5 Steps to Better Writing

What is Plot?

The point is by the end of the story this lack should be filled. Harry finds his family. The lovers in the romantic comedy end up happy. To get freedom she or he might get into college on a full scholarship or decide to travel Europe. Or move out. The faithless find away to believe again.

This can be tied in a little with change, but lack is the thing missing in your hero’s life before the plot even starts. It can be something quite small but still something notable.

Example story: the Main Character has a mother who works all the time and a sister who spends all her time away from the house. She is, while not realizing it, lacking a family, someone to take care of her and love her. In the end the pack becomes this for her.

Harry Potter: Harry wants a family and friends.

Change is one of the most important things in the story. By the end something or someone (usually our hero) should be different. Maybe even the world, or the whole town. The people in your story should have learned a lesson or found a way to cope with life with only one leg or gone from always being happy to always being sad. The plot should have changed them in some way. Made them stronger, more reliant or cold hearted.

The change can be for the better or for the worse. You can start with a smug bastard as your main character and end with having him change into a decent guy. You can also start with saint girl and have her change into snarky girl. The point is the story changes your characters in some way. Things can’t just be the same for your character as they were on page one.

Example story: the Main Character did not want to be a werewolf. She hates the idea of having to be in a pack, listen to orders and take a mate. By the end of the story she realizes the value of having someone to watch her back and that the pack does this. She gives up her human life and chance of killing the wolf that turned her in order to save the pack.

In the beginning she doesn’t want/isn’t ready to accept the change on the outside of her (becoming a werewolf). In the story she faces different problems and in the end she changes on the inside too, accepting her external change.

Harry Potter: From being a nobody in book I, Harry is a hero with friends, allies and a girl waiting for him at the end of book VII.

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Now I’ll talk more detailed about each step in a story. About the three act structure.

[Note: this about the main plot. Your story should also have one, two or three sub-plots in there somewhere, intertwined with the main plot. Sub-plots can be about romance, angry parents or dealing with being a witch. Sub-plots are important for your main plot and should somehow tie in with them, help the hero grow, so he can complete the tasks he needs in the main plot. But they are not the central conflict. Make sure you know which one is your main plot and which ones are your sub-plots.]

Act I

Your characters are introduced, inciting event occurs and goal is set. This should be about 15 -25 % of your story. 5 chapters out of 30.

Status Quo/ Set up/ Character Introduction (Act I)

This is the ordinary life of your hero. This is when she wakes up, goes to school, bickers with her best friend and flirts with the boy next door. This is before anything happens, meant to give us a clue about who the character(s) are and hint at the plot.

In the good old days you could spend a few chapters doing this. But with TV, movies and a host of other medias available people are too easily distracted for us to be able to do that.