Sometimes figuring out what way of plotting is easiest and most beneficial to you isn't as simple as, "Maybe i'm not a plotter..."
I've never considered Visual Plotting until I actually tried it.
I came up with this idea after revisiting an old website I got from a professor called, Excalidraw
- It's a free website that's basically just like a digital whiteboard.
First of all, What is Visual Plotting?
Visual Plotting is a term I coined (idk if it's an actual thing or not...) for a technique of plotting that involves visually connecting the dots/plot points.
What does a Visual Plot look like?
It can look like anything you want! But if you want some templates, here are some I've made using the plotting techniques I've talked about before;
The End Plotting; When you aren't sure exactly what you want your story to be about, but you know what you want the end to look like. Base your plotting off of that ending scene and create choices for your characters to make that will help lead them to the end.
Major Scenes Plotting; Scene based plotting is one of my all time favorite ways to plot. When you know what scenes you want to put in your story, but you can't visualize how they connect, this is definetly the one for you. You can use this part as an over view and go into more detail when you want to.
The "I only have concepts" Plot; This is a less organized version of the Major Scenes Plotting. it's more of, "I have a bunch of scenes or ideas of what I want, but idk how to fit them in."
I've watched so many videos on plotting, but I just can't figure it out. Am I a bad writer?
Not being able to do something doesn't make you a bad anything. Something you should remember, whether you can plot, or not. Is that no exact thing works for everyone.
There are so many tips and tricks out there, even mine, but I rarely see anyone stress the importance of finding out what works for you.
As an author, there are two types of people; Plotters and Pantsers.
Plotters are the people who can plot, they might like plotting, the might not be able to write a story until they know every detail about their book.
Pantsers are the exact opposite. They can't or don't like plotting. They typically just start writing their book and figure the rest out later.
and you don't have to be one or the other, I'm somewhere in the middle, maybe a little closer to pantser than plotter. Sometimes I need to have some direction in my plot, like details I might forget, but too much plotting makes me miserable.
In my plot guide I talked about the bare minimum of plotting, splitting your story into the beginning, middle, and end. but if that's still too much plotting, just try writing down your story idea following the questions; Who is it about? What do they want? How do they try getting it? Why can't they get it What happens next? and How does it end? or some variation of these questions you like best, or that fit your story best.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I've struggled with it since starting to plot out my stories.
It doesn't matter if i have a prompt, or an idea, i always go off track. I have a hard time sticking to that prompt, plot point, or idea, and it drives me absolutely bonkers.
Recently, though. I have found a cool little trick that has helped me stay on track, and meet my word goals;
Whether you're writing a short story, a blurb, or a whole novel. Try to split it up into three parts; Beginning, Middle, and End.
Instead of the convoluted, and sometimes overstimulating plot line;
Splitting your plot into its three most important parts; Exposition, Climax, and Resolution. Is supposed to help you plan out your story easier, or in my case, lazier.
Next, think about what point of view you're going to write your story in. If you've already decided on what your pov, conflict, and genre are going to be, you can skip down to Plot Points, where i pick back up as splitting your plot.
1st person = from a characters perspective.
In first person, you're going to be using a lot of sensory words from the characters perspective; "I feel" - "I see" - "I hear" - "I taste" - "I smell" This point of view also means restricting a lot of information to your character.
For instance, if you're writing from the pov of a child. This child wouldn't know the cookie jar is on top of the fridge, because they're not tall enough to see what's up there. So, they would have to get this information in a different way. You could make them accidentally see the cookie jar, but then you have to consider; Do they know it's a cookie jar? Does it stand out enough for it to grab their attention? If no, you could introduce a secondary character, like a parent, who gets a cookie for the child. Now the child knows it's a cookie jar.
2nd person = Telling a story to the reader, and directly involving them in it.
In the second person, you're writing from the narrator's perspective, but you're also addressing the reader, or talking directly to them. In this pov, you're telling the reader how they should be experiencing the story, by using sensory words like; "You feel" - "You see" - "You hear" - "You taste" - "You smell"
Pov's from the second person perspective goes great with unreliable narrators. You get to choose what information you tell the reader, and what information the reader has to find for themselves.
3rd person = Telling a story about someone or thing.
In the 3rd person, you have a lot more creative control. You get to pick which character's you're observing, and sort of play with them like dolls in a doll house. I think this is the most popular point of view and is incredibly versatile, using sensory language like; "She feels" - "He saw" - "They hear" - "It tasted" - "She's smelling"
Genre and Subgenre
Now. Deciding your pov is as simple as deciding what you're going to be writing, and for this, i like to decide what my conflict and genre are going to be. Sometimes it's as simple as picking horror, then deciding you like the slasher trope, because you want to write about a killer on the loose. Now you already have your conflict; There's a killer on the loose, and so and so need to escape.
I like to do this by drawing inspiration from other creators; From that book i read yesterday, or that movie i saw, or i just really like this genre.
Once you have your genre, look into its subgenre's. In horror, you have; Slasher, Supernatural, Monster, or Zombie. The conflicts in those are pretty easy to discern, Slasher = Killer on the loose - Supernatural = There's a spooky ghost in here - Monster = There's a spooky monster trying to kill me - Zombie = It's an apocalypse and i need to survive.
Draw Inspiration from other Creators
But it's always okay to draw inspiration from other creators; Junji Ito, for example, has a book called Gyo. Its a horror story about fish growing legs and crawling on land. You can take that concept and create your own horror story about fish growing legs.
Once you have your conflict; There's fish growing legs, coming on land, and eating people. Try to ask yourself; What do i want to tell the reader? What do i want to say in my story?
For example, if i wanted to write a short horror story about fish growing legs, and coming on land, and i decided i wanted to make the reader be more conscious about throwing away plastic. I would probably have a better time writing in the 2nd perspective, because my short story is meant to address the reader, and make them uncomfortable about throwing plastic in the ocean.
Plot Points
Finally, after we've figured out our genre, conflict, and pov. It's time to go back to our plot columns.
I know that when it comes time for me to decide plot points, I'm always at my wits end. I HATE figuring out what i want my plot points to be. I'm awful at figuring out the big changes in my plot, and sadly, i don't really have a solution for that yet. But, all this stuff I'm telling you has made it a lot easier for me to work on this.
First, how do you want to start your story? No, not what scene you want to start on, HOW are you going to start your story? Are you going to start with a monologue? Are you going to start with a description? How about some dialogue? Or a flashback? A departure? A character description?
This can be one of the first things you can write in your beginning section.
For example;
Then, think about what you want to happen next. Write as many plot points in each section as you want, use prompts, or random scenes you've discarded in the past. Fill it up with as many prompts as you're happy with;
When you start writing, start from your first plot point, make a word goal for that specific scene, and write it. When you're finished with that scene, move onto the next plot point, until you've written all of them.
Once you're done writing your major scenes, go back and edit everything so they puzzle together. If you want to add more stuff in between scenes, now you have guidelines on where and how your new scenes should start and end, so you're technically just filling in the blanks.
Plotting is one of my least favorite things to do. I'm the kind of person that likes to sit down when i have the motivation, and just write—but this seriously harms the quality and readability of my story. When i don't plot, my stories can go off the rails and end up sounding like complete messes. But when i do plot, most of the time i just lose motivation for writing, or i forget to write, and only focus on unimportant details...
So, i curated a list of all the things that have helped me plot my stories successfully, and hopefully they can help you too.
The End?
The most important part of every story is it's ending. If you don't know how you want your story to end, how can you properly develop your plot?
The biggest questions you can ask yourself are; How do i want this to end? Where will my characters end up? Do i want to continue my story after it ends here?
Just Write
If you are struggling with plot, then chances are you're not a plotting author. It's okay to not have a completely developed plot before you start writing, you can always go back and edit your work later.
Something I've found most helpful is just taking notes of things. If I'm not up for plotting things, and I just want to write. I like going back through my work and writing down important information I've written.
Stop Trying To Be Perfect
One of my biggest issues is perfectionism. I find myself obsessing over making my plots perfect, without writing a word of the story. This kind of habit is most destructive and more often than not, it causes me to burn out fast.
The most important thing for you to remind yourself is that you can always go back and edit your plot. There's no shame in going back to delete something from your plot, or changing it.
Major Scenes
one of the easiest—and in my opinion, most effective—ways of plotting, is writing down some of the most important scenes to the plot, or to your characters.
Not only is this effective for developing your plot, but it's also really great for getting that word count up.
If you script out the major scenes in your story, then all that's left for you to do is fill in the gaps. I've found it to be one of the biggest helpers in situations where i don't know exactly what it is I'm writing yet.
