I have the rough outline of a plot, and I'm quite happy with it and the characters. But I'm having trouble with the tiny clues that leads to another one and so drives the plot and the characters slowly forward, closer to solving the mystery and reaching their goal. I need that trail of breadcrumbs basically. In the lead role I have a man, Eric, who in present time is a solider that kills monsters that eats humans. These monsters are just animals who go where the food is. Eric himself is a hybrid, part monster, part human and he constantly battle the other side so he doesn't completely turn into the monster he fights. There are many other soldiers like him, but he is slightly different because he chose to be turned, unlike the others. An important detail. Eric and his fellow soldiers are conditioned to not feel fear, pain, have a will of their own, etc., they just does as they are told pretty much. Eric however, has a personal agenda; finding his sister, who was turned into one of the monsters Eric hunts(you get bitten, you turn). That is why Eric chose to turn in the first place. His sister cannot be turned back into a human, so it is a mercy killing. Question is how he is going to find her? What clues does he find as he goes about his missions that slowly leads him to his sister? I also want the killing of his sister to reveal where these monsters came from in the first place(I have a legend in the story about this, but I'm not sure if I want this to be the truth), and so the story isn't over yet. There is a new goal; revenge on whoever cased this mess in the first place. I should also mention the other main character; a girl that kind of convinces Eric into taking her off a mountain that is infested with these monsters. This girl plays a crucial role in revealing what happened to his sister, that he turned willingly etc. She helps him battle his monster-side, so she goes from being a nuisance, to an asset, and finally a friend and a comrade where she helps him fight. I'm not sure if I'm going to let their relationship go further than that or not. But what I'm really struggling with are the so-called breadcrumbs I have to drop. Please help me brainstorm?
It sounds like what you have is storyline, not plot, in mind. You have elements of plot showing, but none are clearly defined. A storyline is a chronology of events. It tells you what happens. A plot is an actor, a goal or objective, a motivation, and an opposition. Typically, a story contains many interacting plots, although one MAY define a central conflict that defines the overall story. Plots move a character toward or away from the goal. Goals drive the events that comprise the storyline. Plots tell you why events in the story happen. Master the network of plots that drive your story. See What is Plot Creation and Development? for more information.
Ah, guess I'm messing up some words here(English isn't my first language, so please bare with me!). But, if I understand this correctly, plot is what moves the character towards or away from the goal, then in my case the sister is the plot? Since she is what drives Eric to search for her(and the rest of the truth)? But thanks for the link! Now I can get my notions right But since I misunderstood the word plot, I'm guessing I misplaced this thread:\ Though I could still use help with my "breadcrumbs."
In Norsk, it would be "handling" No, the sister can't be "the plot", not even "a plot" BUT a plot device.
"how he is going to find her? What clues does he find as he goes about his missions that slowly leads him to his sister?" This is your plot. So... how is he going to find her? How come nobody else kills her first? How much destruction does she wreak before he finds her? Is the mountain girl connected to his sister? Maybe: -The people who order the soldiers around know he's looking for his sister, and tell him they're sending him to places where she's known to have been, but they're actually misleading him because they have more important goals than killing one particular monster. -He hunts down soldiers who have been sent to kill her (has secret access to deployment info?), but it takes him a little while to get up the guts to actually kill her. Or whatever works for you. It all depends on what kind of story you're wanting. Is this adventure? Horror? Betrayal? Evil government? How you want it to feel will affect what kinds of clues he gets, and how fast they lead him to her. But seriously, if there's a bunch of soldiers and they're all running around killing these monsters, how does he guarantee he's going to be the one to kill her? That was the first question I had.
