it works best in third. And it's working out fine. And yes I do try to trick the reader, so that it will be a more dramatic climax usually or to make it a more interesting story (I love plot twists. I live for them. Like remember Vanilla Sky? omg, I had no idea...okay now i'm rambling). And one last question, how do I create tension in the plot. Well, I tend to go for the amazingly blunt easy way of creating tension by putting my characters in intense amazingly strange situations (because I find those stories the most fun to read) so I can't really help you there. Alright. "That's all I've got to say about that"-Forest Gump