What Can Go Into A Plot? by: Nick Vernon
Creative Writing Tips –
We all tackle plotting differently. How you plot will be individual to you, as it is with every writer.
Below is an outline of what can go into a plot. How much you choose to develop each point is entirely up to you.
So some basic questions to ask are…
- Briefly what your story is about
- The theme?
- Main Characters
- For main characters it’s best to write a full biography of them.
- Secondary Characters
- Who are they?
- What will their role be?
- What is their relationship with main character?
- Beginning of the story
- Viewpoint – who will be telling the story?
- Setting – where will the story take place?
- How will you introduce main character?
- How will you introduce other characters?
- How will the story begin?
- What will happen in the beginning?
- What is the conflict?
- What is the character’s goal?
- How will the conflict prevent the character from reaching his goal?
- What’s motivating the character?
- Middle of the story
- What will happen in the beginning section, of the middle of your story?
- How will this be tied to the beginning of your story?
- What will happen in the middle section, of the middle of your story?
- What will happen in the end section, of the middle of your story?
- What events are going to occur?
- How will you show your character’s personality?
- What problems are you going to introduce? (List each problem and how the character solves it)
- How are you going to make things harder for your character?
- What will happen in the climax?
- End of the story
- Will the character achieve his goal?
- How will he or won’t he achieve it?
- What’s going to happen in the end?
- How are you going to end your story?
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Or if you prefer you can plot in scenes…
First, figure out how many scenes your story will contain. Then plot each scene.
Scene one
- Setting
- Introduce characters
- Introduce conflict
- Introduce goals
- What will happen in the first scene?
- How will your first scene develop the character and the story?
Scene two
- Introduce first problem
- What does the character feel about this? What does he think?
- Have the character solve the problem
- Begin making things harder for him
- How will the second scene develop the character and the story?
Scene three
- Throw another obstacle in your character’s path
- Have him solve it
- How will the third scene develop the character and the story?
Etc…
How you plot doesn’t matter. The most important thing is To plot.