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STRUCTURE OF A PLOT ! ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
This chapter will give you the structure for a simple plot that you could use in a fanfic, or a short story.
1. Before beginning to write you need to flesh the initial idea out.
Let's say the idea was about siblings who moved house to a small town where supernatural creatures exist. So to expand ideas I ask questions about my plot, like; where and why are the siblings moving? How do they discover that the supernatural exists? How does this affect the characters?
2. You need to detail the characters.
Once again, I like to ask questions about the character. (there will be a full chapter on this as your characters are arguably the most important part of your story)
3. Then create an introduction/beginning where the setting for the story is laid out, the theme, the protagonist(s) are introduced, and the problem is introduced.
So for our example, the setting is a small town (we've expanded this idea using the first point) that's beside a lake and surrounded by the forest, it's constantly swarmed by mosquitos. The theme is what the characters do in their regular life, so ours go to their new school, and attempt to hang out with new friends. Our protagonists are siblings (we detailed our characters using the second point) called Tom and Jerry who love a dark mystery and can't get along for the life of them. And finally, our problem/conflict is that the siblings have stumbled across a group of vampires while out exploring their new home town.
4. Up next we have the middle of the story where the protagonist learns more about the problem.
Tom and Jerry- being the great investigators they are- after attempting to investigate people of the small town, manage to find a book in the public library that explains who the vampires are, why they're here, and what can harm them. They still have hope that they can make it out of the situation alive.
5. The midpoint is where things get serious. The protagonist runs into another problem that makes the situation they're in dire.
Tom and Jerry can not work together. They keep butting heads and they can't agree on a solution. To make matters worse the vampires are closing in really putting the pressure on. This forces them to make a rash decision to lure the vampires out into the sun. (It doesn't work). They begin to face the fact that they are going to die.
6.Now we have the end and the resolution. Where your protagonist regroups, finds a life-saving solution, carries it out, and returns to the beginning theme.
Tom and Jerry can hardly speak to each other, but they can speak to their new friends who they have left out of their drama until now. A few of them knew about the vampires and offer their help. This enables Tom and Jerry to carry out their solution which requires manpower which they now have, and it happens to be forcing the vampires out of town with the threat of exposing them to everyone and shooting them full of silver (which they would be able to do as the town was previously a village of vampire hunters. Which they discovered in the middle of the story while searching the library). Tom and Jerry are wary that their plan worked but are eager to get back to their normal life. Normal life ensues.
7. You may finish the story there or you can continue the story on by having your protagonists unable to get over what they've been through, and then lead on to another story where the structure repeats itself.
I hope this helps at least some of you! much love vaIeskas x
