"Plotty" to me doesn't necessarily mean that the plot and not the character development is the point. I've certainly seen plotty stories whose entire point was ultimately some emotional arc. For me, it means a story in which a lot happens, and at a steady pace throughout -- rather than one where the characters sit around and chat or brood or contemplate their navel lint.

Huh - poking at my reaction a little more I think it has to do most of all with how embedded in an outside world a story is. A story which was written to get them together can still be plotty if it feels like it's happening in a real world, where other things have an impact on the characters and vice versa.

So, I'm working on something now that's at 13000 words. It may have started to get slightly potentially shippy about 3000 words ago, more or less. And it's been insanely claustrophobic, by the nature of some corners I painted myself into early on in the game.

I'm trying to determine if it's plotty.

Plotty=things happening, emotional or physical, and outside events have an impact on the characters. Reaction to the world is as important as personal interaction. Two people in a motel room could be a PWP or a character study, but if you say why they're in the motel room and where they're on their way to and it's important to the whole story, then you're into the plotty zone.

For me, it means a story in which a lot happens, and at a steady pace throughout -- rather than one where character sit around and chat or brood or contemplate their navel lint.

But I think there's always going to be some grey areas-- one writer's 'brooding' is another's 'thinking until they reach some conclusion/thought/emotional state'. The first is a look inside the character's head, and isn't plotty unless the thinking is basically a first person narrative; the second can be a point in long plot arc, or even enough to hold a short story up on it's own.

How do you all define "plotty"?

For my parts, plotty fic should have external events that are compatible with the kind of storylines that make up the main mythology of the show. And it doesn't necessarily preclude romance--you could have UST or consummated relationship in the midst of a plotty fic. For example, Anna S.'s noir, while having fair emphasis on B/S relationship, would still qualify as plotty fic because of all the episodes-like stories going around the series. On the other hand, I wouldn't qualify most of JennyO's fic as plotty. (YMMV. My definition of plotty fic is a lot narrower than others, it seems like.)

It's difficult to draw this line in Buffyverse fic because romance is such an integral part of this verse. It's more straightforward in shows like The X-Files and Stargate, where "casefiles" vs. primarily 'shippy fic are easier to distinguish.

But I think there's always going to be some grey areas

Of course.

Hmm.

Okay.

Is Anna K. plotty?

they're in the motel room and where they're on their way to and it's important to the whole story, then you're into the plotty zone.

Even if the answers are: they're in a motel room because they're in love and want to have sex, they're driving home because they want to, and it's important to the story in the sense that 'falling in love and going home' is the story?

This is interesting, because mine isn't as long as PMM's but I'm asking similar questions about it.

Hey, I'm either at the 2/3, 1/2, or 1/4 way point! I've slowed from my 1500+ word a day pace, though. You guys are a distraction.

But yeah, I'm asking myself any number of questions about the plotty/lack of plotty stuff. Thus far, only three characters have actually spoken. Again with the freaking claustrophobic corner thing.

There's also the MICE spectrum to consider. Stories tend to group in SF as

• M (Milieu, where the world/universe/culture is explored),
• I (Idea, where some central conceit is explored, like "What if dogs could talk!?"),
• C (Character, where the focus is on one or more characters and their reactions)
• E (Event, where "something extraordinary happens" (or even "something ordinary"))

Note that most suscessful stories are mixtures with strong subsidiary MICE qualities. You could say that Lord of the Rings is a Milieu story -- hey, Middle Earth, anyone? -- but it also rates high on Idea (The One Ring), Character (duh), and Event (The End of the Third Age).