A Plot is a Plot is a Plot
Fail to plot, plot to fail. If structure is the thing that gives substance to your story, then plot is structure’s show-off fraternal twin. The two are tied together (conjoined twins, maybe?).
Plot consists of all of the happenings in your story; the things that take your inciting incident all the way to your resolution. The defining factor of what is plot and what is filler is cause and effect.
Plot is Propelled by Cause and Effect
Each scene should have a cause, and each scene should have an effect. This is what propels your story forward. If you have a scene that has no story cause and has no effect on the outcome of the story, you need to seriously consider if that scene even needs to be there. It probably doesn’t. Kill your darlings, Darling.
Plot Needs Economy to Thrive
One of the killers of plot is a lack of economy. This can mean economy of words, economy of scenes, economy of characters, etc. Only include what you need to include to tell the story.
If your protagonist has three best friends and a cousin, all chiming in with different conversational points, each having their own adventures with the protagonist – maybe you can consolidate all four of those friends into one. Maybe. A quartet does sometimes work, as in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (the pants do need a variety of places to travel to), but other times, having that many characters lends itself to clutter on the page.
Rising Action
What is rising action, anyway? Essentially, it is making things worse and worse for your protagonist. He or she gets into a predicament and then an escapade, and then a disaster, and each thing is seemingly taking them further and further from the story goal.
Rising action, along with conflict (which you should have everywhere you possibly can), are the things that move your story forward and keep your reader reading.
So, How Do You Plot Anyway?
We’ll get into how to actually plot the story in a future article on outlining. The key point to remember for now is to let character guide you. There is a rumor going around that there is a difference between a plot-driven story and a character-driven story. There is. It’s called being good or bad.
Literary stories are well known for being character-driven. Guess what? Genre stories should also be character-driven. You shouldn’t have scenes that you shove your character into and have them do all sorts of things that they would never do just to satisfy the needs of your plot.
A wallflower should never dance on a table without a darned good reason, perhaps a snootful of tequila after a horrible break-up. Your CEO should not show up to the office late and unshaven, and half drunk. Drunks rarely make CEO. You get the idea?
You might have to refine some of this in the editing process. Personally, I get to know my characters along the way. Some folks have full character outlines before they begin to write, and that is a wonderful thing. It just doesn’t work for me. So, whatever your process, just make sure to let your characters light your way.
As always – Happy Writing!
