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A good plot is the maker or breaker of your story. Some people love cliche I know that, it is familiar and you love it because of it. But we also have those select few who love originality. Now what makes a good plot a good plot?
FIRST OF ALL, know the cliches in the fandom. Try to stay away from anything close to that. Like for example we take a Daryl Dixon fic. Most of the time it's a baddass bitch wielding a bow who sometimes is the daughter of Rick Grimes or a Grimes in general. We know that, we've seen that and some of us maybe even wrote that. If you like that it's fine, no judgement but is it very logical? No, not really.
If we go further in on the badass grimes daughter let get some things straight. Daryl and Rick are roughly the same age and it's weird if his daughter is getting with Daryl in my opinion. And yes maybe they had her when Lori and Rick were young but I find the whole relation ship a bit disfunctional. Also when I think of the Grimes family I can't really picture a daughter mastering the bow before the apocalypse so how the hell did she get those skills??!!
Why not try something else, have her be like this simple woman who maybe was like a store clerk, a teacher, hell maybe she didn't have a job. The past of your oc has influences on who they'll be today.
SECONDLY, character development. Even if we wish that it was possible you can't just drop your oc in the world and have them fit into the universe. What are the connections? What are the oc's fears, the oc's struggles? What makes them fit into the group. What makes them important to the story. You have to see your oc as someone who could actually be in the show. Not some Mary Sue character who can do everything. Have a goal for your character. Maybe you oc's story starts around idk season 3 or something. They are desperate to reach this place because the oc believes maybe her family is there. Think ahead and maybe give them a connection to someone in Alexandria. It gives them another reason to be there with the group.
THIRDLY, plot twist. We love them or we hate them. But we can agree it can cause some tension. Don't make your plot too simple that readers already know what will happen. Make them believe something happens and then BAM! Plot twist. Make something that causes the readers to do a double take.
Maybe your character has this goal of finding a sister or something and when the readers believe that the oc finally did so it appears that the sister was never real at all. It was just a figment of their imagination. Because the sister died long ago and the oc couldn't cope with the loss. Maybe they were filled with guilt because they didn't arrive on time to save the sister and this search is a way of coming to terms of which the oc has no control. And maybe throw in a flashback after of the dead to clear up some loose ends.
ALSO, make your readers root for your character. Make them lovable but not perfect while we maybe want to be a great hero, we can relate the best to people with flaws. Make the reader sit on the edge of their seat by having your character struggle for their goal. Like they can brush their fingertips against it, taste victory only for everything to come tumbling down. Make your character fight, stumble and fall. But make them rise and move on and try again. Give the readers some hope, like they want what the character wants.
SO, the question remains, what makes a good plot a good plot? It's exploring all kinds of different ideas and possibilities. Try to think outside the box. But it's important to just try things out, see what flows and what comes to mind.
