the threads of plot I've set up for myself have become loose and unraveled, worse yet everything is starting to seem cliched to me. The story in a nutshell (hey, get my story out of that nutshell!): a guy lives with his sick sister, something falls from the sky, he checks it out, it's a girl(!). bad guys come to take girl, kidnap sister, destroy village. Heroes go to Big City, meet grumpy soldier, grumpy soldier agrees to help because girl looks like dead daughter (he killed her, like Hercules, went bersek... though, with the Chris Benoit thing, maybe I should leave that tidbit out...). second boss attacks Big City, plays Hero in game of tarot-like cards (it makes sense in the story, each bad guy has a quirk, his is gambling and drugs) in the middle of a battle. interspersed throughout are parts from the secondary villain's point of view, wondering why he's taking orders and generally stockholming up the main character's sister. The main point of the story is that the girl who fell from the sky is more or less a clone of the fantasy world's version of Eve, and the first villain is the clone of Adam, and they're the keys to opening the gate to the garden of Eden. The bad guy's want to get to Eden to rewrite history because they all come from crappy lives and want heaven on earth. that's where most of the cliche comes in... and I can't seem to think of any better thing for the bad guys to want to do... at least it's rewriting history at the cost of millions of lives and not taking over the world though... Spoiler it also turns out that the people who where behind the creation of the clones is another group of exiled Gods who want to get back into heaven and cause a general ruckus for having been left behind after one a Theomachy And I need a plot guide, structure, thingy, something where I can get the skeleton of plot and hang the skin on it. I tried the snowflake Method, it was bleh. But this isn't a necessity, just a wish
Help is on the way! Your Outline is Your Friend I used the site mentioned above to write my short story "Prayer of the Refugee", and it seemed to be quite helpful in organizing thoughts. Also, go here: Ligers and Unicorns and Links! Oh my! - Writing Forums Once there, check out the Shakespeare & Dragons podcast/show notes and the Fiction Factor website. Those may be of some use beyond the plot structuring guide you wanted. The latter has one, but I haven't looked for it in a while.
A plot is only as good as the characters it carries along. If the plot sounds weak ti you, wait abn dsee how it develops as the characters begin to develop within it. Be flexible, and let the characters react to their situatios as their nature dictates. You may find that their responses will redirect the plot to a certain degree.
I use a method called the Ten-Scene Tool. Any piece of writing has ten basic scenes. Use any movie, book, etc. to see. It works like this: 1) Opener -opening stuff, who what when where, why, blah, blah, blah. 2) The Point of No Return Complication -where the protagonist cannot return to the way things were before. 3-8) Main Complications 9) Climax -big duh. 10) Ending stuff. Write a brief summary for each of the ten scenes, just a sentence or two, and keep it with you whenever you're writing. This can keep you on track and help you from overwriting or losing track. I hope I helped!
wow, that's so simple I didn't think of it... I've had Joseph Campbell's Monomyth running through my head for the longest time... but the story doesn't have al of the things, or in that order.
Plot? Who needs a developed plot at the beginning anyway. Actually what I usually do is start out with an idea, start writing the opener and then struct a plot around that. This gives me a chance to develop my character a little bit and know what he is capable and not capable of. Then I start figuring out what way I want to go with the plot. I kind of let the plot work itself out.
Although the 10 Step Plan is simple, quick, and effective...I'm lazy. (Is it weird that I'm arguing my own suggestion? Nah, I've just got another.) When I'm struck with an idea, I'll just write and write and write, and sometimes, the plot unfolds itself...or my idea and the plot are near identical. The 10 Step Plan helps when you are afraid of overwriting or creating subplots, and just keeping motivated and on track. When I dont feel like writing down my plot though, I just let the plot unfold itself. -Those are the 2 methods I use.
Usually, that's what I do. I just get an idea and write about it, but most things what I think of is no more than an extended prompt: Teenage girl and her brother are treasure hunters, kid raised by dragon goes out to find his parents, Vampire hunter's daughter becomes a vampire hunter... My biggest story (the one I've actually not stopped working on and have a good deal of notes on) I started this way, but then I ended up introducing zombies and crazy people who like bugs. When I rewrote it I change viewpoints to the enemy's clone, and the main villain's girlfriend ended up molesting two female ensigns just for the hell of it and to get a rise out of the clone (she has the power to make people fall in love/lust with her, and he's immune, so she used those two). And of course there was only shaky reason for the bad guy's doing what they were doing.
