Plotting

[Quiver]

I feel like I'm about to show how incompetent I am...

Does anyone have any advice on how to create and develop plots?

I tend to come up with an idea I like, or a concept I'd like to explore or a character or whatever...

But I have no idea how to turn those ideas into an actual story.

Any advice?

[Shrike76]

That's a tough one to answer, and literal volumes have been written on the subject. It's definitely a hard one to answer concisely. Theoretically, you need a beginning, a middle, an end, and a character who takes the story from one end to the other, with the character being the most important in my opinion.

Character encounters problem or mystery to be solved, character goes about attempting to overcome said challenge while accumulating needed tools and information, character eventually overcomes (or doesn't), possibly after several failed attempts.

 

My best advice is to try it out, because maybe you do know how and you just aren't aware that you know. Try to write the idea you have into a story, and when you're done look it over to see if it's got the right shape. Get other people's opinion on what you've done, and see if they like it. Check out the Reading Excuses forum under Related Works for a group of us that go over each other's writing on a weekly basis, if you're interested in getting feedback. It's a lot easier to look at a finished story and tell someone where they can improve, than it is to tell someone all the things that go into a good story.

[Esaias]

You should take a look at Writing Excuses and/or Brandon's lectures. Which are both linked here:

http://brandonsanderson.com/writing-advice/

[A Joe in the Bush]

The easiest way I've found to come up with a plot is to identify a flaw your character has, and create a problem that will make them face it.

[Kaymyth]

Just start writing it.

 

No, really.  I had a vague notion of where I was going when I started writing Swift as Steel, and I was seriously about 75k in by the time the last pieces of the plot clicked into place.  This now means that there are a pretty good chunk of scenes that are going to have to be rewritten/condensed/torn out completely when I go into revision phase for NaNo this year, but such is life. 

 

For me, the process of writing generates the story.  I can plan out a general arc; these are the characters, X Y & Z bad things happen, but the actual details, the side conflicts, the villain motivations - those all came together during the process.  (And in the shower.  For some reason, I get some of my best solutions to things when I'm in the shower.  I've no idea why.)

 

Start with an idea.  A seed.  Start playing with the characters and their lives and watch what happens.  They'll start telling you who they are and what they care about.  Then all you have to do is start throwing monkey wrenches into their lives and the plot will appear.

[ThirdGen]

Just ask yourself...

 

[Kaymyth]

Just ask yourself...

 

 

If you're angling for the Creepiest Post on the Forums This Week award, I'm afraid that already went to Lord Claincy Ffnord and his Weeping Angels.

[Sir Jerric]

There was another thread on this subject a few months ago. If you haven't read it, some of the advice may be useful.
 

I have become a proponent of the "ideas are cheap" philosophy. The main thing I learned is that I hadn't known what I was looking for at first. I had plot ideas literally staring me in the face, and I'd never recognized them. I brute-forced my way through an outline and got a sense of what I was supposed to look for in the process. Once the recognition clicked into place, plotting became almost frightfully easy.

 

If you really feel stuck and want someone to help talk you though designing a plot, you are welcome to send a PM my way. Mostly, I'll be responding with questions upon questions. But sometimes, finding the right questions is the sticking point by itself.

[Sera]

In addition to what was already said: Do you know if you're more of an outliner or discovery writer? Because if you happen to be more of an outliner just attempting to write the story won't help that much. If you don't know yet, you can have a lot of fun figuring this out.
 
Here's an utterly chaotic and not academic at all method you can try:
 
Write down all scene ideas you had on a paper sheet, and world building ideas (including possible characters, settings) on a separate sheet.
 
Cut the scenes paper, so you can individually move ideas around, and try to organize these scenes into a timeline. You'll discover that often multiple ideas could happen in the same time, and other stretches of time have not a single event. This timeline brainstorm is a great visual aid to kick start your brain. Now you have a clear problem you can look for solutions. Which ideas don't quite fit the story? What could be possibly be happening during all this empty time? Where would this scene fit better in terms of plot? And in terms of tension?
 
Now look at the world building ideas sheet. What could be relevant to your story? What complications could arise from, let's say, this species of animal being found only in this land? Figure which characters initially belong to which existing scene; and which actually don't; how the world building ideas could generate new scenes; when character A meets character B; is character B really relevant?; how a character flaw could generate conflict; which ideas could be a natural bridge from scene A to B, filling gaps and answering questions; which ideas wouldn't. You can always save the ideas that don't work for this particular story for another story.
 
Wonder at which points of the timeline you'd like to start and end telling your story. At this point you're likely to know who is the protagonist and have a vague idea of how you want the story to end. You'll know what sort of story you want to tell.
 
Then to work out the tension see if the growing story fits more or less the three act structure (a good starting point for being uncomplicated). It's not that you must follow it to the letter, it's not a rule, it's here to aid you to diagnose pacing and tension issues. Does your story have turning points? Does it have a lowest point? When? Too soon? Too far? It'll help you to pick which overlapping idea might be the best for which situation, and tweak others.
 
Now, based on your decisions, write a full outline of your story. You'll see that somehow most of your scenes naturally fit into chapters. Done? Congratulations! You have the bones of your story. Better than a blank sheet, isn't it?
 
All of this has the purpose of giving you a clear picture of what you actually have in your hands and safe handrails to grab when you feel the story is going downhill.
 
You can start writing the story now. Allow it to carry you in whatever direction it wants, even if it deviates from the outline. You're free to try better ideas you have when already writing the story. When you find yourself stuck or lost, consult the outline, let it guide you back to safer grounds.
 
Does this method work for everyone? Nope! But it'll help you to see whether you feel more comfortable having an outline or simply letting the story flow, and how tight the outline needs to be to help you.
 
 
P.s.: thigh outline? *giggles*

Edited September 28, 2015 by Sera

[Shrike76]

Sera, that's a really interesting technique! I'm going to have to try that for a story that's been giving me a hard time.

[Elbereth]

My basic reply: CONFLCT!

There needs to be a problem, or preferably several problems on different levels, depending on the length othe the story you want to write. After that, it's just a matter of figuring out what your characters will do to fix these problems and how they will eventually be resolved.

[ShadowOfTheSun]

I would say that there are a number of approaches.  First, you could try thinking of a climax, or a really exciting part in your story.  Second, if you have already made the world in which your story takes place, then think of a rather large problem in your world, and how it might be solved.  Third, you could think of some characters, and if your style is more like fantasy, think of what abilities your characters might have, or if they are just normal people, or totally horrible people.    Fourth,  ....   I forgot what the fourth one was going be... 

[kaellok]

Give your characters goals, things that they want to achieve.  Have them work towards those goals.  Whenever they get close, drop something on them to keep them from achieving their goal.  If you want to be particularly mean, allow them to achieve their goal--only to realize that that was a really bad idea (for the character).  

 

I mean, maybe you want to overthrow the evil god-like ruler of your planet.  There's probably lots of smaller things you'd want to do first.  And you're sure to have challenges along the way.  And success will not necessarily look like you thought it would at all.  

 

(Seriously, though.  Heist stories tend to do an incredibly good job of showcasing plot and what it is.  Mistborn does the same thing, but does a significantly better job of hiding it than, say, Ocean's 11-27 do.  Or however many of those movies there actually were.)