{"id":4194,"date":"2016-06-22T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T04:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pothi.com\/blog\/?p=4194"},"modified":"2019-07-12T14:22:18","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T08:52:18","slug":"how-to-write-a-good-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pothi.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/22\/how-to-write-a-good-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write a Good Plot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The plot is the masterpiece of a novel. It\u2019s the hidden scaffolding on which a writer builds his palce. So how do you make a good one?<\/p>\n<p><strong>What the masters wrote<\/strong>: You must of heard of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thewritersjourney.com\/hero's_journey.htm\">Joseph Campbell\u2019s archetypes<\/a>. Go through this link to understand more about typical protagonist situations that have been repeated for time immemorial. Any plot runs on these lines- whether the hero accepts the challenge or refuses to; whether he goes on an adventure; whether he succeeds or fails.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Plot Structure<\/strong>: Every conventional plot has a beginning, middle and end. So when you write your story you should have an idea about where your story begins and how it ends. If you know this in the beginning, you can move it around too. There are no hard and fast rules as long as you have control over your material. The Shakespearean drama followed a typical five act plan-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exposition: The introduction to the tale and characters.<\/li>\n<li>Rising action: Complications ( like death or a simple misunderstanding) arise for the characters.<\/li>\n<li>Climax: The showdown. The characters face opposition.<\/li>\n<li>Falling action: What happens after the climax.<\/li>\n<li>Resolution: The end of the story where problems are resolved. If the story is a tragic one, it is called a catastrophe; there is no resolution in sight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/a\/af\/Freytags_pyramid.svg\/2000px-Freytags_pyramid.svg.png\" width=\"531\" height=\"354\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Plot outline\/skeleton<\/strong>: \u00a0\u00a0Using the plot structure described above,\u00a0 you can write basic foundation of the story that you probably shouldn\u2019t deviate too much from while writing. What made you want to write the book in the first place? The character faces some obstacle and must get out of it. How? This is what the plot describes. If you are clear with this, the rest of the writing becomes easier.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Filling the plot<\/strong>: You may have a one-line story but that\u2019s not enough. You have to fill in the story with meaningful details. Here is where location, greater theme, characters and dialogue come in. They help flesh out the plot and bring it to life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Subplots<\/strong>: You don\u2019t create the narrative arc of just one character or situation. If you are writing a novel there will be additional characters and situations. You will need to create an arc for all of these. The arcs should meet somewhere so that they bring value to the primary plot in the book and hold all the layers together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some reference links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thewritepractice.com\/plot-structure\/\">http:\/\/thewritepractice.com\/plot-structure\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.livewritethrive.com\/2016\/06\/02\/the-key-to-creating-believable-plots\/\">http:\/\/www.livewritethrive.com\/2016\/06\/02\/the-key-to-creating-believable-plots\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nownovel.com\/blog\/plotter-even-youre-pantser\/\">http:\/\/www.nownovel.com\/blog\/plotter-even-youre-pantser\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The plot is the masterpiece of a novel. It\u2019s the hidden scaffolding on which a writer builds his palce. So how do you make a good one? What the masters wrote: You must of heard of Joseph Campbell\u2019s archetypes. Go through this link to understand more about typical protagonist situations that have been repeated for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pothi.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/22\/how-to-write-a-good-plot\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to Write a Good Plot&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[183,186,184,185],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7vAZr-15E","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5156,"url":"https:\/\/pothi.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/30\/author-resources-books-plot-writing-fiction-plottr\/","url_meta":{"origin":4194,"position":0},"title":"Author Resources: Get Your Novel Plot Perfect with Plottr \ud83d\udcd9","date":"December 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Plottr is a simple and fun-to-use drag and drop story development tool developed by Ryan Zee and Cameron Sutter. Six Ways Plottr Helps You Create a Story Helps arrange chapters, plotlines, scenes and character arcs. Generates an outline based on the visual story cards. Helps generate character and setting templates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Author Resources&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Quotation by Ray Bradbury: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/pothi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Copy-of-Copy-of-prowriting-aid.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4235,"url":"https:\/\/pothi.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/08\/the-art-of-rewriting\/","url_meta":{"origin":4194,"position":1},"title":"The Art of Rewriting","date":"March 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"You may have written a book. That is hard enough, but what do you think about rewriting? The very idea of rewriting a manuscript that you may have spent months or even years on daunting. But the truth of the matter is that writing is sometimes synonymous with rewriting. Let's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"loop rewrite","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.giphy.com\/media\/VUzmeXmQ5xzji\/giphy.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5380,"url":"https:\/\/pothi.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/28\/creativity-organizer-ideation-milanote\/","url_meta":{"origin":4194,"position":2},"title":"Author Resource: Get More Creative Mileage With Milanote \ud83d\uddd2\ufe0f","date":"May 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Milanote is used by creatives to jot down notes, ideas, inspirations, outlines and descriptions in a visual board kind of format. It resembles Evernote but is more suited to the artistic sensibility. Milanote is geared towards creators. You even have a writing app software. 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He won the 1996 Commonwealth Writers'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Lit Browser&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Vikram Chandra quote graphic","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/pothi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Copy-of-If-you-want-to-live-in-the-city-you-have-to-think-ahead-three-turns-and-look-behind-a-lie-to-see-the-truth-and-then-behind-that-truth-to-see-the-lie..jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4891,"url":"https:\/\/pothi.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/14\/the-young-author-program-anthology-is-out-at-the-pothi-com-store\/","url_meta":{"origin":4194,"position":4},"title":"The Young Author Program Anthology is out at the Pothi.com Store!","date":"February 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Valentine's Day! Glad to announce that Ice Creams and Time Machines, the Young Author Program Anthology, is out at the Pothi.com Store today. It's been in the works for a while. 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