What Is Plot Creation and Development?

funny, that's my exact reaction whenever i see a thread that starts by complaining about people who ask for help or input.

have you considered that these people might be seeking some support because they lack confidence in their own abilities,

or perhaps they are aware of their own weaknesses and want some input to improve that area, i myself know that im terrible at comming up with names, especially names for countries. i also struggle to populate my story line with enough events to stretch out the story long enough.

 

Ditto,
Your comment is spot on.

The want of something:
A seasoned writer may deviate from the norm, but will never deviate from the desire of both protagonist, and antagonist. Many new writers think this conflict is between the good guy, and the bad guy. It could be between a law, and a person who feels the law is wrong, or as I did in Naked in West Upton, between a town, and land developers. There could be sub plots along the way. Just be sure to have all the sub plots closed before ending the story.

There are three keys to the plot: The want, opposition to the want, and a conflict that interest the reader.

A well written plot need not take the writer more than 4-5 sentences. To have a good story a writer must have a plot (subject) readers have an interest in. It is the characters who act out the plot. If the subject of the plot is one that interest the reader(s), they will be rooting for the main character(s). If a writer stays with the three basic keys to a plot, they will have a story that will sell.

 

Reading this thread has helped me! Especially the actor, goal, motivaton, opposition bit, Thank you, Cogito!

 

What is the storyline in the Catcher in the Rye?

 

Sparknotes
Cliffnotes

 

So, I have a story that I plan on posting on this site in Wikipedia synopsis form. (You know, like a basic description of the plot/storyline.) That way I can get critique on what to improve about the story and characterization. (The actual way it's written isn't a big deal to me, since I picture it as a movie more than as a book. Plus, the story and characters are the most important part of any work of fiction.)

Here's a plot/storyline description of The Secret of NIMH that should give you an idea of what I want to post here.
http://www.cataroo.com/DBnimh.html

Am I allowed to post it on this subforum? I asked it in the support and feedback section, but I didn't get all the answers I wanted.

 

If you post a basic description in a similar format to The Secret of NIMH, I suspect you'll get even less help than you've had so far.

I clicked on the link, took a quick look at that wall of text, and how much detail (As she scurries home with the medicine from Mr. Ages, Brisby runs headlong into clumsy Jeremy the crow, who's allergic to cats. When she meets him, he is tangled up in a number of brightly colored strings. His loud proclamations that he is searching for Miss Right brings [incidentally, proclamations is plural, so it should be the singular bring] on Dragon, the farmer's monstrous cat who savagely lunges at both of them.) it goes into, and clicked back off it. This reads like a whole story being told (1648 words - I'd think twice whether I wanted to read and critique a short story of that length) and not being shown. i.e., it's a story that doesn't engage me, the reader, at all.

Is the paragraph I quoted ESSENTIAL to the plot? I suspect not, it's merely another twist. But it's written as if it's the story, including descriptive words (scurries, headlong, clumsy, proclamations, monstrous, savagely, lunges) that could have been simplified if it's a synopsis.

 

Thank you for the original post.
I wasn't taught Literature like you English speakers have, but I find all these concepts very clarifying.

 

I literally did just that, then I read this and thought "i'm making an arse of myself." and changed it. Never mind your post has definitely given me a piece of mind when constructing a plot or story, especially since I'm trying to break away from the standard themes and plot structures.

 

Thanks for clearing up the difference between plot and storyline. Quick question, do you believe it is a good method to outline the storyline by each chapter? I've often done that but sometimes felt that it takes the surprise out of writing, and other writers will say the exact same thing.

 

That's not a quick question Rivers of blood have been shed in the arguments between "Outlining works for me, therefore everybody should!" versus "Outlining doesn't work for me, therefore nobody should!" versus "Outlining ['does' or 'doesn't'] work for me, but isn't that just a personal preference and not an actual rule?"

50% of the time, trying both and seeing which works better will – axiomatically – work better than just picking one and hoping it works better than the other.

Personally, I need a chapter-by-chapter outline unless the story is ridiculously short, but I've still tried writing without one (again, tends to work better for something extremely short than for some part of something longer).

 

Exactly what I need. Thanks so much!

 

As a new writer, I am going to attempt to ignore everything I have read here - fail miserably - and learn. Thanks for the lesson.

 

And theme is about why and how it matters.

 

If you stuck in problems, answers are not where you hit the wall but earlier. Answers are where you start to see the wall and roads & paths that are related to the wall.

Theme is about character arch. Values, meanings, character development...

Characters are about humanity & life & being at all.

Plot is about how & why.

A storyline is about what.

A storyline problem? Go to plot(s).
Plot problem? Go to characters.
Character problem? Go to theme.

At the end all problem solving takes you back to the theme. And if you manage theme well in your SFD (Shitty First Draft) and structural work, your rewriting is going to be much easier & faster process.

Man v. society or man as a part of society is always inside the theme. It pours from there down to characters, plot, storyline...

It is there even if it is not said aloud or underlined.

 

Copyright of a photograph belongs to whoever made the artistic and technical decisions.

If I tell you to use f 2.5, ISO 100, focus on closest eye, tight cropping with all possible room on the direction of look, diffused backlight & low and warm reflected light from opposite direction... then it is my photo even if I'm not present when you push a button.

Intellectual copyright belongs to whoever made decisions about "how to do this" at those levels where we it's more about the whole concept than one or few separate ideas.

Sometimes it shared through giving thanks.

 

I have a question. Sometimes in my stories, I have struggled to come up with a different action, in fact, I'm afraid that my actions are a little bit sloppy or not good enough. What advice do you give me to make them interesting to not repeat myself? Another I found is to have in my head the actions but being difficult to describe.

 

The person who makes the technical and artistic decisions IS the photographer.

If someone/something else pulls the trigger he/she is not the photographer but just an assistant - sometimes not even that.

 

It's funny how different groups of writers see what's valuable differently.

Here, people are specifically being discouraged to share their synopsis because it's seen as valueless without the writing.

I've read people who more interested in screenwriting say that something like a synopsis is extremely important to workshop because they believe that most stories fail at conception and that errors in the story which exist in the synopsis will be set in stone when the script is written.

Personally, I like talking shop about synopsis, and I lot talking shop about prose. It is much more enjoyable to beta read a long work when both of those are on point.

 

Something that I've discovered and has become a part of my writing is the setting of a scene or act.
My approach is that the setting is the stage and the characters are the actors. Once I get both set, or established enough to get the scene or act started, I let it play out in the writing. This approach has allowed me to write scenes that I could not have planned out.
My WIP is in the fantasy genre and in its first draft. I started with a plot and an outline, but, I go where the actual writing takes the story. Here's an example of how the stage/actors approach changes my planned scenes:
My MC and her companions are in an old west style trading post when her enemies arrive and declare her crimes to the inhabitants. Now, my MC has to flee. In the outline, my MC was suppose to bribe/talk her way out of the fort. But, with the way the scene was written, I realized that the fort guards/authorities would never let her go, and would immediately move to arrest her. So, now she has to escape the fort and evade capture.
I had already drew a rough layout of the fort. At that point in the story I had my actors in place and the stage set. So, utilizing one character's magic, another one's knowledge of the trading post, and a third mercenaries' skills, I wrote a roof top escape set of action scenes.
I find that however I do it, stream-of-consciousness writing, story boarding, etc., getting out of my head and onto paper really helps to get the creative ball rolling.
Godspeed!

 

Thanks a lot for the help . I will try that out.