im struggling so much with sort of, finishing coming up with my plot. Specially with like, the in between of it all. I cant come up with any ideas or conflicts a bitch is struggling 😩
That totally makes sense! It’s an understandable struggle to have, and it can take a lot to get past sometimes. So, let’s talk about:
Creating Conflicts
As you probably know by now, a story is built on a single, developed conflict. Something happens and a character has to choose or do something, and the rest of the story follows from there. It sounds... somewhat simple, but making it into a full story with characters and subplots and... all that is a lot. Let’s break it down!
It’s important to remember that most stories are basically just one big butterfly effect situation. You decide you to ride the bus to school instead of walking, and suddenly there are giant radioactive spiders taking over the city and they want you to be their leader. But... how did we get there?
If you’re telling the story of how this happened, you might pull the classic, “Well, one thing led to another, and now we’re here.” Which is basically how plot structuring works most of the time.
Your Initial Conflict
We know how conflict works: something happens that either prevents us from getting something we want, or there’s the threat of that happening.
So, what would make sense as a first step? Figure out what your character wants. Step two: figure out how to keep that from happening, or at least how to make that path as complicated as you can. Some examples:
Your S/O is kidnapped by the Big Bad. You want them to stay alive and safe, so you decide to make sure that happens personally.
There’s an apocalypse being orchestrated by a radioactive spider in your city. You want the world to continue existing.
Someone offers a reward of $100,000 for whoever catches a serial killer. You want that money.
The strongest conflicts are the ones in which the main character shows agency. They chose to involve themself in this issue, and they continue choosing to stay involved. They have a voice, and they’re using it; they’re not just being pulled through the plot. In essence: something happens, and your character chooses to do something about it.
So we have the initial conflict. First step: done!
Now comes... everything after. Here’s where we bring in:
The Butterfly Effect
A story is a series of causes and effects. Do your best to think of a plot that’s directly affected by the choices of your main character; when they do things, they change the story. They have control. Think of your plot in a way that’s something similar to:
Event 1 happens.
MC reacts to Event 1 by doing Action 1.
Action 1 causes Event 2.
MC reacts to Event 2 by doing Action 2.
Action 2 causes Event 3.
What happens, and what does it cause? When your main character’s actions have a direct impact on the path and the flow of the story, they create an aspect of control and agency that some characters lack. Suddenly, your main character is creating the plot as opposed to just moving through it.
So how can we make this interesting?
Put your character at odds with what they want, and their choices will directly affect if or how they achieve that want. Let the weight of their choices and actions create uncertainty.
This brings us back to the concept of conflict that created the first incident; it’s this same concept that will continue to drive the story. If your character wants to save their dog from eating chocolate and their options are to leave uncovered chocolate on the floor or to put it in a pantry at your head height, then... it’s obvious what you’re going to do. There’s really no question about it.
Interest comes when your character’s options are equally as bad; they have to cut their losses. In a build-your-own-adventure story I’m writing, at one point my MC has to decide between killing her mother and killing her father. Neither of these are choices she wants to make, but she has to make one. Here’s where we create uncertainty and interest.
All in all: let your character make decisions, and let those decisions carry real weight.
Generating Ideas
But what if we can’t think of any ideas for our next event or decision? Then we brainstorm, and we generate new ideas... then we choose one. Here’s a method that hasn’t failed me yet, so I’m going to recommend it.
Get your favorite notebook, and write down five answers for each question (try to make each one as unique as you’re able):
What’s the best thing that could happen right now?
What’s the worst thing that could happen right now?
What could happen that would raise the most questions?
What could happen that would change your characters’ emotions the most?
What would keep your character from getting what they want the most?
And suddenly we have 25 possibilities for moving forward, which (I assume) is 25 more than we had a few moments ago.
Which ones look the most promising? Which have the most potential for development? What I do is take two or three of the most promising ideas and write a few paragraphs of each one, and by that time, one of them is usually making the most sense to me.
I know this was a lot - hopefully this helps! If you have any follow-ups or clarifications you wanna make, my ask box is right there for ya!
Did this post help you out? Consider donating to my Ko-Fi!
Join my writing community on Discord!
