#how to plot

[choshashio]

Excellent tips and habits for writers

The advice I've given before is to write every scene you think of, no matter if it gets used or not. Its always a great idea to go back every once and a while and edit these scenes, or revise them.

Never force inspiration or a scene. If it isn't coming naturally, take a break and come back later or the next day. it's important to give yourself time to think. use your break to day dream about your story and what could come next. if your brain is happy, this should be relatively simple. If your brain isn't happy, then you need to take a longer break, stop writing for the day all together, or write something else.

if you're a pantser, like me, and it's hard to plot. You can practice reverse plotting, and plot your story as you go. make notes of things that happen in your story, changes in a character, changes in the plot, changes in the setting, dates for events, timelines, important information that's been revealed, anything you deem important to your story.

always reread what you've already written. don't try to edit it. turn off your editor brain and reread your story so far before you resume writing, so you can get into the voice and tone that you've already established.

if you're finding it difficult to start writing or keep writing. try turning off your internal editor and free write. it's good practice to be able to write down your unfiltered thoughts or daydreams without having to stop and edit while you're writing. it helps with your writing flow, getting the scene down onto the page, and increases your writing intuition.

before you write, always take time to daydream or think about your story beforehand. it helps things go much smoother in the long run.

if you've been working on something for a long time, don't pressure yourself into confinement. if you want to work on something new but you're worried about what you've been working on, don't. stop worrying and write what you want. forcing yourself to keep writing something when you don't want to is just going to make you burn out faster.

don't be afraid to create visuals or playlists that help you with what you're writing. It's an enviable talent to be able to write something off a photo you saw on pinterest, or a song you really like.

if you find yourself in a mood where you want to write really badly, but you have no idea what you want to write, and none of the prompts you find are appealing enough. find an activity you use to destress, whether its listening to music, listening to asmr, doom scrolling on social media, or browsing pinterest. go do that. chances are, you'll find something that will inspire you what to write when you're not looking for it.

[verynichewritingadvice]

Hey, do you have any advice for overcoming perfectionism with writing?

I think the key is to just realize that the first iteration of a story is like the base of a recipe. If you obsess over all of the little details before you lay down the foundation, the story isn't going to be edible. If writing is a cupcake, it's like adding the sprinkles to the batter instead of adding the milk or eggs, then looking at your half-formed sludge of a creation and going "god this looks terrible'" and shoving into the crucible.

Putting it in the oven of your criticism before it's ready. When you take it out, it's not going to be an intact cupcake, and you'll feel even worse.

Convoluted food metaphors aside, a good thing to keep in mind is that good writing isn't what is perfect, which is something that can never be achieved.

Good writing is what works.

You're never going to able to articulture the exact picture you have in your head into words. Nor has any author in the history of ever. We were human, and our communication with each other and the outer world is limited.

If you are a perfectionist, your art is never going to live up to your expectations, because it can't. The emotional scene you write on paper might feel inferior to the majesty you've envisioned in your head. You might feel like there's something missing, that's it doesn't perfectly encapsulate what you imagined, and you might be frustrated by that.

But that doesn't mean its bad at all, just human. Most people underestimate how impactful their words are. Just because it's not an impossibly perfect replica, doesn't mean that the emotions and thoughts won't register with the readers. Oftentimes, we're biased against ourselves.

Remember that.

[makinggifsolson]

a quick guide on how to plot in a rp group

Hello friends. As I journeyed through different groups I noticed a trend in interactions with writers and trying to plot with them for their characters. It seemed like there was a disconnect on what plotting means and that was making answering plot calls really difficult and frustrating. I wanted to whip together a quick guide with actionable items to help with plotting! However, I think it's important to also note that plotting doesn't have to be deep — they can something simple that leaves a lot up to chemistry. Even "random" interactions can be used for plotting purposes for people that really work well off of chem. Everyone is different, and both plots and chem are great ways to write together!

plots vs connections

One of the biggest mistakes that I've seen with plotting is that people mistake plots for connections and vice versa. A Plot is an actionable item that you can use to write the characters doing something. It can be a broad character arc, or several points of conflict or interaction that generates threads. True plots make it easy to generate a thread from some context to what we think will start the interaction between the two characters.

examples: one character took another character's coffee order. one character caught another character from falling. one character likes art and the other doesn't and they went to a museum.

A Connection is how the characters know each other. This can be familial relationships, platonic relationships, romantic relationships, and so on.

examples: they met at a coffee shop. they went to the same festival. they are exes. they're cousins.

Often, connections are a great place to start, as the plot can be built off from the connection. However, if it's left at just the connection (such as, they're cousins!) it can be hard to create a thread or interaction from the connection. If the characters are cousins, or they did meet at a coffee shop, what's their relationship like? How did that first coffee interaction go? Or do you want to write that coffee interaction based off chemistry? Either way, those questions help you plot!

tips on ways to maximize plotting

Read the other character's bio or about. If you don't have one for your character, make one so that people can use these content pieces as a way to start to think about their character in context to yours. Most people are pretty good at figuring out a connection, but have an issue taking it to the actionable idea. Think about general interactions you have had with people in your life, or something you've witnessed, one of those could be starting point for a thread!

Create a wanted plots page that has some simple interactions you'd like to explore. People might not read it, but then you've at least got ideas for people who might be struggling as well to think of how to plot with your character.

Check out the wanted plots tags, there's tons of great ideas for unique plots that you could use and adapt for other plots.

Think about what parts of your character that excites you. What quirks or strengths do they have that make for interesting interactions with people? I find that starting here often helps to build threads I am excited for — chemistry based ones!

Use the yes, and or the no, but methods to build in conversations with other writers. Meaning that if someone comes up with something you think could work, agree with it and then build off of it. If the idea doesn't work, however, come up with something else that is more in character that could work.

Don't be afraid to send something off the wall, and don't be afraid to turn something down that doesn't work, just be willing to build off those ideas!

If you're into chemistry over plotting, think of places a starter or thread could be at and what the two characters could be doing. This could be in addition to a connection you've selected.

I hope these tips have helped, and I wish you the very best on your rp plotting adventures!

[jeanjwould]

i love the fact that ive had a pirate-centered high fantasy story in my brain since 20 fucking 20, literally five years, and all i have achieved in that time is deciding to scrap it and rebuild it from the ground up,,,,, and i havent even done the "rebuilding from the ground up" part yet :P AAAUUGHGHGHHHHHHH

[izukiskies]

Between plot lines that are actually chronological and make sense and descriptive words that properly capture the setting and ambiance��I think death is the only option.

[melodytaylorauthor]

My struggle with plot structure

And struggle I have.

I feel like it’s not an unusual struggle.

When a person first starts writing, there’s a ton of information out there on how to make your sentences work, how to create characters that aren’t wooden, grammar, spelling, the art of fiction, putting your soul into it and not boring your reader, how to create a habit of sitting down and putting words on the page. All of that. Everywhere, for the choosing.

And then, once you’re no longer a beginner, all the information pretty much dries up.

You hear words bandied about like “3-act structure” and “theme” and “arc,” but what those things are and if you need them (you do!) never seems to come up. Or if they do come up, they’re very nebulous and it’s hard to get a great feel for them.

Last year, I realized I didn’t actually understand or know jack about plot, beyond the nebulous “arc is what your character goes through,” etc., so I figured I’d better get on that. “Trying to be professional” and all that jazz. It only took me four books to figure that out!

So first off, a Google search led me to a lot of articles about how many acts a plot should have. Apparently, there are a lot of choices. Every article I came across essentially said the same thing: “Shakespeare used 5-act structure, The Hero's Journey uses 7 acts, and Hollywood uses 3-act structure. Do whatever you want!”

Great. Not helpful. What IS an act? What goes into it? How does one know when one has a complete act? What’s the DIFFERENCE between the different numbers of acts in a story? If I can use anywhere from three to seven acts, why should I choose one over another?? I think the number six is pretty, should I use six acts?

So I tried Googling “what is 3-act plot structure.” I found a LOT of articles that stated “Three act structure is simple! The first act is your story’s opening. The last act is the story’s climax and end. And the middle act is everything else!”

Say what? Easy?? How is that easy? Why does so much advice on story telling have to be so damn vague? Is it because so many authors actually have no idea what they’re doing? It is, isn’t it. Ah, damn.

Interestingly, there were a LOT of articles that discussed authors complaining about the “soggy middle” of their story. Well, yeah, if they know how the story starts, they know how they want it to end, but the middle is “everything else,” what the hell is a person supposed to WRITE?? “Everything else” is not a direction! Are the characters supposed to sit around and drink coffee and smoke cigarettes and discuss the meaning of human existence? Hibernate? Run around screaming? What, what, what??

Well, silly, they’re supposed to arc. You know, what happens to your character through the course of the book.

Oh, yes, okay. Got it, got it.

(For the curious, a character arc is the world view/state of being a character starts out with, and how that shifts to something different for better or for worse through the course of the story. Usually better, but dark stories will sometimes have the main character lose all hope or something like that.)

I did manage to stumble across a couple actual books about plot. I bought them. One of them was very helpful. One of them was most certainly not. And I found one — count it — ONE article that broke plot structure down into FOUR acts AND explained WHY the authors of the article liked four acts and WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN in each act. HOLY SHIT!! That article has since been removed from the website where I found it. Good thing I copied and pasted it to my own computer before it vanished!

(For the curious: Act 1, we meet the MC, they are invited to adventure, they almost certainly refuse, and then they are forced into it somehow. Act 2, they strike out in a new world, making friends and enemies as they go, learning about how things work in this new place and gaining confidence until it’s shattered by something crazy happening. Act 3, they have to maneuver in a new way, figure out what they were doing wrong before and deal with the crazy thing that happened at the end of act 2, they will come face-to-face with the main baddie and they will lose. Act 4, everything has come to a head, the MC is trapped, on the run, pushed to the brink, with the baddie right on their heels, and when it finally looks like all is lost, the main thing they need to face or learn about suddenly becomes crazy clear, and they are able to defeat the baddie/situation using their new knowledge/skill/emotion.)

My favorite book on plot I found was “The Story Grid, what good editors know.” It’s not a book on act structure as much as what scenes need to do and how a book needs to flow. But man, is it helpful and insightful! It breaks writing a book down into concrete steps that you can check and follow, rather than all this woo-woo business with “the middle is everything else” and “arc is what happens to your characters.”

Armed with this new knowledge, I set about dissecting some of my favorite books and movies.

Man, four act structure and the mechanics of making a scene work is totally IT! Every book I re-read, every movie I re-watched, the acts lined up and made sense, the scenes turned and kept the plot moving, it all flowed. It all WORKED!

I feel so satisfied when someone who knows what they’re talking about can point out how things work. I hate when people offer squishy advice that doesn’t actually make any sense or that you just have to “feel.” Either it’s real and you can damn well put it into words, or it’s fake and you’re making it up. JEEZ.

I used my new knowledge to edit “The Winding Road Between,” and am very satisfied with how it shook out. I’m working on a new book called “Night Falls,” and it is coming together just slick. I’m super happy with the 4-act structure and even more happy with the leeway and wiggle room I’ve found inside of it. It’s far less rigid than it first appears, while offering a scaffolding to hang the scenes of my story on so it all makes sense. As long as it goes 1-2-3-4, and each act is roughly the same length-ish, it all comes out in the end.

I love it when a plot comes together!

[violent138]

hi im a new author on ao3 and I'm rlly stuck with my story. any tips??

Oh boy (firstly I'd recommend you ask a bunch of other Archive authors you know the same question, because I'm sure they'd have really good advice).

Secondly, I guess it depends on what you're stuck on? If it's plot, I move everything to a fresh document and make an outline and copy the bits of my story that I have so far into the outline. Then I just keep going at it until it looks right (useless, I'm sorry).

If the plot is really making you tear your hair out, I would also strongly recommend just writing out the transitions like stage directions e.g. So and So moved to the car, and then keep going. Fix it in post :)

If it's dialogue, I'd write out variations of what the characters could say like multiple choice answers. Keep swapping things out and saying them aloud until something feels less wonky and more right.

Please let me know if you have any other questions/this advice wasn't that helpful (things have literally come to me in a dream).

[chloesimaginationthings]

Poppy playtime got a guy worse than William Afton

[lazylittledragon]

enrichment for the baby rogue

[choshashio]

Difficulty with plotting and staying consistent.

I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I've struggled with it since starting to plot out my stories.

It doesn't matter if i have a prompt, or an idea, i always go off track. I have a hard time sticking to that prompt, plot point, or idea, and it drives me absolutely bonkers.

Recently, though. I have found a cool little trick that has helped me stay on track, and meet my word goals;

Whether you're writing a short story, a blurb, or a whole novel. Try to split it up into three parts; Beginning, Middle, and End.

Instead of the convoluted, and sometimes overstimulating plot line;

Splitting your plot into its three most important parts; Exposition, Climax, and Resolution. Is supposed to help you plan out your story easier, or in my case, lazier.

Beginning = Exposition | Middle = Climax | End = Resolution

Point of View

Next, think about what point of view you're going to write your story in. If you've already decided on what your pov, conflict, and genre are going to be, you can skip down to Plot Points, where i pick back up as splitting your plot.

1st person = from a characters perspective.

In first person, you're going to be using a lot of sensory words from the characters perspective; "I feel" - "I see" - "I hear" - "I taste" - "I smell" This point of view also means restricting a lot of information to your character.

For instance, if you're writing from the pov of a child. This child wouldn't know the cookie jar is on top of the fridge, because they're not tall enough to see what's up there. So, they would have to get this information in a different way. You could make them accidentally see the cookie jar, but then you have to consider; Do they know it's a cookie jar? Does it stand out enough for it to grab their attention? If no, you could introduce a secondary character, like a parent, who gets a cookie for the child. Now the child knows it's a cookie jar.

2nd person = Telling a story to the reader, and directly involving them in it.

In the second person, you're writing from the narrator's perspective, but you're also addressing the reader, or talking directly to them. In this pov, you're telling the reader how they should be experiencing the story, by using sensory words like; "You feel" - "You see" - "You hear" - "You taste" - "You smell"

Pov's from the second person perspective goes great with unreliable narrators. You get to choose what information you tell the reader, and what information the reader has to find for themselves.

3rd person = Telling a story about someone or thing.

In the 3rd person, you have a lot more creative control. You get to pick which character's you're observing, and sort of play with them like dolls in a doll house. I think this is the most popular point of view and is incredibly versatile, using sensory language like; "She feels" - "He saw" - "They hear" - "It tasted" - "She's smelling"

Genre and Subgenre

Now. Deciding your pov is as simple as deciding what you're going to be writing, and for this, i like to decide what my conflict and genre are going to be. Sometimes it's as simple as picking horror, then deciding you like the slasher trope, because you want to write about a killer on the loose. Now you already have your conflict; There's a killer on the loose, and so and so need to escape.

I like to do this by drawing inspiration from other creators; From that book i read yesterday, or that movie i saw, or i just really like this genre.

Once you have your genre, look into its subgenre's. In horror, you have; Slasher, Supernatural, Monster, or Zombie. The conflicts in those are pretty easy to discern, Slasher = Killer on the loose - Supernatural = There's a spooky ghost in here - Monster = There's a spooky monster trying to kill me - Zombie = It's an apocalypse and i need to survive.

Draw Inspiration from other Creators

But it's always okay to draw inspiration from other creators; Junji Ito, for example, has a book called Gyo. Its a horror story about fish growing legs and crawling on land. You can take that concept and create your own horror story about fish growing legs.

Once you have your conflict; There's fish growing legs, coming on land, and eating people. Try to ask yourself; What do i want to tell the reader? What do i want to say in my story?

For example, if i wanted to write a short horror story about fish growing legs, and coming on land, and i decided i wanted to make the reader be more conscious about throwing away plastic. I would probably have a better time writing in the 2nd perspective, because my short story is meant to address the reader, and make them uncomfortable about throwing plastic in the ocean.

Plot Points

Finally, after we've figured out our genre, conflict, and pov. It's time to go back to our plot columns.

I know that when it comes time for me to decide plot points, I'm always at my wits end. I HATE figuring out what i want my plot points to be. I'm awful at figuring out the big changes in my plot, and sadly, i don't really have a solution for that yet. But, all this stuff I'm telling you has made it a lot easier for me to work on this.

First, how do you want to start your story? No, not what scene you want to start on, HOW are you going to start your story? Are you going to start with a monologue? Are you going to start with a description? How about some dialogue? Or a flashback? A departure? A character description?

This can be one of the first things you can write in your beginning section.

For example;

Then, think about what you want to happen next. Write as many plot points in each section as you want, use prompts, or random scenes you've discarded in the past. Fill it up with as many prompts as you're happy with;

When you start writing, start from your first plot point, make a word goal for that specific scene, and write it. When you're finished with that scene, move onto the next plot point, until you've written all of them.

Once you're done writing your major scenes, go back and edit everything so they puzzle together. If you want to add more stuff in between scenes, now you have guidelines on where and how your new scenes should start and end, so you're technically just filling in the blanks.

[purpleangiie]

Damian: "Grayson, what are you staring at?"

Dick: "Sh!"

Tim: "Leave him be, D. He's emotional."

Damian: "Over what?"

Dick, staring at the two quiet figures in front of them: "Would you believe that? Jason and Bruce existing in the same space and not throwing a tantrum, but actually behaving like two adults? They're even working together at the same desk. Unbelievable."

Damian: "Wait, has father just ruffled Todd's hair?"

Dick: "And he didn’t even punched him back! I'm so proud of how far they both have come. *sniff* Now we could all be one happy family."

Damiam: *looking absolutely bewildered, gazing up at Tim who just shrugs*

Tim: "Give them 15 minutes."

Damian: "12."

---

Jason: "Bruce. Bruce WHERE IS MY PEN?"

Bruce: "Y-your pen, Jason?"

Jason: "Oh my god. You don't even remember it. My pen, Bruce. My personalized red and golden Montblanc you gifted me for my 14th birthday. I left it here, where is it? You threw it away, didn't you? LIKE YOU DID WITH ANY REGARD YOU EVER HAD FOR ME AND MY FEELINGS? DID YOU FORGET I WAS YOUR SON TOO? WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR YOU TO LOVE ME?"

Dick: "Damn! We got so close."

Tim: "And that'd be 10 minutes and 35 seconds."

Damian: "-TT- Pay up, Drake."

[verynichewritingadvice]

I'm writing a fic, and it kind of feels like they're going somewhere and then nowhere at the same time? Where do i go from here

They're makes me think you're referring to a relationship of some sort, and the phrasing implies that you know where they're going, or least, they're following the steps you want them to follow, but you're not feeling it.

It sounds like you need some inspiration!

What inspired you to write about those two idiots in the first place? Maybe try looking at the source material again. What sometimes works for me is my hype-up music which consists of Star Wars/John Willaims-esque like orchestra type stuff, and then I usually get some motivation back and i vomit all the exciting details on the page and then I write the actual story in one burst of excitement before I grow disillusioned. Of course, what works for me doesn't necessarily work for you. I have ADHD, I'm writing for silly little ha-has and not the serious bill-survival grind, and I'm a very music-oriented person. Just do what inspires you.

If you're feeling bad about the quality of your fafic up till now, don't! This is a hobby, you're doing it for your own personal enjoyment and learning! Just write what you wanna write.

Also I saw your next ask and I'll answer it in time! Good luck!

[somewhereincairparavel]

percy had an 'im a big three son' moment when he choked a goddess with her own saliva (controlling a fluid that was INSIDE her body) annabeth was terrified.

nico had an 'im a big three son' moment when he disembodied bryce lawrence (quite literally dissipating and shrinking his LIVING soul into a spirit) and threw him to the underworld, smashing his zombie warriors. reyna was terrified.

yet we were robbed of jason's 'im a big three son' moment where he sucks the air out of someone's lungs and makes them stop breathing, or damaging a person's nervous system with his lightning control, and literally cause internal bleeding, or a damaged/fried skull if he electrocuted hard enough (look up the effects of lightning damage on body y'all will get a whole list, tbh he doesn't even need lightning to do any of this, air control is more than enough since air takes charge of everything going inside the body, but this is just an added effect.) he could give people STROKES if he wanted to. he's the literal definition of burnt out kid who was suppressed from discovering the magnitude of his abilities, because one, his dad's ego wouldn't be able to handle it, two, because he, for some reason, can't be allowed to do anything other than get knocked out :/

also adding on, hardcore pjo fans know that after the ending page of boo, there's this fan story that rick chose to publish in the last few pages of the book where a fan reimagines the ending of hoo, in that work, annabeth collapses from an attack and percy sobs clutching her body. jason calmly asks him to step aside, and kneels before annabeth, jason regulates her breathing using his wind/lightning powers and brings annabeth back fully from her cardiac arrest, causing percy to be relieved. (I wanted to link the pics of the pages here so bad but I didn't have the hard copy of the book with me, and this isn't available anywhere online either, only in the original covers of boo uk and us version, so I edited this post and asked people to reblog this post w the pics if they have the hardcopy, and a kind blogger found the story I'm talking about and reblogged the pictures of the pages, you can check my reblogs of this post for the pictures of the almost all the pages after this scene) considering rick approved and even liked the fan's work well enough to publish it in the official boo book, I'd say rick was aware and never completely ruled out expanding jason's abilities and had them in mind, he simply didn't incorporate it into the books. (also W fan for giving jason the rep he deserves, I will always remember you, you saw the VISION before any of us did, the story was very well written, with great dialogue.)

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

We all know the semi-canonical ‘all the Robins know to hide/duck inside of Batman’s cape, even as adults’ thing.

We also know that Danny ‘is LITERALLY a ghost’ Fenton sucks at remembering his own intangibility while ALSO forgetting to look ahead of him.

All I’m saying is, Danny Fenton (or Phantom, if you’d really like) would absolutely SLAM into Batman on accident while running on roof tops and Bruce ‘Brooding Instinct’ Wayne doesn’t even think twice about letting the kid hide and scanning around for danger before there’s a record scratch of ‘wait who tf is this?’ kicks in.

[clingonlikeclingwrap]

AU where Tim wasn’t ever obsessed with the Flying Graysons or Batman and Robin, and thus never found out their identities. And then at 15 years old his class gets assigned a “fun” research project to propose who resident boogeyman Batman could be and, being the overachieving genius that he is, Tim gets sucked into a conspiracy theory rabbit hole and actually uncovers the truth. Mostly he’s mad that he can’t actually give his excellent presentation bc he can’t compromise Batman’s identity even more, can he?

Part 2

[gingermintpepper]

I think, perhaps one of the funniest things to come from EPIC popularising the Odyssey is that now a ton of people think Poseidon wanted to kill Odysseus.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon has no intention of killing Odysseus. In fact, part of the whole reason Zeus lets Poseidon do whatever he wants even though he thinks Odysseus is rad and should get to kiss his wife is explicitly because Poseidon had no intentions of killing Odysseus. Poseidon wanted to pay back the suffering/inconvenience blinding Polyphemus would have caused. It's a really abstract thing tbh. How do you pay back someone permanently disabling your son? Poseidon's solution was just to amputate Odysseus from his other half; i.e. Penelope. The end game was never murder, it was always an endurance race.

(Od. Book 1: Zeus reassuring Athena that he is not, in fact, a part of Odysseus Hater-Nation. Trans. Robert Fagles)

Also, for those wondering if there's any sort of in text reason for why Poseidon wasn't around in God Games - at the time in the Odyssey when Athena petitions Zeus to let Odysseus leave Calypso's island, Poseidon was -checks notes- on vacation in Ethiopia. Yep. He left to Ethiopia for a festival and thusly was very much absent for Athena's whole "please let Ody go? Please? 🥺" request.

(Od. Book 1: While Odysseus was suffering, Poseidon went to party in the east)

I am begging y'all to read the Odyssey. It's a comedy for everyone except Odysseus and Penelope who are, in fact, suffering 24/7 365.