Hi there! (о´∀`о) So I am starting up a new story and have problems on how to plan the plot. The main plot I have at the moment is of a girl living life throughout the ages 7-18 with her friends, family, and anyone else along the way. The girl goes through the struggles of life, since she is a girl, is Hispanic, and ends up being a part of the LGBTQ+ community (which is what I want to focus more on, in terms of perspective). I want it to be a realistic fiction/ fictional memoir kind of format. The story is a mix of things that have occurred in real life, but of course since it would be boring just at that ,I would like to add some fictitious elements to help emphasize the message and impact of the overall story. I don't want it to be something so generic like something someone has already done of course, but I don't know how to make it more appealing to read. There was an author who came to the neighborhood library recently who wrote a book within the same type of format and same topics of importance and it really touched a lot of people, I hope to make a similar impact with what I plan to write. Sorry if I didn't explain well enough, I'm not the best at explaining all in my head onto another format. Thanks for taking time to listen and hopefully help. （＾ν＾）
What may help is listing and going through different books with the same topics and plot points. Then researching what hasn't been talked about. What I like to do in a lot of my fictional writing is to present a story in a familiar mold, then I completely destroy that mold to discuss what hasn't been discussed. What struggles have not been addressed. And sometimes breaking that mold also means instead of just saying this is a problem, but using the story as a catalyst to say these are the solutions we can take to change it.
Maybe some implied supernatural, surreal, or light fantasy elements? Some that make you unsure what's real and what's imagined, in particular. I wonder if there's some way to use that idea as part of finding your own identity and social constructs and norms versus personal views and thought. I recently read a short story based on John Carpenter's The Thing, where a body-stealing, shape-shifting alien on Earth is used as an analogy for oppressed and misunderstood gay men and blacks in the early 1980s. The alien looks and acts human inside, but is something else on the inside, something that hides itself for protection.
What you need is conflict. The conflict is the hook, so the sooner you introduce it into the story, the better. One example: The MC becomes infatuated with another character. The other character despises your MC. Maybe they are competitors or opponents at some level, either in a school project, a sport, or some other extracurricular activity. Build the conflict to excruciating levels so that they are either fighting or getting into trouble. The plot is to solve the conflict and bring the two characters together as friends. One way to do this is by introducing yet another conflict affecting both in a similar way. Maybe a third character, friends to both, has been burdened with sudden hardship - perhaps addiction, illness, injury, or a victim of abuse. Working together solves both conflicts.
http://thewritepractice.com/creating-conflict/ http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/5-tools-for-building-conflict-in-your-novel http://www.nownovel.com/blog/kind-conflicts-possible-story/ Also, it sounds like you are developing character, but you haven't developed story. http://wiredforstory.com/wired-for-story/
OP, What you've written is not a plot. - There is fives point you should have figured out before plotting. They are as followed. Lead: Your MC. Try to use nouns and verbs when you describe your MC and a single-well-picked adjective. Objective: What is his or her goal? It should be a physical goal that serves to satisfy a spiritual goal. Conflict: What stands in his or her way? Knockout: What would victory look like? What would defeat look like? Situation: With as few words as possible, what is your character's life like before the start of the story? A little bit of Background info works here. A note on irony: Either the goal or the conflict (or both) should be Ironic in terms of your MC. An example of this would be "A serial killer who tries to save someone's life." A note on the Spiritual goal: While you need to know what the spiritual goal is, you don't need to state in the logline. Spiritual goals are mostly for subtext and theme purposes, not so much for plotting. A note on groups: A group counts as a single character as long as they all share the same physical goal. What separates this cast of characters is their spiritual goal differs. - Once you've figured out all these part, then you can start plotting. -OJB.
I have to say I've never figured all that stuff out before i start writing... personally i find that formulas like that lead to formulaic books - at the least i'd read those "should"s as "could"s Also the thing about goals i that most real people b) don't know what their goals are in specific terms and b) will have 'goals' for every area of their life and often more than one and sometimes conflicting with each other so you don't make a real character by having them motivated by a single goal Personally in the Ops position i would just start writing and see what results (although if you want to focus on her becoming part of the LGBTQ community you might want to start her older than 7 - maybe start with her approaching puberty)
Sounds like the plot of Moonlight (the movie), although with different genders and ethnicities. As long as you don't make it exactly the same as Moonlight it should be distinct enough to stand out.
Have you decided what the main theme of your story is? Because it has to be more than just LGBTQ+ story. What point are you trying to make to your audience? Also with each character you create its a good point to think how each of them will impact the story and what they represent towards your theme. So many great comments on this thread, it was hard to add to it lol. I agree with Moose that typically the rough draft of a story I am writing ends up being nothing compared to the final product. More often than not you will definitely surprise yourself
