Hey! A very happy new year first of all ❤️☺️ I wanted to ask if you have some advice on making an interesting plot for any kind of story. Creative writing is literally my biggest issue, no matter if it's fanfic or a game (I really enjoy RPG maker). But my creative projects always die due to my lack of story writing skill🥹 Do you have some tips to share? ☺️
Happy New Year! ❤️
I’m honored that you asked me this question — thank you! My answer is a mash-up of things I’ve learned from classes, books, articles, literature, work, and probably a big dollop of life experience. Also, I don’t know much about RPGs, so my advice is limited to fanfic.
First, fanfic doesn’t need a plot. To my mind, one of the many wonderful aspects of fanfic is its flexibility. So you can write a scene or a series of (dis)connected scenes and that can be a fanfic. You can write dialogue-only or description-only. If you know what you love to write, consider leaning into that for enjoyment as you work to improve other skills that are important to your concept of what kind of writer you want to be.
Second, you asked about plot, so let’s go ahead and look at plot. There are lots of articles about different types of plots and how to choose one. I look at those articles and my brain locks up. It’s too much, too vast, too impersonal. Instead, for me, plot starts where everything else starts: character. What does your main character want, need, yearn for, desire, fear? What are your main character’s thoughts, dreams, nightmares? What knots their stomach, raises goosebumps on their skin, gives them the trembles?
And why can’t they have it?
Character arc — the way your character grows, changes, becomes better or worse (or both) while remaining true to themself — is, to me, inextricable from plot. Your character has to learn, to grow. Your character has to mess up, make mistakes, be an imperfect striver for … something. Their path toward that something is your plot.
If you outline (and that can be as simple as jotting down a sentence or two per chapter or per scene), then the character arc should be aligned with your plot (loosely or closely, depending on the work) and your character should have uneven growth (and other characters to interact with who also learn and grow and change). Life doesn’t have a steady pace, so neither should your plot. Stories need to breathe, which gives characters the air they need to doubt, to process, to question — and, hopefully, in the end, have gone on a journey (mental or physical or something else) that you, as the author, are gratified to have provided.
In other words, plot isn’t just what happens — it’s why what happens matters.
Does this answer help at all? Please let me know if I’ve utterly misunderstood your question or actually helped or if you want more detail or anything else. I’m so proud of you for leaning into learning something you care about, and I hope you’re proud of you, too. ❤️
