Blog Post: Plotting

[From Our Blog]

New blog post by Claire G

Plotting

I’ve watched some great webinars on plotting recently and I thought I’d compile what I’ve learned, as much for myself as for anyone else who might find this info useful

The Four Cornerstones of Plot

• DESIRE – anything, as long as the character is passionate about getting it/there’s a sense of urgency/it can’t be ignored. Start with a ‘flawed want’, with the story leading to the realisation of the ‘what’s really good for them’ need.
• CONFLICT – delays the achievement of the desire (or may have led to the desire). It obstructs/complicates It should not be easy to resolve, e.g. a ‘rock and a hard place’ dilemma. There should be external AND internal/personal conflict. The inciting incident may be the worst thing that has ever happened to the character, but is ultimately beneficial to them. ‘Messes’ are often located at points of the inciting incident, the midpoint, and at the 80% mark. A satisfying ending has at least some resolution.
• CHOICE/S – characters must be active, not passive, agents, making decisions which lead to consequences (good or bad) and their own redemption (the latter shouldn’t just be down to circumstances!). Choices are where plot and character intersect. A character’s personal qualities/flaws can make a choice more difficult. Choices are difficult because of risk. They signify a point of no return.
• RISK – what is tangibly at stake for the protagonist? What will they lose if their choice backfires? What is the cost if a choice isn’t made?

Together, the Four Cornerstones Add Up to…

CHANGE!

A satisfying narrative arc portrays how protagonists change internally over time as a result of their choices. This change must be difficult – it must have cost the character something/involved a sacrifice/the ‘death’ of their former self. It must be irreversible. The change can be ‘heroic’ or ‘tragic’ (but a sub-plot/minor character’s change may be the opposite of the main plot/character’s change). Notably, the antagonist usually fails to change, and this is ultimately their most fatal flaw, whereas the protagonist’s eventual ability to change is their strength. A final point to emphasise is that the personal change/redemption matters more than the external/‘outer world’ resolution.



The Bestseller Code (Archer and Jockers)

The authors analysed the vocabulary of bestsellers, focusing on the words used to describe characters’ internal states (‘good’ times versus ‘bad’ times resulting from events). They concluded that a key commonality was regular reversals of fortune where turning points force the character to mobilise at the greatest points of conflict, make choices and risk something by making that choice. This is known as the ‘page-turner beat’. The graph shows the protagonist’s fortunes over time when compared to the ‘status-quo’ starting point.

One way to think of this is that the new conflict – resolution – new conflict – resolution sequence equates to the action – reaction – action – reaction sequence, equating to the external – internal – external – internal sequence.



Plot Structures

Kurt Vonnegut: The Shapes of Stories (apparently, the bottom left ‘Cinderella’ shape is the most popular structure in western culture).

Ben Hale: The 3-9 Approach (this can be used across a whole book or applied to each scene or chapter).

Write a sentence summarising each stage of your novel (beginning, middle, end). Then write the sentence that comes before and after each stage. Each of the nine sentences should be important enough to be a fully-developed scene in the story. I’ve heard that it’s useful to think ‘and so/therefore/because of that…’ or ‘but’ between each section, rather than ‘and then…and then…and then…’ and to remember that each chapter should raise questions, answer some questions and leave some open, or raise more questions. Phew…so much to think about!



Genette and Chapman: Time-Led Plotting (this relates to the balance of story time versus text time, and affects pacing. ‘Story time’ is event length and ‘text time’ is how long it takes on the page).

• Gap = fastest = no text, not much story time passes
• Summary = fast = little text, much story time passes
• Scene = real time = text time equals story time passing
• Dilation = slow = much text, little story time passes
• Pause = slowest = much text, no story time passes

‘Flat Plan’: could be separated into scenes within chapters too, and other rows could be added, e.g. word count, how you want the reader to feel.

Experience

I used to be a total ‘pantser’, and I still wouldn’t consider myself a plotter, but I do now keep track of my chapters on a spreadsheet and try to fill in a little ahead, certainly (at the very least) the inciting incident, midpoint and ending, as well as creating a rough (very flexible/changeable) synopsis early on.

Points I’ve taken away from what I’ve learned about plotting are:

• Don’t have a passive protagonist – give them agency.
• Raise the stakes – give the character difficult choices to make.
• Ensure they change/grow between the beginning and the end. Shift from what they ‘want’ to what they really ‘need’.
• A page-turner includes regular reversals of fortune.
• My current work-in-progress matches Vonnegut’s Cinderella
• Drive the narrative by thinking ‘and so/therefore/because of that…’ or ‘but’ between each section, rather than ‘and then…and then…and then…’
• Each scene/chapter should have a purpose/move the story forward/cause a shift in the character’s relationship to their desire/goal, either positively or negatively.
• My Achilles Heel is to summarise (‘tell’) rather than ‘show’ a scene in ‘real time’. Note to self: if it’s important enough to show as a curve/turning point on the story graph, it deserves to be written out as a fully-fleshed scene!

Final Thoughts

How do you plot, if at all?

Do you have any tips?

What are your strengths when it comes to plotting?

What are your weaker areas/what would you like to learn more about? Perhaps other Litopians can share their own tips and advice

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[Sedayne]

Brilliantly helpful post, @Claire G. I'll bookmark it for reference.

I would say I'm a loose plotter, and I work backwards.

John Irving writes his last line first before anything else in his novels. I like this idea of having a destination to work towards, and whilst I don't have my final sentence before I start, I do know where my story is going and what the ending will be. I don't always know how I'll get there, though. And even if I have ideas about how to get there, my characters will often insist on taking a different route.

I've written three related novels (one finished, two drafted), and I started with the chronological last one. Because it's a roman-a-clef, I already knew the ending, but it isn't strictly based on real events so the plotting had to get me to that end point. And then writing the first book after that, pure fiction, to wonder what events led up to this situation in the end.
But the strange thing is, that this backwards plotting still produces a recognisable structure. End - Middle - Beginning, and Vonnegut's boy meets girl curve. (Although I'd argue that it should be person meets person and leave the gender definitions aside.)

I'm also a fan of the reverse outline.

 

[Aethalope]

Awesome post much to think about.

Shout out to the Kafka structure. Some days are just like that...

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Great blog!

I'm a plotter. I start with a plan of beginning and end and vague story in my head. Then I interview the characters to build their 3 dimensional selves (I hope) and define their goals and why. (Why is very important. Even the antagonist needs a valid reason for their goal, their need.) Then I work out what the turning point will be at the midpoint that will twist the story from the protagonist's goal (from want) at the inciting incident to their goal (from need) that will lead to the resolution. Then I build up a 5 act structure and a loose scaffolding of chapters (see below). Then I write and let the story unfold. As I write, I might have to shift the scaffolding, move bars around, but I keep a beady eye on those main turning points.
(And having learnt all this, I realise where I went wrong in previous novel attempts. Simple 'yes, but . . . no, and' gives structure but not enough, not what today's agent/publisher is looking for.)

I picked up a great piece of advice (apparently something Dickens used to do):

Irrespective of how you might finally name your chapters if at all, in the drafting/editing stage title each chapter with its goal. The progress of plot and story within this chapter should link to its goal. This, I find, greatly helps with backstory. If it's needed for understanding towards this goal either dribble it in or look to previous chapters and see if there's a place to show it. If you (or I) the writer thinks the reader needs to know but it doesn't closely relate to this chapter's goal, then no, the reader doesn't need to be told at this point so leave it out. Same goes for sub-plots. And, of course, the main plot.

 

[E G Logan]

Wonderful!
A LOT of work, I'm sure. Brilliant example of: 'I've read it so you don't have to'. Thank you.

 

[E G Logan]

title each chapter with its goal.

It's a style I can remember from children's adventure books. Not the same, but similar. Chapters headed things like, Sally and Fred have a terrible fright. But that would have been many, many years ago.
I would have kept reading anyway – I used to queue outside the library, waiting for it to open – but it did whet the interest, had it been flagging.
I suppose we could only do it now (for adults) if it was satirical...

 

[Sedayne]

It's a style I can remember from children's adventure books. Not the same, but similar. Chapters headed things like, Sally and Fred have a terrible fright. But that would have been many, many years ago.
I would have kept reading anyway – I used to queue outside the library, waiting for it to open – but it did whet the interest, had it been flagging.
I suppose we could only do it now (for adults) if it was satirical...

I remember those chapter headings which told you what was to happen and started 'In which...'
Chapter Two: In which Sally and Fred have a terrible fright.
A convention due for revival? Okay maybe only in drafts.

 

[Jake E]

I definitely hold the very middle ground of the plotter'pantser scale.

I tend to do a very broad overview - character arcs, plot A, plot B and antagonits journey - and then jump right in.

The consequence of an approach like this, is the finished story looks nothing like the outline lol.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

It's a style I can remember from children's adventure books. Not the same, but similar. Chapters headed things like, Sally and Fred have a terrible fright. But that would have been many, many years ago.
I would have kept reading anyway – I used to queue outside the library, waiting for it to open – but it did whet the interest, had it been flagging.
I suppose we could only do it now (for adults) if it was satirical...

I wouldn't do it for the actual completed book, just for editing purposes to keep my focus per chapter.

 

[Claire G]

@Sedayne Wow - the idea of working backwards blows my mind! I have a friend who worked towards her real-life goals in this way and it's resulted in huge success. Maybe I'll give it a go. (And I totally agree with your point about 'person meets person').

@Aethalope Yes, some days are very Kafkaesque! 'My life was shit and then it got shitter' isn't my cup of tea as a reader though.

@Hannah Faoileán Your planning overview sounds amazing! I might try Dickens' chapter headings idea - it sounds like a great way to stay focused.

@E G Logan Thanks, but I can't take all the credit; I've just summarised other people's work

@Jake E I don't focus enough on sub-plots, so I like your way of plotting. I also worry that my antagonists are two-dimensional, so it's interesting that you plan their journey. I read somewhere that 'every villain is the hero of their own story', and that's definitely helped me to add depth as I write, but I definitely need to consider this at the planning stage.

Thanks everyone! xx

 

[Nikky Lee]

Great blog! I'm going to share it with my writing group

 

[Claire G]

@Nikky Lee Glad you've found it useful and hope your writing group does too. I'm not sure why there's weird spacing on here. If you look at the proper Blogs page, the layout is better xx

 

[JohnBertel]

Thanks a lot for posting this!

How do you plot, if at all?

I write synopses. Bullet points, Excel sheets, and so on, don't work for me. I have to tell the story, even if in a very condensed form.

Story theories are fascinating and inspiring, but I don't actively use any kind of template. It's hard enough to make the practical side of the plot work without trying to fit it into a template.

Do you have any tips?

Have fun planning. Make it storytelling, not an exercise in geometry. If you get an idea for a scene or part of a scene, just write it. Explore storylines that lead nowhere, without spending hundreds of hours typing.

 

[Sedayne]

If you get an idea for a scene or part of a scene, just write it.

Sound advice.
There are days when I can enjoy the structural elements of writing, but sometimes it's best to step away (before it becomes a pile of rubble) and just dive into the writing.

 

[E G Logan]

I've just summarised other people's work

Lots of people find precis-ing very difficult. Too modest.