I just saw an image on this site and thought of a really cool plot arc and honestly it feels amazing and I'm proud of my brain,,,but idk how to execute the scenario so I'm just sitting here like
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I just saw an image on this site and thought of a really cool plot arc and honestly it feels amazing and I'm proud of my brain,,,but idk how to execute the scenario so I'm just sitting here like
Glad you're back! Are you keeping everything how ir was or a soft reset?
//Thanks! Glad to be back! I'm thinking I'll do a soft reset to before the whole SCP Capture Arc thing, or I'll do a time skip to where everyone is mostly recovered from the trauma of it. What do y'all think I should do here?//
Eyyyy, new novel. You shouldn’t be able to read it, don’t worry. In fact, please don’t try and let me know if you can besides the title because that would be An Issue.
Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to post this, because we’re right at the start of NaNoWriMo, and even though I’m not doing it this year I know people who are (good luck, you brave souls) and I know that sometimes a new angle can be really helpful. So, props to @q-not-qt for suggesting I post this. I hope it helps!!
This is the Phillip Pullman method of plotting. I think. I got the ideas from a board at my school library in like, year 8 That was quite a while ago, so it could be misinformed. Anyway, it said that he wrote down all his plot points on post-it notes and moved them around until he was happy with the order. And the first draft of my synopsis is due next week, and I was stuck and a bit lost and needed to sort my brain out, so, I tried it. And it actually worked??
I’m quite new to such in-depth planning. Up until now, planning and writing have gone hand-in-hand, the one informing the other, and the first edit is usually a major overhaul to bring everything in to line.
Seven or eight novels into that method, I can definitely recommend giving this a go instead! It’s highly unlikely that I will iron everything out perfectly before I start (properly, that is, I’m writing snippets and segments all the time to develop plot and character and world), but it’s really, really helping me get a better idea of plot. Keeping the whole thing malleable is actually really important. It helps identify plot holes, character issues, and brings up some majorly important questions that get harder to solve the further in you go. Especially because the easiest way to solve an issue isn’t necessarily the best. And it means you get to know your story and your characters better!
Everything that I’m doing now is about finding the heart of the story, and I love it. Usually I write to find the heart. This time, I would like to write it with the heart already firmly embedded in the story.
I know some people don’t like to plan. That’s totally fine! But if you’re struggling with a plot or a new concept or just finding the motivation to write, this can definitely help. Hell, I’m going to move this to above my desk instead of in my living room (I have housemates, poor things) but it’s going to stay up there until I’ve finished my novel. And it’s going to stay malleable until I’ve finished my novel, too.
If anyone’s interested in the structure I followed, it’s the fairly basic one:
- Exposition (what is the world like before the story starts?)
- Inciting Incident (what happens to make the story begin?)
- Rising Action (this is usually the longest and sometimes hardest part, and this trick is especially good if you have a start and an end but no middle because it can help you pin down the in-between)
- Climax (everything comes to a head)
- Falling Action (things start to calm down)
- Denouement (what’s different now that the story is over?)
Your story doesn’t have to have a resolution, but if it does, it should be in one of those last three sections. Incidentally, as long as you have a climax, you also don’t necessarily have to have the last two sections either.
Also, because what this doesn’t show is that putting it all together took me hours of writing, re-writing, re-arranging, and scrunched up and then unscrunched post-it notes, the section that I liked most:
(a.k.a I know that I want this to happen but I don’t know where it fits - definitely the fullest section on more than one occasion)
It doesn’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to start with a whole plot. You don’t even have to finish with a whole plot. The important thing is the development.
A writing question if you're in the mood: when mapping out the emotional arc for a story, do you follow a set structure? Like, two steps forward followed by one step back for example? Or do you decide on a story-by-story basis, and if so, how do you determine when it's time for a positive step vs a setback? Apologies if this is not clear :-)
Good morning, anon! Thanks for your thoughtful question; I’m happy to answer.
Emotional arcs differ from story to story, so I definitely construct them on a case-by-case basis. What I track the most closely in order to determine logical points for conflict are anxieties that one character might not be sharing with another, key conversations characters have as-yet not had as they embark on relationships, opportunities for miscommunication that might cause further tension, and so forth. Each pairing I’ve worked with, as well as the extended casts surrounding them, has had different points of tension and weakness. In a few cases, the source of conflict has been entirely external, but external conflict invariably leads to internal as you use it to put strain on its targets.
The one caution I always attach to the use of conflict, at least by my personal code of narrative ethics, is that it should never be conflict solely for conflict’s sake. It shouldn’t be gratuitous. Conflict has narrative value, and it will reveal aspects of characterization that will both drive the plot and offer opportunities for transformation. However, taken to extremes that aren’t somehow justified within the story’s framework, it rarely serves any purpose except to make characters needlessly suffer (and, very often, frustrate readers).
As dull as this might seem, think about conflicts you’ve observed or in which you’ve been personally involved. Think about conflict arcs in stories by writers you admire. Try to pinpoint which ones might be closest to, or at least share aspects with, the kind of conflict you need to play out in your current project. Presumably, you’ve chosen to work with the characters you’re working with (whether they’re from an existing piece of media or ones you’ve created) because you feel you know them well enough to do so. Consider their ambitions, motivations, passions, and weaknesses through the lens of whatever conflict you’re proposing. How do they react? How does it affect their actions toward other characters? How do attempts at assistance from well-meaning parties either help or hinder the circumstances? What risks might they consider necessary, and then later regret?
These may be approaches that you’ve already tried, but they’re the ones I’ve used consistently over time. At this stage in my experience as a writer, I don’t move through them as methodically as I describe them here. The characters’ reactions develop organically as I outline scenes and write dialogue; it hasn’t felt like any significant strain for me in years. With practice, you may find the same. The piece of advice that I consider the most crucial in all of this is don’t torture your characters needlessly. Conflict can get severe, and sometimes it should, but shy from the utterly gratuitous if you can help it.
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