For anyone who wants to take inspiration on the way I write my story
I've set it up to three (and a half) plots in one book. But, these plots aren't totally separated- they all affect one another, and affect other plot points on the line as well!
1. Serious Baby's internal conflict (Yellow)
In this plot I focus on Serious Baby's character, how is past history and hidden secrets affect the way he interacts with his friend and love interest Jerry Cat. He's shielded and doesn't want to share his history, and would much rather focus on his studies. But this exaggeration on the value of his studies leads to his mentor, Luna, to push him from his studies and focus on himself, something he does not want. This helps set up the exposition for the story, and how Jerry Cat gets introduced! But Serious Baby struggles and comes to his mentor for help on how to open himself up more to his friend.
2. External Conflict/Plot (Pink)
In this story the external conflict begins with a fungal parasite spreading and affecting one of Serious Baby's younger friends, Billy. This leads to Luna bringing them and telling them of the threat that may come in time soon to come. She gives them a solution to find out how to defeat the fiends that will cause the infection and control the city of Cat Vegas: research.
3. Mini Arcs (Green)
Not just any time of research, though! The two must "jump time", using a book that allows one to explore prospective universes, and figure out how this threat was defeated in the past. They must learn how to control where they want the pages of this book to lead, and must learn how to jump to different worlds. But in order to master this technique, they must parse through worlds created by their subconscious minds. Cue rise and fall of small lessons that are taught through these individual worlds.
4. Side Character Plot (Blue)
Not everyone has been freed from the actions of the threat (the fiends Flame and Fungi). Billy, a child who had been taken away from his ocean world many moons ago by Flame, faces it in a battle. Already infected, his fight leads him to have multiple burn wounds. His manager at the soda shop he works at, Wert, realizes what a problem this fiend is, and works his own plot to get revenge for it toasting his apprentice. Billy's friends, Mad Boy and Sadd Man also seek revenge, and although Wert has hated them to no degree at first, accepts their help and the unlikely help from the city's own minor nuisance of Macata the Ninja Thief.
Diagram to visualize
That's all I can really share without spoiling too much. But I hope this gives inspiration to those wanting to know how to structure their story. As always happy writing to all!
HEY LOOK NANOWRIMO’S BARRELING DOWN ON US AGAIN. So as traditional, I’ll warn you guys it’s coming (and coax some of you to join) with some novel help! I designed this chart to help people with a simple plot diagram (Exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) broken down instead into beginning, middle, and end. This is a main plot, and other smaller stories or side quests are considered sub plots. Scatter those in at will! This main set up though will allow you to essentially get a story out without forgetting what you’re aiming for.
Write a summary using simple sentences and it’ll guide you towards what you should be doing, or what your options are, without suffocating you in an entire novel at once. You can add multiple character lines aiming for a united end by doing multiple beginning and middles, but sticking them together by the end. Maybe even simply fail and continue to the new status quo! You could not unleash the villain until the end or anything else! Heck, write 18 different options, only pick which one feels right as you go, and end up changing everything by the end. It’s okay! Write whatever your heart tells you!
This is just a very simple outline that helps me figure out where I’m going with things, and helps me figure out what to add if parts of my novel look... too thin. There’s way more different ways to approach it than this, but this looked as basic as I could get. It fits for pretty much any genre, or concept, even if you have to reorder it a little or add extra legs and arms to get what you have in your head. Think of it as a plain sandwich, then add whatever toppings and swap out the bread, and let’s make it a wrap instead. Have fun! And good luck with NaNoWriMo! (Big size)
Simply put, a plot is “the main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence.” As opposed to a timeline, which depicts events in a purely chronological order, the sequence of events in the plot is chosen specifically by the writer. It can jump forward or backward in time as the writer sees fit.
Strictly speaking, a plot is only…
Story Structure is an important part of creating your story. Having a template or idea of where one is going is a good idea and it will help keep your story going in a cohesive, understandable way.
Now, something that I know some of us in America might remember are these things called plot diagrams. In elementary/primary school, we would read stories and then use this diagram to pick out the important parts and we also used it to help structure our writing since it is a very basic and simplistic foundation. Its vaguely shaped like a triangle and maps out a story. It starts with the beginning/exposition, transitions to the rising action, then to the climax, the falling action comes next, and finally our story reaches its end/resolution.
It’s a very simplistic and easy way to figure out how our story might be structured and what our plot points are.
Though, some of you may be wondering, but eng, what about our more complicated stories? What about those of us that need something more?
In that case, I have another story structure to rely on and check with. These are the things I usually think about when I’m plotting out my larger stories. Though it is important to remember that sometimes these things may go together and overlap with each other or they may fall a bit differently. There’s no particular way to go about it. So, take off or add on whatever you might need to, this is just a basic outline that might help in the long run...or the short run.
1) The beginning of the story. Like I’ve said before, start this in the middle of something. The most effective story is one that feels like its already going as opposed to one that just started and the reader can tell they’re beginning with you. This is also a good time to think about character background because it can be introduced her as well. This is where we introduce the main character(s) and get a feel for them. An example of this might be if the character is the main protagonist of a romance novel but they have issues with their parents, rather than telling me those facts, they can be shown by beginning the story with an argument between the protagonist and their parents.
2) The catalyst/big event is the thing that makes your character move. This sets your character off to begin the story. It is their change or motivation and can come in any form you wish, from an argument, a tragedy, an accident, the ringing of a bell, tripping, a lightning strike, etc. It can be whatever you make it to be. This simply sets the character into motion and allows the story to continue. Though, this doesn’t have to be separate from other steps in this process. Your beginning may include this and it could be the introduction of the argument between protagonist and parents that sets it in motion. That part is up to you and it is your choice.
3) This is what could be called the Midpoint. It happens in the middle of the rising action from the plot diagram up there. At this point there is no coming back anymore. This is the thing that really gets your character moving even more so than before or it is the action/decision that a character must make and whatever they choose they have to go through with it. Remember that romance novel I made up with the arguing parents, well at this point this could be her taking off with her love interest, leaving that love interest behind to do their own thing that’s best for them, or even becoming pregnant and having to decide to pursue that or not. This is that next step forward where your character has to decide what they’re doing and they can’t go back. What happens here is going to stick.
4) The Crisis is the low point because c’mon, not everything can be sunshine and rainbows. Your characters will doubt or something will happen to make them doubt what they’re doing. Even the most devoted of worshippers question their faith sometimes. This is where something happens to bring your characters down. It drags them down and makes wonder. But when they get back up again, it’ll be stronger. They’ll be re-motivated and know they want what they want. This is the point of change, of growth for your character. Or it may be their wake up call. Remember the Avengers movie? This is the Phil Coulson moment where he dies, the team is scattered, and they don’t know if they can go on. That is what this point of the story is meant to do.
5) Then, we reach the climax. The point where the tension is at its highest and things are at its make it or break it point. Most action movies, think the Avengers, have this as the final battle. This is your Battle of New York. What is at stake here? What will your character do? What are the consequences of making the right choice or the wrong choice? Will your character win against the opposition or lose a smashing defeat? You have to decide what happens when your character(s) collide with their opposition or opposing force.
6) The resolution/end which isn’t as clean cut as we make it sound. Good stories, the ones we all love to read, are still alive even once we finish reading because this is not the end of the character(s)’ lives but simply the point in which we stop following them. This is where your character can sit back and realize how much they’ve grown and changed. How they can see that everything around them has changed. You get to decide, is that good? Is that bad? Is it tragedy or is it triumph? Is this the happy ending with the wedding or with two people who love each other cherishing how far they’ve come to be able to sit here and inanely watch reality TV while their significant other complains? What do your characters see when they look around now that everything is said and done?
Making a plot diagram, like the one above, will also help with planning out your story.
The beginning is always tricky to get the ball rolling and your reader interested in the story you have to share, whether it’s nonfiction or fiction.
The rising action is there to help build drama, conflict, and thicken the plot. It’s good to let those things ferment to help it boil over when it comes to the climax.
A climax does not always have to appear in the middle of the story, and I believe that sometimes there are more than one climaxes in a story. It’s when all that drama, conflict and other fermenting things explode and flip the story to the good of the hero (sometimes).
After the climax the falling action leads the reader to the conclusion or the resolution. During the falling action conflicts and drama begin to fade away and get resolved.
In the end or resolution of the story, the reader needs to come to a sense of finality, which can consist of a cliff hanger, or a fully thought out ending that leaves the reader feeling empty inside or happy that an ending closed nicely.
