Plot in narrative is the sequence of events inside the story.
Most stories begin with some sort of backstory, then there is the 'inciting incident'. Inciting incident is the event that sets the protagonist into the main action of the story. As the protagonist goes for his desire/quest, there comes the antagonist. He or it prevents the protagonist to achieve the goal, a great backdrop for the protagonist. Later on, the protagonist will somehow get back, trying again. Near the end is the climax, protagonist is up against the antagonist, for his desire/aim. Climax is the most exciting part of a story, when the protagonist has the final conflict with the antagonist. The protagonist can win (common in narratives), or lose (less common in narratives). Then is the resolution, where everything is resolved. The resolution itself shows what happens to the characters after the climax.
There are 20 main types of plots for a story:
1. Quest - Protagonist searches for something
2. Adventure - Protagonist goes on an adventure - end goal/development.
3. Pursuit - Protagonist is chased/chases someone.
4. Rescue - Protagonist rescues victim + confronts antagonist.
5. Escape - Protagonist must escape.
6. Revenge - Protagonist seeks revenge.
7. The riddle - Protagonist is looking for solution to something.
8. Rivalry - Protagonist is involved in a race for something.
9. Underdog - Weak protagonist wins the rivalry.
10. Temptation - Protagonist gets something that makes him weak.
11. Metamorphosis - Protagonist is metamorphed into another creature/thing.
12. Transformation - Protagonist learns/grows from conflicts/events.
13. Maturation - Protagonist grows/refinds himself.
14. Love - Protagonist builds love. The love can fall and can get back right, or it is difficult for the protagonist to get his love.
15. Forbidden love - Protagonist's relationship break social rules, slowly other people get to find out.
16. Sacrifice - Protagonist sacrifices for someone or something.
17. Discovery
18. Wretch excess - Protagonist discovers something great or terrible and makes a difficult choice.
19. Ascension - Protagonist changes from rags to riches (someone bad to better).
20. Descention - Protagonist changes from riches to rags (someone good to worse).
There are 6 main structures of a story:
1. Rags to riches - Rise (of protagonist)
2. Riches to rags - Fall (of protagonist)
3. 'Man in the hole' - Fall-Rise (of protagonist)
4. 'Icarus' - Rise-Fall (of protagonist)
5. 'Cinderella' - Rise-Fall-Rise (of protagonist)
6. 'Oedipus' - Fall-Rise-Fall (of protagonist)
I think that making the plot should be your first task. Think about the story structure and a type of plot you want to make. Always make sure that the plot fits for the character you make or made, if the plot or desire seems odd for your character, it could destroy your story.
The backstory should be relevant to the characters, or tell us something important to lead up to the climax.
The inciting incident is the event that starts the main action of the story. It is when the audience can see the main goal/desire the protagonist wants to achieve through the story. You should start it of quite soon in the story. A good example of inciting incident is in Lord of the Rings; the exact second Frodo gets to know that he needs to destroy the ring, because this is both the plot of the story and Frodo's goal/desire.
The conflicts within a story should make the story unfold and move forwards, tell something important, and even hook the audience. Never show a conflict, or anything else, that is irrelevant to the story and does not advance the plot. Writing is exactly like poetry; every word counts. If you put something irrelevant to the story, the audience may get frustrated. Scenes that are irrelevant to the story, can be seen as waste of audience's time.
I would suggest to make large amount of conflicts, as this drives the story and helps develops characters, as well as shows them to the audience. And make sure that the character has flaws and at least one major fall in the story (We are humans, we never do anything perfect).
The climax has the strongest and most important conflict. This is because the climax will either prove as a victory or a loss for the protagonist. You can spice up the climax with a plot twist, hooks, conflict and by high stakes. Although, tt is up to you to make a victory or a loss for the protagonist.
The resolution is to show the characters after the climax has finished. Whenever the protagonist won or lost, you can show what happened to the main characters in your story. You can introduce some questions to make the audience want to continue with another chapter, by hooking them. Maybe the antagonist actually survived, but the protagonist doesn't know? Protagonist disappeared? A new antagonist is terrorizing a town?
At the end of a story in a series, or end of each chapter, you should have a hook. It could range anything from a dilemma, the audience finds out about something unusual or there is a conflict at the end (the audience wants to read on, to see how the conflict will end, or find out what is the unusual thing, why it happened, and by who), and all the other hooks that I mentioned in the 'hook' section.
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How to Write a Good Story - All Elements
Non-FictionTo write a great story, you need to know how to use every single word for your advantage. And of course you need to write and read constantly. I hope this helps you, please tell me if I forgot to include something. And I would really like your comme...
