Some writers plot meticulously, others write ‘by the seat of their pants’
You may have heard the question: are you a plotter or pantzer? There isn’t a
right or wrong way when it comes to plotting. It’s whatever works for you – and
you might find you use a different approach depending on what you're writing. You will
no doubt find your own way of plotting, but if you’re looking for suggestions,
here’s a few:
- Post-it notes: different colours depicting different moods or characters.
- A story board: sketch out your story.
- A time-line: consider the time covered in your story, and plot hour by hour, day by day, month by month, depending on the time you’re covering.
- A numbered list: For example, 1-30. Gauge roughly where major and minor events will come in this list. You will be constantly re-arranging, but that’s a good thing.
- If you know the ending, try working backwards logically, scene by scene or chapter by chapter.
Major scenes
While some lesser scenes can
simply be told through narrative so that the story moves forward at a good
pace, make sure you don’t move too swiftly through important scenes. They need
to be written in all their glory – through a key character’s viewpoint, so the
reader can experience the event as closely as the character does. Let readers experience all the emotion and drama;
let them hear the actual words being spoken, and not have the scene simply skipped over by a few narrated
sentences or they will feel cheated.
Character led stories v plot led stories
Whatever story you’re
writing, it’s all about the characters. If you deliberately plot a story where
things happen to that character, it can come across as contrived or forced. Far
better if you create really believable characters with personality, background,
ideals, dreams, and so on, and allow the story to develop naturally around what
they get up to. Your story then becomes character led rather than plot led.
Twists and turns
You do need to constantly
surprise the reader, make sure they can’t see what’s coming. One way of doing
this is to free write. If you don’t know what’s coming next neither will the
reader. You might find that when you start out on a new story you do free write
to begin with, mainly because you’re excited about the great idea you’ve had and can't wait to get going. Then very often, you get so far by free writing before coming to a grinding halt. That is the time to
start to plot and work out the route you’re taking.
You can keep surprising the
reader by making your protagonist unconventional
in some way, so they don’t behave how you might expect them to. Or set your
story in an unusual environment – somewhere that’s not commonplace. Then,
whatever you write, it won’t be common knowledge to others.
Perhaps your character works in an unusual
trade. It might take additional research, but it will make your story more
unique. Or your character’s goal is something out of the ordinary. So, why not
have a romance blossoming on a trek through the Tianzi mountain? Or a thriller
set in the ancient ruins of Hierapolis?
Should you happen to create something that
turns out to be obvious, edit your work and change things around. When I was
writing my first children’s book, Cry Danger, I’d practically finished
it when I realised that when my villain was revealed there would be no
surprises. We knew it was him all along. So, after a re-think, I
realised it would come as a huge surprise if the villain turned out to be
someone else – someone who had seemed so nice and innocent all the way through.
Of course, then I had to go back to chapter one and work my way through the
book, sowing the seeds, writing in those subtle hints and clues so that when
the truth was revealed it was a big surprise to everyone – but totally plausible.
There’s
no right or wrong way to plot and plan, we all develop our own ways. Personally,
I tend to think in scenes rather than
chapters. I try to think what needs to be achieved in that
particular scene, making it almost a mini story in every scene – but they need
to link together and flow nicely. Take each scene slowly, look to
the detail. Bring each scene to life with colour and emotion.
Chapter by chapter
If you’re writing a book, at the start of each new
chapter establish where we are. If your book has more than one viewpoint
character, establish whose head we are in. Start and end chapters in a logical
place, or at a point where the reader needs to be left dangling. Cliff-hangers
make the reader read on. Don’t give the reader an opportunity to put the book
down. Keep them desperate to know what happens next.
Pace
Make it a roller coaster of a
ride. Imagine if you were on a fairground ride and it started at the highest, fastest most terrifying moment. The rest of the ride
would be something of an anti-climax. So, give your story a dramatic start by
all means, but it should not be the most dramatic moment of the whole story.
Be aware
too, that while a story needs drama, action and emotional highs and lows, it does not want
to be high drama throughout. Give
your story a mix of quieter, slower, more relaxed scenes – although never
boring and always moving forward, rising gradually to a crescendo.
Hold the reader’s attention
Keep readers
interested not only by the events happening to your characters – and your characters’
reaction to events, but in the way you write these incidents. Look to the
opposite ends of the scale. For example, high drama incidents hit harder if the scene before is of a slower more relaxed nature. If
you are revealing betrayal it will be more acute if the reader
has witnessed a previous scene of total trust.
If there is a scene of joy it will be
more joyful if the reader has coped with the character’s sorrow beforehand. If your
character is about to step into danger, then the lead up could lull the reader
into thinking they were safe. Think ‘calm before the storm’ scenarios.
Vary their structure,
length and even the choice of words, so that it might be read with a feeling of
calm, or a feeling of rising tension.
Longer words and sentences and descriptive passages will give a more leisurely
relaxed sense of being. Short, sharp words and sentences will give the opposite
effect. If you can pace your story and mix in
unexpected twists and turns, then like a roller coaster ride, your readers will
cling on breathlessly to the very end.
Today’s exercise:
If you
did yesterday’s exercise, creating a very broad outline of a beginning, middle
and end to a story, now expand that plot. Try making a list of 1-30, and jot in
an idea of an event or something happening for each stage. Don’t be afraid to
shuffle these points around as a story starts to emerge.
Tomorrow: Some English grammar.
For more writing advice and tips, read: Become a Writer - a step by step guide
Thank you Rob Tysall of Tysall's Photography for the image.
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