WRITER'S BLOGG | A Blog For Story Writing

How To Plot

Your plot can either make or break your story.

There are two types of writers when it comes to plotting.

1) you have an idea and don't need to write it down, you just rely on your memory and see where the float takes you.

2) you have everything planned out to the finest detail and have a conspiracy board in your room where you have every event connected to each other with a red thread - a board the FBI would be jealous of.

Here is my attempt, since I am both of these types.

Get your notebook ready.

Here is how I plot:

1) The Idea

You have an idea, a character experiences [that and that], the basic thing your whole story revolves around.

Write that down.

Example: a character is on a quest to find a treasure.

2) Defining

Now overthink it.

Too many times (and sleepless nights).

How can this get better?

How can you make this more complex?

Example: an immortal character is out on a quest in a forsaken kingdom to find a forbidden treasure for his queen in order to be named Knight.

3) More Defining

This time, settle on key events. These can be locations, things you (like I do) imagine in daydreams or had as a conversation on CharacterAi.

Example: write down a dialogue, even if it's just two sentences.

"No, I won't bleed on your carpet."

"Why not? Your face makes up for it already."

Think of the characters you created.

It's all in the details.

Go into depth.

What does a character do in a specific scene? Why? What is the motive?

4) Roughly Done

You have an idea and wrote it down, too much into detail. That's okay.

Now dissect it into the following:

Your story will part into 3 parts:

The first part

The second part

The third part

4.1) Part 1

Also known as the Prologue, the introduction, the intro.

These scenes will get your reader into the story. It has to be easy to understand.

Don't bomb your reader with information they won't get.

This is the part to get the reader of your story into what exactly you're explaining.

It makes about 10-15% of your book.

4.2) Part 2

Also known as the main part, the page-turner, the action.

These scenes are the actual plot written down, you connect scenes from Part 1 to the scenes you mention in this part.

This is usually where your character goes into all their actions, fulfills all their motives.

Make it believable, leave your chapters on cliffhangers, let your reader want to keep reading.

Make it nervous, nail-biting, make it gripping.

This makes 50-55% of the book.

4.3) Part 3

Also known as the ending, the epilogue, the last part.

This is usually the part where the motives and quests from your characters are solved, where an ending happens - happy or not - and the story finds its finale.

You can leave that as a cliffhanger too to make it exciting.

This part is the remaining 30-40% of your book.

Tips from me (a totally not clueless author):

Ask yourself these questions before plotting:

- what span does the plot take place? One day, two, a week, a year, more?

Tip: to distribute the events, buy a calendar/print one. You can give your scene/event ideas names and write these into the days.

- what characters do I introduce when?

Tip: take a piece of paper, preferably large, and some board game figures, preferably in different colors. Each figure is one character. Write down the events and place your figures there. You'll notice where you have to make a proper introduction to what character at what place.

- what is the motive, action and result from the event?

Tip: Part your event into three categories:

Motive - what gets your character motivated in this scene? For example, a character is hungry.

Action - what does your character do? For example, they go to the grocery store to buy food because they are hungry.

Result - what end does this scene have? Is the motive and the action fulfilled? For example, they eat the food they bought = hunger is gone.

When you plot/actively write, write these key points for each scene as a header first.

It'll help you get an overview.

Another tip: for all those anti-paper-people, maybe vision boards are something. Pinterest allows you to make pinboards and add sections within them. I do that with every scene I have in my WIPs and it lets me keep an overview of my scenes without a huge piece of paper scattered in my room.

You can also make a huge conspiracy board, no one is stopping you :)

My final tip is: nothing is set in stone. Be creative. Give yourself some pin points but don't make yourself settle on canon events set one after the other that have to happen in exactly that order in order to make a decent story.

A good plot takes time. So take your time. Think of as many scenes as you can. Define them, rather have more than you'd actually write down.

Have an open mind. A few key points and once you're in the writing flow and your mind is in the right place you'll automatically get more ideas.