A few thoughts on planning out a story before you write it:
I get asked the same question a lot: I have writer's block, how do I get rid of it?
For many of you, I have directed you over to my video on writer's block, which happens to address one of the common cures of it, which is...wait for it...plotting!
I find that when I had writer's block, it was because I didn't know what came next. After I started plotting all my stories in advance, I didn't have that problem anymore.
But how do I plot?
Let's start with a simple skeleton for a story, that's what I use. Some people flesh out that skeleton later, so that they know every little detail in every chapter, but everyone is different.
Here's your springboard:
Normal Life: Here's where you show us a glimpse of your characters normal life (and NO, that doesn't mean the alarm going off and her getting ready for school, can you get more boring?) This might include briefly introducing other characters (friends, love interests, parents) and showing you a little bit about her situation (is she living a pretty normal life? Are her parents getting divorced? Does she hate school?) It doesn't have to be a HAPPY life, or like YOUR life, it just has to be the state this character's life has been in for the past few years. It has to be something she's used to.
Inciting Incident: Here's where the crap hits the fan. What's that one thing that throws your character off the beaten path? Sends her on an adventure she'll never forget? Maybe she meets a strange boy no one else can see (City of Bones). Maybe she was in a mental institute and gets yanked out (Shatter Me). Maybe it's as simple as she falls in love, and she's not allowed to (Delirium).
Rising Action: Woah! This is getting intense! This section makes up the bulk of the story. Stuff keeps getting worse and worse and more and more dangerous. A series of incidents that lead up to the...
Climax: This is you plunging off the cliff, fighting the final battle, having everything explode on your character. The big bang, if you will. Everything rides on...whatever this is. Just make sure it goes bang, and blows up in your character's face. Razzle dazzle.
Falling Action: This is the aftermath, things are slowly returning to normal, or more likely to the "new normal", because if nothing has changed at all, then what the heck was the point of all of this?
Conclusion: A "Happily Ever After" if you will, though sometimes not. Your character has come full circle. How are they different? What have they learned? By now you should have tied up all loose ends and plot lines to create a satisfying ending.
So this is just a glimpse at your story structure, the "bones" of plotting, if you will. It's up to you to put the rest of the organs and stuff in there to make a fully functional being. Okay, yuck. I don't like that metaphor. Never mind...
Make sure to tune in Sunday 7:00 EST for the Word Nerds live chat about plotting. How to plot, how WE plot, do you NEED to plot? We'll be talking about it from beginning to end, and everything in between.