My name is Mailliw and I struggle with plots

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I get inspiration for characters' personalities or motivations or a bit of an arc all the time. It comes through songs or quotes or little things like that. But I have the hardest time coming up with original plots and that's the main reason I've never finished an original work or even got very far, for that matter. I don't know what it is, but I have huge mental lists of potential characters, just no stories to put them in. How do you guys come up with plots?

[Mistrunner]

Well, my main story right now is a Frankenstein of old, simplistic little ideas and stories that fizzled all patched together. Most of my good stories are like that. Of course, actually finding a way to coherently resolve the conflict and end the story is another matter I've yet to sort out.

[A Joe in the Bush]

My name is Mailliw and I struggle with plots

. . . If only you knew what that was slang for. . .

 

On Topic, I come up with (Bad) plots rather easily. Too come up with a plot, I just think of whatever character I'm writing, and figure out what event would confuse them the most, then stick them in the middle of it.

 

Got a Chullstomping Knight with Massive Thews and a love of Killing Monsters? Force him to care for a lost little girl against an army of pretty faires who are trying to switch her out with a changeling.

 

Got a Necromancer who's trying to prove that Necromancy isn't evil? Have him get framed by another Necromancer! (That's mine by the way, no using this one.)

 

That doesn't work for everyone though, but if you need any help coming up with a plot, just describe one of your characters for me.

Edited June 24, 2015 by The Only Joe

[Tyson]

Good characters are just as important as a good plot, maybe slightly more important infact. A good character in a generic plot is easier to read than a bad character in a oringal plot.

 

In response to your question though. I find inspiration in films, comics, novels and mainly daydreams (asking myself "what if..."). Combine them all together and I would say thats where 90% of authors plots come from.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

. . . If only you knew what that was slang for. . .

Plots? I didn't realize that was slang for anything... 

 

Thanks, guys. Any continued advice is welcome. I'll also be posting in the "Man of the Mask" topic with my current story if you would like to help me out there. 

[Sir Jerric he/him]

I also struggled with plotting. My inclinations tended more toward the worldbuilding than the character design, though I worked with both readily enough. But designing a plot completely baffled me, despite years consuming writing advice.

 

In December 2012, I set out to write a novel, hoping to brute force through the plot. By the end of a month, I knew that wasn't the way to do it. I set out to manage my learning process, step by step, and by June 2013 I had my first plot outlined. The outline wasn't that good, but it was a start. By October, I had nine rough story plots. Now, I formulate plots almost without trying.

 

Before I go farther, please note that this advice is coming from a guy who still has not completed a novel, despite being 30 months in progress. I am far from being an authority, so take this advice in a spirit of experimentation, if you please, and perhaps let me know if it helps?

 

 

So, what lessons did I use to start me down this road?

 

Brandon teaches three elements of story. I had setting down pat. I knew how to build characters. Plot, however, was anything but natural for me. So I started with the definition: what is a plot? A plot is a sequence of events, arranged to allow a reader to understand. A good plot keeps the reader interested. Quite cut and dry—so dry that I still don't have any lessons to wring out of it. =)

 

First lesson: Originality is an Advanced Skill

You asked about help with making original plots. I shared that thought to begin with. Being original is a plus, to be sure, but only if it is interesting and understandable. Even now, I could write a wildly original plot, but is originality enough to make it interesting?

 

In that first month, I tried and tried to find those amazing, original ideas that would make my novel fun to read. I was overwhelmed, really. There were too many options, and I didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing. I concluded that originality is hard, and its pursuit did not make for a good learning environment. I needed a better way to find plot ideas, a way that gave me a space in which I could sculpt, measure, and learn.

 

Second lesson: Fill your Toolbox

"Borrow plots from other works."

"Make lists of all the cool stuff that could happen."

"Use the Hollywood formula."

"Use the three act structure."

"Use the seven point story structure."

"Use the MICE quotient."

"Sort your ideas into waypoints."

"As the story progresses, raise the stakes."

"A story should have several try-fail cycles."

"Does ____ work? (Yes, but / No, and) things get worse."

 

These are several plotting tools that come readily to mind. You may have heard them before; you may be able to think of more. I'd heard all of these before that December of 2012. Knowing about this stuff wasn't enough. I needed to learn how to apply the advice. More to the point, I needed to know which ones belonged in my toolbox.

 

Third lesson: Develop your own Applications

When I first looked at all this advice, I tried to find a method that didn't fit into these strictures. But out there in the great unknown, there were no limits and no landmarks. Have you ever heard the saying, "Limitations breed creativity"? When I started using the tools instead of avoiding them, I had something to work toward, and everything became so much easier.

 

The most liberating part came when I finally realized that I did not have to use all the elements of any formula. Borrow a plot from the Brothers Grimm, and decide it ends on a low point. Use the MICE quotient to match an ending to the beginning. Ping the seven point structure for plot turn two—the last piece of the puzzle. Identify the core cast with the Hollywood formula. List out cool ideas from the setting and change the scenes of the source plot. List all the things the hero needs to know by the end and decide when to learn them. Ask why the hero doesn't just walk away at various points. Decide what "hitting rock bottom" looks like for this hero in this situation in this environment.

 

Notice how little of each formula I'm using. Instead of using any one thing, I've tested each and looked for what types of plot hole each can help me fill. And I learned that by taking each tool in turn and building an outline with it. Sometimes for the main plot, sometimes for a side plot, sometimes for a character's personal arc. My still unfinished novel has layers of parallel outlines, and I pull pieces from several at once to make a new scene. I've gotten stuck several times, and I back up, pick out what wasn't working, and develop a new through line to fix the hole. The amount of re-outlining I've done is ridiculous, but I've learned a ton about my process.

 

Hopefully some of this will help you out. If you want a walk-through with something you want to write, I'm game to help out either here or via PM. Meanwhile, I need to get back to finishing this much delayed first draft of mine. Ta ta for now. =)

[Talanic he/him]

I'm not sure I can be of much help, but I'll try.  Most of my plotting happens unconsciously - I think up story twists while delivering pizzas or showering, stuff like that.

 

I think that a short and simple rule is this: Figure out what your characters want - heroes AND villains.  Then make sure that one of a few things happens.  Either:

 

A. They don't get what they want.

or 

B. They get more than they want and things get worse.

or

C. They find that they want different things than they used to.

 

If the heroes ever get what they want, the story is over (assuming they get to keep it and do not have other, bigger wants).  A villain getting what he wants is probably going to move on to bigger, badder wants, thereby developing things via option C.

 

I hope that was coherent.  It's late.

[WriterKitty she/her]

I'd say remember that 1) without conflict you have no story, and 2) your character should be a different person at the end of the story than they were at the start. If you have an idea for a great character, start there: think about how that character could change into a totally different person. What would it take for them to, say, radically change the kind of life they're living? Or the way they look at the world. What would have to happen to massively change some aspect of their personality? Build a story around that.

 

Or, if you have a character you really love, try to picture them without some of the qualities you like about them (so if your character is a brave and dashing swordsman, try to picture that same character as an utter coward.) What would it take to turn them into that character you came up with in the first place? Going through a war? Losing (or gaining) someone they love? Having the worst week ever and turning to a life of crime?

 

Going to echo The Only Joe and the idea of putting your character(s) against the thing/events they'd be least capable of handling. Take your dashing swordsman, put him in a world where swords are completely illegal (because of reasons), but he still has to save the girl... and then figure out what would need to happen in order learn unarmed combat... or what he'd need to go through to enter the illegal sword-fighting underground. There's a story.

 

I'd say definitely give Writing Excuses a listen, too, if you haven't. There aren't a lot of writing topics they don't cover, and I find it helps sometimes just to sit for fifteen minutes and think about writing. It jars things loose, sometimes. Good luck!