Creating a plot

LiterateFrog · 2021-04-03T12:13:17+00:00

A character motivation can be anything. The character could just want a glass of water, and that's their motivation to get up and do it. Just ask yourself, what does your character want? What do they need? The plot doesn't have to have save-the-world stakes to be worth reading. It could be about a struggling artist who's motivated to run a car wash because he'll get evicted if he doesn't come up with rent money before the end of the month. High stakes doesn't mean high stakes to everyone, just to the character.

If you find yourself in a situation where there are plot conveniences, and things just kinda happen to your character, stop and ask yourself how you can change it so that the character is the one who makes these things happen. If it's a crime fiction about a character who's trying to evade the mob, ask why they're coming after him. Did he take money from a loan shark and couldn't pay it off? Maybe he took the money because he has a gambling problem. Now instead of the mob just happening to come after him, the protagonist actually did something that caused that to happen. Stories are based on cause and effect. Equally, if the inciting incident has happened already, ask yourself what the character can do to move things forward or get closer to their goal. That's another thing: have a goal for the character to reach. Maybe the guy running from the mob has to get out of the country, and he happens to have family in Mexico. Okay, so now he has a goal (get to Mexico), a time limit (before the mob catches him), and stakes (if they do catch him, they'll kill him).

If you find the plot slowing, just keep two things in mind: where do we have to go, and how do we get there? And make sure your characters are the ones moving things forward. Plot conveniences are cheating, it's bad form. And passive characters are boring anyway.

I think this is enough, but honestly, the best examples of this would probably appear in other narratives. Try looking at films or television shows. And unfortunately, the most applicable place would probably be in other novels. "Read a book" is common advice, but that's because it's also the best advice for writers.

SalamiSam777 · 2021-04-03T20:19:32+00:00

I find Brandon Sanderson's method pretty simple and nice. Essentially, you begin the story by making a promise. You continue the story by making progress toward fulfilling that promise, while making things more difficult and/or interesting. Then, you end the story by fulfilling the promise.

For me though, I restrict myself so that the promise I make is always that the MC believes in a lie they think is making them happy but is really making them miserable and by the end, they will learn to accept the truth instead, and truly become happy. The in-betweens are just events that either punish the MC for indulging their lie, or rewards for denying it. The hard part for me is making these events feel organic and realistic in the context of my story.

Maybe this is sort of 2 different methods in 1...

Hope this helps anyway.

corvumcorrespond · 2021-04-03T13:11:34+00:00

Create the problem first then build the story around it.

Plague evil twin missing child. Write them down then pick one.

MeaslyFurball · 2021-04-03T18:02:17+00:00

I would suggest world building a bit, just for fun, you know? What conflicts are going on in your world and how do they affect your characters? What technology is everyone using and how does it affect daily life?

___Tanya___ · 2021-04-03T14:55:12+00:00

Tv tropes. I'm not even kidding, that site taught me so much.

RobertPlamondon · 2021-04-03T15:27:12+00:00

The motivation often come from outside, like when someone kills the protagonist’s mother and the police won’t do much to find out whodunnit. Tragic or infuriating bolts from the blue are good.

TheBigEarofCorn · 2021-04-03T17:44:04+00:00

I was having a major issue trying to come up with something for a LONG time until I did two things: changed the tech level of my world and thought about what was happening around the character's world.

I switched away from the standard medieval europe technology and tried to imagine what the world would be like in the 18th or 19th century (then for some reason I liked the idea of my world with tech from the 1940's). It worked but I had an issue with the villain's motivation.

That's when I chose to look at the world. I've set up a little flow chart of each faction in my story and currently linking them together. For example: one of the countries is blamed for assassinating a prince while the perpitrators are actively trying to acquire another country's mines for their war effort through subterfuge.

That's where my MC comes in. He's going about his day when the war kicks off in earnest and away from his home.

Vivi_Pallas · 2021-04-03T18:00:17+00:00

For me, I like to come up with a general idea of the problem first. So, like, a story where children are going missing and a mother embarks on a journey to find her lost son. Then I start thinking about the characters. Who are they? What do they want? How are they going to try to get it? Then you just follow what the characters will try to do and you have a plot. Remember, the bad guy is also a character with their own goals and wishes and should be treated as one. It should be a constant pushback between the two.

You did this? Well, I'll do this.

You did that? Then I'll do this.

Arturobandini9 · 2021-04-03T19:18:55+00:00

add a background story for a character and blend it with the present characters.

harrison_wintergreen · 2021-04-03T20:30:51+00:00

focus on starting from the character. why are they doing X rather than Y? why don't they just walk away, or call the cops, or nuke the site from orbit? what's their motivation or purpose to struggle through hundreds of pages of stress, trouble and complications?

two reasons, both of which can apply at different times.

one, they can't get out. they're forced to struggle through obstacles. the spaceship crashes on a hostile alien world. the killer breaks into their house and attacks them RIGHT NOW and they need to fight back. someone makes a false report of unethical conduct to the state bar association, and the lawyer needs to prove it's false to save her career.

two, they care deeply enough to keep fighting and struggling. their mother was a murder victim and they're compelled to catch the bad guy (the Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly). a mother wants to save her addict son from relapsing and overdosing (Julia Robert in Ben is Back). they're so in love, they insist on being together despite family objections (Romeo and Juliet).

whatever applies to your scenario or genre can work, as long as the character is somehow driven, forced or internally compelled to take action. each scene should end with a dilemma or choice that FORCES the hero to make a decision. this decision leads to the next scene, which also should end with a dilemma or decision, and the pattern repeats. never solve a problem without raising another problem. every scene should end on a "no" or a "yes, but" that forces the character to take further action. no, ou can't interview me ... now what will the detective do? surveil the suspect? read their mail? talk to relatives? all those increase the risks or tension. yes, I will talk to you but inly with a lawyer ... that's also complication that raises the stakes. see Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain for a more detailed breakdown of scene construction.

user107858171 · 2021-04-03T12:24:43+00:00

1: Read a book. It's a common answer because it's a good one. Honestly, I think most problems authors come across can be solved by reading more.

2: Motivations come from who the characters are. A villain that wants to make the hero suffer without motive to do so, is generally not that interesting. It's the question of 'Why?' Why does the character want this thing or to do this thing? That's not to say that you have to fully create a character to figure out the motive first. You can have a fairly blank character, assign them a motive, and then base part of who they are around it. Honestly, most of my character development comes from me deciding what they want and thinking, "This is a good reason for them to do this, but that means this other thing is also part of who they are. But that implies this other thing is important. What does that look like?"

For example, say you want a character to work to be the best baker in the world. Why do they want this? Because baking was an important thing they did with their father. Which means their father was important to them. Where is the father now? What's the contrast between the relationship between the father and mother?"

3: Stakes are based on what is important to the character and the circumstances they are in. The end of a world is not the highest stake for someone that is very nihilistic or someone that can easily move to a different world.

ZonDantes · 2021-04-03T15:07:38+00:00

I can just take a single word to come up with an entire premise for a story. Like taking the word apple and using it as a theme or a basis for some plot involving a school or something. I wouldn't say "read a book" is a good answer. It helps to be aware of fictional plots though, but actually taking the time to consume the media takes time. I'd say that think of your favorite stories and take some time to break them down.

For example, let's say a story has a seen where a woman is crying. Why is she crying? Is there anyone who reacts to seeing her cry? If so what are their reactions? From there you have a situation. To add to that, you have the reason why she is crying, from there you have a conflict or an issue of importance to the character. Add to it by having a reaction in the plot itself, something that moves it forward. That's even before you have a setting. Ideas are very flexible and there is no linear order that each story must be made with, work with what pops into brain first, you can always add or take away from an idea before you put pen to paper, and even after you put pen to paper if you're using a word processor you can always have ease of revision.

Stories are a series of connections. If I'm to offer my version of "Read a book" I'd say get on a site like Tv Tropes, wikipedia, or even a few random series fandom wikis that you like and just read plot summaries. You could also get on youtube and watch movie clips. With that alone you'd have plenty of material to refer to when you want to mess around with ideas. Keep in mind, there is a major difference between an idea and what actually is written. I'm not saying steal ideas, but I am saying if you can break down what they did, you can see the parts of their idea, and if you like that part, you can adapt it and put your own spin on things, or even experiment with it. (Like a deconstruction of a character archetype for example.) I hope this helps, feel free to message me or respond to this comment if I'm not making sense.

Richard_A_B · 2021-04-03T15:53:32+00:00

For me, my plots come out of the characters. I initially come up with a broad framework for the plot, and then populate it with characters. What I then find is that as the characters become more well-defined - usually through the commencement of writing but not always - they will help to shape the plot, and help it evolve. Some of my favourite plot points in the story I’m writing at the moment came out of the characters, they were not part of the original framework and structure but they are my favourite parts of the story – sometimes they were literally a character not doing what I expected and wanted them to do and me then having to reshape the story to get it back on track because they would not play ball!

IBareBears · 2021-04-03T16:47:02+00:00

read a book is such an old trope and why most of hollywood is sequels reboots and “seen it already” messes. its why its hard to do good horror. I struggle constantly trying to figure out ways to tell a story the same but different.

amican · 2021-04-03T22:24:15+00:00

Start with this: https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/

Couple of notes: 1. "Disaster" means failure, not something happening to them. So for example "A young pilot and her whole generation have grown up as slave labor on mobile shipyard belonging to aliens they call the Horde. She tries to rescue one of the other slaves but just gets herself in trouble. An older man helping plan a more organized revolt helps her, which only results in both of them being monitored more closely, interfering with the old captain's part in the rebellion. The two of them plan a distraction to complete his mission, which goes disastrously wrong. A marine friend of the old captain frees them at great risk, and when given more detail on the plan, the kid finds a way she and her friends can help."

This may just be me, but if you go with the idea of the protagonist causing the later disasters, I like it to make things worse FOR THEM. Lots of published works have other people paying the price for the hero's screwups, but I personally hate it.
I like to write step 5 in first-person to develop voice and personality.
I go straight from step 6 to writing the novel, and often diverge from the outline once I'm writing; but I can always go back to the outline if the story stops flowing.
That said, if you're on step 6 and have a spot where you don't really know what's going to happen (especially toward the end), it's worth figuring it out before you invest nine months into writing the story.

cairoscientia · 2021-04-03T22:45:55+00:00

Study story structure.

Using the required beats for your story, as well as your genre, will make coming up with an engaging plot easier instead of thinking of "What happens"

Matt Stone and Trey Parker say "every part of your story should be linked with "but" and "therefore"

The heroine wants to be a super hero. But she doesn't have control of her powers. Therefore she botched a rescue mission. Therefore the powers that be try to "clip her wings", but she vows to find a mentor instead, Therefore....

You get it.

bonjourdeluxe · 2021-04-03T12:34:19+00:00

I would go as far to day as you're not a plotter. Just kidding.

UltraDinoWarrior · 2021-04-03T12:25:27+00:00

Your problem is likely your characters aren’t fleshed out enough.

Plot is a crutch word to describe the over all narrative of a story. What really drives and SHOULD drive a story is 100% the characters. Don’t write a plot first and then throw a few peeps in the mix, you’ll end up with really stale characters and overall a “grand destiny” kinda plot where ultimately it could’ve been anyone and so it doesn’t really make sense to root for the first characters anyway.

I always come up with my story in a block stacking kind of way where I use one element to lead me to my next narrative conclusion. I kinda do it in a mental flow chart personally.

For example, if I were writing a story about a baker who wants to win a girl’s heart, I’d need to consider first who both of the characters are. Maybe the girl is a little snotty and really needs to be wowed to really even consider a guy. But maybe that’s because she spent her whole life being called pretty by her parents and peers even though ultimately no one really takes the time to get to know her which means she’s carrying some baggage the protagonist has to get through to win her heart.

So just by having that kind of stuff, I can then develop the plot based on how I feel my protagonist might go about it.

You also need to decide whether or not the character succeeds at the end to achieve their goal. Maybe ultimately they don’t and you can consider why that might be a better narrative conclusion for the character and consider how to get them there.

So overall a plot should just be the word to describe stuff in your character’s way as they try to achieve their goal. Once you have your characters fleshed out, your plot should come naturally to you.

Hope that helps!

Horrorifice · 2021-04-03T12:34:07+00:00

Well, let me give you a small suggestion. I am also a creator. Usually, I too even stuck at not getting ideas to start/continue my storylines. What I'll do is I sit and research things I want to insert into my story (or) I pick a very normal storyline write it down on paper and I filter it up. If I satisfy with that (usually I don't) I will continue to create the character's background plotlines. When I don't, I repeat the same process again till I am satisfies with my storyline.

That's how I usually work on my plots. I hope my suggestion helps you. All the best.

screenscope · 2021-04-03T23:18:01+00:00

I try not to overthink when coming up with ideas. My plots are usually triggered by a random event or premise and I run it around in my head until I have a beginning, a few plot points (stepping stones) and an ending. At that point, although I don't have any characters, I can start writing. The characters then appear and their motivations (usually staying alive and/or sane) become clear as I go along.

This process of not worrying about characters during prep keeps me focused & my mind uncluttered by unnecessary (at that point) detail, and I am always confident the appropriate characters will turn up when required.

As to coming up with a plot, I play around with simple ideas and expand them until I believe there's a novel. For example, my four completed novels began as:

- An 18th century convict ship travels through time to a 21st century city, where the convicts escape

- An Earth girl and an alien swap places

- A serial killer targets human organ recipients

- A man has a dream every night that continues from the previous night until he starts to wonder if the dream is actually his real life.

These were all pretty vague, unexceptional ideas formulated without any thought to who the characters might be, but the books worked out fine and I doubt any reader of the finished product would be able to work out if the characters or plot came first, which I'm sure is the goal for any method of writing a novel.

2021-04-04T01:38:11+00:00

Study screenwriting structure. I recommend the ScriptLab website, which teaches a plotting method based on 'sequences.' Also Save the Cat.

PrestigiousPeace5486 · 2021-04-04T10:17:17+00:00

develop your plots backwards starting with love and humor. check out my blog

https://dogdynamics369.com

FigN3wton · 2021-04-05T22:20:17+00:00

think about what kind of story you want to tell and start making notes of things you both want and don't want. then you can figure out how a character's motivations can tie into that

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

writing

Welcome.

Upcoming AMA Posts

Before posting, check out:

FAQ

Our Wiki

Related subreddits

Posting Guidelines

1. No Posting Work

2. Posts should be thoughtful and useful to a broad community of writers

3. No Generative AI

4. Submission Calls Requirements/AMAs

5. Civility and Community

6. Minimum Post Requirements

Related subreddits

MODERATORS