Cenonn's How to Holofic and Writing in General

What kind of plot is it?

I told you all about plots in the previous chapter and a few tips on how to create one. The next question you should ask is what kind of plot will you write?

You might ask "Are there even types of plot? Isn't a plot just a series of events that happens in my book? Are there categories of it?"

The answer to that is "YES." There are types of plot. Now then... I'll teach you a few things about it and hopefully, you'll have an idea of what kind of plot your Holofic would have.

The first type is the Progressive Plot. This one's common among published books. A Progressive Plot is a chronological structure that follows the Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution Format.

It has one major theme and conflict and the story revolves around those. It has one rising action leading to one climax. Progressive Plots have been the traditional way of telling stories .

An example of a Holofic with a Progressive Plot is MatchaPuffSickle's The World Can Feel Like Such a Small Place Sometimes. It only has one main rising action leading to a conflict followed by a falling action and a resolution.

The second type is the Episodic Plot. This one's common for longfics and stuff. An Episodic Plot is also a chronological structure but it consists of a series of loosely related episodes or arcs. These episodes have the same characters and/or themes.

Every arc of the Episodic Plot has its own rising action, climax, and falling action. An arc may finish its own conflict but the story will move on to its next arc.

An example of a Holofic with an Episodic Plot is my From Another World. The story is divided into arcs like Spade Echo Arc, Serial Murderer Arc, Rampaging Dragon Arc, and etc which has its own rising action, climax, and falling action. Those arcs have the same casts of characters in it.

The third type of plot is the Parallel Plot. Sometimes, one plot isn't enough. A Parallel Plot has multiple rising actions happening at the same time and all of them lead up to one huge dramatic climax.

This one's a bit tricky because you might confuse your readers with all of the plot points happening at once. If you're a new writer, I won't recommend you trying this kind of plot. However, if you plan to test the limits of your abilities, you should research how to do this one properly.

The last type of plot is the Flashback. I talked about Progressive Plots and Episodic Plots happening in chronological order, right? Flashbacks don't do that. In one chapter, your characters are living in the present and in the next chapter, the focus is on the events 10 years ago.

No. This is different from occasionally having flashbacks in a story. I won't have a debate with you on whether you should include flashbacks in your Holofic since some experienced writers avoid them like a plague. But I'll tell you that the Flashback type of plot relies more on revealing details of the past compared to other stories who only have flashbacks every now and then.

Now then... You now know the four types of plots. I'll talk to you about the common formulas a plot would have?

"Formulas? Like a genre or something?"

No. I'm not going to talk about genres like Romance, Slice of Life, or whatever. I'm pretty sure you have an idea how those work already. I'm talking about the formulas you commonly see in plots. What do I mean by that? Just take a look at the nine basic formulas that are seen in stories.

The first type is the Overcoming the Monster. In this formula, the protagonist will always end up fighting the antagonist who has goals that are in conflict with theirs. The climax would often be the final clash between the two people and the plot revolves around the protagonist trying to take the fight to the antagonist.