Plotting
Since I outline, my plot questions tend to get answered before I write the narrative. But it got me to wondering what it is I do to get my answers.
As I mentioned before in previous posts about outlining, there are certain conclusions I want each of my characters to reach. In doing so, both protagonist and antagonist must face obstacles. That defines the conflicts, but not the plot.
Plot, at least the way I understand it, is the journey the main characters make to reach an inevitable conclusion. Plot employs conflict and tension, but conflict and tension by themselves are not plot.
When I plot my novels, I start very simply. I start out with a problem or question that has to be answered. As the outline (or story) develops, the plot deepens because I get to know my characters very well. I know their Achilles heel(s) and their strengths and I deliberately challenge them with conflicts that will test their strengths and weaknesses, while all along moving the story forward.
Looking at it as a journey is perhaps the easiest way to visualize plot. I start here and I end up there. How did I get there? There's my plot.
Tricks for plotting:
• Pan out before you dig in. Like a movie director, look at the big picture first. It will give you a solid foundation.
• Make notes on how you want your characters to change. If the mc is a brooding loner, how does he end up a family man? Detailing the challenges that change him play into the plot.
• Follow through on your threads. A pet peeve of mine is when writers send me off on tangents. The reader needs a beginning, a middle and an end to scenes, chapters, and threads. If you do this, you'll end up with a solid plot for the whole novel.
As I mentioned before in previous posts about outlining, there are certain conclusions I want each of my characters to reach. In doing so, both protagonist and antagonist must face obstacles. That defines the conflicts, but not the plot.
Plot, at least the way I understand it, is the journey the main characters make to reach an inevitable conclusion. Plot employs conflict and tension, but conflict and tension by themselves are not plot.
When I plot my novels, I start very simply. I start out with a problem or question that has to be answered. As the outline (or story) develops, the plot deepens because I get to know my characters very well. I know their Achilles heel(s) and their strengths and I deliberately challenge them with conflicts that will test their strengths and weaknesses, while all along moving the story forward.
Looking at it as a journey is perhaps the easiest way to visualize plot. I start here and I end up there. How did I get there? There's my plot.
Tricks for plotting:
• Pan out before you dig in. Like a movie director, look at the big picture first. It will give you a solid foundation.
• Make notes on how you want your characters to change. If the mc is a brooding loner, how does he end up a family man? Detailing the challenges that change him play into the plot.
• Follow through on your threads. A pet peeve of mine is when writers send me off on tangents. The reader needs a beginning, a middle and an end to scenes, chapters, and threads. If you do this, you'll end up with a solid plot for the whole novel.
Comments
The other thing I'd say about plot is that it's better if all the events are causally connected rather than just one damn thing after another.
daw
I think that's pivotal in building a good plot.
Switching back and forth between stories also creates a catalyst of sorts. It feeds each other.