#how to plot

Hey folks, for the writers here's my take explaining the 7 Point Plot Skeleton, hope it's useful. Enjoy!

1. Starting Point -- Opposite of the Resolution. When plotting, start by determining the Resolution FIRST, then take the opposite of that state and there’s your Starting Point. This can be many things, political state, emotional state, living arrangements, relationship arrangements, health, wealth. What’s the end state of your story? Look at it, reverse it, and there’s your start point.

2. Plot Turn 1 -- The thing or event that sets things in motion. The conflict established, the motivation for the protagonist to get going. What does the universe throw at the Protagonist that pushes them to Do Something.

3. Pinch point 1 -- Escalation and usually when the Antagonist enters the picture. The Problem gets worse, matters start to spiral, what have you.

4. Midpoint -- Where the Protagonist stops reacting and starts acting; where they go from "something must be done!" to "I'm dealing with this now!" Interesting thing to think about: why do they think they’re the only one who can deal with the problem? Is it it purely a personal problem? Or is it a societal problem, or a political problem? Are they fixing just their own life or trying to fix conditions for their town, tribe, nation, planet? Are they trying to make their own life better or do they have an ego problem disguised as a hero complex? Maybe your Protagonist isn’t as lily-white straight-arrow as you thought, eh?

5. Pinch Point 2 -- Where the story falls off the cliff; Matters at their worst point, applying the most pressure to the protagonist to Fix It. (Note: to make the story longer you CAN have multiple rounds of pinch point / action, not just the 2 listed here. The protagonist can win some battles but not the war, side characters can turn traitor or get martyred, the Antagonist could recruit followers or subvert the hero's friends, etc. In other words, How Bad Can Bad Get can be Very Very Bad.)

the age old question of "how do i plot?" is one that has floated around the rpc for as long as i've been around (and that's a long time). i wrote quite a comprehensive guide for a discord rp, but i thought it would be worth putting out into the community just in case other people find it worth while. it's a guide to provide everyone with some good foundations into plotting, how to get the best out of everyone when it comes to plotting, and give a bit of a steer for those who might be struggling to come up with some ideas.

A Handy Guide to Plotting RP Scenes

Sometimes, you’re just overflowing with creativity and a whole heap of ideas. Other times your mind might be coming up blank. Plotting can be tricky for some, just as much as it can be easy-peasy for others. Here are some tips to plotting so that everyone can feel like they are contributing to the planning stages of RP. This avoids folks feeling like they are the one doing all the heavy lifting, avoids burnout, and may even result in a little bit of pride for knowing that you could bring something to the table.

Option one: Start with a general theme that you might like to explore with your character. Below are just some very vague examples, but they should give you an idea of what I mean:

Do you want to explore how they handle loss?

Could be a sudden passing, or maybe they lost a battle/fight/etc, maybe a friendship fell apart, there is more than one type of loss.

How about getting some really good news?

Maybe it’s something they have been waiting to hear for a long time or maybe it’s an unexpected surprise.

What if someone they had a falling out with in the past comes to mend fences? What if someone they thought died actually lived, or they have a run-in with a person that has it out for them?

Do they secretly have a warrant/bounty out for them? Are they wanted for something? Maybe it was legit, maybe it was a mistake or a ploy to frame them.

Maybe your muse uncovers a huge secret and needs to share it with someone else, or wants help looking into it.

Option two: Pick a time and a place for them to be and go from there:

What would they be doing at this point in their lives?

Who are some people they might run into?

What are some major events happening in this location, at this time? Maybe you can find a way for this character to be involved, or do something loosely related to it.

Option three: Pick another character or player you are interested in engaging with:

What muses do they have?

Why are you interested in those characters?

How does your character relate to theirs, and does it make sense for them to meet?

Option four: For media based RP, take an existing plot within the game/books/comic/etc.:

How would you modify it to fit your muse(s)?

What other characters would you like to be involved in this with yours? Why?

Option five: Lastly, you could just use a prompt generator!

Find a good plot or prompt generator, or a prompt list and tweak it to fit your character. Follow the above suggestions on time, place, etc. to help retrofit it to your muse.

I hope that folks will find this useful. Feel free to reblog and if you repost you MUST CREDIT. Thank you and happy plotting! ❤️

I love a good fuck around and find out meme. But something perhaps I love more is the use of fucking around and finding out in character development. Great characters, believe or not, will start somewhere on the proverbial fuck around scale. And they’ll eventually find out, for better or worse.

Think about it - character and plot development is contingent upon a character’s willingness or unwillingness to fuck around and find out. The entire purpose of a book is to demonstrate a character’s growth or lack thereof in response to what happens, and the rate at which a character responds (or even regresses) is the key driver that makes your characters intriguing.

So, how does one employee the fuck around and find out process for character development? There’s a Fuck Around and Find Out Graph for that! Below is a graph I made for reference if you need a starting point for mapping out your character(s) development and how it fits the main points of your story.

Main Takeaways:

All characters have a starting point on the Fuck Around axis

Negative number = characters who are slow to change, resistance to growth. These are your reluctant, passive protagonists, or those disinterested or unaware of the plot’s main conflict.

Positive number = characters open to change, more self-assured at start. High positive numbers are well-intended characters but overconfident and impulsive; they may care about the conflict but struggle to know how to help.

Type of Character Growth (plotline)

Character A is an example of writing linear growth, Character B is a character who has growing pains. Character A consistently grows at a steady rate, while Character B experiences more ups and downs.

You can have characters who have a horizontal line (e.g. character Fuck Around starts and ends at 4); these are best for secondary or supporting characters who act as a ‘stable’ influence. Compelling stories have a range of character ‘plotlines.’

Find Out - these are the main plot events/decisions where the character’s level of fucking around will be put to the test.

Use each number on the X-axis to represent an event/decision in your story. Your characters will either grow, regress, or remain the same (flat line). There’s no right or wrong way to pick!

If you haven't already, you can listen to The Fanfic Writer's Craft's second episode: How to Plot? out now and available on Spotify! Let us know what you think and have a lovely day! 💚

Lets Talk About the PLOT

Plot is a key element in writing a book. Without a plot you have nothing. Even though you have great characters, if you don’t know where to put them and what to do with them your readers will lose interest. A comprehensive understanding of the plot is necessary for being able to construct an engaging plot. Remember: Background Rising Action Climax Falling action Resolution It is important…

Or rather, I have no clue how to work with the ideas I do have, which predominantly consist of vague themes or even more vague character dynamics (’found family - parents adopted the kids on their adventures and now the kids are having their own’ ‘autistic young adult non-verbal but their partner understands them’ ‘casual intimacy but not like kissing like knowing each other’s schedules without having to check’).

As of yet, I haven’t been able to wrangle any of these into anything that would even give me the barest bones of a plot that would allow me to start at least heading in a direction. Which is frustrating.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can try developing a plot somewhere here, or at least know any websites/books/blogs that might offer some assistance in this?

So sorry for taking forever to answer! I just got the energy to go through all of my inbox.

 2. Are you a pantser or plotter? 

Oh definitely a plotter. I like to plot out at least a quarter of the book before I start writing. Although, it’s also kind of a mixture because writing a scene beforehand sometimes gives me more inspiration for the outline. But no matter when I do it, I always need an outline. 

 And being a plotter doesn’t mean things don’t get wild. I still get new ideas that flip the current plot upside down and then I have to write ANOTHER outline to fit the plot to that new idea. 

TL;DR: My writing process is a mess. 

 17. What writing habits or rituals do you have? 

I have to listen to music while I write. I can’t focus otherwise. I usually have playlists for different books and characters, so I pick a song that fits the scene I’m writing and listen to that.