Yuffie's Writing How-To's

How to CREATE A PLOT

There are an infinite number of ways to form your plot, and I'll outline one of them. You don't have to do it this way if you have a way that works better for you.

 Here are the basic concepts in a solid plotline:

Story Goal

What is your protagonist striving to do? This is the main goal that drives the entire storyline. It could be taking down the evil overlord, finding some artifact, helping a group of people or a person, etc.

Consequences

What happens if your character doesn't achieve the goal? If your character's goal is to lead the rebellion against an evil dictator, the consequence might be that their village will get wiped out. This is important justification and motivation for why your character is fighting for the Story Goal.

Requirements

What does your character have to do to achieve their goal? Travel somewhere? Find someone? Evade a trained killer? Think of these as mini-goals the character must achieve before attaining the main Story Goal.

Forewarnings

When your character achieves a requirement, it makes us believe they're getting closer to the goal. Forewarnings are the opposite—they are problems that arise or obstacles that hinder the forward momentum of the protagonist's journey. These add suspense and make the readers wonder if the protagonist will attain the Story Goal, or the Consequence will happen. Does the evil overlord siege another city? Does the villain take a character hostage?

Sacrifices

The best way to show how important achieving the Story Goal is would be to have the character sacrifice something or many things that are important to them. Maybe they let themselves get captured to save someone else. They might give up on romance if it's holding them back. They might give up living in a heavenly sanction to go fight with the rebels. Whatever it may be, the bigger the sacrifice, the more invested we know the characters are in the problem.

Rewards

Opposite of Sacrifices, Rewards are good things that happen to the characters. Your story doesn't need rewards, but it's a good way to keep the mood light. The rewards don't even need to be related to the Story Goal, but they should be something that never would've happened if the character didn't set out to achieve the Story Goal. Maybe they find true love in their travels, maybe a long-lost friend. Maybe they learn a new skill that makes them stronger or smarter. Maybe someone gives them a birthday present. They could win a key battle or gain an important resource.

So these are the basic building blocks of a plot. Now you just need to piece them together like a puzzle. Find the most logical sequence for the events to build tension and suspense. Start out small and build things up until you reach the climax.

Another thing to keep in mind is the most interesting plots are CHARACTER-DRIVEN. That means the characters are the ones causing problems. They may kill an important person, but that person was the only one who could've given them the information they needed. They could set free some ancient power and have to go pick up the pieces and do damage control. These are active characters. They actively go out and do things without being told. They take initiative. Harry Potter constantly sneaks out with his invisibility cloak and gets into all sorts of trouble. That makes the story interesting.

On the flipside are characters who let the plot happen to them, and they react to it. In Twilight, Bella kind of just floated around, doing whatever Edward told her to do. It wasn't until the very end when she ran away from his siblings to go after the villain when she became slightly interesting (of course, she ended up getting beaten to a bloody pulp and Edward had to come save her, which was ridiculous. -.- So close to a proper character, Meyer... So close....). These are boring characters and a boring plot.

Try to structure your plot so your characters go out and do things and create more problems to solve. Don't let them just go out on an epic adventure because a prophecy told them to. Don't make them the people who just follow orders. Make them the people who give orders.

So overall, here is one possible story structure:

Big problem, and character wants to achieve *story goal*.

Otherwise: *consequence*.

The characters set out to *requirement*.

But then something terrible happens *forewarning*.

So they *sacrifice* something.

They achieve the *requirement* and get *reward*.

But there's another *requirement*.

It ends badly with a *forewarning*

They make more *sacrifices*

Another *requirement*

*Reward*

Make sure everything is balanced. Don't write an entire story where you have 10 requirements, no sacrifices, and just one reward. Don't have a story where your characters are constantly rewarded. However, depending on the story, you might lean more toward rewards or sacrifices. Play it by ear and be logical about it.

Now, so you can see an example of creating a plot, I'll show you how I came up with the plot for my novel, VENGEANCE. (If you think you understand everything clearly, you can skip this explanation).

Bit of backstory: Takara is the protagonist, and she pilots a giant battle mech named VENGEANCE (Ven for short) for the military of her country, Deilan. The nation north of Deilan, Majji, is going apesh*t on all the Deilans living in Majji (old war caused a lot of displaced refugees), and massacring the Deilans. I.e. genocide.

Unfortunately, Takara's mech contains human DNA and is likened to a human clone, sacriledge. The new Deilan ruler is a priest who hates the Seraphim, so once he's in office, he plans to destroy Ven. Takara, obviously, won't stand for this because Ven is the only thing strong enough to defeat the Majjites and stop the genocide from happening.

Story Goal: Defeat the Majji leaders and stop the genocide.

Consequence: If she doesn't stop them, millions of Deilans will die.

Requirements: First, she has to deal with the internal problem with her government trying to nuke Ven. So she needs to steal Ven from the military base and find a safe hiding spot. There's also a problem of Ven's battery only lasting 3 hours. So now her escape has a deadline attached to it: Break into the base, steal ven, get out, find a power source and a hiding spot before Ven's battery runs out.

Forewarnings: Ven isn't the military's only mech, and they send the other mechs after Takara and Ven to drag them back. The Majjites also catch wind of Takara's escape and try to steal Ven while she's alone and unprotected. Hostages are taken and cities are destroyed in the warfare.

Sacrifices: Takara is all about getting fame and glory, and fighting in a four-story-tall battle robot trumps professional fighter in her book. But she sacrifices her security and high position at the military base in order to steal Ven and fight this war her way. Instead of becoming a war hero, she's become a wanted criminal.

Rewards: She makes some friends along the way, one being a professional fighter she's idoled for years. So she has a few happy fangirl moments. She also stops a hostage situation and finds a secret weapon that can turn the tide of this war in her favor.

So now that you know how to set up a basic plot, get to work!